Edmunds dealer partner, Bayway Leasing, is now offering transparent lease deals via these forums. Click here to see the latest vehicles!
Popular New Cars
Popular Used Sedans
Popular Used SUVs
Popular Used Pickup Trucks
Popular Used Hatchbacks
Popular Used Minivans
Popular Used Coupes
Popular Used Wagons
Comments
My girlfriend also made the trip with me, and for her, She was a little sore at the end of each day. She had to use a small travel pillow for relief. I guess it's a personal issue with each person. Some find the seats great, some as you have found do have issues.
Have you tried a small lumbar support pillow, the type designed for vehicles? A trucker friend said he picked one up at a truck stop, and it made a world of difference for him.
Mrbill
Except: LX-PZEV, EX-PZEV, EXL-PZEV 1.0 - 1.1 mm (0.039-0.043 in)
For: LX-PZEV, EX-PZEV, EXL-PZEV 1.2 - 1.3 mm (0.047-0.051 in)
Torque 18 N.m (13 lb.ft)
TYPE:
NGK: IZFR6K11
DENSO: SKJ20DR-M11
Anyway, I decided to go old school and add some distilled water to the battery. It is the OEM maintenance free battery, but the covers do come off so you can add fluid. Since the water was added the battery has newfound vigor and where it used to crank slowly to start the car it now fires right up just like new - even in temps near zero. Going down to about -15 in a couple of days so that will be the real test.
Cost for New battery was about $80. cost for a gallon of distilled water was $.82 (only used about 8 oz).
Just thought I would share for anybody with a weak battery.
Sounds like a very useful tip, really, one I could make use of myself, if only I had the confidence to know what I'd be doing. Never heard of refilling a maintenance free battery before, but if it works, hey, more power to the user.
When I press the unlock button, the door lock pops up and down very quickly - there is not enough time to open the door. I have been "locked" in my car for as little as a few minutes to as long as 1 hour. I am able to manually pull up the passerger left side lock and crawl out the back. I called my local Honda dealership who said they are unaware of the problem and unless they can re-create it - it can't be fixed. Can anyone help me here? Today it happened when I was going for gas - locked in the car and it was 19 degrees!
At 75k, recent MPG calc's are showing a slight decrease. I thought it was the winter blend fuel.
I'm vacillating between a new Acura 6M and budgeting for the labor intensive big
time 105,000 mile service for my Accord 6M coupe.
Would it be a fair statement that this service (timing belt/water pump et al, plugs, valve adjust could run me $1000 - 1200 at the friendly Honda dealer's sprinkled around our state capital?
season's best, ez....
Love cheap fixes. When the alternator went out on my Integra at 130k miles I just replaced the brushes for $6 - still going strong at 240k.
Most repair places want to replace the whole part these days. More profit in an expensive repair - and probably less chance of return with a whole new part.
Winters are a problem, no doubt, with these newer cars and their smallish batteries. I make it a point to take a long run (30 or so miles cruising at 60 or better) at least once a week, weather permitting. And -- I think -- it's a good idea to at least start up the car and let it idle for about 20 minutes each day, rather than let it sit two or three nights in a row in freezing temps. The idling probably does little in the way of recharging, but it just might slow down the battery-drain that would occur otherwise.
Thank you for your help. This website has proven very helpful over the couple of years that I've been using it.
Also, I have been noticing that I'm getting lower mileage than I was at this point last year and wonder if it might be time for new plugs and stuff. Last year around this time, under similar driving conditions and distances (I've since changed jobs and don't have an identical drive) I was getting 23-25 during the winter. The last few tanks I've gotten 19-21. NOT very good in my opinion.
FWIW I'm now just over 71k and would like to know if there are any small things that I can do in order to perhaps increase mileage a little. I live in MN so defrost is virtually a must for most days. Any tips or ideas. Thanks.
Mr. Shiftright, is it difficult to get at the coil?
Remove the four nuts holding the coil cover on (cover on top of the engine, with four chrome nuts) . Remove the bolts holding the coils down, then unplug the wire connectors by releasing the locking tabs on the connectors. Pull the coils out gently. You will need a spark plug socket to get the plugs out (I prefer the magnetic type). Any questions? The procedure is in the 03 owner's manual, but I don't know if your manual has this. Good luck.
I've been trying to get in touch with the repair facility and they haven't had time to really respond. I'm just curious if you have any ideas so I can know what to expect.
I'm wondering if winter tires are in order?
Well today I decided to change oil on my winter truck, and since it was 16 degrees outside, I figured I'd do it in the garage and turn the furnace on. I needed to back out the Accord for the room. Although it wasn't a total surprise, when I hit the key in the Accord, the battery was dead. I still wanted to use the garage, but I don't want to jump start a frozen battery, so I took it out as well as the plastic battery box. I got another older and much larger battery that I kept when I replaced the battery in my winter truck, and figured I would try to see if it fits. I was surprised that not only did it fit in the car without the box, but there was room to spare. I was able to use it to get the car started.
So, now that I see there is alot of room without the Factory battery box, am I asking for trouble if I upgraded to a larger battery? I would need to find another battery tray, and would loose the factory box. I would also need to change the top clamp to a wider one, but may be able to use the factory hold down bolts since the metal factory tray is wide enough that the holes for the hooks are still visible. I would have to do some measuring to make sure I could close the hood completely.
The only thing I'm concerned about is heat. The factory box may help reduce the battery heat, but it doesn't have any intake duct on it to draw in cooler air, so I wonder how much it really does. Since my Accord is an I4, there isn't much close by that's radiating heat except for the radiator/condenser.
