Car not starting-battery depleted-jump start doesn't work

Hi. Everything was fine.

I parked up and noticed the locks wouldn't react to the "lock" button on he fob (I can hear clunking when I push the "unlock" button" so I locked with the key in door and thought the fob battery may be dying.

I come back an hour later and unlock with key fob and start charging my phone at 1.5 A (without starting car).
An hour later I reposition the car 15 metres away.
Two hours later I reposition the car 30 metres away.
Two hours later I notice my phone battery is charged and disconnect it (key is still in the "ACC" position).
30 minutes later I decide it's time to leave but the car really struggles with ignition and doesn't start. I keep trying this 10 times with large pauses in between.
Car does not start with a portable starter device-same symptoms.
Car starts with a push-start.
Window auto down/up doesn't work (I just read this http://typeaccord.co.uk/forum/topic/13819-auto-window-updown-function/?hl=auto+window which I will try tomorrow).

I'm worried there might be a leak somewhere and as such I have disconnected the negative terminal from the car.

Can someone please help me confirm that it was only because I was an idiot for sucking 1.5A for 5 hours without running the car?

Thanks.

The diesel has a relatively large battery, so should easily have tolerated charging your phone (which is unlikely to have continued to charge at 1.5A for the entire 5 hours anyway).

I'm thinking your battery could be due replacement, but have you tried charging it?

Does your car have the hands-free phone feature? These commonly fail and cause the battery to discharge, although this is unlikely to happen over 5 hours.

Jon_G said:

The diesel has a relatively large battery, so should easily have tolerated charging your phone (which is unlikely to have continued to charge at 1.5A for the entire 5 hours anyway).

I'm thinking your battery could be due replacement, but have you tried charging it?

Does your car have the hands-free phone feature? These commonly fail and cause the battery to discharge, although this is unlikely to happen over 5 hours.

Click to expand...

Hi. Yes I do have the hands free feature. I haven't tried charging it. I didn't have the charger, another driver saw me and tried starting with it.

Jon_G said:

The diesel has a relatively large battery, so should easily have tolerated charging your phone (which is unlikely to have continued to charge at 1.5A for the entire 5 hours anyway).

I'm thinking your battery could be due replacement, but have you tried charging it?

Does your car have the hands-free phone feature? These commonly fail and cause the battery to discharge, although this is unlikely to happen over 5 hours.

Click to expand...

^^[emoji106]
As first try to disconect the HFT module and charge/test your battery

If you haven't had the car very long, this might be why the car was "passed on". It's a common fault with the HFT which is easy to get to and unplug. However, the HFT was not factory fitted on the pre-facelift (which your car is) so if there is an HFT it was probably fitted by a previous owner and might not be easy to disconnect and, depending on what HF it is, it might not be the source of the problem. In which case the battery is on its way out or the car isn't charging it very well (indeed moving the car like that will not give enough time to put the charge back in that was taken out)

Hi. I've had the car for two years and the only time I had a problem with starting was in October 2015. I left the car for 10 days as I was on holiday. more recently though, in October 2016 I also left the car in the airport for 10 days and only when I was boarding the return flight did I remember what happened the previous year. I was with family and boy was I kicking myself for not remembering...Anyway, key fob worked and car started all right!

This is the bluetooth kit I have, and there is a honda manual for it with the owner's guide:


The module is always on and has always been used since I purchased it. Please let me know if this is still likely to be the problem and I will disconnect it.

Is there a device which can tell how much drain there is on the battery when it is off, maybe an LCD piggybacking off the cable to one of the battery terminals?

If not, I've read that there is a device that you can attach to the car battery to see the charge level so I could use that to see how much charge the battery is holding. I just remembered that as the key was in the ACC position, the bluetooth module was on (but my phone's bluetooth setting was off so not connected), the mp3 player I plugged into the cd changer port would have been on (even if the audio system is turned off, the usb stick and the mp3 device's lights will be on and flashing indicating a drain from the battery anyway, and the usb stick is always hot whether the audio system is on or not), and I also remember I have this in the cigarette lighter:
with two cables plugged in (one charging my phone and the other, an apple cable but not connected to anything).


Could it be that a) my battery is only holding X charge capacity (the charge level indicator can show me this) and is only enough for day to day driving with no major load when engine is off and b) all these things connected for 5 hours would have drained the limited X charge?

Thanks.

Too many variables to know what the problem is here!

There is no device that can reliably tell you how much charge the battery is holding. But a few places (such as Halfords) can perform a load test to see if your battery is weak... unfortunately it'll probably fail the test even if perfectly serviceable as it's more than a couple of years old and will obviously no longer be 100%.

Not sure what you mean about a piggybacked LCD but I suggest disconnecting all retrofitted add-ons (including the HFT), charging the battery overnight (get yourself a cheap charger) and see how it goes, especially if you can leave the car for a few days between starts (just as a test).

You either have:- a failing battery (likely if it's getting on in years), a failing alternator (maybe) or something is parasitically draining the battery charge when the car is parked up (maybe an interior light left on or the HFT?).

If you had a multimeter then you could perform a parasitic drain test, or check the alternator voltage, or check the battery voltage after standing.

That HFT is not the same as the one that's infamous for problems on the facelift, the one in the facelift has controls on the steering wheel.
AFAIK, when the one in the facelift is draining the car battery, it also exhibits weird behaviour at times (or doesn't work at all).
If yours is still working, then on that basis I'd say the issue is not to do with the HFT.

The issue with load-testers is that they usually use a look-up table in conjunction with a reading from the device, and a look-up table is open to interpretation. A better way is to measure the current that's flowing into a flat battery from the car's charging system, once the engine has been started using a booster (and removed). The current that flows will reduce as the battery ages (because its internal resistance will increase with age). The only way to properly test a battery's condition is with a hydrometer, which is difficult on a modern "maintenance free" lead-acid battery (because you can't get the plugs out without potentially messing up the casing).

I would say that moving the car a few metres using the engine on several occasions isn't giving time to put the charge back in, that was taken out during starting. But on a perfectly good battery that wouldn't be an issue.

There should be a date label somewhere on the battery, if you've had the car 2 years I'll bet that the battery wasn't new when the car was sold.

if it were me, I'd take the battery out, look at the date label, fully re-charge it in the house on a trickle-charger, and renew it in October.

The window reset action worked.

A few days ago it was raining and so I was afraid to disconnect the negative from the battery while parking so I took a risk of parking like that. I came back 4 hours later and it started fine so it does look like it was due to multiple items sucking battery while engine off.

I definitely agree that moving the car wouldn't put the charge back, I just thought it was strange that it would start up first time easily for such a short drive, and then all of a sudden die (instead of struggling but starting the first couple of times). I will definitely look for dates and get one of these to see the charge level: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/12v-DIGITAL-BATTERY-LEVEL-MONITOR-ALTERNATOR-METER-GAUGE-LAMP-INDICATOR-STATUS-/191581420084?epid=1788810403&hash=item2c9b247a34:g:s6gAAOSwv0tVVycg

Thanks all

That thing can't tell you the battery charge level, merely the voltage present, although this could show if the alternator is working OK.

It would be much better to buy a cheap multimeter, then you could (accurately) measure voltage plus investigate your mysterious power drain by using it as an ammeter and watching the current drain as you pull the fuses one at a time until you discover the circuit that's causing your battery to become flat.