Hi everyone! First post here, been searching the forums for a while and can't find a problem like mine.

I got my Fit back in May of 2006. Everything was great, until the winter time. I work out of my home, so I don't have to drive a whole lot any more and, after years of commuting to Toronto, it's great to get out of rush hour. I also got really sick last winter, so that stopped me going out too often.

Which brings me to my problem, one day the car wouldn't start, there's a clicking noise, the lights come on the radio, but no starting. So, I use the free Honda roadside assistance and get a jump. A week or two goes by, same problem, same solution. A few days goes by, same problem, same solution. I take it into the dealer, the car checks out fine. They charge up the battery and everything's fixed... until a week later when the car won't start again. A couple of times, the battery's been so low, I don't even get the lights coming on.

Back to the dealer, they think it's a bad battery. OK, could be that I got a lemon, but they don't have a replacement in stock, so I have to come back again to get the battery replaced. No problems for the rest of the year after that, until the first cold snap at the end of November, and again the car won't start.

I bought several Canadian Tire products last year, but because there's black plastic around the terminals, I can't get them to snap on. Even the tow truck guys rest the jumper cables on top, I saw them do it. Oh, and once they showed up with "the wrong truck" (whatever that meant) and used my 91 Civic hatchback to give the new car a boost -- which destroyed the alternator on that car and cost me $500 to fix (not that I had a choice, with a new car that won't start reliably, I live in an area where there's no public transit and cabs are crazy expensive to come out here). That old car still runs like a top. If it had air and wasn't rusting out, I wouldn't have bothered to buy a new car. Until this problem gets sorted out, I have to keep it.

I have begged and pleaded with the guys at the dealership to solve this. I've told them I'm willing to pay to install a block heater, remote starter, whatever, anything, to keep it from happening. They finally agreed to install (for free) one set of wires on a trickle charger/battery maintainer I bought last year but this is a bandaid solution and I want the root cause fixed. They have told me I need to drive more, but no word of a lie, 3 trips in 3 days to Toronto (round trip minimum 100K each time) and 2 days with no driving later, the bloody thing won't start, so it can't just be usage. I sometimes travel for business and bought another charger unit that I can keep in the glove box in case I need it. I returned from 4 days away and fully expected that the car would not start, it must've been a Christmas miracle because it did.

I am slowly getting to the end of my tether on this. If anyone has any idea what might be happening, or is experiencing a similar problem, I'd be very interested in hearing it.

 

Move out of that frozen tundra you call Canada! (Ok, so right now the climate in the Northeast isn't much better )

 

you should charge your battery every 2 weeks if you dont do
much driving. you sound like someone that's better off with
a deep cycle battery as you can empty it and still hold a
good charge after it is recharged.

 

which battery tester did the dealership use? There is the Honda brand one that will be able to test not only the battery but the entire starting/charging system, then another that will better check the battery.

Never should teh solution to a dead battery be drive more, someone must have been smoking crack before they told you that

 

Get an Optima redtop and never look back

 

That happend to my other car (not the Fit) last Summer, as I don't drive it for the whole last Winter. I end up getting a battery charger to recharge the battery and then everything is fine. I think I might have to charge it again when Summer comes next year, as I been using only my Fit.
As per your problem, sounds like there is some parasitic power drain on your Fit's electrical layout (maybe a partial short?). Normal electrical power consumption should not drain a fully charged battery that quickly. If your are handy with tools and have a ohm meter. I would try disconnecting the car battery and use the ohm meter to measure the resistance of the disconnected terminals on the car (not the battery) to see if indeed there are unreasonable loads on it.

 

I think you have three things working against you here:

1.) The obvious - Batteries do not perform as well in the cold.

2.) You definitely need a new battery - regular car batteries are not designed to be fully discharged. In my experience they usually come back to about 50% if you are lucky and the Fit doesn't have a lot of battery to start with.
You can look into a deep cycle battery - they handle being discharged a little better, but I don't know what's available for the Fit. The best way is to keep it charged.

3.) All modern cars will run down a battery on their own - period. You didn't specify exactly how long the car sat before the first run-down, but in my experience (not with the fit) it can be in a little as two weeks with after market alarms and older batteries - especially in the cold.
The alarm circuits, computer(s) and solid state relays use electricity. There is nothing you can do to stop it other than disconnect the battery cable.

My advice to you is to replace the battery and either disconnect the battery or invest in a battery charger.

Also, smart Battery chargers with a "float charge" option will maintain your battery for you - you can leave it connected for the duration of your Fit's sit.

--bw

 

Have you ever looked into an insulated battery cover? i don't think it would a long term fix but it may help in the short term.

 

Well, that's what I've done. They replaced the battery last January but I guess that I need a new one. I have the battery charger plugged in whenever I come home and will see how that gets me through the winter. I guess that this is just the way things are now and it wouldn't matter if I had a new Fit/Versa/Golf/whatever I'd have the exact same problem.

 

A brand new car should never drain it's battery even in 2 weeks in the cold.

I understand that the Fit's battery is quite small but to me that is not acceptable that it would do that.

Either you have something electrical draining the battery at an unatural rate or your battery is crap.

I would take this back to Honda and tell them what you have had to do and ask them to either replace the battery again or buy you a deep cycle one at no charge to you period!

 

I agree, ET, that this is unacceptable. As I travel on business, it's not fun to sit on the plane and wonder whether or not your practically brand new car is going to start up when you get back.

However, I have brought it back to the dealer 5 times now for the same problem and every time, I get the same story, that whatever diagnostic tests they run say the electrical system is fine - none of the aftermarket things are putting an excessive drain on it, there's no short or anything that they can find. And, Honda apparently doesn't make anything that will switch the battery off, recharge it, heat it, whatever. I've even heard conflicting stories on whether or not if I get a remote starter put on it and let it idle 5 minutes a day will fix it.

I will ask about a deep-cycle battery next time I have to go in. I doubt Honda makes one for this model, though.

 

Oh I'm sure they don't but don't leave until one is installed on your car!