Honda Accord Problems 2000-2005

mikek37

Sounds like a problem with your gauge. I know for instance, my 03 V6 Accord, when the needle hits 1/4 of a tank, I know I have about 3-4 gallons left. HAve the dealer check it out. GOod luck.

Try to test it out. Drive till you hit the 1/3 mark, then fill it up and see how many gallons it takes?

inkie

Greg, You talked me into getting Marvel Mystery Oil at Pep Boys. I put a few ounces in the CRV and Accord. Had some left over used it as an after shave lotion. Face is as smooth as a babys behind. Hope it does the same for my cylinder walls.

gregoryc1

Good work! ----Be very careful around this board. Now that your are using "an additive in your fuel", the "Additive Police" will be out to get you! ---Just think about the possibility of being stopped on the road, and a sample of you fuel being taken to a Lab. for analysis to see if you are using an unauthorized additive in a Honda engine. The "Additive Police" will report you to Honda. You might even be sent to jail for violating a "Honda Rule"! Who knows where this issue could end???????--------- When we talk about "Marvel Oil" on this board, lets not mention "Marvel Oil" directly. Lets use the term "MMO"! The "Additive Police" will never know what we are talking about. They are not smart enough to see the connection. Lots of luck with the product. If you use the "product" for a couple of tanks of fuel,(4 ounces to every 10 gallons of fuel), you will notice that the engine will run VERY smooth, (especially when accelerating through the gears). But what every you do, don't let the "Additive Police" know that you are happy with the product, or the results of using the product. They will become VERY annoyed, and they will use "all their powers" to silence you on this board. I congratulate you on having the courage to be an independent thinker! Lets keep this little "operational secret" to ourselves!!! Remember the "Additive Police" are everywhere listening!!!! ----Have a nice day. ----Greg

auburn63

From an independent dealer or someone who just cares about others and thier cars? Either way I think we can do it on this board without getting our feelings hurt or calling people that have a different opinion dumb, don't you?

jrct9454

...I think the best solution here is for the rest of us to ignore this every time it comes up. It would be nice for our host to intervene, as well, but I realize this is marginal. It isn't offensive, just excruciatingly boring when we hear the same thing for the 100th time.

bchoy

Hi, If I were you, I would wait for 04 yr model...i bought 03 EX V6 3 weeks ago.....i found out the car always pulls to either left or right...also...founnd the rotten eggs smell too...i don't suggest you buying this yr model...i am totally disappointed with Honda's quality...........so DON'T buy this yr model

BC

mikek37

Great advice. Actually not really. The egg smell, it happens, its normal, it will go away, so get over it and stop crying.

spud41

Replacing the ABS sensor and removing/re installing the brake calipers should not change how the brakes feel. It might be a good idea to have a dealer inspect the car, and maybe they can compare it to a like vehicle to confirm.

mrfoxy54

I dont have any problems as yet with my 03 Accord EX Auto 4cyl. I did notice a slight drift/pull to the right in first or 2nd gear, but runs straight in other gears.

I dont think there are re-design issues with the 2003. Everyone always thinks there will be, but Honda has had 4 design changes since 1987 i believe, so i think they know what their doing.

It is possible that a specific Honda's quality may be directly related to where the vehicle was assembled. If its Japan, i suspect less issues. No offense to the people in Ohio, but i still think the Japanese worker's attention to detail and quality control is better than Americans.

ian2

Before blaming the car for pulling both left AND right, you might want to take a level to make sure the road you're on is level in the first place. Roads usually slope one way or another to drain the water away.

houstonsedan03

I had the same problem. Dealer said the car was designed to pull if one was to fall asleep at the wheel or get distracted? Didn't quite buy the story. One poster back in Jan '03 (my car new in Dec) had the same problem. Poster said "Honda is aware of a torque steer problem". I asked the dealer and of course, they didn't know. Mine has been aligned twice, and although a little better, still bugs me. Mine pulls more right, but still pulls to left sometimes.

