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Battery dead--no fix available REALLY?

never_again12never_again12 Member Posts: 1
edited January 2016 in Honda
I too have experienced the 2012 Honda CRV dead battery syndrome. I have been stranded 4 times with essentially no battery drain on the system. Been dealership three times.....battery is fine they say.....no parasitic drain they say.....no need for a battery replacement they say......latest computer software update will fix the problem (they gave up on saying)....now Corporate level Honda says they only advice they can give me is to return to dealership to let them try to fix it again. REALLY??? When will they start paying me for my time? I have been a long time Honda owner....but never again. No known fix from a company that manufactured the car???? This is inexcusable. Honda has denied my request to pay me fair market value and take back the car. I am stuck.... Buyers beware and stay away from Honda. I have purchased a new battery at my own expense AND a portable battery charger so that I won't be stranded again.
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Comments

  • thecardoc3thecardoc3 Member Posts: 5,840
    These kinds if problems can be repaired, there is a fix if the car is in fact broken. There are also possible reasons that the car itself isn't the problem and it sometimes come down to how the car is driven on a regular basis. All possible factors must be examined as part of the testing routine.

    Some of the first questions that must be asked are:
    How often is the car driven?
    How long or far is the typical trip that the car is used for?
    What accessories are commonly used?
    Is the trip primarily on highways? In traffic? Stop and go, with a lot of idling?
    How long after a battery is replaced will the car start correctly before it acts up again? (a week, a month, several months?)

    Are there any other issues with the car where something works intermittently or not at all?
    Once the car acts up, how long is the battery being recharged, and then how long is it until the next time the car presents with the battery dead?
  • cboothe70cboothe70 Member Posts: 19
    The battery on my 2012 CR-V started abruptly dying roughly 2 years into ownership. After a few trips to the dealer and a couple strandings, they finally noticed the positive battery cable was extremely corroded and thought that could be the problem. By this time I had had enough and bought a new Honda battery as well. They voluntarily upgraded it to a more powerful version. I haven't had a problem since (roughly 18 months).
  • carboy21carboy21 Member Posts: 760
    In cold climate states, any battery below 500 CCA is not suitable. Get a 750 CCA and more battery from Sears or online reputed stores and apply dielectric grease to both terminals.
  • thecardoc3thecardoc3 Member Posts: 5,840
    I see a lot of people make the recommendation to apply dielectric grease to the battery posts. That actually causes a different problem when it is used in such a fashion. While it can retard corrosion dielectric grease is an insulator, and if it wicks in-between the cable clamp and the battery post, or worse yet is applied to the battery post and then the cable clamped onto it, it reduces the amount of current that can flow through that connection.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dielectric

    There are other products that are much better suited for sealing the battery connections.
  • thecardoc3thecardoc3 Member Posts: 5,840
    cboothe70 said:

    The battery on my 2012 CR-V started abruptly dying roughly 2 years into ownership. After a few trips to the dealer and a couple strandings, they finally noticed the positive battery cable was extremely corroded and thought that could be the problem. By this time I had had enough and bought a new Honda battery as well. They voluntarily upgraded it to a more powerful version. I haven't had a problem since (roughly 18 months).

    Keeping with your original post where it took about two years for trouble to start occurring, not experiencing a problem yet doesn't mean that the car is fixed or broken. This leaves the door open for the battery to be getting slightly discharged over and over again until it is finally too weak to start the car. If that is the case then from a certain perspective the next time that the car won't start one could say that the problem has come back, when it may just been hidden for a period of time.

    By chance has your normal trip changed in the last two years? Do you maybe drive a little further, or have the traffic patterns that you encounter changed?

  • cboothe70cboothe70 Member Posts: 19
    thecardoc3 said:


    By chance has your normal trip changed in the last two years? Do you maybe drive a little further, or have the traffic patterns that you encounter changed?

    Started having problems with the battery a few months after we moved. Went from a 26 mile round trip drive for work to a 40 mile round trip with some short in town trips mixed in most days. We're in Florida so extreme cold wasn't a problem. The issues started occurring in Spring for that matter. I agree. If this battery starts failing early, I'm going to be concerned there is still a problem.
  • thecardoc3thecardoc3 Member Posts: 5,840
    Do you have a voltmeter? If so, after the car has been sitting for three hours, measure the battery voltage and report what you find.

    The three hour wait is necessary to see what the batteries actual state of health is. When you are driving the battery would be getting charged, and that would result in a higher measureable voltage due to "surface charge". That surface charge will dissipate after a couple of hours and the battery's true state of charge can then be measured.
    A battery at 100% state of charge will be 12.65-12.7v
    A battery at about 85% state if charge will be at 12.6v
    A battery at about 50% state of charge will be at 12.25v
    A battery at less than 20% state of charge will still start your car, but its at rest open circuit voltage will be just over 12v.
    If you measure 12.3v or less, the battery needs to be charged even though the car still starts. If the battery doesn't get charged, it will be sulfating and be getting ruined by being left in that discharged state. This will show you if there is still a problem or not, but and here is the tricky part. It doesn't necessarily mean that the car has a problem that needs to be fixed.
  • cboothe70cboothe70 Member Posts: 19
    @thecardoc3 - I'll measure the voltage after resting it this weekend and get back to you. It's my wife's work vehicle and she gets home fairly late during the week.
  • fibber2fibber2 Member Posts: 3,786
    Best product I've found was from NOCO. Simple rings that go under the terminal clamps.

