2016 Honda Accord Batter/Starter issue?

Maintenance/Repairs
1

I have a 2016 Accord EX v6 with a manual transmission. Last night, when leaving from work, the car started fine. After a 45 minute drive, I stopped at home for about an hour. When I tried to start the car again, it wouldn’t. It’s an electric ignition, and it just clicked when I pressed it. The engine tried to turn, but it wouldn’t start.

The next morning I jump started it without issue, and took it to an auto parts shop. They charged the battery, tested it, and it tested fine. But, obviously, I’m concerned something else is wrong.

Any thoughts or ideas?

Thank you.

2

Yes, This is a 2 year old car, Honda has a 3 year warranty, the math is easy. Take it back to the dealer and tell him what happened and that you are concerned that something might be draining the battery.

3

You seem to have a contradiction. Did it just click when you tried to start it, or did the starter crank the engine ok but it not start?

PS, all ignitions are electric. Do you mean push button start?

4

I wonder if the starter is covered under the powertrain warranty. It’s not listed separately.

How many miles are on your Accord?

5

Sorry,yes – I meant push button starter. When I press it the first time, it seems as if the engine is starting to crank, but it stops pretty quickly, and clicks. If I try immediately again, all I get is clicking.

6

It was certified used, and I think I’m outside the bumper to bumper. The cat has about 45k miles on it. I’ll check to see if it’s under warranty.

7

Check what ‘certified’ meant, there might be some extra warranty with it, might not.

8

If this were older, I’d suspect corroded battery cables. But it could be a loose connection. I’d try wiggling the thick cables at the battery (carefully). They should not move. Try the other end also. If you do see signs of corrosion around the connections, take them off and clean both surfaces.

9

Along with the above, the battery should be load tested. Batteries can fail after two years.

1 Like
10

Honda put in a bunch of undersize batteries in these Accords.My neighboor has a 2015 and he already replaced his battery.They should replace it free of charge.

11

Update: I drove the car for a couple of days, and it has started fine. But I used a battery charger that I bought, and it’s saying the battery is less than 25% charged. So, it would seem that the battery isn’t charging. I’ve not had any other issues. I guess this means I have a bad alternator? Because the battery “tests” fine and I can apparently charge it with the plug in charger I bought.

12

Buy a digital voltmeter to plug into the accessory receptacle. My recent Hondas have a control module that shifts the voltage between 12.8 and 14 volts.