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Repairs Complete, Back to Operational - 2016 Honda Pilot Long-Term Road Test
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Repairs Complete, Back to Operational - 2016 Honda Pilot Long-Term Road Test
A new windshield for our 2016 Honda Pilot arrived to the dealer intact, so it was time to install. We also got the steering wheel heater fixed. The Pilot is fully operational!
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In terms of the windshield, that's still crazy money. As mentioned, it was $277 out the door with Pilkington for our 2013 Pilot w/ the auto-dimming function and they came out to our house.
Another response mentioned the inrush current. On the style and operating range of a steering wheel heater, the inrush current when the circuit is first turned on is only slightly higher than the normal operating current and it isn't high enough to cause the fuse to fail. If someone insists on speculating, the most likely reason it ended up needing a fuse would be that the fuse either failed during testing, possibly by the circuit being accidently grounded, or when a substitute load was placed in the circuit that exceeded the fuse rating to test for poor connections. Allow me to explain just what that means.
Take a ten amp fuse. It takes a certain amount of current and time to cause it to fail, or looking at it another way to do its job. A ten amp fuse should go open with as little as 12 amps of current if the circuit stays at that load for a long enough period of time. (ten to twenty seconds) But it should NOT open at 25 amps of current if the load is there for only a very small period of time, such as only a couple thousandths of a second. To do a substitute load test, which would allow any voltage drops to show up easier, a circuit can be loaded to the maximum rating of the fuse and it should be able to provide power to the circuit. Then the circuit can be tested live and at a demand greater than just what the steering wheel itself would have placed on the circuit. If the fuse was weak, but otherwise intact, that could have allowed normal tests and checks to not find anything wrong with it and that could explain why they struggled to locate the issue. Stressing the circuit might not have even blown the fuse, but may have generated a significant voltage drop which revealed resistance in the circuit that was preventing enough current flow to heat the wheel under normal operation.
The secret to diagnosing any vehicle electrical issue efficiently, is to include measuring the circuit current live. If that isn't a normal step in your diagnostic routine, then this issue might have easily evaded you as well. Meanwhile, just wait until service information is available for this and you get to see the trouble tree (flow chart) to guide you through the diagnostics. Don't be surprised if it doesn't have that listed as one of the steps, nor what the expected circuit current flow specification is. (at least that can be calculated for the maximum)
Take a look at your own tools, training, education, experience and re-read the steps that I posted. Be honest, how would you really stand up against what should be the minimum standard for auto technicians?
Oh, forgot to mention. The techs that have reached this level have had to buy their own scopes, scan tools, and they have had to get the additional education that is required on their own. The shops haven't been making that investment in their people, in fact automotive technician's wages have been dropping 2-5 percent per year for more than a decade. Meanwhile there is no shortage of indignities that they have to shoulder while getting to live as second class citizens. So don't blame the ones that are trying to learn how to do the job, which takes decades to accomplish with today's cars. Put the blame on the management that has no idea themselves what the career really demands, especially since few (if any) would be able to meet what is the minimum standard that I just showed you. Continuing to put the blame on the techs only accomplishes one thing, it helps to drive people out of the career long before they have enough time in it to get good at it perpetuating the problem.
BTW if you are really sure you can be, or are better that what this minimal level should be, then why don't you become a technician? Diagnosing this Honda would have paid you .2 hours. (12 minutes) The repairs? Less than the person next to you who is doing a brake job. But if you are good enough, surely you would be rolling in dough, right?