Dead Battery Everyday! CAR WIZARD finds the battery drain on his Mom's 2010 Honda Accord 

If he can't see well enough for that, I am scared by the fact that he's driving a large heavy motorhome

How many of us have done something like that?

I work at the parts store in the short time I've been here I have seen two peope do that too.

God bless you and the patience you've shown to others. Your story serves as a good reminder to slow down and be graceful when others make mistakes and it's your position to help fix them.

@@robwaters8848 in my store whenever I sell batteries a actively remove most battery caps to A. Prevent people from forgetting but also B. to use them on the old cores to stop them from sparking.

I hope that you let her take her car elsewhere from now on.

That’s audacity. Paying the Wizard for a half and hour of his time is not only fair, but should serve as a lesson learned. She should be grateful of his honesty.

Arrogance is probably the nicest word I'd use hahaha

These are the kind of folks that should be sued. She is as you rightly pointed out, she is arrogant. How on earth can she not see or know how much gas she bought or when it finished.

@@hualant you are buying his expertise. The same goes for seeing a medical specialist.

Thats pretty often for transmission fluid

@@jack8356 slowly increasing intervals; prev owner did not change fluid as often as manual suggests (wanna say 60-90k?) so i was slowly replacing what was in there w new stuff. next change will be more miles in between. ATF-DW-1 is expensive lol

@@jack8356 If it's the 5spd automatic, that is one thing you can do to hopefully extend the life of the trans. They are notorious for failure in the older ones.

Trans fluid wears out faster and faster as the trans gets older. Ask me how I know

​@@jack8356 Our '13 Accord with the 4 cylinder has the CVT. I change the fluid roughly every 30k. 160, 000 miles and no problems with it. The CVT is very tough on the trans fluid and that service has to be done on them to keep them in good shape.

I was thinking, nah, it can't be the dome light....

@@hugobloemers4425 I was thinking it would be a hard to find light like a trunk or hood light left open.

Too bad they haven't figured out how to clean the engine bay. Looks like a filth-hole.

@@OMGWTFLOLSMH Nobody is staring at the engine bay anyways, more so on a daily commuter.

@@granddya5323 Not the point tho. Plus having a clean engine bay is just a tiny part of maintenance and also if something is leaking etc... it's easier to spot where

Apprently he forgot to mention it was garage kept. I don't even have to know that was the case. I can see it.

100% maintenance makes or breaks the vehicle. My wife owned a 2010 Kia Rio down here in Australia. Put like 180,000km’s on it and it ran perfectly when it came time to upgrade. Never leaked (which I found odd the Wizard made a comment about Kia’s) or had any mechanical issues. Was a great little car and my wife loved it. I own a 2007 Mazda 3 Sedan and it’s got 218,000km’s on it and runs great too. Maintenance really is everything.

I agree. I just posted how I’ve seen several Fords and Kias on their original engine and trans. clock over 200,000 miles. I also agree with the wizard about his comments about Late model GM vehicles having issues prematurely as I have had a Chevy dealer in 2019 tell me my wife’s 2015 Chevy Trax had 80,000 miles, so leaks and electrical issues were to be expected. We traded that p.o.s in for a 2013 Ford Escape right away.

It doesn't take a genius to know that. It's like anything else. The issue is that some people just don't care.

It's not your fault, is a poor power logic circuitry.

Honda's have always had the interior. Hi Wizard. My Accord is a 6MT V6 6SPEED Accord Coupe. I think you will like it. Honda's F1 roots speak through

It should have a timer at the battery level for dead pull. I had my Odyssey run out because the AC was being used with the engine off. Many people don't know enough about cars to guess that would kill the battery. It's a safety issue on both sides maybe, But it should really be dummy proof to prevent totally draining the battery down.

I did that I my acadia, and some of the leds went bad and they started staying on (very dim until the door opened) all the time. That killed my battery... not drained it, I had to replace it.

I'm surprised that an incandescent bulb had a high enough draw to flatten the battery. A 10W bulb will draw less than an Amp so a fully charged battery should last for several days.

I have a 2013 venza and even if I leave all the lights on, 5 minutes later they all turn off automatically

@@MrDuncl That Accord has a tiny 51R battery in it, not a lot of reserve capacity in those

Ditto

Hahah. That’s hilarious 😂

Dome light when left on all night should not drain a healthy battery!

@@lescobrandon6327 Most cars cut them off after a certain time now

@@lescobrandon6327 depends on a lot of other factors. age of the battery, temprature, parasitic load from stupid modules in modrn cars. yeah they can die in just a few hours.

