Honda Accord Problems 2000-2005

leeby

Looking at my VIN plate, I see some rivets at both ends of the plate. I don't think the rattle is from the rivets because it is too noticeable. I will let the Honda tech know about those rivets though. Thanks for your help.

leeby

Could you explain more about the headliner? I am not sure what you are talking about. Let me know.

wesman01

Chucko3 was right. Rotors were warped so at 15K I had to have a brake job on the fronts. They claim it's because I'm rough on the brakes which is BS. Let's see if this problem comes up again.

blane

ryan76,

I'd have the vehicle looked at by another Honda dealership's service department. If they find a problem, and you can come up with the records of your previous concerns (They are probably in the big computer in the sky), they should be able to help you get Honda (corporate) to resolve your issues.

lx_steal

There are rods that hold up the headliner. They run from right to left. I just started tapping just back from the visor, and heard a familiar sound. I then pressed the rods that hold the headliner in place, and by moving these rods a bit, the noise went away.

nash123

Hi,

Since I just bought my car, I figured I should upgrade to this forum from the "Buying Experiences" Forum.

I am very happy with my purchase, but two things that kind of annoy me with my car are the huge blind spot on my left rear view mirror - I know people have been talking about it here but it is significantly larger than any other car I have owned before.

Also, the antenna reception is poor. I wish that I had a manual antenna just like on my old Civic. I get very poor radio reception in downtown Chicago where I live. I lose signal or the sound quality goes down when I am in between tall buildings. I never had this problem before with a regular antenna.

jfergus

I agree with what others are saying. Either the tires are out of balance, or one of them is defective (remember that you aren't the first person driving this car, it could have developed a problem on a previous test drive, coming off the truck, something at the factory after its onroad track test, etc.).

Take it to the dealer's service department. Bypass the salespeople altogether. Before you go, check if there is a separate tire warranty on the car, probably direct from the tire manufacturer. I'm not sure if Honda has this, but most new cars do. Follow the instructions in the warranty for having the tires inspected. Such a warranty may even allow you to take your car to a tire store that sells that brand and have them check it out, bypassing the dealer completely.

user777

FWIW: a comment about blind spots which may be useful.

someone posted in one of the other forums some helpful advice on how to adjust your side mirrors to complement the rear-view mirror view.

essentially (i think this is right) to adjust the mirror on the driver's door, lean your head against the driver's door glass and adjust so you just loose sight of the edge of your car...for the passenger side mirror, lean over to the right (over the shifter) and adjust till you loose sight of the edge of your car... then verify all three mirrors complement each other's views.

personally, i had been driving with mirrors mis-adjusted for decades. once i read this tip, i noticed an immediate improvement with "seeing" vehicles at the side of my car, my blind spots had been greatly reduced.

it took about a week to get used to, but now i just can't imagine having them adjusted the way i used to do it.

nash123

I'll try the mirror deal that you mentioned. Another option would be to get a convex mirror from Europe (all the Civics and Accords have convex left mirrors) which show you everything. I was used to those when I was there and have a hard time driving with a flat mirror here. Hope the Accord mirrors over there fit the ones here (Their Accords are basically the Acura TSXs that are sold in the US).

srobak

I would actually recommend against this tactic. It is very important - especially when driving with mixed-magnification mirrors - that you have a frame of reference when looking in them. Also, one should not check behind/beside them by mirrors alone... look over your shoulder. It works and it is quick on both the drivers and passengers side. This is something that you learned in drivers education, and it is something that you certainly should do.

