Civic - Honda :: 2003 - Battery Light On Dash Turns On And Power Steering Shuts Off In The Rain
May 10, 2013
I have a 2003 Honda Accord that I bought used two years ago. Lately, when it rains heavily, the battery light on the dash turns on and the power steering shuts off. I've had to pull over a couple of times. The problem only happens when I drive over 20 mph, solves itself within a minute after I stop, and never happens when it's dry outside. I think the problem has to do with splash from water on the road. What's going on, and how I can fix it? It's pretty dangerous.
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Once this happens, simply turning the ignition off and then on again seems solves the problem. We've taken the car to two mechanics, one who said the belt was slipping and one who said the belt was fine!
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While driving 1 of 3 issues occur... radio will click off for 2 seconds, entire dash turns off for 2 seconds (car continues to run), or all electric clicks off and car shuts off. If left to sit for a few minutes car will restart. Will occur a bunch of times in one trip and then not for a week. Does not seem to depend on type of driving or weather conditions. Honda cant seem to figure out and until the yesterday they blew me off. Yesterday, the anti-theft actually locked out the radio, so at least they could see "something" occurred.
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1995 Honda Civic appears battery is dead, takes 20 turns to start up, then has trouble with RPM's while driving. Even the clock and radio reset I thought the battery was so dead, but the car still starts up every time. And sometimes when I accelerate it has trouble keeping up and chokes a bit. Is this one problem or two? It seems electrical to me.
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My wife was driving our 2003 Honda Civic hybrid (125,000 miles) and the electronic power steering went out. She managed to get it parked, called me, and when I arrived everything seemed to work fine. (She said the yellow EPS light came on, but she didn't know what that meant.) I drove it for a while and had no problems. A few days later my daughter was driving and the entire car shut down. I jump started it and everything worked OK, but I took it to the dealer for a diagnosis. They could find nothing wrong (no codes). However, the next day the car once again would not start I replaced the 'starter' battery (the lithium-ion man battery pack had actually been replaced at around 79,000 miles--right before the expiration of the warranty!).
Now it seems fine, but my wife and daughter refuse to drive it, and I'm not sure if the problem is fixed. Here are my questions:1. Since this is a hybrid, once the car is running a failure of the 'starter' batter should have no effect on the EPS, or anything else, right? It all runs off the main lithium-ion battery pack. However, replacing the 'starter' battery seems to have solved the problem--or at least a dead 'starter' batter is temporally (if not causally?) connected with the other failures. This might be just a coincidence, since seems odd to have the 'starter' battery part of the larger electrical set-up. The dealership had no clue and I can't figure it out.2.
The first time just the EPS went out, but the second time the entire car shut down. This doesn't make much sense--especially since the dealer couldn't pull any codes. The car's auto-stop shuts the engine off all the time at speeds below 10 mph (this is a semi-hybrid), so why the total shut down?3. Why didn't the dealership tell me the 'starter' battery needed replacement? I've checked my records, and it seems to be the one that came with the car in 2003 (actually fall 2002). Should I give up?
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So this problem started last winter. On occasion (only when it was cold outside), in the morning when I would start my car, it would start okay, but the power steering light would appear on my dashboard and I couldn't steer. Every time this happened, I was able to turn the car off and back on and it fixed the problem. Well, the problem is back this winter with a vengeance.
The other day, it was in the 40's overnight, and it took my two times of restarting my car before the power steering would come on. This morning, i had to turn my car off and on 5 times before it actually worked, and the second to last time I tried, I left it on for about 5 minutes.
I'm really worried that the problem is getting worse and it's going to be getting colder and colder. what could be wrong?
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I have a honda civic 2003 the maintenance light is on, I have done all my fluids what I am supposed to do in the manual. it has 69k on it and runs great. Also did air filter at 60k...
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Since buying new my Civic VP automatic, it seems I've been plagued with electrical gremlins. Right off the bat, I noticed the lights would arbitrarily dim and brighten with no rhyme or reason. The dealer checked it and found no problems and could not replicate it. It still does it now at 117K miles with no predictable pattern.
Also, it has always seemed to idle too low while crawling in Columbus, OH, traffic, with the battery light coming on when adding in temperature extremes (while running A/C or defroster) to the mix. At first, I was able to rev the engine in neutral or get out of traffic and open it up to make the battery light go out, but that doesn't seem to work anymore. Also, I can make the battery light flicker just about anytime when I let off the gas. I had to replace the factory battery (under warranty) with one I bought off the AAA service truck.
