Just a little weird

[Ozzie]

Last night as I stopped at the petrol station, I accidentally left the headlights on, I thought they were on auto, but they weren't. Never mind I will only be 5 minutes, so I fuel up and go and pay. Upon returning to the car, it hesitated in starting and it appeared that the battery was dead, turn the key nothing. So I took the key out, unlocked the car again (already open) and it started.
Today it did a similar think with the sat nav charger powering up the sat nav.
So I am thinking if there is any drain on the battery, the car won't start. If you remove the additional drain, its fine . . . weird !

[culzean]

as your car is 3 years old and as a driving instructor car has a life similar to a taxi (stop start and high mileage) I would suspect battery is on the way out.

[Ozzie]

It started fine later on today, and hasn't been a problem when there wasn't a drain, and has only started playing up in the past 24 hours. I guess it will be back in for a service in a month or two I will mention it then if it hasn't come to a natural conclusion before. Meanwhile I guess it will either get better or a lot worse 

[John Ratsey]

It might also be a deteriorating electrical connection to the battery which is starting to struggle to pass enough current for both the starter motor and anything else.

Either the connections or declining battery health can't be completely unexpected for the amount of usage the car has had. As discussed in your MoT thread, the basic power train seems healthy and good for a lot more miles but it's all the other bits that may be starting to succumb to all the hours of usage that the car has had.

[Ozzie]

 . . . . and it gets even weirder ! !

Yesterday morning I booked the car in to the local dealer for Friday (my next day off). Since then it has been fine, started first time, some 20 odd consecutive times.

So the next quandry do I still take it on Friday or cancel ?

[guest4078]

It sounds like 'dentist syndrome'. My teeth always behave well if threatened with a dentist!

[Ozzie]

and again . . . .

Tonight I refuelled again at my local petrol station, and again I thought i will leave my lights on whilst I go and pay  . . . . and again it refused to start initially, turn the lights off, wait 10 seconds and it starts.

Thats it I am convinced theres nothing wrong, I will cancel the garage appointment, Happy Days 

[Ozzie]

It played up again this weekend, so I am thinking its possibly the immobiliser, so I tried my spare key fob today and it was fine, so I have invested in a new battery for the key fob, lets give it another week or I will book it back in.

[John Ratsey]

An interesting hypothesis and not something I would have thought of. However, I presume that your key gets much more use than most. You could check the voltage on the key fob battery if is hasn't already gone for recycling to see if is well down from the nominal (3?) voltage.

[Ozzie]

Its weird, as its only the first start-up of the day that is normally a problem unless there is an additional electrical drain.
Summer is peak season for driving instructors, so I am delaying having a day off to get it investigated. Also I am trying to get more information to minimise investigation costs, as Honda doubt that a fault code will have been put on the onboard computer.

[Ozzie]

One week on and everything seems OK, so I am thinking it was the battery in the key fob, a nice £6.88 fix

[monkeydave]

the key should start the car with no battery in it, the battery is for opening the doors so it is a bit strange

[guest4078]

I left all my lights on at my last fill-up, they thought I was odd as it was mid-day, but I could not replicate your issue. Started up no problem.

[Ozzie]

My theory was that the battery in the key fob was weak, and although the signal was enough to open the doors, there was not enough to turn the immobiliser off. (Just a guess). Upon turning the key, there was nothing. Then it would suddenly start as if nothing was wrong.
Since changing the key fob battery it has been fine, so I am still not 100% certain that its fixed, but its definitely better.
I will try the lights on at refuel again and see if it still does it.

[guest255]

I think you'll find the battery has nothing to do with the immobiliser otherwise we would all be changing our batteries.

Mine is still the original from new, over seven years and no problems unlocking/starting etc