Your frame of reference doesn't have to be much, either... the rear door handle, edge of the car/side window. So long as you can see where that is, you are set. The glance over the shoulder to the driver's side is only to see if there is a car next to the rear door... the rest I can see just fine through the side mirror. Same on the passenger side - look behind the passenger seat and out the rear side window to see if there is a car there. It only takes a second and makes you 10x more safe. Don't be lazy and live in the mirrors.

user777

srobak: i wasn't advocating that one should not look over one's shoulder's before preparing to change lanes. not at all.

merely that i found i was mis-adjusting my mirrors and therefore, my situational awareness of what was happening around my vehicle (via the mirrors) was less than it might otherwise be.

i did write that one should check to make sure the side mirrors complemented the rear-view mirror. i believe that is true regardless of the process one uses to set the mirror.

i'm not claiming to be an expert - just passing along a potentially useful tip, driver to driver.

i also prefaced the post with FWIW "For What Its Worth".

srobak

Understood...

I guess I would just recommend people look at this...

user777

pretty, that helps re-inforce the point that it is possible to have your mirrors adjusted incorrectly such that you have an un-necessarily large blindspot at 2 extremes of side mirror travel.

cowboybarry

Ask your dealer to cover the part under warranty.

atlantabenny

My radio light, together with the HVAC back-lighting, also went out last week. While the radio and HVAC still worked, I couldn't see their settings at night or even in daylight. Car has 45k miles.

Took it to the dealer Saturday and today got word that HOA will replace the radio unit (which supposedly supplies lighting to the entire radio/HVAC fascia) at a $42.00 "co-pay" for labor.

Tip: if, as in my case, the service advisor says "you haven't really been a frequent service customer," ask that they get the Honda District Rep's approval.

Apparently, the problem is widespread enough to be considered for goodwill (or, more aptly, "reputation protection?") settlement.

imidazol97

>"you haven't really been a frequent service customer,"

Do you mean the service salesman was saying if you weren't a frequent spender in their store, they had no interest in trying to get something fixed under warranty?!!!

atlantabenny

"Do you mean the service salesman was saying if you weren't a frequent spender in their store, they had no interest in trying to get something fixed under warranty?!!!"

Well, the car - at 45k - is already beyond the 36k warranty.

Even then, and somewhat speaking to your point, a major component that sustains very light wear and tear and which, by common knowledge, hardly ever breaks, should be replaced at no cost.

If HOA hadn't acquiesced, I'd begin to think that HOA would be going the way of a 2nd tier car company.

There's hope.

dvrice

I am in the process of purchasing my wife a new car. We have narrowed our choices down to the Maxima, Passat, Acura TL, and Accord. The interior on the maxima is terrible and I am worried about the reliability on the Passat. I love everything about the TL except the price. My wife and I both like the EX-L V6 Accord with one exception which is the suspension. We both felt like the suspension is not "tight" enough. The car feels like it floats a little and leans on curves.

Has anyone else feel this is a problem? This may be a dumb question, but can the suspension a new Accord simply be "tightened" by the dealer or does this require all new shocks?

If there is an easy (inexpensive) way to improve the handling of the Accord then we will buy one. If not, it looks like I will fork over the extra $7K for the TL.

Thanks

lx_steal

Try a Hyundai Sonata.

accord6mt

I have a 05 accord coupe 6MT that has a front shock tower bar standard (don't know if they revised the basic suspension) and the car is pretty tight for regular driving. I've driven a v6 coupe with & without the bar and I must say the bar makes the suspension a lot tighter.

I'm sure you can add aftermarket front and rear bars and you can probably add larger diameter stabilizer bars as well and you'd have a tight-running sedan for much less than the $7K for the TL...

But then again I wonder if these additions would void the warranty on the suspension...?

Any other suggestions or comments?

mrbill1957

Honda does offer a replacement set of struts that are supposed to tighten up the suspension. The set is $450, which I guess isn't too bad if that's the only fault you have of the car.

