CivicGal29

So…. I love everything about my EX-L, like everything! This was the first car I ever purchased without my parents helping, so she holds a special place in my heart and I’ve always been so proud of herJ Ever since I first got the car, she’s been my spoiled babe. I do the maintenance on schedule, I never let it get close to E, etc (and get mad at my boyfriend when he does). it really is the best car, but every once in a blue moon (maybe a few times a year), the car cranks but won’t start. When this happens I end up having to hold my finger on the start button to get it to crank longer than a couple secs, bc it’ll just stop cranking after like 1-2 secs if I don’t. That’s when I know instantly I’m/we’re screwed. I’ll sit there pressing start to crank it until it finally catches, which varies. Sometimes it’ll crank right up as soon as I hold “start” for 3-4 secs (longer than it used to be, but best case scenario after the short crank). But other times it will struggle for what seems like an eternity. Also, at times it just cranks like it’s not even close, but then other times it gets SOOOOO close. You know, like, it shakes as if its started and I can see the RPM needle bounce, but then just keeps cranking. I guess this has happened maybe a half dozen times in a few years. Mostly this has happened to me while I’m by myself, but the last few times my boyfriend was regrettably in the car with me (he acts like I’m doing something wrong and don’t know how to start my own damn car).

I did read the manual the first time this occurred a few years back, so I don’t usually crank for longer than 10s (unless its like sounding super close to catching), and I let it sit long enough in between failed start attempts. But I can tell my boyfriend certainly does not treat my baby as well as I do. He borrowed the car for work tonight bc his is in the shop till monday. I wasnt getting off work until an hour after him, so I thought we’d be fine. But I get the phone call while I was wrapping up at work and he tells me it was giving him trouble (that was actually in the back of my mind as I watched him drive off). I was like NBD, and figured he’d just be a little late (told him to be patient, I wasn’t in a hurry). But he called back a min or two later to tell me the battery was dead and he was waiting to try a jump start. According to him, he only cranked it 5 to 6 times, and it almost turned over more than once supposedly, which is why he just kept going (clearly not letting it rest in between like I told him, argh). I can’t believe the jerk killed my battery (wtf babe)! He was able to capture video (incriminating, lol) of approximately half of the incident and says it was stuttering/almost starting right before he started recording, and that’s the only reason he kept trying so rapidly in between fails, but the video only shows a few cranks at the end until the battery died.

I’m so mad at him right now, he clearly didn’t listen to my advice with waiting. It always starts for me eventually when I take my time. I think the problem was he just didn’t care about my car, or maybe I should give him the benefit of the doubt because he was trying to pick me up on time. But then on the way home as he’s driving, I asked him who jumped the car, and it eventually comes out that he called his ex to come jump start MY car bc she's close by and has a car (POS!), and that set just me off. not only did he crank my car battery dead bc he couldn't wait, but then he calls her?!? According to Ryan, it started for them after two tries, what he says was 10s of cranking/stuttering. I wish he at least got her to take video of that part so I could show you guys when it gets close to turning over

But I guess it bugs me that she was there and I wasn’t. I’m sure they were both talking smack about me and my car. Like I said, I’ve never had it completely fail to turnover and leave me stranded, so I’ve kind of gotten used to it since its rare and I love my baby. I mean, it is definitely embarrassing, both with strangers, and friends/family. But I guess I’ve gotten used to it and just deal. One example, I work at the mall, and I used to park in the garage. But in the garage it’s so loud when I try to start it, people end up coming from all over to ask if I’m ok and if I need a jump (duh, its trying and cranking pretty hard that’s why you came over here to ask, just turn your head and walk away please!). The only 2 Family/Friends that have been so lucky to experience it 1st hand are so embarrassed. When my sister and her friend were in the car with me when it happened, she instantly pulled out her phone and tried to dial AAA, I was like, at least give me a min (She’s helpless, actually come to think of it now, she never lets me drive anymore after that. and she stopped asking if she'll get that car when i get a new one). Ryan basically said point blank tonight when we finally got home after all this that he won’t be driving it anymore (good maybe based on that video? Haha), and when we go somewhere in the future we’ll take his car (he has a damn 2000 malibu, it sucks *** compared to the EX-L comforts). I’m just like hold up, why is it so bad if it starts eventually, as it runs fine. I’m just freakin embarrassed your dang ex had to swoop in and save the day for us, it makes my car look so bad, I’m sure she’s laughing at me with all her friends, hoping its normal for me. Ugh…

