Hello all. First time poster.

I have an 09 EX-L Accord and I've been experiencing some weird things with my car and I'm wondering whether any of you have too. For example:

1. The car seems to struggle to start in the winter months with a high pitched "groan" after the engine starts. I've also had a few times that the engine would not start at all, requiring me to replace my battery but it happened again the following winter.

2. When I turn off the car, sometimes the door locks do not unlock automatically.

3. When I open my car door, it sometimes does not "ding ding ding".

4. The radio display is sometimes dim and flickers as if it's not receiving enough current.

5. Headlights on occasion do not appear as bright it usually is.

6. Most recently, my a/c compressor stopped working.

I understand #6 may be unrelated but a 2009 car is not very old that I feel I should be replacing the compressor. So far, I've replaced my battery twice. I've had it checked at a Honda dealership with no abnormalities found during testing. I inherited the car almost 3 years ago at ~25k miles and is currently at ~91k.

Any experience or suggestions are welcome. Thanks!

 

1. The high pitch noise may be due to a defective variable valve timing control (VTC) actuator. There was a service bulletin (Honda TSB # 09-010, latest revision dated October 6, 2012) regarding it.

2. You can try reprogramming the unlocking to see if it fixes the problem. Instructions are in the owner's manual.

 

Even relatively new cars can suffer from battery cable/terminal corrosion which can cause starting problems, lights flickering, etc.

Inspect battery wire terminals for corrosion. Clean and retighten.

Inspect cables for corrosion at and behind terminals. Sometimes corrosion will progress down the cable from the battery.

Also check tightness of connections at far end of both battery cables.

good luck

 

On my brother-in-law's 2011 Accord, his positive cable was corroded so bad, the whole cable was replaced. If it is the positive cable, it is somewhat difficult to replace, as it also goes to the starter located under the intake manifold on a 4 cylinder.

 

Thanks guys for your suggestions. I'll see if they make a difference.