Fact or BS - Dealer said it's normal for CTR to not start after sitting for 6 days

ems657

Senior Member
First Name
Michael
Joined
Jan 25, 2018
Threads
14
Messages
85
Reaction score
52
Location
Seattle
Vehicle(s)
2018 Subaru STi, 2012 Infiniti G37 (sold)
Country flag
Hello proud CTR owners,

I learned this from my local dealer today, and this completely blows me away. Is it fact or just some BS?

> I bus to work, and thus, sometimes the car sits on the driveway for 6 straight days.
> In the past, the car would struggle to start (after sitting for 6 days), but still managed to make it. This past Sunday, it finally gave up, and I had to jump it.
> The local dealer told me today that, the newer Honda's have the "technology" that drains the battery even when sitting on the driveway. The computer is still running. Blah blah...
> My other older Honda's would start after sitting for 2-3 weeks. My CTR is 2018 with 12,000 miles. I live in Seattle and right now it's in the 60's (batteries tend to struggle in cold weather).

If this is true, then that means all of us are screwed after parking at the airport for 1 week.

Guys, is this fact or BS?

Thanks,
Michael
Sponsored

 

Iilac

Spelled with a I not a L for Iilac.
Joined
Nov 25, 2017
Threads
9
Messages
305
Reaction score
124
Location
California
Vehicle(s)
S2000, CTR, TUNDRA, MAXIMA, CX9
Country flag
Complete BS. There is a parasitic draw somewhere. My car has sat for a week and a half sometimes and it starts right up.
 

jcp227

Senior Member
First Name
Jimmy Mack
Joined
Jul 29, 2018
Threads
16
Messages
250
Reaction score
183
Location
Bethlehem, PA
Vehicle(s)
2018 Honda Civic Type R, 1998 Oldsmobile Intrigue (It's even got a rear spoiler)
Vehicle Showcase
1
Country flag
Complete BS! My car has sat for a little over a month in the winter without starting and fired right up the first try and it was strong.
I think your dealer doesn't want to provide you with a new battery. I would take it to another dealership and see what they say.
 

ez12a

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 30, 2018
Threads
21
Messages
1,205
Reaction score
730
Location
CA
Vehicle(s)
18 CW Type R
Country flag
The batteries seem sorta hit and miss with this car. I left my fob in my car overnight once and experienced some strange issues in the week following, as if the battery didnt have enough juice to power the car while it was running. I suspect the fob in the car kept the car "on". It hasnt happened since though and the dealer tested the battery and said it was "OK".

I wouldnt say its normal though. There are times where it seems like it cranks more than usual but it'll start. So far hasnt left me stranded...
 


WindJunkie

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 14, 2016
Threads
47
Messages
799
Reaction score
744
Location
St Augustine, Florida
Vehicle(s)
2021 CTR LE USA-367, 2011 Civic Si (FA5)
Country flag
Could just be a bad battery. If you got a new battery, and the slow starts continued, that would seem strange. Hopefully you find a new battery solves the problem
 

98-0425

Senior Member
First Name
Nick
Joined
Jun 18, 2017
Threads
146
Messages
1,484
Reaction score
1,224
Location
Las Vegas
Vehicle(s)
18 Civic Type-R #12307, 98 Integra Type-R #0425, 07 Pilot EX-L, 17 Pilot Elite
Country flag
BS, mine has sat for weeks and it started right up.
 

wildbilly32

Senior Member
Joined
Sep 15, 2018
Threads
34
Messages
927
Reaction score
914
Location
Kneebraska
Vehicle(s)
05 Porsche C4S 19 CTR #24184 19 Volvo XC40 R
Country flag
BS! Picked mine up end of February and it sat in the garage until mid-April when it finally stopped snowing. Started right up!
 

PhilF

Senior Member
First Name
Phil
Joined
Nov 27, 2018
Threads
17
Messages
499
Reaction score
436
Location
South Central Pennsylvania
Vehicle(s)
2020 CRV EX-L Platinum White Pearl/Ivory, 2020 CRV EX-L Crystal Black Pearl/Grey
Country flag
Sounds like, as stated in earlier posts, parasitic drain. My Touring Coupe probably has more parasitic drain than most Civics as it has Nav, Sensing and every other memory-hungry electronic widget that Honda has in their arsenal. It sat as long as 3 weeks when I was recovering from surgery, started right up, no issues. Sounds like a lazy dealer, it's most likely a combination of bad battery (have you cleaned the terminals?) and parasitic drain. A battery load test takes 15 min, parasitic draw is easy to measure with a millamp meter, especially one with graphing. Hard to believe the dealer is dancing you around on something this simple, total BS, IMHO.
 


Gunther

Member
Joined
Jul 7, 2019
Threads
3
Messages
48
Reaction score
24
Location
dat ol' Virginee
Vehicle(s)
E46
Country flag
The amount of accessories installed should have almost no bearing on parasitic drain, especially if the car's designed properly - which I'd imagine it is. Maybe that'll increase the chances of something going wrong, but whatever.

Something weird is going on here - either your battery is shot, you left a light on somewhere, etc. or you've got a genuine parasitic drain issue going on, which I'd find hard to believe on a car this new... but you never know.

You can assess for parasitic drag yourself by getting a multimeter (I have one that's like $4 from HF) and putting it in-line with the battery to see the amperage draw when the car is off. This is easier than it sounds - there are videos on YT on how to do it.

I'm not sure how the Type R is designed, but on my old-ass E46 it takes 16 minutes for the car to go into "sleep" mode. It'll draw like 1 - 2 amps (or something) while the car is doing its typical German fuckery, and then after the time's up it'll automatically go to "sleep" and turn off all interior lights you've left on, headlights, whatever. It'll still draw like <0.05 amps even after it goes to sleep, which is insignificant. Not sure if any of this applies to the Type R/Civics/Hondas - just sharing my experience.

If you've determined you do have a problem, the next step is to determine what's causing it. I saw this fellow on one of the forums use an infrared thermometer on his fuse box to determine which one was warmer than the others to find out what was causing it. Clever SOB.
 

Nanook

Senior Member
First Name
JP
Joined
Dec 31, 2018
Threads
6
Messages
435
Reaction score
267
Location
Chester, VA
Vehicle(s)
2009 Accord, 2018 Pilot, 2017 Si, 2018 CTR
Vehicle Showcase
1
Country flag
BS. My car sits for two weeks a month...every month. It recently sat for nearly six weeks. No issues.
 

coopermidnight

Senior Member
First Name
Brandon
Joined
Jul 17, 2016
Threads
21
Messages
659
Reaction score
745
Location
Florida
Vehicle(s)
19 FK8
Vehicle Showcase
2
Country flag
I would love to make a collage of all of the "My dealership told me [insert outlandish thing here]" posts. I wonder how often it's something they truly believe vs something they make up on the spot.
 

Harlaquin

Senior Member
Joined
May 7, 2017
Threads
179
Messages
1,780
Reaction score
1,353
Location
USA
Vehicle(s)
2017 Type R and a beater ford focus
Country flag
I would love to make a collage of all of the "My dealership told me [insert outlandish thing here]" posts. I wonder how often it's something they truly believe vs something they make up on the spot.
My local dealer has a guy they pay to just run out the service department screaming " it is your fault you did it, no warrenty" as soon as you pull in parking lot.
Sponsored

 


 


Top