2003 Honda Accord EX from North America - Comments

When new the front passenger side wheel bearing was bad.

The brake light switch failed in a year or two.

A few other minor things like a lug nut working itself loose after only 1000-miles.

The trunk latch had to be replaced as well due to popping open at any random time and causing the alarm to go off at 3am while neighborhood was sleeping. The car has never been wrecked.

All the above don’t bother me so much as what has been happening in the past few weeks.

The car starts as normal in the morning, then I drive the car for 20-30 minutes and kill the car and it will not start. I have to let it set for hours and then it may restart. I have gotten into the habit of letting the car run for hours while I am in town running errands. My MPG is down to 10mpg. I simply can’t keep doing this financially and for the environment.

The first time the car did this, I called my dealership and they said that I should have the car towed in and they would pay for the towing and everything because my car has the 100,000-mile warranty.

They towed the car in and it started right up as soon as the tow guy let the car down. The dealership then would not reimburse me the towing charges due to the fact that it was operator error. The shop manager told the secretary that I was not turning the key all the way to start. I have been driving for 40-years and I have never had a problem before.

A few days later on the same problem happened. I called back and they told me to turn the key harder. I did. I told her that the key it almost to the point of bending if I turn it any harder. She said keep bending harder. I am not that stupid and I am not going to cause physical damage to my car and break the key off in the switch.

Anyway I had the car towed to the dealership again and rented a new Accord and drove home. After three days the dealership called me and said that this starting problem may not be all in my head. They told me to come in and they had some information for me.

They told me that all newer Honda’s have a quality defect in the sensitivity of the computer keys. He told me that I probably had too many keys on my key chain and that I was confusing the computer. I told him that the only key on my key chain is my house key. A simply 99 cent key. He blew me off and said that I would have to pay them for the towing and rental. Almost $422.00 for nothing also my $100.00 deductible because the car “Went into the shop”. I paid and left.

Well the very next day the piece of junk Honda that has been keep in a heated garage, never abused, always dealer serviced 1000-miles early etc. broke down on me again.

The only key on my key chain was the Honda key. I even took the house key and put it outside of the car. I still wouldn’t start.

When trying to start. The starter will not move, but you can hear an electronic ding ding from under the hood.

I had a guy from BurgerKing come out to the parking lot and see if he could start the car to see if maybe I was doing something wrong. I give everything the benefit of the doubt and I am 100% fair.

Any way, I had the car towed 64-miles to the closest Honda dealership to see if a new set of mechanically inclined brains could figure out this troubled piece of crap car. It truly has been. I am not judging. I am stating my experiences.

I called my wife to take me home and we rented car for me the next day.

Then in 2-days the Honda dealership, 64-miles away, called me and said that due to their new insurance policy that I have to actually sign the repair request in front of them, so I had to get off work early and make the long drive to sign the papers in front of the girl, but they said I could pay to have the papers overnighted to me and sign them and over night them back at my own expense. I just don’t understand how signing them in front of one of their employees would be the same as authorizing the repair at the post office while I sign in front of no one.

Any way, my point is that I am spending tons of money and time.

They unhooked the alarms, tested all the computers, did everything in the world and found nothing wrong with my car. They did say that the car did fail to start for them, but he said the car started up 3-hours later and they said that every electrical component on the car has been tested and passed. They even used a computer to override everything and the car still would not start, but then it did.

They also informed me that the warranty that I bought from my new selling Honda dealership in Arkansas would not cover the repair due to the state of Tenseness not in the service reimbursement zone of the warranty administrator.

I ask him why didn’t he tell me this before they started the repairs. He said that I signed the work order without reading the fine print and his dealership is not in the business of investigating third party aftermarket warranties and wheatear or not to pay, is ultimately decided by the warranty provider, and not his dealership’s service department. I told him that I bought the warranty the same day that I bought my Accord new and the warranty was $1,700 that I paid directly to my Honda dealership.

Due to all my distress, the warranty department at the 64-mile away dealership did called the service department and said to reduce my bill from $1,381.98 down to $500.00 pulse a $29.00 shop fee. I paid with my credit card and left. I plan to dispute the charge with my credit card company and put a stop payment on it.

I will be talking to a lawyer on Thursday at 8am.

