Electrical Problem??

19575 Views 27 Replies 14 Participants Last post by dancanfi, 3 mo ago

mec

Discussion Starter · May 2, 2019

As I wait for roadside service for my BRAND NEW Passport I figure I'll put my time to good use. My car won't start. It's acting like an electrical problem. Now granted, could be a bad battery. I have had it exactly two weeks. But when I called service they were less than no help, would not even talk to me to see if there was something I was doing or could do. Hoping it's a bad battery, that wouldn't be so bad, except for waiting for roadside service then waiting for the service dept......And I am 4 hours from home, thankfully at my brother's but still not home.

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ProdGirl

· #2 · May 2, 2019

That sucks!
I had a weird situation this morning. I always put my key fob in the door handle pocket (top one) and no issues. This morning it wouldn't start and I got an alert that said my key fob was not close enough to the engine start button?

Do you have anything like that or any power at all?

mec

Discussion Starter · #3 · May 3, 2019

Turns out that it was a defective battery. Thank goodness it wasn't an electrical problem. But the customer service was awful. Couldn't even get a service tech to talk to me on the phone to give me any info. And the Honda Roadside service was over 2 hours late, I kept calling and they told me 10 more minutes about 3 times. I did call ahead to the Honda Dealer and told them I was going to cut it close to closing and to please get my car in to be looked at as soon as I got there, and they did a great fast job of diagnosing and replacing the battery.

Reactions: 1

CAJack42

· #4 · May 3, 2019

Sorry to hear this. I hope this is not going to be a spate of bad batteries like the CR-V's suffered. I think the PP battery has a different construction, so maybe just a one off.

Reactions: 1

mec

Discussion Starter · #5 · May 4, 2019

One more observation that may be helpful. When I started my road trip my Android Auto wouldn't connect, kept telling me there was no device connected. I changed the cable, reloaded the app, still wouldn't connect. So I let it go and figured I would call someone after I got back. Well, turns out, it was an indication the battery charge was low, probably because the battery is basically like a plug for the USB cable. As soon as my new battery was installed, Android Auto loaded with no problem at all like it is supposed to, on start up. Now I know an indication that my battery is going bad. Hope this helps someone not get stuck somewhere with a dead battery. Cheers!!

CAJack42

· #6 · May 4, 2019

The most common failure on the CR-Vs was a shorted cell (if you have a digital meter, it will read about 10.8V). Of course, it wouldn't start, and just about every conceivable error message flashes across the dash screen.

Reactions: 1

mec

Discussion Starter · #7 · May 4, 2019

CAJack42 said:
The most common failure on the CR-Vs was a shorted cell (if you have a digital meter, it will read about 10.8V). Of course, it wouldn't start, and just about every conceivable error message flashes across the dash screen.

That is exactly what happened. Scared the crap out of me because of all the error messages. Sounds like the same problem. Do I need to take it to my usual dealer and have them run diagnostics to be sure it isn't something else?

CAJack42

· #8 · May 4, 2019

No, those are just false messages due to the low voltages. Any actual problem would have shown up after they replaced the battery.

Reactions: 1

mannylee910

· #9 · Nov 4, 2019

I’m sitting here after a 24 hour shift and my 2019 Passport EXL won’t start. 464 miles on it. Haven’t had time to go to the dealer yet. Has happened 3 or 4 times before but eventually started. Now, won’t start at all and all those error messages showing up. Waiting for roadside now...

ProdGirl

· #10 · Nov 4, 2019

mannylee910 said:
I’m sitting here after a 24 hour shift and my 2019 Passport EXL won’t start. 464 miles on it. Haven’t had time to go to the dealer yet. Has happened 3 or 4 times before but eventually started. Now, won’t start at all and all those error messages showing up. Waiting for roadside now...

yuck. Hopefully you got road side assistance and it is something as simple as a bad battery.
keep us posted.

elder prep

· #11 · Nov 4, 2019

ProdGirl said:
yuck. Hopefully you got road side assistance and it is something as simple as a bad battery.
keep us posted.

Either a bad battery or an electrical control module is defective.

mannylee910

· #12 · Nov 5, 2019

elder prep said:
Either a bad battery or an electrical control module is defective.