03lxv6

to me is just an excuse for the manufacturer. Problems like pulling to the side, brake roter warpage etc simply cannot be explained by redesign. I guess we have to face the fact that Honda quality is no longer what it was 10 to 20 years ago.

quinn6

2001 LX bought used several months ago. Low beam lights were very low. I noticed but really thought little of it until I hit the deer at 60. Has anyone else noticed this? On rebuild of front end I had them raised and work ok now. Technician says they are too high now, but just seem finally ok to me.

houstonsedan03

Maybe we can hope to get "recall" notices in our mailboxes. There are too many of us complaining of the same problem in different cities. I can't just rest my hand on the wheel to drive, I have to almost hold it over with a little grip to keep the wheel straight so it won't drift right or left. I'm use to it now, but still don't like it. But after getting two alignments, what can I say. Has anyone heard the story about the "falling asleep" reason or the "torque steering" problem that I mentioned in my earlier post?

03lxv6

It is interesting that how many Camry people are complaining about Camry rattle too (in the Camry Rattle section). Honda and Toyota certainly try to outdo each other.

houstonsedan03

Does is REALLY guarantee against acid rain, eliminates waxing, guarantees against fading and loss of gloss FOR 6 YEARS???????? No waxing for 6 years? Hard to believe. Claims it repels sun, dirt chemicals, acid rain, oxidation, and salt?

03honda

My '03 EXL 4cyl. auto was pulling to the right. When I took it to the dealer for its first oil change I mentioned it to them. When I picked it up, the problem was fixed; they told me that one of the tires had 36psi in it, causing the pulling. For all of you with the pulling problem: check your tire pressures, it can be an easy fix. BTW, many auto makers over inflate their tires so they don't form flat spots during shipping. Part of the dealer prep is for someone to inspect the tires to make sure they are at their recommended pressures, obviously that inspection is sometimes overlooked.

bburton3

Difference in tire pressure caused a vw van of mine to pull left-dealer did not figure it out-a friend suggested checking the tp. Also some tires can be made incorrectly and the tire will have more rolling resistance-happened to a friend of mine-tire had a bad belt-so also rotate the two front tires-if the pull changes sides-u have found the problem.

Enough people have had this problem to alert Honda-course they are super secretive about their problems but tend to solve them rather than ignore them-some other manufacturer's have let well known problems continue for years.

jfigueroa1

Just to let you guys know I bought a 02 cr-v and lots of people had the same problem including me. Both " I think the same front clip" I took mine to the dealer they alined it no problem since. same with the not normal warm of the key, mine has it too.
Greetings from sunny Miami.

blane

Torque steering is NEVER a factor in any driving circumstance other than HARD acceleration. Even then, it's only for a second or two. Any "pulling" to the left or right in normal straight driving would have to be either a misaligned front end (Did you hit many potholes last winter?) or incorrect tire pressures (Check them with a good gauge when cold and inflate per the specs on your door frame.)

lildog1

I have a honda accord and i just had my car aligned, but everytime I begin to slow down or aplly pressure to the brakes my car begins to shake, what casues this problem

gregoryc1

A wheel balance problem and / or brakes rotors are warped. A damaged tire could also cause a problem.----I hope this information helps you with this problem. What year is this Honda Accord? If it has high mileage, you might want to have the front drive joints looked at by the dealer.

bburton3

Did the dealer remove the tires for some reason-if so I suspect the tech used a impact wrench and warped your rotors-get a click type torque wrench and retorque the lug nuts to 80 foot pounds assuming u have stock steel wheels-just retorquing helped reduce the shaking when braking bit caused by using a impact wrench to tighten lug nuts. Never ever let anyone with an impact wrench close to your lug nuts-if they use torque sticks-no way-make them use a click type torque wrench-yeah you can get very accurate torque adjustment by looking at the pointer type-but even the double digit iq types can usually determine when it clicks. I even take my own very pricey "snap on-Billy Jean King" torque wrench for the tech to use when I have my wheels removed. Be careful out there.

storm11

Quinn6,

I have an '02 EXL V6 and the lights were terribly aimed when purchased. They hit the ground 20-30 ft. out and died, especially on the driver side.