I love big gas tanks in cars like this, tons of cruising range. Have an 18.5 gal in my 2000 Camry V6.

18 gal is 68 L. My car's tank is 88 L and uses premium. It costs $176 to fill it right now.

@@OMGWTFLOLSMH what car do you have with 88 liter?

Large gas tanks are fantastic. Fewer stops at the gas station.

They're good cars if you keep up on maintenance. Good on gas too

lol removed mine and the light. old car issues.

About 10 yrs ago, when my son was 5 or so he was able to click on the little reading light, on the roof , next to the right rear door. I started having issues like this honda. (2007 Infiniti G35.) Replaced the battery, which it probably needed. Still kept draining the battery. What a pain in the a**. Hopefully new cars have LED lights that don't drain batteries like that. Or why doesn't the car have a mechanism that just shuts lights off automatically? I mean if I unlock my car with the key fob, if I don't enter the car within one minute it locks the car up.

Had a teacher say that having his kids is like spending a million dollars overtime. Probably not even joking between food, school, medical, clothes and etc.

@@42luke93 Exactly. Plus they had to deal with our asses 😂

You haven't seen his beard collection. He even have a ZZ top beard that he wears to church

Funny, very funny.

Wizard Aproved 😊

My 06 Accord is the same

Most cars have had that for 25 years.

I don't blame him. If he doesn't drive at night then he does not need them.

Definitely on your cars apply undercarriage prevention like waxoyl or fluid film to everything. Really helps against salt and moisture from the road!

You should look into getting the proper tool for the front bumper, or a mechanic that has them. Its just 2 long threaded rods that the bumper stays on and slides forward. All the hoses are designed to slide like that and then you have plenty of room. Its called the 'service position' and VW sonce 1999 have had the same. Its 15min of book time, in the grand scheme probably saves you time if you learn how to do it properly. On the other hand Toyota just makes it easy to get to everything (probably costs them a few million in extra design work, but probably amortizes out to pennies per vehicle). And Nissan and Ford seem to make everything 1/4" too big to get out without removing everything surrounding it

My story has some things in common with yours. Years ago I lived in a scummy old house in rural Western Australia (climate a bit like inland California). Part of the house was probably 50 years old, but it had had various renovations and remodelling over the years. The owners just before me, had bought it as fire damage to one part, and had rebuilt that laundry/bathroom area. Being in a remote rural area, every 2 months the state electric power supplier would send me a return postage paid postcard for me to fill in the electric meter reading (they could do a spot check themselves when a lines maintenance truck was in the area if they wanted). I was in the habit of writing down my meter reading on a list before mailing the postcard away, as I strictly budgeted my electric use. I didn't have proper airconditioning, just evaporator fan units, and used electric heating in Winter only occasionally. Cooking was partly by LPG/Propane gas tank. One day In my 15th year living there, as I was outside on my front porch, I glanced at my electric power meter and thought "that's funny, its only 3 weeks since my last meter reading but I've used more than my usual 8 weeks of power". I went and checked my list. Yep. Definitely electric use had gone up massively, just in the last 3 weeks. I phoned up the number for the electric authority and although the woman on the phone was very nice, she insisted on STRICTLY following their preset list. First of all she said "well you probably used more than normal, like a heated spa-pool or swimming pool filter pump". I said I live in a hovel in the desert. I have some electric lights, a TV and a fridge, no aircon, no pool, no spa, no electric hotwater system. She said "well I've looked at your bills over the last 10 months and they're all regular similar amounts. I said, look I've got the readings going back 15 years on my list and I can tell SOMETHING has changed, but in just the last 3 weeks, because SUDDENLY the consumption has gone up. I had one of those "walkabout" phones that the base plugs in . but you can walk around the house and into the back and front yards a way, so while I was on the phone I walked out to the front verandah and read her what the meter had gone up to just during the few minutes on the phone with her, and it was far more than just the power to run the living room light and the phone. Anyway 24 hours the lady calls me back and admits WOW Catherine you are 100% correct your electric bill is racing far ahead of normal. As the meter was the one originally installed when the house was put on the rural electric connection about 35 years earlier , so she put me down for a worker to come out and replace my electric meter with a brand new unit. A lovely guy came out and replaced the meter and as soon as he turned the power back on, the disc was spinning indication a partial current draw. That showed the fault was likely NOT the meter. Nevertheless, he carefully wrapped the old meter and assured me they would test it's calibartion to check it hadn't been overcharging me. (part two follows)

