Bought used 2018 civic LX recently and keep getting random brake, power steering and and lights

Waleed94

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I bought a used 2018 civic and picked it up last week on Monday. It was from a reputable Honda dealer From the bat, I noticed something was off. The km recorded on the safety certificate, bill of sale, and ad was lower than when I got it delivered all the way home. About 700-800km lower. It didn't make sense to me.


I had it inspected at a local mechanic, well two of them. One said it had a power steering code. After that all the brake warning lights came on. I drove it to another mechanic who said it had a power steering light and abs and vsc code.

I took it to the dealer, they found nothing and cleared codes. Two days later I get it 3 times today, went back to the mechanic he said he also found a left front speed sensor code. They tested the battery and alternator and it was fine.

This car was involved in a 10k+ car accident in the front, shown on the carproof, but clean title. I picked up what I thought was a good deal but now I'm wondering if I'm screwed with the car. I still have a few weeks of warranty left
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Generally when a bunch of seemingly unrelated errors pop up all at once like brake system, hill start assist, traction control, power steering, etc, that appears to signal an electrical issue. Two things I've seen cause that:
1. Damage to the wiring harness or a missing or compromised ground somewhere.
2. Dead battery.

For example this usually is guaranteed to happen when the battery fully dies and the ECU loses state. Once you put a new battery in, you get bombed with a bunch of system errors that go away once you start driving a straight stretch of road where the system can calibrate the steering angle sensors and stuff.

You didn't mention you had to jump or replace the batt though and you said it actually tested fine. Also people with harness issues usually have it lose the ability to start permanently until the harness is repaired, maybe the harness could intermittently disconnect but for that to happen and reconnect that many times to allow you to start the car every time...unlikely.

ABS codes also occur in low battery voltage situations as well. For example it's common for a near end of life battery in the winter to trigger an ABS code, if a particularly brutal cold start pushes the battery to the limits of its remaining cold-cranking amps. The loss in voltage to the ABS system will trigger a low ABS pump or sensor code (did the mechanic tell you what ABS code was stored?).

Given that you have so many things intersecting with electrical, I'd say electrical is the most likely culprit. You could check an electrical diagram to see what runs to all of these problem areas. If you can't, the first three things I'd do if I were you:
1. Make sure the battery terminal clamps have a good connection. Try to rotate, pull or move them.
2. Examine the battery grounds. Unlike the positive terminal, ground is done by connecting the battery ground to the body, then having everything that needs a ground (from front to back of the car) connect directly to the body (which reduces the length of wire needed since you don't have to run a wire from negative terminal all the way to the back of car for example). Anything that needs a ground will have a connection to the body near it. The ECU for example has a few so look at those first and make sure none of those are missing or damaged. It's possible the accident dislocated or damaged one of these and missing grounds can cause weird issues.
3. Trace the wiring harness. All of the long wiring in the car (the harness) originates from the positive terminal only, because you can only get battery positive straight from the terminal (unlike grounds through the body). This harness usually goes to a few main components like the ECU, starter and the fuse boxes. From the fuse box the wires branch out to the rest of the car (battery positive is essentially regulated at the fuse boxes for protection). I'd at least check the connection between battery positive terminal and the ECU and fuse boxes (forget the starter) for any obvious rips or tears.
 
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Waleed94

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Generally when a bunch of seemingly unrelated errors pop up all at once like brake system, hill start assist, traction control, power steering, etc, that appears to signal an electrical issue. Two things I've seen cause that:
1. Damage to the wiring harness or a missing or compromised ground somewhere.
2. Dead battery.

For example this usually is guaranteed to happen when the battery fully dies and the ECU loses state. Once you put a new battery in, you get bombed with a bunch of system errors that go away once you start driving a straight stretch of road where the system can calibrate the steering angle sensors and stuff.

You didn't mention you had to jump or replace the batt though and you said it actually tested fine. Also people with harness issues usually have it lose the ability to start permanently until the harness is repaired, maybe the harness could intermittently disconnect but for that to happen and reconnect that many times to allow you to start the car every time...unlikely.

ABS codes also occur in low battery voltage situations as well. For example it's common for a near end of life battery in the winter to trigger an ABS code, if a particularly brutal cold start pushes the battery to the limits of its remaining cold-cranking amps. The loss in voltage to the ABS system will trigger a low ABS pump or sensor code (did the mechanic tell you what ABS code was stored?).