I’m trying to get to the bottom of this, I don’t think it was a battery issue until today (thanks Ryan) because it would always crank at normal speed, and eventually catch/turnover. Has anyone experienced a similar issue?

ezone

tl;dr
Watched video instead LOL


In the video I see the green key symbol (immobilizer) flashing, that is why it won't start.

Is the fob battery good?
Is the fob good? Is it correct for this car?
Try your other fob?

All fuses good? If someone jump started it and got the cables reversed, there's no telling what all systems may have blown fuses.

I see a tow truck and a dealership visit in your future

CivicGal29

Thanks for the suggestion, that's easy to try (I can do easy!). I wasn't sure how to test the fob battery so I just bought a new battery today instead. I'll let you know if it happens to me again, but it only occured a handful of times this past year to begin with, so it'll be hard to tell until it rears it's head again. I guess I'll just say a prayer and cross my fingers each time I go to start it up and hopefully it never happens to me again (I'm superstitious don't laugh about crossing my fingers lol).

If that's the fix I'm looking for though, I owe you big time!

CivicGal29

Oh and BTW, his dang ex was talking smack about my car, just like I was worried. Someone told me she was laughing at my baby and called it a POS last weekend. I was livid when my friend told me. I love everything about my car, the only option I didn't splurge for was the EX-T upgrade, so it's hardly a POS!

Its all Ryans fault for killing the battery, I'm still mad at him!

CivicGal29

[ ] Ugh... FML! My car has started right up everytime since early may, so I finally thought I was done with this. Then today were all packing my car up to leave the beach and I go to blast the AC, the damn thing wouldn't start again! I shouldve tried to tape another vid, but I was so flustered and embarrassed I forgot to. We were only like 4 blocks from the house were renting, so 6 of my college friends were just going to squeeze in for the short trip. Imagine my horror when I realized it was struggling after the first 4-5s or so of my car trying to start. It cranked for the whole, excrutatingly long 10s and my stomach just sank and I started sweating. Now someone was waiting for my prime parking spot too, so I tried again 2 more times. Each time I pressed the button my car would try the whole 10s, getting really close maybe twice each time, (ya know, coughing/stuttering just a little before timing out). At this point, everyone was so hot and annoyed that all the girls except two decided it was a waste of time and started walking back. I tried 2 more times after everyone else bailed on us, and even I was starting to doubt if I could get my damn car to start for us.
[ ]
[ ] We decided to try one last time rather than walk back to the house and admit defeat to the others and thank the lord, it finally started (albeit EXTREMELY rough). It just kept stuttering/shaking the last 4 or 5 secs of hard cranking, then finally started up. I checked my rearview and saw a puff or two of smoke (as well as the jerk still waiting for our spot, clearly annoyed we were taking so long, dude had to know I was straight struggling).
[ ]
[ ] The puff of smoke is a first, I think prob just from me trying to start it so many freakin times, right? This was definitely the hardest it ever was to get it to start though. Basically 6 full times over 5 min, I'm prob lucky the battery didn't die on us. Now I'm preoccupied thinking about whether or not the damn thing will start tomorrow when we go to leave in the morning, I may sneak out and make sure before offering anyone a ride back lol

CivicGal29

Can't sleep, just thinking about my car parked outside now (and if it will start in a few hours). Yesterday was much better for us (hallelujah!), but i'm still thinking about how much it sucked every time i look out at my poor car. I ended up starting it up only 4 times all day i think, but they were basically almost completely normal, almost like when I first got it back in 2015 (thank the Lord!). Unfortunately,"Is my car gonna start this time" will basically always be burned into the back of my head after yesterday... I've got an appointment on Tuesday, so hopefully they'll figure it out.