(part two ) So even with EVERYTHING turned off, even the phone base, the meter was still registering a current draw. About the same as having a 1,000 watt electric heater on. Remember that Australia is a 240 volt MEN Multiple Earthed Neutral system. As was common for old rural houses with gas cooking and gas hotwater, the house had just one 8amp fuse for all the lights and one 16 amp fuse for all the wall outlets. Anyway, I knew that sometimes in the past wild rabbits had moved in under the house and occasionally rats ran through the wall cavities. Perhaps an animal had chewed through wires going through a wall cavity or under the floor, their carcass like a condemned man in an electric chair ? Enough power to leak to wastage down to Earth, but not quite enough to blow the fuse, I thought. But running at a cost of about 1,000 watts per hour would run away with my electric bill. My house had no proper access underneath and no access to check inside the walls or the ceiling cavity at all. (Legal disclaimer... "This story is for amusement only, please always obey your local and state laws about electricity wiring"). I assumed a dead creature at an inaccessable part under the house was shorting some power to Earth. So I pulled the one fuse that ran all the wall outlets. My mysterious power drain was fixed. Temporarily I rigged an outlet connected to a seldom used laundry light, and using extension cables could run one major appliance at the time. Such as the fridge , or electric kettle, plus the tv or computer etc. After a few days, I tried plugging in the wall outlets fuse again, the problem was still there. How long does it take a rat/rabbit carcass to fossilise itself ? I knew that with Australia's electric system it was only the PHASE wire which was "hot" with respect to Earth, and I also knew everything would work perfectly ok if I simply swapped the PHASE and NEUTRAL wires right back at the main fuseboard (as I had previously heard this was a possible fault if a house had been wired up in error, but appliances still worked). The NEUTRAL is connected to Earth normally anyway, at the fuseboard. After swapping the main Phase and Neutral wires, my electricty drain fault was instantly fixed. I ran like that for awhile, days or weeks I can't remember. On day I tried swapping them back as they should be. WOW the electric fault was even WORSE. It was now almost a 4,000 watt current draw. It must have been close to blowing even the 16 amp fuse with no other appliances running. Now things in rural areas are very quiet like city people don't understand. I could HEAR a noise, a sort of arcing sparking like noise. Very faint, I went through the house, it was audible most in the kitchen and laundry/bathroom which shared a common wall. Where the remodelling had been done after the fire, over 20 years earlier. Without access to the ceiling space I decide the best option was some slightly destruction to a bathroom ceiling panel. After cutting away a piece and turning the power off at the main switch, I couldn't see far enough back in overtop of the common wall between the kitchen. I felt around with my fingers deep into the ceiling cavity atop the wall. I could feel that a roofing nail from the corrugated iron roofing had gone through one of the main TPS (tough plastic sheath, extra plastic insulation) wires that linked (all the wall outlets being on one fuse circuit remember). Remember wires are NOT in conduits in Australia. I climbed up on the roof and estimated where would be overtop of the bathroom/kitchen dividing wall. I saw one of the roofing nails in that location and to the touch was loose. I pulled it out with my hand. I saw char burn marks on that nail. My system was instantly fixed. No power was leaking away. During the remodelling after the fire, someone had run a TPS thick plastic insulated main wire overtop of a wooden beam. Later a carelessly placed roofing nail pierced the plastic outer insulation, but must have missed the actual copper wire inside. With 20 years of hot Australian Sun beating down on the roof and the wire's plastic insulation getting hot, eventually the wire conductor touched the nail. The roof was probably live to 240 volts and power leaking away to ground. Everything was fine with that one roofing nail removed. I made a slip over replacement insulator and slid it from the ceiling part I had access to, into the inaccessable area overtop the interior wall and then repaired the bathroom ceiling. Job done, all sorted. I don't think an electrician could have found the fault any quicker. It had to get so bad that I could HEAR it, to narrow down, where in a large 3 bedroom house the defect was. A better electric system would have had several independent circuits on their own fuses, and a better house design would have had wires running underfloor or in ceiling cavities that were accessable and could be inspected for damage.

I think the common thread here is every cylinder deactivation system is garbage. Does a "good" one exist?

That's usually more to do with the EGR system on Honda's J-series engines. The front bank was worse, right?