I had a Honda technician show me how to adjust them. There is a toothed nut in the back of each lamp assembly that you turn to adjust. The lights are actually pretty bright and illuminate fairly well (except for the sides) once aimed properly (be careful not to do it too much as that will blind oncoming drivers....if they're flashing you, the adjustment was too much). A flat head screw driver will adjust the nut...it works counterintuitive to the way you would think to turn it, though. Once adjusted, you get a nice beam that throws pretty well in front of you. Doesn't help the sides, though. No adjustment fixes that on these lights, which is why I added a set of Hella fogs in the lower grill opening. They supplement the regular beams very nicely (they look nice, too....gives the front a unique look). Good luck.

chikoo

1. Check the tire pressure
2. Check alignment

if 1 & 2 are within specs and you still feel like the steering is pulling, I would like to remind that this year Honda has made the accord "sportier" than ever before by providing firmer suspension. One of the drawbacks of bieng sportier is that it will track the road more than a regular "buick" sedan. So you must get used to it. I say this because I did not know this when I got my Protege ES. I had upgraded from a used corolla.
The Protege owing to its firmer suspension and sway bars, will follow the road more than eagerly and I always thought that the alignment was wrong. 3 years later, I am enjoying the car and the pulling problem is not even felt by me.

plethysmo

I've had a 2003 Accord Coupe V6 LX for 2 weeks and haven't found the 8-way seat to be comfortable. There is a hard spot on my outside right hip. Seems like I keep sliding toward the middle of the car and onto the hard spot. My rear is normal size. Has anyone else had this problem? If so, what has helped?

bbohnhoff

At about 14000 miles my Accord developed a grinding noise when applying the brakes, especially after a long high speed run down the interstate. The dealer's shop can't find anything wrong (or what they think is abnormal).
Does anyone else have this problem??
I can't see why any noise from braking is normal, unless the pads are gone.(?)

hondadriven

OK!!! Re: #:4994, 5005, 5010
Finally got both my actuators and had a couple or so hours to work on my car yester' evening.
Replaced my Front Right Door lock actuator.
Must admit, wasn't that easy getting the outer door lock rod off, but once I figured that out, everything else worked like a charm.
Tested the door, works great. Couldn't complete replacing the rear door actuator, got kinda dark..(different assembly too on door) hopefully it clears enough (rain) for me to work on it today. Its times like this I wish I had a car garage <;-)
** Hey, even disassembled that messed up actuator and found out what was wrong with it.. Popped out spring that broke off its plastic enclosed casing ***
=> Hope this won't happen with the remaining good one or the replaced ones. Also hope its some useful info for those having similar probs. Definitely saved me some chiching $$$ doing the job myself. Thanks spud41 for his input, came in v. handy
- Tony -

mike767

My 2003 Ex 4 door satin silver with only 3000 miles bumper easily scratches and yesterday at the car wash an mnm size paint chip came off, Is anybody else experiencing this problem.

bburton3

If this car wash had brushes and blanket like things that touch your car-don't use these-scratches hell out of your paint. Some car washes also reuse the water-one of those idiots running a car wash in Mpls told me they filtered out the salt. I use one of the wand DIY thingies-happened to see the water treatment area of this guys place-wow-guy had 50K worth of water treatment systems in place. I wipe mine down with a clean bath towel-manage to liberate enough when traveling to always make sure vehicle has enough towels.

bburton3

Seems to happen a lot in the spring-last week a whole bunch of people who just filled up at a gas station in Chicago had their engines quit just after leaving the station. Well the station was getting a fuel delivery at the time. There is always some water in their big underground storage tanks-it is generally right at the bottom of the tank-have seen the tanker truck dudes poking a long pole down with something that reacts with the water to measure it's depth.