But yeah, still had a quick scare yesterday when Jen and I were going to grab coffee around 830 yesterday morning. It took a few extra secs of harder cranking to fire up. I was a little nervous when i first got in and looked at all the gauges before pressing start, just thinking of how hard the previous day was. So I pushed the button, somewhat expecting it to epicly fail again. It ended up starting on that first try, but not before it struggled for an extra ~3-4 secs (I should've snuck out to try to start it yesterday morning like i joked about the previous night). It was def not like 10 secs of like really, really hard cranking, like it kept doing to us when I was trying to get it to start for us the previous day. Compared to that, it started quickly, maybe taking 4-5 secs vs 10 secs each time it would try for the other night. It was a tiny stutter/hiccup, but now any time I go to start my car, i'm just waiting for it to struggle/stutter/shake and fail to start. That was the worst few sec's when Jen and I both looked at each other like, "Not again, you seriously can't do this again to us! Please F-ing Start!" We were just talking to each other when we sat down, but right away when it struggled for not even a full sec initially, Jen shot me this priceless look (just kind of like a "WTF?" look, or maybe a "ARE YOU FREAKIN SERIOUS??" kind of look, but there was def a ton of "I'll drive from now on, your car sucks" in that look as well, i saw that look yesterday so i know that one!). It stumbled and hiccuped a few more times as it tried to start. We were looking at each other the entire 5-6 seconds, I was thinking it was not going to start again, but it just kept trying. I guess it took an extra few secs of cranking, and after the initial stumbling, It tried for a few more secs normally and started up after another little shake/stutter towards the end, but seemingly nothing now compared to our 5 min ordeal the other night. We were both extremely relieved, so I then made sure to return the favor with a snarky look, just like a "WHAT? TOLD U I GOT DIS" kind of look (i def tried to make her think i wasnt worried at all, but i was freaking inside until it freaking started eventually!). I'm really trying to take it all in stride and downplay the whole problem, but Jen even basically said something later along the lines of, yo F your freaking car Ryan and her just kept saying stupid crap all day to annoy me, and its working since i'm so embarrassed by the whole thing. It's annoying b/c I spend so much time wondering in the back of my mind if my car will even freaking start the next time i go out to it and try it (i literally hold my breath and cross my fingers walking up to my car each time now, especially when driving friends anywhere)

I'm kinda annoyed bc Jen has a civic that's at least 10 years older than mine. Her's was literally one of the reasons i bought mine, actually, as she got it brand new way back in HS, and she's never gotten anything close to the trouble i'm getting with my poor car the past 6 months. I can't say definitively, but it seems like in the 12 years she's had it, it starts up normally every time like clockwork (certainly every time that ive driven with her since we've been friends). Actually, the only time she had trouble was before she figured out the issue that it takes a couple extra secs to get started if the gas light is on, but the past few years hers starts like a champ every single time! side note, that's one thing i def have on hers, i'm so glad my car doesn't seem to care about low fuel level like hers does. Speaking of gas, the only time we were stuck somewhere in Jen's Civic was when she ran her car out of gas pulling into the parking lot at school senior year (it wasnt so bad since we were turning into the school parking lot as it happened, but we still both got D-hall for being late to 1st period,even after we told him we were on the grounds, just having car trouble)

But seriously, whats up with the ridiculously crazy long amounts of time it takes sometimes when i'm trying to get it to start. And why do i have it happen to me only sometimes, and, i may add, seemingly high pressure situations when i really don't want to deal with it, don't have time for it, or its a million degrees and my friends just want the AC blasting like yesterday, lol? Seemingly happens when i volunteer to drive a group places as well, which gets old fast and people just love ragging on me now, which drives me nuts. Jen especially loves giving me a hard time since she's been there 3 or 4 times now. She said yesterday she'd be driving for the rest of our trip, kinda kidding but some truth.