The car did make it back home fine. I truned in the rental because my wife decided to take her two weeks a year vacation now so that I could drive her Taurus. We only have parking for two cars and I don’t feel safe leaving my Accord in some nearby empty parking lot. I still care for the car a bit.

I tell you, when she inherited this 2000 baby blue Taurus, in 2002 with 7,000-miles, from her mother, I thought what a piece of junk. It will never make 50,000 miles. We almost traded the Taurus in on the Accord, but thank God we didn’t. The Taurus has 113,000-all city miles on it and has been 100% trouble free. No kidding. Too bad Ford stopped building the Taurus, because I’d trade my Accord off today, but I could not live with myself putting this car off on some innocent soul. I have to get it fixed.

I don’t know what to do. I guess my lawyer will direct us on getting reimbursed and getting the car fixed.

At least my lawyer, a great friend of mine, said he would not charge me anything.

I will update as soon as I figure this all out.

Please post if you have any knowledge on this starting issue. It would be of great help to us.

Thanks.

Handles great.

22.8 mpg average with 60% highway 40% city with a v-6.

Well designed and layout of the interior.

Ugly brake lights.

A few rattles in dash and inside front passenger door at low speeds. Started around 50,000-miles.

Everything excellent except for quality problem.

I was told that it was my battery. I had a new one put in and the car still had a fit this morning.

The car is gone. We are going to trade it off.

I have no idea what to buy. Will let you all know.

So far so good, The car has started all the time.

Maybe it is fixed. Not sure.

I will keep you all posted.

For all of those Honda's that just won't start and then magically fix themselves. I've had a couple Honda Accord's and have really been pleased with their service. I had an issue with one of my Accord's that would occasionally, mostly in warm weather, not start and the dealerships could not figure out what was wrong with the thing. It would always start at the dealership. The problem that I've found with the Accord's that don't start some of the time is the main relay switch under the dash on the driver's side. Basically, the dealership can't find anything wrong because it works most of the time. A change in temperature causes the switch to open/close when it's not supposed to. Once the temp regulates itself, the switch will begin operating like it should. It's a pretty cheap fix. The part can be picked up at any parts store and only takes about 30 minutes to take out the old and put in the new.

I would be hesitant to blame the cars. I have read engineering books on engines, transmissions, etc. and have worked on cars for over 40 years. Invariably every time I take the car to the shop, most of the mechanics (about 99%) are incompetent. For instance, I had a Cadillac Eldorado that need the front axle replaced. It cost around 1,200.00 in the 80s. They forgot to put a washer in to load the wheel bearings and it failed. I bought the parts for 700.00 and fixed it again myself. I try a new mechanic every several years. My last adventure was the replacement of a head gasket on my Toyota. They had it for about a month. Finally they admitted they could make it idle. So I fixed it in about an hour - vacuum hoses for sensors were connected wrong. So I took it back to the certified mechanics to fix the exhaust. In 8 months, the head cracked on the #1 cylinder. They tightened the cylinder head bolts to 90 lbs. instead of around 40-45 lbs. They should have known this for 2 reasons. (1) The cylinder head is aluminum and the block is cast iron. The 2 metals expand and contract at different rates. On a Chevy engine, 90 lbs. would be fine. (2) I gave them the shop manual for the car that Toyota publishes for their mechanics. While I was waiting for my car to be repaired, my brother with 7 kids needed a head gasket on his Mazda. So I fixed it for him to help him out. The car is still running 5 years later.

The worst part of the story - I own a computer consulting business and do not want to work on cars. I want to make money working with computers. So in the next couple of weeks, I am replacing the struts, axles, ball joints, etc. on the front end of my car. It will take about 3 hours of my time. But if I fix my vehicles I can keep them for 300,000 to 400,000 miles before I decide to get rid of them.

Though I could go on and on about all the mechanics, dealers and independent shops, you should get the idea by now. In defense of the mechanics, I did have the opportunity to know 3 good mechanics. One helped build a car that took 3rd place in the Grand Prix. He expanded is shop to 8 bays and couldn't handle all the cars being returned because the work was shoddy. He came in one day, fired everyone closed the shop and went back to a one man shop. The second mechanic retired. The last on is working on research and development of engines for a large company that is 800 miles away. He has amazing diagnostic skills.

Hello from Lithuania :)

I think that the problem is in the main relay :)