They can be found at places like this:
http://www.handa-accessories.com/accext03.html

Description:

Honda Factory Performance Sport Suspension
For V6 Models only. 2 and 4 door.
High performance springs reduce ride height by about one-inch and lower the Accord's roll center.
High performance shock absorbers are tuned for enhanced road handling characteristics and decreased body roll.
Includes set of 4.
Not as great of a handling improvement on 6 speed models as they already have upgraded suspension from the factory.
Note: Not returnable for any reason. All sales final.

srobak

You want it *tighter*? Most folks want it a little softer... especially the 4 cyls... Go test drive that model... As for the Passat - that was one of my finalists... which has had awesome reliability ratings and reviews...some areas better than the Accord - so what were you concerned with exactly?

Check into the EX-L Accord.

user777

FWIW see if test driving another, you have the same experience. could be the tires in the vehicle you rode in were inflated on the low side to provide a softer ride.

lrrysanders

I have a 2000 Accord EX, and I'm having the same problem. I took it to the dealer, who took 70 buck to diagnose the problem. They said it was the hood latch, and that it would cost 400 bucks to fix it. I asked how much to disable the entire alarm system and they quoted another 200 bucks. I would like to find a way to either disable the hood protection or just remove the alarm easily by myself. Have you had any luck?

bmq

I have a 2004 Accord EX 4cl with approx. 25K miles.

The brakes started making a scratching noise :mad: , and I took it in to the dealer. He said the rear pads are worn and charged me $170 to replace them.
He indicated that Honda started to put thinner pads on which wear out faster.

Is this correct? Are the brakes only lasting 25K miles?
I would have hoped to not have to get a brake job until 50K-60K miles.

What are your experiences?

mrbill1957

If you read some of the previous posts, there have been many complaints on the short life of the rear pads.

I also have a '04 EX-L 4 cyl, and I inspected both the front and back brakes when I first got it. For what I could see, the thickness of the pads looked similar, maybe a little thinner, but not that drastic compared to other auto pads I have replaced, so I don't see why they should wear so fast.

Honda probably has different suppliers for the same part, so maybe it's supplier related? That may explain why some people are having problems, and some not.

Any after market supplier lists the Accord as using "ceramic" pads. This is my first car with ceramic pads, so I cant comment on how long they last.

I plan on trying another brand name pad supplier when mine are do for a change. Aftermarket ceramic pads run around $45-$50 for a set for the Honda. Replacing pads is a one coffee job, and for me, well worth my time to do it myself.

Mrbill

screenshot

mine is a 05 LX auto, and i can sometine hear the same kind of sound in my car on rough roads, i thought it comes from the dash area, but if i touch somewhere in the headliner, the sound will go away.

levi1

I have a 2000 Honda Accord EX V6 coupe with almost 113,000 miles. My rear brakes also needed replacing at 25,000 miles, which I couldn't believe when it happened. My Honda service dept. also told me that Honda was using smaller brake pads than before. Strangely though, they've lasted longer since that first change. I'd have to go through all my records, but they haven't had to be done every 25,000 miles since the first time...and my driving habits haven't changed.

My car also had the infamous automatic transmission extended warranty to 100,000 miles because of the problems with them, but I haven't had any problems whatsover with mine.

adjoa75

I am soo fustrated with this car :lemon:, any advice is welcome!

Okay, I bought the car used a year ago (from a honda dealership, took it to another dealership to have it looked over and it had a clean bill of health), it had ~31K on it. I am at 52K now, mostly highway miles.

I had my 45k maintenance done in may and the back brakes were fixed at the sametime. In that same month the CEL comes on (before the maintenance) took the car to a service station and the mechanic tells me I need oil, so I fill it up and tell the technican during the 45k maintenance what happens, seeing that I get my oil changes there also. He tells me to monitor it and let him know if it happens again. Now in late june samething.

So the car has been losing oil. I have to add oil at lease one a month. There are no oil leaks anywhere, I check when I pull out from a spot. My friend was driven behind me a couple of times and there isn't black smoke coming from the car. Also, when I am accelerating there is a delay and then the car "hiccups" and then speeds up.

If you have any idea what is going on place give your suggestions.

Thanks!

