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Intermittent no start condition

14K views 17 replies 11 participants last post by  dominivacano 
#1 ·
Sorry if this has been discussed on here before, but I'm so tired of looking for answers to this problem.
I'm just asking for an answer that will work.

So my new daughter-in-law has a 2013 Accord, and until a few months ago didn't have this problem.
Got a call from my son that the car wouldn't start. Went over, looked it over, told him the battery was bad since it was the original from 2013.
Replaced and problem solved for about a month. Got a call that it wouldn't start again. Went over and couldn't get it going. It was in the garage.
So we pushed it out to jump it. Tired again before we hooked it up and it started. Good for about a few weeks. Wouldn't start again. My son getting frustrated.
Dont know why but I went to the rear and gave it a bunch of pushes to rock the car. Tried it and it started. Good for awhile and again no start. Son getting mad about it, got in and hit the brake pedal hard a few times, and car started. Daughter-in-law has uncle that owns shop. Wants him to look at it. Of course it works fine.
In all this I did a deep dive into internet to find what it could be. The list of failures - battery, alternator, brake switch, starter, key fob, battery solenoid, ect but no definite "this is the fix". One site had a post from either an ex-mechanic or still is a mechanic and he believes its the starter and needs to be replaced with Honda branded starter. Its now been good for a few weeks, so I'm guessing it should stop working soon.
I have found its a big problem, and Honda has not issued any recall.

When it happens again -first thing we want to try is rocking the car. Then maybe the brake pedal stomp.
Does the rocking of the car indicate that the starter is the problem??
Do any of you have any experience with this??

IF a shop does the work it will most likely be around $1500. I would tackle it but now the temps are 30°F and colder and I don't have heat in the garage.
I try and do all my car work in the warm months if possible.

I get so frustrated by the internet with 100 million responses to what you looking at and all of them are the same old crap that doesnt address what you really want to know.

So far the car has had a new battery installed. And curious the dash said that the key fob battery was low, so new battery in there as well.
When it does work everything is fine - for a few weeks.

So after my long rant - anybody please have an answer?
 
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#3 ·
From what I've read the 9th gens (and probably more so the early 9th gens like our 2013's) had a pretty big issue with premature failure on the starters. Not sure exactly what it is that fails, but we dont seem to get very long out of them. I purchased my 2013 in May and I noticed that the starter was definitely replaced very recently cause it looks brand new out of the box still. In my personal experience with failing starters is they will work if you keep trying them over and over. Some people have mentioned tapping the starter solenoid with a hammer between attempts too, though I've never had that work.

The car rocking thing is odd to me, but if you find consistent results with the brake pedal mashing then it would seem to me that its the safety switch in the brake pedal. The problem with it being intermittent is that even when you try something that works once, you never know if it was just a coincidence.

I vaguely remember reading about a TSB for a certain range of years that involved rotating the torque converter or something along that line that was related to starter issues as well.
 
#4 ·
My 2013 EX-L had the starter die at about 6 years and 45k miles. It was intermittent for a few days until I could get it into the dealer. For me it wouldn't crank at all when it was "bad". I just let it sit and kept trying until it would start. When it would start there was no hesitation. The dealer replaced the starter (using my extended warranty) and it's been solid for the last couple years.

Does your car crank when you push the button?
 
#8 ·
The definitive fix is to replace the starter. You don't have to get a replacement from Honda- places like Autozone sell a few different brands that likely won't suffer from the premature failure like the OEM ones do.

There are quite a few existing threads about this problem on the 9th Gen Accord. I believe that one of them actually includes a step-by-step guide to replace the starter yourself. If you use the search function you'll find them.

See one of them here.

Good luck.
 
#9 · (Edited)
Wow, where is Rick Blaine when you need him.

2 different starter issues with 9th gens

1. 4cyl staters randomly do not turn the starter motor, sometimes a click or nothing. Can happen for months. The fix is to replace the starter or rebuild yours.

2. V6 starter randomly spin and will not engaged the flywheel when attempting to start the engine. There is a TSB for this issue. This issue has been discussed at length.





Bottom line on the 4cyl starter issue is to rebuild your starter or replace it.

The V6 starter issue is much more complicated and so far there is no known permanent fix, some people believe replacing the flex plate and the starter at the same time may do it, but the cost is prohibitive.

Sent from my Pixel 5 using Tapatalk
 
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#10 · (Edited)
Sorry if this has been discussed on here before, but I'm so tired of looking for answers to this problem.
I'm just asking for an answer that will work.

So my new daughter-in-law has a 2013 Accord, and until a few months ago didn't have this problem.
Got a call from my son that the car wouldn't start. Went over, looked it over, told him the battery was bad since it was the original from 2013.
Replaced and problem solved for about a month. Got a call that it wouldn't start again. Went over and couldn't get it going. It was in the garage.
So we pushed it out to jump it. Tired again before we hooked it up and it started. Good for about a few weeks. Wouldn't start again. My son getting frustrated.
Dont know why but I went to the rear and gave it a bunch of pushes to rock the car. Tried it and it started. Good for awhile and again no start. Son getting mad about it, got in and hit the brake pedal hard a few times, and car started. Daughter-in-law has uncle that owns shop. Wants him to look at it. Of course it works fine.
In all this I did a deep dive into internet to find what it could be. The list of failures - battery, alternator, brake switch, starter, key fob, battery solenoid, ect but no definite "this is the fix". One site had a post from either an ex-mechanic or still is a mechanic and he believes its the starter and needs to be replaced with Honda branded starter. Its now been good for a few weeks, so I'm guessing it should stop working soon.
I have found its a big problem, and Honda has not issued any recall.

When it happens again -first thing we want to try is rocking the car. Then maybe the brake pedal stomp.
Does the rocking of the car indicate that the starter is the problem??
Do any of you have any experience with this??

IF a shop does the work it will most likely be around $1500. I would tackle it but now the temps are 30°F and colder and I don't have heat in the garage.
I try and do all my car work in the warm months if possible.

I get so frustrated by the internet with 100 million responses to what you looking at and all of them are the same old crap that doesnt address what you really want to know.

So far the car has had a new battery installed. And curious the dash said that the key fob battery was low, so new battery in there as well.
When it does work everything is fine - for a few weeks.

So after my long rant - anybody please have an answer?
Hey there, Honda Technician here. As many have stated the 4 cylinder accords have some issues with the starter where they will maybe click and sometimes not work at all.

This will most likely be one of two things. Either the starter motor, which was mentioned, OR;

THE START/ STOP/ ignition switch (on push to start models, which is very common especially on the first few years of vehicles using the smart key system).

Please let us know if that helped!
Good luck!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
#14 · (Edited)
Here's some pics of my starter that I disassembled.
Click

The plunger comes down, makes contact with that L shaped copper piece, and the copper carrier with braided wires that sends power to the brushes... you may hear a faint click as it engages the solenoid but the burnt contact does not allow the starter to turn.... there is a pic of the whole carrier with 4 brushes in it.

That part is like $18 on ebay... if you are handy enough to take the starter apart (not too bad actually)

$300 for the whole starter at autozone '.. 'lifetime guarantee'
 
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