@@B-rad1 3,4,5,6 were the worst. 4,5,6 shut off, while 3 does sometimes, so 3 wasnt as bad. 1,2 were clean

SVCM or VCMuzzler is a must for these. Variable Cylinder Management is a problem in mostly the 08-12 Accord V6 and 09-15 Pilot

Oliver. No they don’t. Although some last a long time, eventually they go bad

During my time in a garage whenever a car with an aftermarket remote start came in with a starting issue it was on the usual suspect list. If it wasn't something else quickly noticeable I would disconnect. There was a few times that the problem was solved.

q

Well this one has tires not tyres so your advice doesn’t apply. /s

Or maybe a wheel alignment.

Well, they're the same thing there, champ. FYI, it's spelled Tyres in the UK, etc.. Jsyk. 😉

@@R3TR0R4V3 this is America champ 🇺🇸

@@helloimclaudio Who cares, USA is just one of the countries using En, and actually not even the "genuine" one. Your "genuine" language should be some Indian dialect.

What a kind creep. 8^)

@@born_again_torinos Can’t take a joke?

@@jefferyepstein9210 Ditto, you couldn't tell I was ribbing you...even with the smile face?

Barrum engines in the uk is a top bloke, he builds engines though

HaaaaaRRRRR! There she blows! 🦜

He probably would send send them to ninja

A: Given them Johhny The Car Ninja's address ...and sent them on their way !

I'd tell my parents they should've had an abortion all those years ago.

@@getchasome6230 but then you would have been not able to tell him not to get a BMW

@@Mr-pn2eh Its your money, pops. I just wish I wasnt here to see it happen

I purchased a 1991 Ford Mustang for super cheap because it had electrical gremlins, turned out just to be a bad ignition switch that I snapped back together and it worked perfect. Lol Eventually I replaced the switch with a new one a few years later just for safety measure.

@Catsanova someboy stole the little swedish forest elf in charge of the glovebox light. try to order one NOS from Sweden or a freshly captured one although they're more expensive right now due to all them russians shenanigans. 😉

@@kittytrail Layoff the catnip, watch some football 🏈

@@kennypool football? isn't that ridiculous show playing between tv ads in the US? 🤔 if so, no thanks, i'd prefer to watch paint dry all day long and do touch-ups with my paws. 😼

@@kittytrail I think you have cat scratch fever, that could be Catching and Catastrophic.

But driving the six is a lot more fun!

I inherited a 09 accord V6. Has some oil consumption issues but has lots of power. Super smooth on I90 going 100mph. Will prob deactivate the VCM some day.

My mom's car kept having this when her grandsons would ride with her.They would leave the lights on and she did not notice.

Wasteful boomer

Every 3 days? Your kidding

@@bobbob-gi1yp When my grandpa retired he bought a new Jeep that came with "unlimited car washes". I think he went to that dealership every other day for years.

@@bobbob-gi1yp Unlimited washes every month.

Yes I watch my car to make sure they go out lol. Shouldn’t have to though, I’m just a bit paranoid lol

@@Dankcatvacs The base models don't have that feature. The EX model and higher might have that on this generation.

Is that the generation where the bumper needs to be removed to change out a headlight?

Don’t take the bulb out, put an LED bulb. It will not drain the battery even if you leave the light on all night!!!

@@ItsAlive111 A little more work to do, finding and buying the right bulb, and if they park for two weeks while on vacation...that's why I ignored that option.

@@lyfandeth He's a frickin mechanic and it literally takes less than a minute to put an LED bulb in. LEDs just weren't common 12 years ago but now they are. They last a lot longer and use a fraction of the electricity, so it wouldn't drain the battery overnight. Plus it's brighter, so you'd notice that it's on.

@@daveclark8337 The Wiz is a mechanic? Gee, I thought he was a paid actor, like The Monkees were. LED bulbs are fine, but first you have to pull the existing bulb. Then go try to find a match at the parts store. Then come back and put it in. Hey, if they're not going to use it, just pull the old bulb and save an hour of your time. I've used LEDs since they only came in red, I know what they are.

@@lyfandeth With your thinking, next time a check engine light comes on , you should just yank out the bulb from the CEL so it doesn't come on anymore. Why 'waste time' fixing the actual problem? And DE3175 LED dome bulbs DO come in white.

over estimation of one's already self-inflated cognitive capabilities tends to bring it out in lots of otherly normal people. so sad, many such cases... 😑

@@kittytrail You must be the woman that ran out of gas!!!!! 😬

@@christopherkraft1327 your comprehension skills are amazing. for an american that is... 🙄