P.S. - anyone clear the extended warranty for the transmission? The dealership says that it only cover if the transmission needs to be replaced not anything that needs to be fixed.

dynamitedan

I just got a 05 V6 Sedan and have never had automatic climate control. I was wondering if the auto climate control should be left on all the time. The owners manual suggest that it shouldn't be left off but for short periods. Won't leaving it on all the time take a toll on the engine since it's running the AC all the time? I live in San Diego so when I have the auto climate control on set at 72 the AC seems to always be on? It just seems that this would take a toll on the engine but maybe they make them way better nowadays.

Also when I do have the Climate control off the air blowing in from outside throught he vents always seems to be about 5-10 degrees warmer than the air outside....could there be something wrong with the vents?

In all my older cars I only run AC when really needed. Any suggestions or information would be great.

snakerbill

If your brakes need to be replaced at 25000K, why was this not done under the 36000K warranty? Mine were replaced and the roters turned at 28000K at no charge. What kind of a dealer do you have??

whitecloud1

It's taken a change of habit for me. I have the '03 without NAV. What I do is always turn the system off when I'm done driving.

That's mainly because I want control of the system when I start the car. I rarely use the AUTO button. Once you see that every option in the system can be controlled manually, it's like the old systems. I doubt that there is anything wrong with your vents. If you don't like that air, when the system is off, just hit the recirc. button.
Also, the system is so well integrated that I doubt that leaving it on all the time would be a problem. I personally don't like that and I think the reason for the suggestion is to remove moisture, not necessarily to cool off. Set the temp. Set your fan speed..etc., or just hit AUTO and set your temp.

whitecloud1

Free brakes? What kind of dealer do you have?

mrbill1957

I have an 04 Accord and I leave the climate control on Auto all the time. Thats the feature of the Auto climate control, set it and forget it!! It's most likely designed to turn on the compressor only when needed.

72 degrees setting in San Deigo I would assume that it would need to run the A/C to mantain temp. Keep in mind, it can be cooler then 72 outside, but the sun can warm the car requiring the A/C to run.

As far as warm air coming out the vents, I have noticed the same thing on other cars. The air is picked up thru the cowling right below the windshield, which can pick up heat from the engine, and heat off the hood, warming it up a little before you get it thru the vents.

srobak

Brakes are a wearable item and are not covered under warranty unless they are defective. 25k in city driving is well within spec. If your dealer has replaced brakes between 25 and 36k, pleae post the address here so we can all go get free brakes. Thanks.

AUTO CLIMATE> I turn it on all the time unless I have the roof open or the windows down. I leave it set at 75... even if the temp is a couple degrees lower out, it will still remove the humidity.

bmq

I asked about warranty coverage, and dealer stated that this was a normal maintenance item and therefore not covered.

Congrats if your dealer covered it. Please let us know who so we can give him our business as well.

gchall

i am having a lot of problems with my check engine light in my honda accord and i am wondering if anyone here or knows of anyone who is having the same problem

hermann

Srobak,

I have never worn out a set of pads in 25K miles. In fact the only recent vehicle I have ever had to do brakes on was at 89K on a 1994 Ford Taurus.. You must drive with one foot on the brake.. No, I dont drive like a grandma either..You guys are suckers for dealer sob stories..

Hermann

user777

I have read that oil consumption can be associated with a stuck PCV valve. I think it is essentially something similar to a spring loaded ball bearing that moves back and forth in a chase. It should move freely back and forth as the valve is shook. I think it can be cleaned with carb cleaner or the like. An AutoZone or other automobile parts store would have them, and they are pretty cheap. Personally, I'd go ahead and replace it.

