Hello,

I have an 07 Accord 2DR EX with a 2.4 liter 4 cylinder, and I don't know much about cars. Friday morning I got in my car to go to work and turned the key, and the engine sounded like it was turning over and trying to start, but it didn't quite start. The flashing lights and clicking sound happened that I recognize as the battery not having enough cranking power to start the engine, I believe. I got this battery from O'Reilly Auto Parts in May, so it's about 5 months old, and it's supposed to last for 3 years.

Background on my car habits: I live in Chicago and drive what I consider to be an "average" amount. Pretty much every day / every other day, throughout the city and into suburbs maybe 2-3 times a month. I got the car in '07 and it has 86,000 miles on it. I've been parking it on the street for a year, and before that I was parking it in an outdoor parking spot behind my apartment building in Chicago for 8 years.

The night before the car wouldn't start now, I drove through Burger King and ate the food in my car in the parking lot with the engine on like a shmuck; so it was like 30 minutes of idling. I checked on Friday morning and I had not left the lights on overnight.

When I replaced my battery back in May, it was because the battery had died after I hadn't used the car for about 5 days. This battery was also from O'Reilly Auto Parts and was rated for 2 years, and in May it was like 2 yrs 3 months old. I had a buddy jump start the car, drove it around for a while, figured it was okay, then parked for the night. Then like a week later I left my lights on in my car for like 25 minutes while I vacuumed the interior, and the battery died. I got another buddy to give me a jump start with their car, then I drove my car around for like an hour, then parked for the night. Then a week later the same thing happened and I used a battery starter on wheels that someone had to jump start the car, I drove it for an hour, then parked for the night. Then a couple days later I went out of town and didn't drive the car for 10 days, and then it wouldn't start when I got back in town and I had another friend jump start the car with their car so I could move my car to another street for street cleaning. Finally I went to O'Reilly and they tested the battery and told me it wouldn't hold a charge, and I bought the battery that I've had for the last 5 or 6 months, which is supposed to last 3 years, and hasn't given me any trouble until now.

I guess the battery I had back in May just was dead and I shouldn't have tried jumping it so many times, and I also should have hooked it up to a battery charger to give it a full charge after the first time it died, instead of just jump starting it and giving it a little bit of charge each time it died and wouldn't start the car. But with this new battery dying, it makes me worried that there's some kind of short circuit in the car somewhere that is draining the battery.

Back in like 2014, I installed a cable (something just like this) to let me play music from my iPhone over the car stereo. I did this in the winter time, following a tutorial off of a forum just like this, and after I installed it, I was testing it, and I had the battery on for like 20-30 minutes without the engine running, and the battery died. I am worried that somehow when I installed the device, I created a short circuit. Although I talked to the company that I bought it from, this cool Car Audio company in Chicago called ShowTime Audio, and they didn't seem to think this would have happened. The thing is, I first bought one of these adapters for like $30 on E-Bay, and it didn't really work, and then I got one from Showtime Audio for like $120, and it worked. So I first installed the E-Bay one, then uninstalled it and got one from Showtime Audio and installed that. I'm worried that the cheap one from EBay somehow gave my car a short circuit. OR maybe I just have a 10 year old car, and now it has a short circuit somewhere.

I'm thinking about a short circuit because I've heard from people that a short circuit could be constantly slowly draining power from the car battery, and it could cause a battery to die before its time. Which would explain the current battery issue I'm having with the 6 month old battery that died. The thing is, I remember something like this happening one or maybe even two other times in the last 3 years, but I did a bad job of taking notes on what happened and when.

I also remember that I had to replace a fuse one time, I think it was like 2013. I don't remember what caused me to replace the fuse. I guess something electrical on my car wasn't starting. Maybe it was the stereo. I think this was before I installed the iPhone adapter. I remember that I googled the problem and saw that it couldn't have been a blown fuse, and I figured out online how to open a fuse box by the steering wheel and replace the fuse. I wonder if this could be connected.

Other than that, I've changed the oil a couple times by myself, and that's like all that I've done to the car by myself. I've taken it to auto shops for maintenance on a regular schedule. I don't know much about cars like I say, and I'm trying to figure out how to stop having battery problems. I took the car into a shop a few months ago because the AC was blowing warm air and no cold air. After they looked at it at a Honda dealership service center, they charged me $135 for a general service inspection and told me there was a problem with the Relay, and the AC wasn't engaging, and they'd have to replace the relay for like $250, but then there was a chance there were other problems with the AC that they wouldn't be able to figure out until after they replaced the relay.

I wonder if there are any connections between all these factors? Can you guys give me any advice? I want to learn more about my car. I plan to schedule another service appointment at a honda dealership or some other auto repair place this week so I can get my car starting in time for me to take a quick road trip to a film festival in Missouri like 6 days from now. But I also don't want to get stranded at a gas station halfway there if my car won't start. I'm thinking about getting a portable battery starter/charger - but I'm not sure what exactly to get. Or if I should just pay a repair shop this week to fix a short circuit somewhere...if they can find one...

Thank you very much for any/all info.

-BenG

 

Letting the car idle for an extended period of time shouldn't cause a problem.

Can you clarify the current no-start problem. When turning the key to start the engine, does the starter motor spin the engine, where you are waiting for the engine to run on its own so you can release the key? Or does nothing happen when you turn the key? This will direct what you need to check.

Also, is the check engine light on? Can you read engine codes with a scanner?

The draining of the battery isn't from a short, but can be from a parasitic draw. Searching parasitic draw on youtube can give you some decent videos on how to test for a parasitic draw. Do you have any aftermarket components installed on your car, like a stereo or alarm system?

 

I have had battery issues since I bought my car. The lack of a switch for the glove compartment light was causing it being that my car would sit weeks at a time. If your car still has a working glove compartment light remove it that is where your draw is coming from. Also in May I had an issue with my battery and have upgraded to the v6 size battery. I only noticed my issue due to navigation/radio kept restarting for no apparent reason. Since I have upgraded it's been good but that is expected from a new battery. I also changed out the ground cable to the V6 one because I also thought it was a ground issue. I'm hoping to get at least 5 years out of this new battery as I was only getting just under 3 from the smaller size battery.