Bonnet sensor

[chrisv]

Where is the sensor

[GBH]

Do you mean a sensor that warns that the bonnet is not fully latched closed?

I wasn't aware that these cars had such sophistication. Mine is one of the higher specifications and I cannot find it mentioned in the owner's handbook.

[chrisv]

Hi,
Bonnet sensor is attached to bonnet latch, I disconnected mine and it seems to have cured the problem of alarm going off intermittently and reluctant to lock. I disconnected the wiring plug and it seems to have cured the problem. Honda will only sell you a complete latch for £120 or fit it for you for £350, looks like I'll do without a bonnet sensor for my 2011 car

[chrisv]

Hi,
Failed

[chrisv]

Found that if you lock the car with the key it doesn't set the alarm, could be a work around

[chrisv]

Hi,
Gave up trying to sort alarm and took it to Honda dealer. They diagnosed the boot latch sensor as the problem, just short of £400 including diagnosis, new latch and fitting. I have a loan car while mine is being fixed, it's a jazz hybrid, what a strange machine, all seems to work ok, goes well, sits nicely on the road but what a load of gadgets and gizmos, not for me,
Chris

[GBH]

Glad you got it sorted. Would not have thought to look at the other end of the car.

I suppose that is the price you pay to cover the cost of the expensive tools that are necessary these days. It is this that is putting me off getting an EV. One of my sons has a fairly new (to me) Volvo that has stop/start and what looks like an iPad in the centre of the dash which includes all-round cameras for parking. It recently cost him over £700 for the dealer to supply and fit two new batteries!  His car isn't even a hybrid - just a diesel with stop/start. He probably could have bought two batteries from Halfords for a fraction of the price but he didn't know if they needed matching to the car or not as there was no clear answer to say if it was needed. At least he got a 12 month guarantee with them so if there is a problem the garage will replace them FOC.

[chrisv]

Hi,
Yes the times have gone when you could lift the bonnet and fix it yourself, nowadays the mechanic plugs in the computer and replaces what it says it needs, no thought to repairing the parts.

[chrisv]

Hi,
Guess what, my alarm is going off again, after paying over £400 I am not happy, booked in at honda again, told them I don't expect another bill,
Chris

[Toptek]

We had a similar issue with an elderly CRV. I never got to the bottom of it and eventually removed the siren from the back of the car.
Potential solutions was a new car battery if old and ensure it is charged, we did similar driving for several years beforehand so not sure if it was the issue. The second potential issue was parasitic drain of the siren batteries due to their age which may have been the issue, combined with the short trips to work having an impact on the main battery.
We did change the main battery but the short trips to work persisted.
Sorry for the rambling...

[GBH]

The battery condition is a good call, but having paid £400 to a main dealer I would expect such things to have been checked. My son has a Volvo with stop/start and had recently had to pay for new batteries as the stop/start stopped working, however he needs to go on regular trips to keep the batteries topped up but at least he has a 12 month warranty on the batteries.

The two times I have had electrical problems have been where the cars have been fitted with aftermarket alarm systems that caused,seemingly, random problems from the alarm going off and waking the neighbours in the night to random non-starting at extremely inconvenient times.

[Toptek]

It might be best to test the voltage of the main battery in the morning, before it recharges somewhat on the trip to the dealer. I think that battery performance is a bit like a cliff edge, seemingly OK then it's a steep drop off.
When I looked at our history documents, I found out the battery was nine years old and mostly driven very short distances.
It's hindsight, but if I knew of I would have fitted a trickle charger like I have done now. There's a quick disconnect  SAE cable on the battery for ease and I charge the battery every now and again.

[chrisv]

Think I may have cracked it, rubber grommet from body to tailgate not fitted correctly, refitted and no more problems, sensor wire was probably chafing on edge of door shorting out,
Chris

[GBH]

Glad you sorted it. Always annoying that you go to a garage and have your wallet "lightened" and then later on find it is a simple problem that you could have sorted out yourself. That was why I invested in some professional level diagnostic tools, however some of these tools are specific to particular makes/models so unless you intend to keep the car forever it is cheaper to go to a specialist (not always found at main dealers!).