When you take the engine oil filler cap off the engine, do you see evidence of oil caking on the cap? How about on the oil level stick? Is there caking at the top of the stick? If so, this might be evidence of someone running the engine pretty low on oil and the remainder "cooking". There could be a number of things going on - hard to tell you what to do. Hope someone else can add more.

neumie2000

I'd have to disagree with the reliability ratings of the Passat. Consumer reports frequently rates them near the bottom in terms of reliability, and recent JD Power surveys rates them very poor as well. I had a 04 Jetta, and got rid of it within six months because it was absolutely the worst car I have ever owned....it spent far more time in the service bay then in my garage. While I have had no experience with the Passat (and never would), others that I know have had several issues with their Passats and would never buy another one.

My wife owns a 04 Accord....it has 25K miles on it and we have never had it back to service for anything other than oil changes. IMO, cross the Passat off your list.

srobak

Not sure what copy of Consumer Reports you were reading, but I looked through their 05 new/used car guide this past spring and the 02 and newer Passats received excellent marks all the way across. Older than that and the tanks were no longer "full" - just like with any other used car that old (including Accords I might add), but they were certainly respectable.

I do have an Accord EX-L, mainly because of price, so it is really a moot point... but I hate seeing un/mis-informed car bashing on any forum. There are only a handful of good cars out there and the top 3 for the last several years have been the Accord, Camry and Passat. The Accord is a fantastic choice - but as several people have noted in this forum - it has it's quirks too from transmissions to noises to brakes. It is designed and manufactured by humans - and is far from perfect, as with any other mechanical device.

BRAKES> 80k out of a set of brakes? No way. Either you do all coast-to-coast driving, or you are into writing fictional novels. BTW - I am usually the guy yelling at others to stop driving around with their left foot on the brake... man I hate that! When I did mostly highway driving with my 92 Continental, I would get about 44 to 48k a set, and about 50 to 60k out of the rotors (slightly more on the rear)... which btw - are the same parts as on your 94 Taurus.

650savag

My 99 Accord, 4 cycl., was starting to hang up in Park, and also the cruise control quit working. I found out, from this forum, that the brake light switch ,under the dash ,that is activated by the brake pedal, was bad. This is a "dealer item" so I took it to the nearest dealer for repair. They first quoted me $161 for the part and labor. They said the part was $83 and the rest was labor. I inquired about purchasing the part and installing it myself since it is a very easy fix. The service tech then checked with his manager and someone else and said they would do it for $73 total so when I took it in for the recall work, I let them fix it. Why would a reputabale Honda dealer try to rip people off like this?

user777

ahh - not that i'm advocating disabling the hood protection portion of the alarm...i'd personally see if i could find a switch second-hand from a pull-it parts shop, even possibly ordering one from honda:
http://www.hondaautomotiveparts.com

you'd have to be, or have someone mechanically inclined to some extent to replace it i imagine, but it shouldn't be too tough.

how many wires go to the hood latch switch?

2?

see if this makes sense to you. you assume all responsibility for any attempt to modify the system. it's reasonable to assume one of two possibilities: either the swich closes and completes a circuit and electrons flow with the hood closed, or the switch opens and breaks a circuit so electrons cannot flow with the hood closed.

if you know someone with a Volt/Ohm meter (Radio Shack, Home Depot, Lowes, etc), you could determine this if you know some fundamentals about electricity.

even if you didn't have a Volt/Ohm meter, you could perform a test to see which possibility is true (probably I'd try the second case first):

first case (the switch closes and completes a circuit with the hood closed). simply jumper the wires in the wire harness until such time as you get the latch/switch replaced.

second case (the switch opens and breaks a circuit with the hood closed). simply disconnect the hood latch/switch from the wiring harness.

use electrical tape over the jumper (case 1) or socket (case 2), depending upon which case is present.

mrbill1957

80K out of a set of brakes is not that hard to achieve. I do a mix of highway-city driving (more highway) and my 1st brake and tire replacement on my 95 Tacoma truck came at 103k. I had to replace the brakes on my old Mazda B2000 at 100k intervals.

I currently have 70k (my mom would only get 30k when she had the car since it was all city driving) on the brakes on my 88 Accord with plenty of pads to go, so it will be interesting on how long the brakes last on my 04 Accord.