Bottom line-if you see the tanker truck offloading fuel-get your gas some place else. A load of water could ruin your whole week.

stinkbug

I have 1500 miles on my 2003. When I depress the clutch there is a "popping" sensation in the clutch, like it is coming from the spring. Would a simple adjustment do the trick? It hasn't caused any discernible problems (yet)

wdoran

My 1990 accord seems to have warm air even on a moderately cold day with the heater knob turned to cold. The knob does work in that by turning it up the heat becomes high. Is there a water valve or door in the the heater unit that could cause this? Now that some days are hot the A/C can barely keep up.

spud41

Glad to hear it!!!!

india2

I just purchased a 2003 Accord EX-L 4cyl (May 17, 2003)I have two concerns with my new car 1)I am noticing that when I brake their is a vibration for @15 secs it stops for @15secs and then starts again. 2)The ride is very bouncy. I feel every imperfection on the road. Has anyone else expereinced these problems?

accord7

I had the same problem on my 1990 Accord. They had to replace the master cylinder, an adjustment to the clutch didn't take care of it. Fortunately, yours is under warranty.

tony258

Just did a check and I am getting 15.11 mpg on my LX-6...by any standard that really stinks...oh well...better start biking.

plethysmo

I've had a 2003 Accord Coupe V6 LX for two weeks and got 27.1 and 28.5 mpg for the first two fill ups. Mostly freeway driving but much of that is stop-and-go due to heavy traffic.
  
Keep trying to find out what is causing your poor mileage.

mikek37

27.8 and 28 mpg with mostly city traffic driving. I find that hard to believe, I have the 03 EX V6, and Im lucky if I get 23 MPG's with 40 highway and 60 city.Soo inorder for you to pull that off you will need to be about 75 percent highway and 25 percent city, which isnt implied within your post.

How long is your commute anyway?In order for anyone t for anyone to achieve the 30+ mpg levels you have to extend your trip to atleast 1 hour of non stop, which means no traffic at all, traveling.

For the V6 accords, overall you wont get bettter then 24 city or 33 highway. If anyone does, please let me know their miracle cure is.

auburn63

Pull the knob completely off and look at the back of it as they tend to break/crack. If the knob is ok then yes under the hood follow the small heater hose back to the valve and make sure it is traveling fully.

hondaex03

I just bought my Accord EX 4cyl about 1 month ago and I'm shocked to hear of all the problems. I guess I'll just have to wait and see what I encounter. Question...has anyone heard anything good or bad about K & N air filters? Do they really work?

blane

hondaex03:

Don't be shocked at the minimal number of "problems" that you've read about here. Don't forget, when you read things on a "problems" board, you don't get any input from the vast majority of owners who have never had a problem.

If you are looking forward to owning an air filter that you have to oil, wash the oil from, clean up any related mess from, and be a slave to, then I reccommend that you install a K & N filter. There are many good reasons that NO automobile manufacturers have installed oil-bath air filters for the past quarter century. Paper-type air filters are just better at doing their job.

fritz1224

My 2k v6 accord has begun to need a couple of seconds of cranking before starting for the first time of the day. Bought it new and it used to jump to life with just a flick of the key. Has 40k now. Subsequent starts during the day are just like when new. Could the fuel pressure be bleeding down during the night and causing the need to repressurize the fuel line, thus,the extended cranking? Would this be associated with some type of check valve in the fuel pump? What would parts and labor for fuel pump cost at a Honda dealer? Tomorrow morning I will try turning the key to the "run" position and let it sit there for a couple of seconds, then to the "start" position and see how it reacts. The results of this experiment may help with my uneducated theory.
Any helpful information would be appreciated.
The battery is going on 4 years old, but the speed with which the engine cranks doesn't lead me to believe this is the cause. But I'm open to a plausible explanation if someone believes this could be the cause.

lastwraith

Hi all. I recently purchased a '90 Accord LX with 132K miles on it but am having a problem. The sport shift light on the dash illuminates regardless of whether the button on the shifter is depressed or not. The car starts out in second gear and does not want to shift into any other. On the rare occasion it shifts into third (usually when it is at 4000rpm or more) it soon after jumps back down into second again, sending the rpms to about 4500-5000. I have the maintenance history, but it has not had any tranny work done to it recently. Would a 3x flush and fill with honda ATF fix my problem?