So, after a 24-hour shift (I'm a resident), I come out to a 2019 passport that doesn't start up. I call Honda roadside and they send a AAA guy (1.5 hour wait) with a car and a jump-starter. It doesn't work so he leaves. I call again. They send another guy 1.5 hours later. Long story but he hits the employee parking gate with his flatbed and we have to wait for police to come and police report... (waste of an hour). He tries the same thing. It doesn't work. Says he can't tow it because we can't get it into neutral. At this point, I've called American Honda corporate. I've called my Honda dealership. No one knows what to do. So, I uber to the dealership and ask them to help me. They have a valet guy drive me back to the parking lot where I meet the third Honda roadside guy (actually just a AAA-contracted guy). This guy was actually helpful. He did something with the bypass neutral switch and we were able to get the car on the flatbed. Mind you, it has been 6 hours now and I havent slept in 30+ hours. I get to the dealership and get a loaner. Now, I wait to see what they say tomorrow...

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ProdGirl

· #13 · Nov 5, 2019

mannylee910 said:
So, after a 24-hour shift (I'm a resident), I come out to a 2019 passport that doesn't start up. I call Honda roadside and they send a AAA guy (1.5 hour wait) with a car and a jump-starter. It doesn't work so he leaves. I call again. They send another guy 1.5 hours later. Long story but he hits the employee parking gate with his flatbed and we have to wait for police to come and police report... (waste of an hour). He tries the same thing. It doesn't work. Says he can't tow it because we can't get it into neutral. At this point, I've called American Honda corporate. I've called my Honda dealership. No one knows what to do. So, I uber to the dealership and ask them to help me. They have a valet guy drive me back to the parking lot where I meet the third Honda roadside guy (actually just a AAA-contracted guy). This guy was actually helpful. He did something with the bypass neutral switch and we were able to get the car on the flatbed. Mind you, it has been 6 hours now and I havent slept in 30+ hours. I get to the dealership and get a loaner. Now, I wait to see what they say tomorrow...

This sounds like a miserable 30 hours.
Hopefully the dealer finds the issue and fixes it the first time.
Please keep us posted as these forums are the only way to know what’s going on with our Passports.

darksky

· #14 · Nov 5, 2019

I've also wondered how one would put the vehicle into neutral if there was an electrical issue. This is the problem with a push button transmission.

Reactions: 1

mannylee910

· #15 · Nov 5, 2019

So, I picked it up today from the dealership. They said it was a bad cell in the battery. The car works fine now. I was just upset that it only had 400 miles on the car and I had to go through this. I had to ask to speak to the service manager who offered me 1 oil change. I asked him for 2 oil changes and a tire rotation to which he reluctantly agreed. I'm just thankful this fiasco is over. Definitely was a horrible experience.

ProdGirl

· #16 · Nov 6, 2019

mannylee910 said:
So, I picked it up today from the dealership. They said it was a bad cell in the battery. The car works fine now. I was just upset that it only had 400 miles on the car and I had to go through this. I had to ask to speak to the service manager who offered me 1 oil change. I asked him for 2 oil changes and a tire rotation to which he reluctantly agreed. I'm just thankful this fiasco is over. Definitely was a horrible experience.

That is great news it was just your battery. And yes, a terrible experience with a brand new vehicle.
Did you by chance get the Kahu alarm/alert package? If so, you can set it up to give you low battery alerts.

I had to replace my battery in the first couple days as well. I was told this is common with the new vehicle as the battery was taken off a shelf, but in the car, then put on a machine to test everything, then put on a truck and transported and rarely started yet alone left running long enough.

Luckily, I got a low battery alert and took it in for testing after the dealer had it for two days to put the accessories on and attempt to fix my hands free tailgate, (this ticked me off even more with my dealer) and just hours before driving from So Cal to No Cal for months of work.

mannylee910

· #17 · Nov 6, 2019

I got nothing extra on my EXL. Low battery can be killer on these new electronics heavy cars

ProdGirl

· #18 · Nov 6, 2019

mannylee910 said:
I got nothing extra on my EXL. Low battery can be killer on these new electronics heavy cars

Shoot. No alert on your dash either?

And yes - how many electronics are based on a single battery is crazy!
I went from a 2006 CRV to The Passport - it’s eye opening! ?

dred

· #19 · Nov 6, 2019

you have to put your key into a little slot in the console to put into neutral with no power
salesman where I bought mine showed me how

Jermboy777

· #20 · Nov 6, 2019

dred said:
you have to put your key into a little slot in the console to put into neutral with no power
salesman where I bought mine showed me how

Where is this slot? It was my understanding you had to have a special tool to mechanically hold the transmission in neutral.

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