Mrbill

650savag

The "check engine" light came on at about 100k miles and then went off a few days later on my 99 Accord, 4 cyl. It came back on at 104k miles and stayed on. You can get it checked free at Auto Zone or Advance Auto Parts. Mine checked out to be P0420 code (Catalytic convertor, bank 1). The warranty on the convertor is 8 years or 80,000 miles so the dealer wants $500 to change out the convertor. It could also be one of the O2 sensors or heater sensor or wiring problem. I decided to just ignore it since it has not affected the performance or fuel economy on my car.

turbobeatbox

I bought this car in 04 and this year I noticed extreme wear on the front left tire, so i had the tire replaced. I then had an alignment and had all of the tires balanced. Well, the car pulls super hard now to the right side. I then had another alignment and another tire balance done and the problem was still there. What could be making my car want to runoff the road and commit suicide?

I also had the check engine light on and it said there were problems with the catalytic converter, so i had that replaced. the light came on a week afterward. the oxygen sensors were checked and were fine.

now my windshield wipers refuse to work.

neumie2000

"but I hate seeing un/mis-informed car bashing on any forum"

Just check out JD Power ratings for the 05....the Accord was rated far better than the Passat. Otherwise, my opinion is based on two co-workers who drive 02 and 03 Passats, a family member (04), and a friend (04).....none of them would ever buy another one. Hardly "un/mis-informed."

ctalk

Volkswagon was near the bottom on the Vehicle dependability study from JD power.
Vehicle Dependability Study

it is also near the bottom on the Initial Quality Study.
Initial Quality Study

Both Honda and Toyota are far ahead of VW.
I'm not sure about Consumer Reports though, I need to go and check again.

blane

srobak,

In deciding whether the Accord is a better choice, in his post #11702, neumie2000 was concerned with the Accord's reliability vs. the Passat's re your post #11684.

In post #11703 you wrote "Not sure what copy of Consumer Reports you were reading, but I looked through their 05 new/used car guide this past spring and the 02 and newer Passats received excellent marks all the way across. Older than that and the tanks were no longer "full" - just like with any other used car that old (including Accords I might add), but they were certainly respectable."

I just dug out my April 2005 Annual Auto Issue of Consumer Reports. '98 through '02 Passats were surveyed as being "worse" to "much worse" than average for electrical problems, based on reportage by actual owners. Brakes weren't a whole lot better. It is true that the '03 and '04 models had better results. But they also were driven fewer miles, so the results may vary in the next survey.

CR's Reliability Verdict for '00 4's was worse than average
CR's Reliability Verdict for '00 V6's was much worse than average
CR's Reliability Verdict for '01 4's was much worse than average
CR's Reliability Verdict for '01 V6's was much worse than average
CR's Reliability Verdict for '02 4's was much worse than average
CR's Reliability Verdict for '02 V6's was worse than average
CR's Reliability Verdict for '03 4's was worse than average
CR's Reliability Verdict for '03 V6's was better than average
CR's Reliability Verdict for '04 4's was worse than average
CR's Reliability Verdict for '04 V6's was much worse than average

They Predicted worse than average for the '05 4's and much worse than average for the '05 V6's.

CR states that "2004 models were generally less than six months old at the time of the survey, with an average of about 3,000 miles. Vehicles that new should have few problems."

Hondas, all models and years listed, had a Reliability Verdict of much better than average. On that basis alone, it appears clear that the Accord is a much wiser choice.

hermann

Thanks Mr Bill

When I traded my"00 Focus at 60K the Honda dealer said the brakes still had half of the pads left on the front and the rear drums they said looked like new.. The Taurus was a auto and the Focus a manual.. My driving is about a 50-50 mix of interstate around KC, and the rest in a small suburb with plenty of rapid stops from 45 MPH due to unsynchronized traffic lights along the main drag in town..

Hermann