Even if I don't upgrade to a larger battery, it's nice to know that in a pinch, a larger battery does fit.
Mrbill
The headlight unit? Well, with the bumper off, it should be a pretty easy change out, but I am guessing the part is expensive.
Oh, not really. Quick google search, and found a place that has it for about $65, shipped free. Even has a bulb. Easy to install too.
headlight
For the battery, I just replaced mine, and was surprised that I could only get a lower line (440CCA) model at walmart. None of the fancier 600+ ones like I put in my Odyssey.
If you have an '04 on the original POC, it is way past it's expiration date!
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
The distilled water addition seems to have done the trick my battery started the car this am in -30 degrees (no wind chill). When I priced batteries at Walmart they had an $80 battery for the Accord with higher cca.
Ironic - I just hit a deer the other day and not too much damage, but it was the bumper cover and one headlight. I will know exactly how much it costs as soon as I hear back from insurance. I will probably do the repairs myself to save a little dough. I will have the cover painted professionally though.
Question: how much driving did you do after the refill? I'd have thought a fair amount of highway cruising would have been required to bring the battery up to something close to full charge. Or am I mistaken?
Sorry about your car as well Dudley. I'm thinking my next car will not be Silver. It seems that Silver is my unlucky color. Something stupid has happened to it each year I've had it. This will be the second new bumper cover in as many years.
First one was due to a hit and run in the parking lot at Walmart. I was inside and somebody took out my bumper. It was a nice 18 in jagged crack that couldn't be repaired.
We only got about 20 inches in the x-mas storm and the new years storm, but the wind is making huge drifts and they are packed hard. Hard enough that my kids can walk up them and get on the roof of my neighbors garage.
And yes I did run the car for a long time after putting water in the battery and I took a 450 mile trip the next day (the day the deer attacked).
This is our only car and the ealiest date a loaner is available is thursday, so we have a service appointment then to have it fixed. The original 3/36 warranty is still in force, thank god for that. :sick:
I greatly appreciate hearing about any ideas or suggestions?
Happy Hondaring!
John
Mine will feel better after $3800 in repairs. :sick: They have to replace a wheel, which I guess hit pretty hard on the guard rail, the front bumper (I guess there were 3 pieces that got damaged), the front grill, front headlight and headlight bracket, and I guess there was some damage to the fender. Luckily insurance will cover most of it, save my $1k deductible.
I hate black ice.
A little less damage than you tankbeans, but I don't really feel lucky.
Did your estimate say it was ok to use non honda parts?
I love winter and I hate winter. Especially black ice, and I think I read somewhere that they did a survey of drivers in our country and it said that Minnesota drivers, twin cities in particular, were the 3rd rudest in the country so our winter driving gets fun.
I'm hoping that this is the last foray into a body shop for my car. It's getting a little tiresome. If it keeps up I might unload it before I hit my goal of 200k.
I wasn't prepared for the harsher ride in this model, which I guess is mainly attributable to the 17" alloys with lower profile tires. Or is there a tighter suspension in this model vs. my old LX? Anyway, if it's the wheels, I'm going to ask my service rep about installing a set of the 16" alloys that come on the SE 4 cyl. models, since they have a little higher profile tire. I don't know if there are any issues involving the brakes, etc., where the 16" wheels might not work on this car.
Just wondering if anyone has gone that route, and with what success.
It also seems to me the transmission doesn't shift as smoothly as in my 4 cyl. model, especially going from third to fourth under light acceleration, when I sometimes get a kind of thud as it drops into fourth.l My rep and service manager have driven it, said they noticed something once, but pronounce it operating normally. And it does shift fine under steady acceleration. Is this just a characteristic of this model, do you think?
Also had really bad, annoying, sometimes almost constant rattles coming from the tiny front speakers up in each corner of the dashboard. They put some foam tape in, and that helped. Anyone had this problem, and gotten a better fix?
I appreciate any feedback. I like the increased power of this model, and the redesigned rear end. I got it from a Honda dealer as a certified Honda, so it has great warranties, and had only 13000 miles on it, so it's really like new. Light blue with gray interior.
Not crazy about the ultra low profile tires showing up these days. Even some more pedestrian cars like GTI, Matrix Sport and some others are running 40 series and they look silly, are expensive to replace, and easy to damage. I actually went to 15" tires (65 series) with my snows because of the harsher winter conditions.
The ironic thing is those super low profile tires weigh more and hurt performance and mpg.
I bet you would find plenty of people who would trade their I4 rims/tires for your V-6 rims and even give you a little cash.
The V6 suspension is stiffer, and I'm sure the 17" wheels don't help the ride either. I have an 03 V6, with 16" wheels, and the ride is fine for me (subjective).
I just got my car back. I'm very happy about that. Would you guys think that I would be smart to replace both of my turn signal lights? The one that had to be replaced is a considerably paler orange than the other one. I figure if I replace them both I will get the same color on both sides and my car won't look lopsided. Also I'm not sure if the color on the one side is precisely legal considering it isn't orange (well amber, but you all know what I mean). The police in our state tend to get a little uppity if the lights aren't exactly the right color. I got a ticket for having blue fog lights.
Thank you for all of your help.
It's amazing how low profile some of the tires are these days, especially on the performance cars. The tire winds up looking like just a little strip of rubber. I wish Honda had treated the SE as more of a family sedan than a sport sedan and put higher profile tires on it.