I had to leave the 13 Ex out of the garage because I had to park the MDX at an angle to fit the hitch carrier.
These are observations that are different from when it sits overnight in the garage.
21F outside, I let it warm up 10 min to clear frost
1. Just past 3 years, the battery is weak. It fired up but struggled to crank
2. Weak seat heater
3. Engine runs a bit rough and is noisier than ever.
4. CVT hiccups and stutters for the first 2 miles. It only occurs when pulling away from a stop.
In 3 years, I've never left it outside in the cold. I have felt similar issues when at work for 8 hours but this morning was different (much worse). I only drive 3.5 miles to work and it never really felt right the whole way there. I hate to think what it would be like without a warm up. To sum it up; unimpressive.
I hear ya, I too notice the weak battery now. I tend to turn my lights and radio off when I turn off the car. I'm thinking that it's just time for the battery to die already, because one day I did the fob command to roll down the windows, and the car wouldn't start and had to get a jump.
My weather right now isn't that cold, it's about 32-40 and I don't let it warm up. I'd say I leave it on for about 2-3 minutes (while setting up my waze and stuff) and take off lol.
Yup, the '02 that I had previously was parked in the garage overnight about 98% of its life, and the 1st winter that I started parking it outside, the starter died.
21F ain't really that cold unless one's unlucky enough to live in SoCal.
You got three years out of an OEM 51R...you are truly blessed.
Parts to convert...close as I remember from all those "i upgraded my battery threads/posts" the only significant keep it kinda stock looking essential was a correct size hold down bit of plastic top piece.
Want to never hafta do it again do it right? Get an Odyssey 34R and install with circa one inch spacer underneath...Odyssey sells them but a simple piece of pine board works fine. Don't want to spring for the Odyssey? Use an anything but OEM, good Group 24 and all should be good for another three to four years.
My old 2007 Accord 4 cylinder was kept outside each day from 2010-2014 (the years I had it), and those Minnesota winters definitely made for some very interesting starts. It started fine in most weather, but once it hit -25 below or so, it was sometimes reluctant to start and occasionally wouldn't start at all. At the 4 year mark, the battery died. Granted, it was put through a lot, but it never seemed particularly strong. However, after I let it warm up for about 10-15 minutes, I thought the car ran quite smoothy.
In this particular regard, my old 1998 Dodge Neon had a clear advantage- it started even when the windchill hit -40 and never failed me once. The heater was also incredibly hot. However, it made one heck of a racket at -20 and below. The Accord was miles better when it came to engine noise and smoothness, if not actually being the more reliable starter.
This is why Honda put the larger battery on all Canadian cars... those little 51Rs are garbage.
The only cold weather observation I have is that the RPM plants itself at 2000RPM while driving even with Econ on... car needs to warm up before the RPM will drop back down to 1100-1500.
In our CRV's particularly the 2015, there would be no room for a larger battery, structural steel in the way, it looks like a motorcycle battery sitting in there. Wouldn't the Walmart battery with the 550 CCA be enough for everyone? All of the Honda 4 bangers sound really weak on starting crank, even under normal conditions.
^ i start my car, wait 10 seconds and go...even in the freezing cold Canadian winters.
with the upgraded battery for us canucks, it definitely helps.
i have heat within a few short minutes and my seats warm up fast too.
When I had my generation 6 Accord V6 it stayed outside the entire 7 years I owned it. Always started perfectly, the OEM battery lasted 6 years and never failed completely. It drove just as well when it was -10 degrees F as it did in the summer. The only real difference I can remember was that it had more rattles when it was cold.
My generation 9 Accord Sport with MT is just fine when cold, but it is garaged (above 35 degrees) every night. It does seem to take a long time to warm up but it doesn't rattle.
Are OE Honda batteries really that sucky? My Pilot's almost 3 yrs old and I really hope it doesn't need a battery soon. I've parked her outside on several cold nights and she's started right up *knock on wood.* I make sure the battery contacts are clean and tight on all my cars.
I park mine outside all the time and don't really notice any issues - even at -20F. Yes it idles higher and there is some valve clatter, but it goes away fairly soon. I do use full synthetic oil, but I never wait for it to warmup. I just drive off after I start it.
I was going to say - I'm in Canada any I've started my Accord at -23C, -9F. The engine turns over noticeably slower than warm weather, but starts right up and didn't sound particularly noisy. I think the 0W20 oil is great for these cold starts. I always let the RPM settle down to just above 1000 RPM before I drive away very slowly, and I avoid jumping on the highway right away so the engine warms up nice and slowly.
I know there are a lot of states that don't need the cold weather battery, but there's also lots of states that get weather just as cold as Canada, so why not just put the same battery in all the cars!
It's funny what happens when a vehicle gets put in certain conditions for the first time. Back around 2001, I bought my moms 95 S-10 which spent it's whole life on the Central Coast of CA which never gets hotter then 90. I was living in Sacramento at the time and the first time it got really hot(100+), I walked out to my truck and the rear view mirror had fallen off lol.
You're being quite generous. My recent experience....OEM 51Rs are not to be depended on past maybe nine months. Group 24s not fully trustworthy beyond at most two years.
I've never owned a honda that didn't have a 51r battery, lol. Civics/Integras. My integra went 10+ years before it died. It probably helps that most of my trips are long commutes, which gives more than enough time to recharge the battery.
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