On a side not, this car is amazing coming from the previous owner of an '88 buick regal where the only working gauge was the speedo. That car went to 220K miles on the original 2.8L V6 though Although I would really love to be driving a 91 Pont Bonne SSE with the 3.8, the Accord has impressed me, especially at the pump! Just want to say hi to alcan (whos posts on the bonne board I always enjoy, esp the back and forth between you and intense01). You are to that board what auburn is to this one. After reading all 5k plus msgs in this board, auburn is as amazing with hondas as you are with bonnes. Thanks in advance for any help!

alcan

thanks for the kind words, just made a few lucky guesses. IMO, auburn and Opatience are two of the heavy hitters at Edmunds, years of experience and good, solid advice. I'm thinking an electrical problem with your Accord, causing it to default to 2nd gear. Let's see what the Honda pro comes up with.

lastwraith

Thanks for the quick response alcan. After digging online (computers are my specialty, but cars hold my interest, hehe) I found out that my honda was in "limp-home mode". This means only reverse and second gear were available (exactly what was happening). I jumped two pins under the glove box and turned the key but came up with no codes. So, I detached the battery cables and held them together to reset everything. So far so good, she is acting normal. In case anyone else has this problem and it is not just a "hiccup", here are possible solutions I came across while online.

1)Solved my own problem by resetting the E.C.U holding both battery cables together for 10 seconds

2)Thank you glen. It was the transmission control module. Replaced it, problem fixed.

3)Trouble with down shifting? Turned out to be the TPS (Throttle Positioning Sensor).

4)Check all your fuses and electrical connections on the transmission - some transimissions go into "limp home" mode when the electronics fail or lose power. You then have Reverse and 2nd only.

5)If the symptom is trouble with shifting gears, then that's the (TPS)Throttle Position Sensor. To be sure, have it tested for the ECM(computer)Code. If you get a reading of 7, then its the TPS...code 17 is for VSS.

6)Finally figured out the thermostat was sticking open not allowing engine to properly heat up. Replaced thermostat and trans started working fine!

Thanks again everyone, hate to say it, but I really like this car....:) Now I have to decide on whether to throw in an LSD tranny, H22a, and use/not use oil additives... just kiddin'. Have a good one everybody.

auburn63

If that reset doesnt last for the long term then it will need a transmission control unit. We have seen a good bit of those do as you say..Thanks for the kind words and good luck on the reset,,

gregoryc1

Very interesting posting, ----but you used a word that is not permitted on this board. Even though it was used in "humor", it still cannot be tolerated. That word is "Additive"! This is a Honda board, and we all know the position of Honda, on the use of any form of additive, either in the fuel or the oil. The "Additive Police" are VERY strict about the enforcement of this "Honda Rule" and they do not allow any exceptions,---- even when "Humor" is involved. In the future, if you must refer to "additives", try using the word supplement. This term is more acceptable, and it does not violate the "additive rule" that is clearly stated in the "owner's manual", (the Honda Bible). I realize that you did this in an effort to be "funny", but the "Additive Police" do not have a "sense of humor". They are "black & white" thinkers,(no gray in their world), and they follow the rules as stated in the "Owner's Manual" TO THE LETTER! I thought your comment was "very funny", but don't expect any support from the ranks of the "Additive Police".------- You have a GREAT day. You have a GREAT SENSE OF HUMOR! ------Greg

bodble2

You gotta read the whole sentence. He was being facetious. The Additive Police don't have a thing on him.

lastwraith

Actually, I would think those concerned with oil would be more "golden-brown" thinkers than anything else. But that's why I need the engine swap. With 200hp, the supplement police will be in my rearview You know you have dependable transport when the problems board is bandying opinions on "supplements" and tire choices. Night everyone.