2003 Honda Odyssey fails to start. Problem was intermittent last winter. Dealer couldn’t find a problem, battery good. Said to return when problem consistent. Problem became consistent. Dealer replaced battery. Car worked for a couple of days and problem returned. Dealer replaced starter. Problem returned in a day. Dealer replaced steering switch and relay. Problem returned in 2 days. When turn to start, a click is heard near passenger kick panel fusebox. Repeated start attempts and it will suddenly start fine, but has required up to 53 tries. Car currently at dealer and they haven’t found a problem. Seems like an intermittent open circuit, but they haven’t found one in 5 tries and too much money. Ignition switch/circuit seems like an obvious source, but what do I know?..Any solution?
Yeah, there is a start relay with burned contacts that needs replacing in that passenger kick panel fusebox, I’d guess…
And a dealership that needs replacing if they’ve changed a perfectly good starter for this problem. You turn the key, the computer finishes the start sequence. To do that requires a relay driven by the computer.
A totally disreputable dealer. A parts cannon you expect to see from a shade tree. You got to have a decent mechanic around you that can put his/her finger on the problem.
2003 could be cables are rotten from corrosion or come loose. Check the neg cable at the grounding end. Get a good strong grip on it and try to turn it. If it moves a millimeter it’s loose. Take it off and clean all contact points and then retighen. Do the same with the positive cable. Do you regularly keep a lot of stuff on your keychain? A heavy keychain could cause the ign sw to wear out. Is the ign sw sloppy with some wiggle in it? Loose/corroded wires, bad start solenoid/relay or ign sw.
Ignition switches (the electrical part) have been an issue forever it seems. Does steering switch mean the ignition switch?
What needs to be clarified is the no-start problem. No start as in the starter motor does not physically crank the engine over or does it mean the engine turns over but will not run?
If the former I wonder if they have considered a faulty neutral safety switch: a.k.a. a Range Selector switch.
You win! It took them two months but they just replaced the range selector switch. If that’s not the final solution, I’ll let you know.