    http://www.amazon.com/NOCO-MC303S-Corrosion-Terminal-Protectors/dp/B001DKUTR0

    And for the really tough cases, overspray with NOCO aerosol.

    http://www.amazon.com/NOCO-A202S-Battery-Corrosion-Preventative/dp/B001DKRGLM
  • thecardoc3thecardoc3 Member Posts: 5,840
    Forget about the washers. They make it more difficult to achieve a positive clamp on the post since they prevent the cable end from being slid all the way down the post. The aerosol is OK.
  • fibber2fibber2 Member Posts: 3,786
    edited January 2016
    I wouldn't worry about less than 2 millimeters felt washers when compressed. Terminals and cable ends are tapered for continuous contact along their face. When the top is flush (which you should get even with the washers), you've got all the surface area for a solid connection you need. If your cable clamps aren't fitting right, it might be time to replace them.
  • thecardoc3thecardoc3 Member Posts: 5,840
    If they were 2mm you would be right, but they are closer to 7mm and they do cause issues.
  • fibber2fibber2 Member Posts: 3,786
    Press down on them as you tighten the clamp bolt. It's an oil impregnated felt, and it compresses reasonably well. Now, maybe the battery in your CR-V has short posts? I hadn't thought of that when addressing your objection. I haven't experienced a problem before, but I'll look more closely in the future.
  • carboy21carboy21 Member Posts: 760
    I use white electric grease.amazon.com/Permatex-22058-Dielectric-Tune-Up-Grease/dp/B000AL8VD2/ref=sr_1_1?s=automotive&ie=UTF8&qid=1454208191&sr=1-1&keywords=car+battery+grease
  • thecardoc3thecardoc3 Member Posts: 5,840
    fibber2 said:

    Press down on them as you tighten the clamp bolt. It's an oil impregnated felt, and it compresses reasonably well.

    What happens is the battery cable clamps can only put just so much clamping force on the posts. Between vibration, and repeated heating and cooling of the components under the hood they loosen over time. Now combine that with those felt pads pushing up, and the clamps come loose and cause poor connection issues.

  • carboy21carboy21 Member Posts: 760
    edited January 2016
    thecardoc3 said:

    fibber2 said:

    Press down on them as you tighten the clamp bolt. It's an oil impregnated felt, and it compresses reasonably well.

    What happens is the battery cable clamps can only put just so much clamping force on the posts. Between vibration, and repeated heating and cooling of the components under the hood they loosen over time. Now combine that with those felt pads pushing up, and the clamps come loose and cause poor connection issues.

    Very true, Sometimes a pothole is enough to get the clamp off the battery post. Usually the negative clamp is weaker then the positive one which is more securely attached with a nut.
  • fibber2fibber2 Member Posts: 3,786
    edited January 2016
    Not knowing what kind of cars you guys own, I double checked mine. '08 Sienna, '13 CR-V & '14 Outback. And like every car before them that I've owned there as a 10mm nut on both battery cables. How are yours held clamped? There was approx 4mm of post extending up above the clamping region on each. A new set of terminal pads start at 5mm uncompressed, and less than 2mm compressed. You guys must be experiencing something quite different to be having these issues. I'd say to check your battery hold-down. Popping a terminal loose would make sense if the battery was moving separately from the car body and the wiring.

    Oh, and I consider checking the integrity of my battery connections as just a normal part of routine maintenance on our cars. And I can't remember the last time I found anything amiss regarding tightness. But I did find nice cauliflower growth under the red cover of our old Outback from my periodic inspections a few years ago. Baking soda and a wire brush, new pads and some spray, and all was well for the remaining few years I owned that car. But looking and checking likely puts me in the minority. I get that.
  • thecardoc3thecardoc3 Member Posts: 5,840
    Its not from just the cars that I own. What I am saying is based on what I, and many other diagnostic specialists have found over the decades. We see people put those things on all the time and we can tell from experience whether we get a good cable fit when testing and repairing subsequent starting/charging issues. There was a time that we tried to leave those in place, experience however proved they were a contributing factor to the vehicle's problem. In short, they are un-necessary, cause problems, waste the consumers money at least twice, and go where they belong when we find them. In the trash.
  • fibber2fibber2 Member Posts: 3,786
    I accept that you have a broader base to draw from.
  • dachi26dachi26 Member Posts: 1
    I have a 2011 Honda CRV and I'll be replacing the battery for the second time since I bought the car, I believe the average battery life is three years. On the few occasions the car will not start especially when the weather is cold,  thank God for my Triple A membership and I carry a portable battery booster pack. When the car and left idle for a couple of days the car will not start and also I have the remote start feature on my car and when it's cold it will not crank and turn over. Has anyone been having the same problem with the 2011 CRV?? I would like to see responses,  thank you
  • StPaul_55112StPaul_55112 Member Posts: 2
    Dead Battery: Known issue. I bought a new 2014 Honda CRV. I have another vehicle so I quickly discovered that the battery goes dead on my Honda if I don't drive it for 4 days. The dealership played dumb. Never heard of it. blah blah. I saw hundreds of posts online from other Honda owners having the same problems. Finally, today. the dealership admitted this is a known issue and they have a 'fix'. First you must pay $80 for a test. Then you pay another $80 for the part! I bought a new battery last year. I've carried jumper cables with me when I park at the airport or leave my car home for vacation. The Honda Dealership told me to remove the battery cables each time I park the car and don't plan to drive it for a couple of days! REALLY? is the the suggestion? Who does that? My Mazda and Chrysler sit in my garage for MONTHS at a time and start right up every time! HONDA needs to RECALL this part.
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