Given that you have so many things intersecting with electrical, I'd say electrical is the most likely culprit. You could check an electrical diagram to see what runs to all of these problem areas. If you can't, the first three things I'd do if I were you:
1. Make sure the battery terminal clamps have a good connection. Try to rotate, pull or move them.
2. Examine the battery grounds. Unlike the positive terminal, ground is done by connecting the battery ground to the body, then having everything that needs a ground (from front to back of the car) connect directly to the body (which reduces the length of wire needed since you don't have to run a wire from negative terminal all the way to the back of car for example). Anything that needs a ground will have a connection to the body near it. The ECU for example has a few so look at those first and make sure none of those are missing or damaged. It's possible the accident dislocated or damaged one of these and missing grounds can cause weird issues.
3. Trace the wiring harness. All of the long wiring in the car (the harness) originates from the positive terminal only, because you can only get battery positive straight from the terminal (unlike grounds through the body). This harness usually goes to a few main components like the ECU, starter and the fuse boxes. From the fuse box the wires branch out to the rest of the car (battery positive is essentially regulated at the fuse boxes for protection). I'd at least check the connection between battery positive terminal and the ECU and fuse boxes (forget the starter) for any obvious rips or tears.

Generally when a bunch of seemingly unrelated errors pop up all at once like brake system, hill start assist, traction control, power steering, etc, that appears to signal an electrical issue. Two things I've seen cause that:
1. Damage to the wiring harness or a missing or compromised ground somewhere.
2. Dead battery.

For example this usually is guaranteed to happen when the battery fully dies and the ECU loses state. Once you put a new battery in, you get bombed with a bunch of system errors that go away once you start driving a straight stretch of road where the system can calibrate the steering angle sensors and stuff.

You didn't mention you had to jump or replace the batt though and you said it actually tested fine. Also people with harness issues usually have it lose the ability to start permanently until the harness is repaired, maybe the harness could intermittently disconnect but for that to happen and reconnect that many times to allow you to start the car every time...unlikely.

ABS codes also occur in low battery voltage situations as well. For example it's common for a near end of life battery in the winter to trigger an ABS code, if a particularly brutal cold start pushes the battery to the limits of its remaining cold-cranking amps. The loss in voltage to the ABS system will trigger a low ABS pump or sensor code (did the mechanic tell you what ABS code was stored?).

Given that you have so many things intersecting with electrical, I'd say electrical is the most likely culprit. You could check an electrical diagram to see what runs to all of these problem areas. If you can't, the first three things I'd do if I were you:
1. Make sure the battery terminal clamps have a good connection. Try to rotate, pull or move them.
2. Examine the battery grounds. Unlike the positive terminal, ground is done by connecting the battery ground to the body, then having everything that needs a ground (from front to back of the car) connect directly to the body (which reduces the length of wire needed since you don't have to run a wire from negative terminal all the way to the back of car for example). Anything that needs a ground will have a connection to the body near it. The ECU for example has a few so look at those first and make sure none of those are missing or damaged. It's possible the accident dislocated or damaged one of these and missing grounds can cause weird issues.
3. Trace the wiring harness. All of the long wiring in the car (the harness) originates from the positive terminal only, because you can only get battery positive straight from the terminal (unlike grounds through the body). This harness usually goes to a few main components like the ECU, starter and the fuse boxes. From the fuse box the wires branch out to the rest of the car (battery positive is essentially regulated at the fuse boxes for protection). I'd at least check the connection between battery positive terminal and the ECU and fuse boxes (forget the starter) for any obvious rips or tears.
[/QUOTE]

Thanks for the detailed reply. Batt and charging system were tested and fine. While I pulled the front cover under the hood latch I noticed evidence of a mouse nest and the condenser was damaged. It could be the wiring harness or speed sensor. Never had a no start issue
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shoegazer

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The mouse nest is the smoking gun, IMO.

In a way; that makes it easier to troubleshoot. Until then I was leaning toward general pinched/or badly repaired wiring from the accident damage.

You can search for 'rodent damage' and find the usual damaged wires and remedies.
 
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Waleed94

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The mouse nest is the smoking gun, IMO.

In a way; that makes it easier to troubleshoot. Until then I was leaning toward general pinched/or badly repaired wiring from the accident damage.

You can search for 'rodent damage' and find the usual damaged wires and remedies.

I disconnected my battery today to install those terminal protectors for acid. I drove the car and the warning lights came off and on.

It still has a stored U0416-68 code, that says it's inactive. The dealership is more than 100km away. Should I bring it back or just leave it? My 30 day warranty has technically passed but that code was already there
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