[ChristInBen]

Didn't start in the cold!?

Hey guys,

I currently lease a brand new 2012 Si Coupe (Since end of September, 2011) and under 10K kms, so my surprise came this morning (after the car has been sitting out all night in about -2 degrees celsius/28.4 degrees farenheit), it wouldn't start! :SHOCKED:

So I cranked the engine, again after pushing the clutch in (for a total of two times), everything (electronics, etc...) came on, but the engine didn't turn over. The third time I cranked it, it spun to life!

It's not like Arctic temperatures here in Toronto, these are pretty regular winter temperatures that we leave cars outside overnight....this shouldn't happen.

Anyway, I'm really concerned....this is a brand new car and I should not be experiencing things like this. Thank God I'm under warranty....I'm taking it to Honda to see what this is, but what are your thoughts?

Thanks and Merry Christmas everyone!

Ben.

 

[skyfox23]

Well typically stock batteries aren't the greatest, could be it didn't have enough cold cranking amps?? Or the battery may just be defective? Alternator perhaps? Not sure, like you said it s under warranty so thank God for that


Sent from my Autoguide iPhone app

 

[neteng101]

Can't say I've seen that happen but mine's in a garage... you might want to turn the ignition to on, give it a second to prime the injectors first, before cranking it.

Don't you guys in Canada get engine heaters or something given how cold it gets there?

 

[Jesstzn]

Don't you guys in Canada get engine heaters or something given how cold it gets there?

Doesn't get any colder here than in Minn. etc ... Block heaters are a dealer installed option.

OP.. mine sat out in -12C and not a problem. Even with stock batteries we shouldn't see issues even at -20 C.

Drop in the dealer .. there might be a code. When you say it didn't turn over .. was there any clicking at all? I'm suspecting the clutch lockout switch.

 

[ChristInBen]

Doesn't get any colder here than in Minn. etc ... Block heaters are a dealer installed option.

OP.. mine sat out in -12C and not a problem. Even with stock batteries we shouldn't see issues even at -20 C.

Drop in the dealer .. there might be a code. When you say it didn't turn over .. was there any clicking at all? I'm suspecting the clutch lockout switch.

Yeah I'm suspecting the clutch lockout switch as well. In any case, I called the dealer and they suspect it too....so they are taking it into look at it, do a service and fix any issues.

Will keep you guys posted.

Thanks for all the replies.

 

['12 RR 4dr Si]

Battery defected or alternator?

I own a RR 4dr si and recently i was in a minor car accident so the body shop had the car. I went to go pick it up but everyday or every other i would go check up on things and they told me they had the battery unplugged since the damage was on the door and they wud have the door open a long time, so in order not to kill the battery, they unplugged. So i go pick up the car today and i see the car on with the hood up. They told me that the car wouldnt start without a charge. We left it running a good 45mins and then tried turning it off and restarting it, nothing, lights wouldnt turn on for anything. I just want to no is it because the battery was unplugged for so long and needs a long @ss time to charge up again or is the alternator not doing its job? I would think after having the car on for almost an hour that that cars lights at least would turn on but nothing.

 

[spazerboy]

Very possible you could have a bad cell in the battery. I've had a similar things happen to me, and it also happened to my friend a couple weeks ago. I'd take the car back to Honda and get everything checked out. They should replace it under warranty I would think.

 

[82801BA]

If you have a bad alternator your car won't run for 45 minutes. A good way to check is start the car, and the voltage should register anything higher than 12V (to between 13.8 or 14.4V). The battery will be long discharged if you do that. So likely it's battery.

 

[Jesstzn]

Also check the negative terminal connection to make sure its clean ... not just looks clean .. but cleaned.

Removing the dead links at the bottom of your post might help too.

 

[T_Virus]

you can get the battery check...

my Si was the show room car so the sales people always used my car to play the radio or songs from an ipod, per the sales guy. when i asked them to start the car so I can listen to it, it wouldn't crank. they had to jump start it. Then after it was turned off, talked to the wife and was deciding if i should buy it for 15 minutes and checking other things, I asked to test drive it. The sales person tried to start the car again and it wouldn't start...they had to jump start it again.

 

[@doval]

check negative batt terminal there is a sensor to be connected.... if doesn't the alt. do not charge !

 

[backes]

voltage issues

hi, first post guys, and i'm having an issue with my voltage reading. i have a radar detector installed, which i have set to read my voltage. normally during the day driving, it reads about 14.2, but this past week it has been about 12.3 with occasional spikes to the mid 14s. it is not consistent with speeding up or slowing down, braking, any of that matter, just does it on its own it seems. Car had low voltage trying to start it the other morning, and required a jump, with the battery only being 5 months old. never had any problems starting this winter either. just got back from dealership which tested battery, voltage drain, etc. with nothing unusual to report. any ideas what could be happening? or what to do?

 

[@doval]

same to me i think our alternator sys. is dynamic....battery have a charge sensor on the neg. side....when it need charge it up to 14.2v and whe does not need it maintain the voltage on 12.2 or 12.3v

 

[hpengineprep]

If you are having cranking trouble there is a problem. could be a prob with the radar detectir install unless it just uses the power outlet. sounds like an intermittent alternator.

 

[Jesstzn]

Have you checked the battery terminals to make sure they are fine? Especially if they have been disconnected ... don't just look at them .. give them a cleaning. Doesn't take a lot especially on the negative terminal to cause issues. When you said it wouldn't start .. was it just dead or did the starter click a bunch but wouldn't turn over, lights seemed ok?

 

[neteng101]

Battery Dead - Recharging?

So in an absolute "perfect storm" of events, I ended up with the battery fully drained. Looks like my toll tag/holder came loose, managed to fall exactly in the right spot to trigger the emergency blinkers, and drain the battery down to zilch. We had lousy weather here so the last time I was in the garage was Sat afternoon, then today, Mon evening, no idea when it happened at all.

Wasn't hard to jump start, took it for a 45 minute drive, and that did nothing much to return the battery to health. Still no green light on the battery window, and tested with a voltmeter, it was 11.8v which is way under. Ended up going out and buying a battery charger, have it on that now.

So question since I haven't drained a battery/jump started in forever (years)... driving around and relying on the alternator is pretty much useless these days? I didn't try cranking the car again on the weak battery after the drive, just parked it, and went out to get the charger instead. Always just used to jump start and drive around, and it was fine after that, but haven't done that in years, not sure if the alternators these days do much... I had no AC/fan/blower, no radio, black nav screen (didn't say the OK) during the drive too, thinking it might help.

 

[9GenSi]

It may have been fine after that long ride but sure won't hurt to be on your new charger for a while. I would have expected to see a check engine or check emissions system warning light during that drive if you were too low in voltage.

 

[neteng101]

No warning lights, no issues really while driving, except the car sure doesn't feel nearly as quiet as you might think it to be when you have something playing on the radio. Have it on the medium charge setting since I didn't want to rush the recharge cycle on the battery.

 

[xpk04]

same to me i think our alternator sys. is dynamic....battery have a charge sensor on the neg. side....when it need charge it up to 14.2v and whe does not need it maintain the voltage on 12.2 or 12.3v

you are correct i think.....lol i guess it detects when the battery is low it goes up to 14.4 at charge when is full it goes in 12 volts

same problem i had to took mine to the dealer for a alternator check up they told me it was a stable alternator and doing its work

 

[xpk04]

how can i keep at 14 volts contant