I had to replace that battery, too, along with the alternator (rebuild), at 88K miles at my local mechanic 2 years ago. It died again yesterday, on the interstate, after my vain attempt at getting up the rpm's when the battery light came on strong. It's at the AAA garage now where they said it needs another alternator (rebuild), but the battery is OK.
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The mechanic I use told me how he repaired a fault with the Honda Civic hybrid battery that kept the check engine light on and indicated a code for a faulty battery. It appears that if the different cells in the battery have a voltage variance between them that is outside of the parameters set, the light will come on and stay on. The customer was told by Honda service that he needed a new battery, but the car was out of the warraqnty period.
The mechanic theorized that he could remedy this if he drained the battery down and recharged it. After two cycles, the check engine light went off. I wonder if this would work for other hybrid owners?
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Just yesterday I was driving my 2012 Cvic down a hill and the battery and oil light came on. Not but 5 seconds later as I came to the bottom of the hill my brakes went out (the car didn't cut off) so I pulled up the parking brake and cut the car off.
I started to call for roadside assistance but before I did I thought to try to start her up again and boom! Everything works fine! What could have caused this?? Computer system in the car? Brake fluid? Also just two weeks earlier I had full minor service on her. Tire rotation, oil/filter change, brake fluid added etc.
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My 1990 Honda Civic DX died in heavy rain. Diagnosis: Need new alternator. Got it. Car immediately started surging loudly whenever idling. Took it back to the shop. 3 mechanics huddled for 3 hours and couldn't figure out what was wrong. Quick fix: Deactivate IAC. They said I should be good for a couple of months. Took one 25-mph drive around the neighborhood. Car ran very rough; panel under steering wheel jolted loose. Made it home but now car won't start. Battery is fine. Wonderful Firestone manager is willing to look at car again. I'm broke after the alternator on top of paying the IRS in April and really want to keep my generally reliable car (only 255,000 miles), at least through the hot South Florida summer.
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I have a 2001 Honda Civic with 190K miles. Usually runs fine. The other day it was torrential downpours as I'm driving on the highway. After about 100 miles of rainy driving, I lost the ability to accelerate. All accessories still on, but no response from the gas pedal. At the same moment, the check engine light came on, then -- while coasting off an exit ramp -- the car made a loud squealing noise for about 10 seconds.
I turned the car off, and was able to restart it without problems, although the engine was idling strangely with a faint knocking/fluttering noise. Drove to a Sears where they ran diagnostics on the engine -- the only code that came up was that the TDC Sensor was picking up noise. But the car ran, so we kept driving and the check engine light shut off on its own.
Managed to drive 2 hours to our destination, but had one incident of squealing from the engine (about 10 seconds while slowing down and then speeding up), and lost ability to accelerate again, this time accompanied by the Battery Light coming on as well as the Check Engine.
Today the car is in the shop, with Check Engine light off again but Battery Light still on. Mechanic suggested it might be the Alternator, but that seems odd to me because we just replaced the alternator, battery about 5 months ago and all accessories worked fine when we lost ability to accelerate, and the car was able to restart.
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In recent months there is a new noise in my 97 Civic (75,000 miles). In any hard turn and particularly on U-turns there is a grumbling sound which seems to come from the front end. The noise doesn't happen on gentle turns. It grumbles a bit on 90 degree turns and wholeheartedly grumbles on U-turns. I checked the power steering resevoir and it is full so it is between the lines.
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I have an 03 f250 that i think is getting air in the fuel line when it sits. It turns over starts and immediately shuts off. Then i have to crank it for a minute or so before it will start. After that it is good all day. Next day it might sputter on start but stays on. More than a day it shuts off immediately and needs cranking for a minute...
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We have a 99 Honda Civic that just started leaking power steering fluid. My mother was out with it when it suddenly ran dry so she bought some power steering fluid from autozone unaware that Hondas aren't supposed to use generic power steering fluid. Now the reservoir is dry again, the fluid leaked out in a matter of hours, so what kind of damage could the non Honda fluid have caused? Also, what could be causing a leak that fast?