I've been putting up with the rare hard starting since it always eventually starts for me. I know its not great for my starter, but the puff of smoke yesterday got me wanting to be more proactive with figuring out why it struggles seemingly randomly. Most days, I really love my car and i only have ~75k miles on it, so if i can help it, I def would keep this gem another 3+ years, unless it keeps embarrassing me by not starting ~once a month. Obviously it doesnt happen to me everyday or even every week, or i'd be cursing the car and everything about it on here. Most days i absolutely love my car, especially the leather (my parents tried to talk me out of the EX-L but thats my fav part, just lounging with tunes). I feel like this has to be destroying my engine, even if it only occurs for me every couple months, and seemingly randomly. Like, is it bad for my car's engine, or just the starter motor itself? i know its bad for my starter, but what else am i possibly screwing up when i have to try so many times before it finally fricking starts for me.

Also, What the heck caused that smoke after I FINALLY got it started for us yesterday? I guess i'm freakin now after seeing that! I religiously follow the manual and give it time to cool off after a failed start happens to me. Running the starter for so long has gotta be terrible for my poor car though, right? I was hard on Ryan for cranking it until my battery died, but I guess yesterday it took me more total time of it trying to crank compared to when Ryan got stranded last month. I kind of have the mentality where a starter will get replaced eventually anyway, especially after a few years (and especially mine after the past year). But as long as i follow the directions in the manual, is this hurting anything else, like the engine or my exhaust too? I'd def know it just from the sound, right? I guess i think it sounds normal to me the last few weeks, but i'll listen more closely since i was just worried about if it would start and not really thinking if it was cranking normally for me. Now that i think about it, it did sound a little rougher than usual, but it could just be my exhaust (I was cutting through a parking lot at work last week and hit the speed bump a little too fast. seriously, FML, right? So now, to make matters worse, even if it's my lucky day and my car starts right up initially, i still sound like one of those crazy modding civic chics with a huge exhaust (no offense, i'm sure i'd be one if i had time)

My car is out of warranty now or i wouldve been much faster to take it in and get them to see why it has issues starting sometimes. Since its intermittent, they can't do much, but when i go in for the exhaust fix, i'll ask them whats up with the really long cranking i go through sometimes and show them Ryan's video. stay tuned!

CivicGal29

Ok guys, I finally got my car looked at after the beach incident. They said I had water in my fuel tank?! I bet Ryan's ex probably did this, especially since she enjoyed and basked in my car not starting last month.

Hopefully my car is back to normal now, it's started up fine since they had it, but it only was hard to start for me maybe once a month, so i really wont know until it humiliates me again and does its thing

CivicGal29

My car is so hard to start lately. Sorry for not updating my status. I'm annoyed I'm still dealing with rough/really long starts. I replaced the fob battery, so the green light never flashes anymore like the video when trying to start it up (and I don't have to hold down start). And not long after Ryan killed the battery, I got a new one of those as well. So I thought my car would be all set for 6 more years

But it still has hard starts, and it happens a lot more now unfortunately (like 1x a month maybe). Also, even when it starts the first time, half the time it sounds rough and hiccups and stutters like 2-3 times before finally starting after almost the whole 10s. Last week leaving the store, it stumbled maybe 3 times the first try but still started the 1st time, so some jerk actually went out of his way to knock on my window and say my car sounded terrible and I shouldn't try starting it that hard/long! I told him it's push button starting, so it tries for 10s then stops, but I have no control. I also said it's been doing this pretty regularly for a couple months (I didn't mention like once a month I have to try starting the dumb car like 5 or 6 times before it finally starts for me).

I guess I'm dealing with the car being hard to start bc I love everything else about it, and frankly am pretty broke. Also, the last time was a faux fix, for 400$, and my car still starts weird. As long as the dumb thing starts eventually, I'll be OK living with the embarrassing issue. But it def sounds pretty dumb when I have to try and try and try to get it to finally turn over. Even when it starts first time, it's bad usually. It sounds like this when it's trying to start, like it gets so close and stutters a few times before continuing normal cranking or actually starting.

https://youtu.be/3eicTKVkc4Y

ezone

Lets see a video of you trying to start your own car


What was done?
If water was in the tank, it takes a helluva lot of work to truly get it all removed. HEET (alcohol products) will absorb water but that's a slow process, not a lot at any one time