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Post by Marshall on Sept 25, 2023 7:35:43 GMT -5
A while ago I bragged about how my Japanese cars have never ever had a problem. Well, the good streak came to an end yesterday. MY 7 YO Honda Civic just gave up the ghost. Or at least there's a ghost inside it. It won't start. And when I press the "START" button, all sorts of dashboard light are flashing. And the brake pedal is locked in a down position.
Guess I'm going to have to have it towed somewhere.
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Post by Marty on Sept 25, 2023 10:05:47 GMT -5
A while ago I bragged about how my Japanese cars have never ever had a problem. Well, the good streak came to an end yesterday. MY 7 YO Honda Civic just gave up the ghost. Or at least there's a ghost inside it. It won't start. And when I press the "START" button, all sorts of dashboard light are flashing. And the brake pedal is locked in a down position. Guess I'm going to have to have it towed somewhere. Quite the safety feature. |
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Post by epaul on Sept 25, 2023 10:17:06 GMT -5
... Guess I'm going to have to have it towed somewhere. I suggest a Honda dealership. Or have it dropped off anywhere on the South End. It will disappear and its troubles with it. |
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Post by majorminor on Sept 25, 2023 10:29:07 GMT -5
Knock on wood but I've never had any real issues on my American made vehicles over the years. Other than that time the mice built a big nest in it and jammed the air intake shroud up with stuff my 2001 Chevy 2500HD is 220K and going strong.
Let us know what happens with the Honda - that sounds like a CPU crash and may be a relatively easy fix. Fingers crossed.
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Post by majorminor on Sept 25, 2023 10:30:04 GMT -5
There's your problem right there  |
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Post by epaul on Sept 25, 2023 10:40:20 GMT -5
Might be a simple problem with the brakes (low on fluid/air lock). You can't start the car because the stiff/locked brake pedal won't allow you to activate the gizmo that connects brake engagement to the starter.
Do you have a remote starter? If so give it a try. Don't ask me why. I don't know, just that sometimes it might work (brake pedal depression isn't needed, only that car be in "park".
(the brakes are locked down because that is the last thing you did with them while parking and shutting off the engine. They didn't move themselves to the down position. You did, and they stayed there.)
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Post by epaul on Sept 25, 2023 10:45:59 GMT -5
Check the brake fluid. If low, real low, the home remedy is to fill and start working the brake pedal (pull it out, push back in).
The safe remedy is to have it towed to the dealer. Might be another brake issue. You have money. Use it. The tow truck guy needs to eat.
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Post by epaul on Sept 25, 2023 10:47:54 GMT -5
As long as it is as the dealership, trade it in for a new Hybrid CR-V (let the dealership pay for the work).
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Post by david on Sept 25, 2023 11:15:14 GMT -5
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Dub
Administrator
I'm gettin' so the past is the only thing I can remember.
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Post by Dub on Sept 25, 2023 13:04:03 GMT -5
Sounds as though David identified the problem. Have you checked the battery?
I don’t think I’d have it towed to a dealer. Our Toyota dealer is as wonderful as a dealer could be. They’ve helped us many times and do high quality work. But…
…Maybe it was the pandemic or maybe the whole system just changed while I wasn’t paying attention but now, dealers don’t seem to want to work on cars that are now longer under their warranty. Th still do great work on new cars but don’t want to deal with older ones. Maybe they laid off a lot of their technicians (née mechanics) and can’t handle the traffic anymore. It used to be that the big dealers relied on their garages to pay the bills. Maybe now the just think of it as an expense. I don’t know.
So we now go to a truly great local business that has all the analysis systems and the experience to properly maintain any car of any age. These businesses are hard to find and you don’t want to find them by trial and error. The errors can be expensive.
I also have a TackLife battery that will start 5 or 6 dead cars before needing to be recharged. These things are wonderful and handy to have around.