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92 Civic DX hatchback, non-Calif. AT
Power steering suddenly not working when cold (~20 oF) in AM; nearly impossible to turn the wheel (for my wife). When I get home from work, and it's warmer (~30 oF), it works fine (for me). When it (mostly) behaves, it does drive fine (though I would say that the variable-assist PS is no longer as "tight" at high speeds as it once was, but the car's nearly 20 years old!
This just began a week ago (live just north of New York city), and has now happened enough times that I believe her So, since the PS fluid reservoir was just below lower line, I topped it up (Honda fluid!). No obvious leaks (I checked by putting some paper under the car, and watching for drips for a few days, including turning wheel from lock to lock over the paper).
Is it the pump? Or should I just flush the system (and how do you do that)?
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About a week ago I was driving my 1995 Honda Civic, which normally runs GREAT, and in an instant and with no warning the check engine light came on, it suddenly lost power no matter how much gas I gave it, and it died going down the road. In the middle of the road I tried to crank it and it wouldn't crank. Very quickly the battery died and I wound up towing it to a service station. I thought, its got to be the alternator, right? But the mechanic said it was my battery not the alternator, so I replaced it, paying $145 for a battery change and a "diagnostics" test I probably could have done in the Autozong parking lot.. 'cept I'm a girl and I don't like to do those kinds of things. Anyway, battery in, all fixed I thought.
I drove it a week and made a 150 mile trip and in the last ten miles going down the highway at 70MPH, same thing. All of the sudden with no warning engine light comes on, it looses power no matter how much gas I gave it, I pull over and I'm stranded. I thought maybe it was the alternator after all, so I turned the lights and radio and wipers off (night and raining) and tried to crank it. It cranked up slowly after flooring it a few times, which really didn't seem to do that much like it would if it was flooded. Anyway, the car cranks, I drive a little further and again.. same thing. I pull over as I'm dying, repeat. Again, pull over, repeat. I tried several times to crank the car by popping the clutch like if the battery died, but that wouldn't crank it. I literally had to turn off the ignition switch, turn it back on and crank the car, then it would run another mile or so. After the fifth time pulling off the road I decided to put it in neutral, turn off the switch, turn it back on and crank it without even stopping and it worked until it shut off again with the same pattern as the first time. I finally made it home and got it to a service station today. I did notice that if I drove under 40MPH it would make it a short distance, but it did almost shut off twice while going to the service station.
I haven't heard back from them yet, I'm just wondering how scared I should be before I call them and i would like to have some knowledge since they told me once after diagnostics that it was the battery.
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'95 Civic, 225k, .5 fuel injected, A/T . . . we've had a lot of rain lately . . . last few mornings when I started the Civic after an overnight rain the engine started right up but putt-putted like a motorboat for a few seconds . . no more than 5-6 seconds, then cleared-up and ran smooth all day. Last night it didn't rain and it started without the motorboat effect. New plugs and wires (within 5k) . . . I'm thinking cap and rotor (has about 40k on cap and rotor). Ignition issue or fuel?
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Honda Civic LX 1999 - Engine shuts down in hot weather when the sun has been beating down on it for a while>it can happen as I am backing out of the parkway or as I am driving in the first 1-10 minutes ?
I went to the dealer and the vin number of the car shows to recalls have not diagnosed it yet but thinking about it...
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I have a 2001 Honda Civic Ex that goes into limp mode when the weather is hot. It only happens in hot weather: I drove it during the cooler months, and no problems. Also, it doesn't have any problems if I drive it at cooler times of the day (evening, night).
When the weather outside is hot (~75+ degrees) I can only drive my car for about 20 miles before the check engine light comes on and it goes into limp mode, where the engine just shuts down and I cannot accelerate above 30mph. The engine is still running, but when I push on the gas pedal I can only go like 20-30mph. This happens when the ac is on or when the ac is off, but will happen sooner if the ac is on.
When this happens, I pull over to the side of the road and wait several minutes. Then I can restart my car and drive a few more miles, and then it happens again: limp mode. Then I pull over again, wait, and restart it. It starts fine.
In the winter months I don't have any problems, and my car drives fine. I have had the thermostat replaced, and the temperature gauge does not indicate overheating.
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Car does not have to get wet, just be in humid air. Problem going on 2 years now, mechanics tried disconnecting a (?) ground/sensor from computer, major tune up, new fuel pump. Until recently, it just took keeping it in crank position for a long time for it to finally start. Recently, in crank position for 30 seconds does nothing and has me worried I'm doing damage. In dry weather, it starts first time every time.
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