215,000mi. I have been tearing my hair out for months and cannot get to the bottom of this, so far two professional mechanics have looked at it and are largely dumbfounded. I’ve poured out almost $500 for parts alone and am out of money patience and maybe even my mind. So far I’ve changed, the ignition switch, the security sensor, the main relay various fuses, the spark plugs, the starter, the battery, the cables, the fuel pump, the fuel filter, the alternator, and battery terminal connectors. when I turn the key, the fuel pump runs continuously at an acceptable pressure and the starter turns on, then stops, then comes back on, etc with no discernable pattern. Although as the battery drains the period of time that the starter comes on decreases while the period of time between pulses increases. When 12v is supplied directly to the starter it starts up immediately. If I jump the car at 13.8 volts I can usually get it started on one or two tries but its Russian roulette if I’m by myself with a start rate of maybe 30%. I’ve noticed that it’s also easier to start when the engine is cold. Please for the love of God someone help me. This car has been a nightmare and if someone is able to help me keep this thing running for 6 more months (until I can buy a new car) I swear I will never buy a honda again.
The vehicle has 215000 miles on it and you are blaming Honda for it’s problems. I don’t care what the urban legends say about any brand going for 500000 miles . It sounds like you really need a good shop and it will cost you maybe even 200.00 just for the diagnostic . That will be better then throwing parts at it.
Aside from the foolishness of refusing to buy a brand because yours only made it almost a quarter million miles before its first significant problem, let’s look at what you’ve been doing.
You replaced about eleventy-one parts. At any point was any actual diagnostic work carried out, or did you (or the mechanic) just throw parts at it and hope the problem would be solved? Because if you (or the mechanic) did the latter, then you (or the mechanic) screwed up and need to diagnose the problem before you start replacing parts.
If a diagnostic was carried out, please tell us the results.
It sounds like you have high resistance somewhere either between the battery and starter or on the ground side. Many of the parts replaced cannot have anything to do with slow intermittent cranking.
You need a good auto electric shop/
Mr. Oldtimer , I don’t have a problem with any of my vehicles at the moment.
Sorry, I hit the wrong reply button.
The difficult part with trying to help you is that none of us know what is missing. Ignition spark, fuel injector pulse, and so on. It sounds like you have thrown a ton of parts at it with more than a guess involved.
First off, make sure there is an ignition spark.
Assuming the fuel pressure is correct then check for an injector pulse with a Noid light or by listening to the injectors with a stethoscope or via a long screwdriver while using the handle as an ear piece.
If it has compression, spark, and an injector pulse it should run. My gut feeling is that when this gets sorted out you will discover that it was something comparatively minor all along.
Don’t bash Honda. The car has 215k miles on it and things wear out. Many things. Somewhere in this country someone is saying at this very moment, My 215k miles (fill in the blank) is a pile of crap. I will never buy another (fill in the blank) again.
A question. What part of the ignition switch did you replace? The key/tumbler, the electrical, or both?
These cars are under a Recall for the interlock which means you could probably have had this job done for free at a Honda dealer. That means if the interlock/key/tumbler was replaced and the problem with your car is the electrical you could have had that replaced free of charge on the labor.
I used to have a '96 toyota camry and drove it for 224000 to 290000 and only had to replace the alternator, the steering pump and the cv joints. aside from that no problems. with the honda I have major problems every 1000 mi. I’m not expecting a maintenance free car at 215,000 but a 3 major breakdowns between oil changes is excessive. I’ve been to a shop and had another mechanic come to my house to inspect it personally. both of which have looked at it multiple times and the parts listed were their diagnosis. I’m here because I’m virtually out of money an options.
like I said to VOLVO-70 I used to have a '96 toyota camry and drove it for 224000 to 290000 and only had to replace the alternator, the steering pump and the cv joints. aside from that no problems. with the honda I have major problems every 1000 mi. I’m not expecting a maintenance free car at 215,000 but a 3 major breakdowns between oil changes is excessive. I’ve been to a shop and had another mechanic come to my house to inspect it personally. both of which have looked at it multiple times and the parts listed were their diagnosis. first diagnosis was the starter solenoid, next spark plugs, then high resistance battery cables, next the battery tested on the low side. then they thought the main relay wasn’t reliably firing, next the fuel pressure was on the low side.
Ignition was tested with a Nord light a few months ago and was fine. It’s not just this one problem, there have been numerous issues with the car while I’ve owned it far more than my past, much older, significantly more used Toyota Camry. If I sneeze on this thing a motor mount breaks. I’ve totally had enough but am out of options. the electrical ignition switch was replaced the tumbler has had no issues.
First place I’d look.
As for blaming Honda, one must realize that every car has it’s own trouble spots or qualities. You can take 2 Honda’s made within 2 hours of each other and one could produce major problems and the other can go fairly trouble free. For example, my daughters Honda CR-V is at 275,000 miles with no major problems. Yours, not so much. In the big picture, Honda’s reliability has been pretty darn good over all. But as always there are exceptions.
Update: I was tipped off by someone on another website that they had a similar problem with an odyssey of the same generation and after a similar chain of events (though not nearly as long) a grey beard honda mechanic had knew exactly what it was: a hairline fracture across a solder joint but he doesn’t remember where exactly in the starting circuit it was. he was able to reflow the joint and fix temporarily fix the problem in 5 mins.
That sounds like main relay (fuel pump relay) but that is not your problem.
You might have cable from the battery to the starter that is corroded internally, or where its ends crimp onto the wires.
It sounds like you are saying that the operation of the starter motor is intermittent and unreliable. Did you measure the voltage at the starter solenoid connector to see if the power supply is intermittent?
I haven’t reviewed the wiring diagram but most starters are controlled by the Powertrain Control Module, it is possible that the problem is in the PCM.
Pay close attention to the transmission gear selection indicator in the instrument cluster, shift from park to reverse, neutral and drive when the problem occurs, if it seems askew there is a problem with the transmission range sensor.
That’s an important clue. Are you using the car’s battery? Its battery cable, or something like a jumper cable? Problem with the battery or its cables are possible.
Also ignition switch - it may not be reliably completing the circuit to the starter solenoid. Can you remove that and test it? It wouldn’t be the first Honda with an ignition switch problem. There have been recalls.
If I understand your description of the starter problem correctly you are saying that the starter turns off and then back on while you hold the key in the START position. If that is the case I would check out the power path from the ignition switch to the starter solenoid connection. There will be some safety switches in the path also. Make sure input power to the ignition switch is good and the trouble isn’t before the switch. Something seems to be causing resistance in the power path to the solenoid. When you bypass the ignition path to the solenoid you say it works fine.
not sure about Odyssey, but in similar platform Accords it is an often occurring failure in some soldered-in relay in PCM, which is a well-known problem
a friend of mine was pulling his hair about his kid’s old Accord and as he troubleshooted the thing, he traced wiring for both ignition and starting circuits and wiring was OK, so he was about to blame PCM, but then on Honda-specific forums he found that the soldered-in relay may be the problem and resoldering that $2 part made a trick for him
just a guess from my side, not seeing the car in person
you might want to check on Honda-specific forums, it may be in even in their FAQ section