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Post by Marshall on Sept 25, 2023 14:28:41 GMT -5
Interesting. I've got a tow scheduled for about an hour from now. Had to pick up Sue at the airport in the other car this morning, so I'm just getting this scheduled. I'll have it towed to the Autotech place half mile away. They've been my service go-to for 20 years. I'll let them figure it out. The Honda Dealer is about 10-12 miles away. I'd avoid dealing with them, just because of convenience. I was driving a couple days ago and almost stopped by the Toyota dealer to check up on the Prius Prime Plug-in hybrid. But I figured I could probably get a couple more years out of the Civic. We'll see. |
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Post by Marshall on Sept 25, 2023 16:09:40 GMT -5
Dang ! After all that rigmarole, it was only the battery. I'm not used to all these new fangled flashing lights. After all, it's the latest technology that 2015 had to offer. So, the tow guy shows up. He says, "It sounds like the battery." He sticks a portable charger on it, and it fires right up. I say thanks, and dirive it to the Autotech place. I leave it running in their lot. They come out take it to a bay, and swap out a new battery. Looks like the old battery might have been the original. I could have swore I changed that. But the old battery was very old.
Now it purrs like it always did. So, chalk this one up to user error. And my flawless Japanese car major repair record is still intact. Only oil, tires, batteries, and occasional brake jobs to be dealt with.
In all the other older cars I've experienced over the years, a bad battery would give you a clicking solenoid sound and nothing else. This new-fangled electronic stuff started flashing all sorts of warning lights on breaks and other systems. (No "Check battery" light). I didn't think a dead battery could power all that junk. Heck, I've got jumper cables in the garage. I coulda jumped it off the CRV and taken care of this thing easily yesterday.
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Dub
Administrator
I'm gettin' so the past is the only thing I can remember.
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Post by Dub on Sept 25, 2023 16:58:51 GMT -5
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Post by Marshall on Sept 25, 2023 19:29:02 GMT -5
Cool.
I have jumper cables and a second car. I shoulda figured this out. I didn’t watch David’s videos until I had scheduled the tow. It just didn’t seem logical that a dead battery would cause all those lights to flash and warnings about brakes snd stuff would start popping up. I was afraid I would need a new computer brain or something extensive and expensive like that.
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Post by Village Idiot on Sept 25, 2023 20:46:06 GMT -5
I'd do what Dub said, get the TackLIfe. Jumper cables on new cars are a big no-no these days. With all the little computers and other stuff, the voltage surge from cables have the potential to fry out a bunch of stuff.
I used to be the guy, like all other Iowans, were, who carried cable around so I could help if needed, but no more. Kind of like hitchhikers. I don't pick them up anymore either, despite the thousands of miles I've hitchhiked myself. Times to change.
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Tamarack
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Ancient Citizen
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Post by Tamarack on Sept 26, 2023 7:09:56 GMT -5
In recent years I have found that a jump from another vehicle is insufficient to start a a vehicle with an aging battery. Tow drivers usually have a high-amperage zapper that will start a vehicle when a jump fails (and perhaps zaps fragile electronics along the way)
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Post by Marshall on Sept 26, 2023 8:52:20 GMT -5
The tow driver had a gizmo like Dub's TackLife. My immediate question about those is how often do you have to charge it? Will it still work if it sits in your trunk for a couple years?
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Dub
Administrator
I'm gettin' so the past is the only thing I can remember.
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Post by Dub on Sept 26, 2023 10:52:39 GMT -5
Mine sat, fully charged, in a closet for over a year. When I pulled it out to use, it was still fully charged and worked like a champ.
It has many uses. After the derecho in 2020 we were without power for 10 days. The TackLife ran our iPhones and iPads.
It can be charged by your car while you’re on the road. It can also run a tire inflator I have for emergencies.
They’ll fit in many glove compartments.
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Post by Marshall on Sept 26, 2023 12:30:28 GMT -5
But, does it come in sunburst?
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Post by Russell Letson on Sept 26, 2023 13:48:15 GMT -5
Tacklife seems to be a dead company. I went looking for the jump-starter and found only the Walmart page and lots of new-in-box eBay offers (often a sign of a recently discontinued product). No authentic company site comes up on Google, and the Facebook page seems to have been abandoned to you'll-love-these-shoes and drive-by fake news posts (Angela Jolie dead!). Amazon, however, offers a number of jump-starters that look a whole lot like the Tacklife photos on the Walmart page. This one, for example: www.amazon.com/Powrun-P-ONE-Starter-2000A-Portable/dp/B09W5SFK6L/I wonder whether Tacklife might have just been re-labeling/branding a product from a Chinese factory--something I've noticed with radios and small-format voice recorders. |
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