Hi All, I just joined and posted in the new member forum - its nice that a place like this is out there

I have a problem with my car and tried to search for this issue without any success. If anyone can offer help for the following problem it would be much appreciated as I have been unable as well as a Honda dealership which current has my car been able to solve it.

Original Problem: Some dashboard lights came on while driving, including ABS, Battery, SRS, all doors and trunk open indicator although the car seemly ran fine. We put 50 miles on it from the time the lights came on since we needed to get home (Christmas travel) and everything appeared ok except for the high beams that seemed to pop on the drive home. (thought it was the light or fuse)

The next week, the car would not start. Got it jump started, but was told the battery was bad and to replace it. The battery replacement guy from AAA tested the electrical and told me to shut off the car since the alternator was pushing too much current through the car (should be 14 amp and was 16.2?? - something like that).

Got the car towed to Honda dealership. They originally said new battery and alternator would solve it. Ok. Then they said I needed a new fuse boxpanel and replaced that.

Now I get a call saying the car electrically still isn't solved for: The tachometer, high beams and brake lights are out and I'm already on the hook for $1100 to them. They asked "I'm not sure how much else you want us to do." I have another $500 tops I can spend but after that I'm broke.

Any suggestions as to what is the problem ? Thanks in advance.

-J

1999 EX Coupe, 5 speed, 4 cyl.

 

To clarify: the mechanic dealership replaced the Battery, Alternator, multiplex control unit, and fusebox.

But the tachometer,speedometer and high beams are out and they don't know how to fix it.....(without charging more money to explore options).

I'm pretty disappointed since this is the honda dealership in which the car was purchased from....and I don't have much more money to spend than the $1100 .

They don't seem to be very good at diagnosis before repair. I think they want to replace the tach and speedometer now...

Again, if anyone has encountered this or has an idea of how to remedy...or at least where to go next I'd like to hear it.

This car was in excellent running shape two weeks ago with no history of major problems.

 

For starters, I would not take my car back to that dealership for repairs. Find an independant shop in your area that specializes in hondas.

I would hold off on replacing the speedometer and tach, because you need to diagnose the source of the problem.

Check all ends of both battery cables for clean and secure connections. Check the connectors and the wire harness going from the alternator to the battery.

My initial thought was that you battery/alternator were the problem. Does your horn work? Is there anything else like cruise, etc that is not working?

EDIT: Can you describe what happened in more detail when your car didn't start? Did the starter turn the engine or did nothing happen?

 

Thanks PAhonda for your reply.

This whole problem happened overnight. Just one day we started it and these indicator lights were on but the car wasrunning fine. So the plan was todrive it in for service the next weekend.Then a week later I went to start it and - nothing. No power at all completely dead. Even the alarm light and clock was off.

Called AAA. Got the battery jumped, and the car turned over right away. But there was a bit of a smell and the AAA guy said the battery was bad. So we had the AAA battery truck come out and test the alternator. When he arrived it was about 3 hours later and the bad battery had lost its charge from earlierThey had to jump it again to check the alternator before replacing the battery.This time iteven smelled worse than before and there was a hint of smoke in the car. (I think the jumping of the car exaggerated the problem). AAA said the alternator and battery needed to be replaced plus a check of the electrical system.

I don't know if the horn or cruise control works because its still at the shop. Everything worked fine when I shut the car down the prior week with the exception of the high beams which kind of blew while we were driving (it was like a flash of blue). I'll ask the mechanic if everything works but the high beams, tach, and speedometer to be 100%.

My options are either A) pay for the $1100 of service and parts already rendered and take the car as is then try to find someone to fix the rest, B) pay more money for them to explore options (which may or may not be successful) or C) talk to the manager and request that they expore more options without charging more money (since the fusebox and multiplex controller replacement was not the solution).

I can't believe that the Honda dealership cannot diagnose this ....and furthermore not diagnose this further without charging more money.

I don't know what to do but $1500 is all I can part with now and...its going to be very tight.

What route do you think I should go?

 

You might have to talk to the service manager to find out if they will diagnose further without charging you. You already threw $1000+ for them to replace parts that have not corrected the problem. If that fails, maybe call Honda of America to find out if they can do anything?

With so many electrical components going bad at once, something like a loose/disconnected ground can definitely cause this sort of problem the problem. Maybe a bad section of wire harness too. I do not have a wiring diagram on your accord to give you better information.

With the high beams (at least on my 95), they always have 12V when the low beams are on, and they appear to get grounded by the Dimmer Relay that is part of the fuse box you already had replaced.

Was there any work done on the car before the problems happened?

 

No recent work done on it.

You know I think it could be a loose ground. Because isn't it really odd for a car to all of a sudden throw too much current through the car? The AAA guys said it was really high at 16.3 ish.

I'm going to speak to the service manager tomorrow. Thanks for your feedback.

 

I spoke with the Service Manager today and he was very receptive to the idea of investigating the issue further with no cost to me. After I explained what had transpired with the car, commented on how I had been very satisfied in the pastwith the service center, and...basically said in the end "What would you have done if you were in my shoes?" - he replied "I would have made the same call to the Service Manager (being him)"

So he called back and they are now doing additional troubleshoots on the tach. and highlight issue.

Regardless of how it turns out I'll post it here so perhaps someone can learn from the experience.

 

Sounds good. Unfortunately it sounds like they started out by spending a pile of your money throwing parts at it without a real diagnosis.

Goodway to handle it, talking firmly without screaming & ranting...