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2003 odyssey wont start

4K views 17 replies 9 participants last post by  OdyinNH 
#1 ·
hey there,

my odyssey wont start but all dash lights illuminate.
have replced the inhibitor witch/netrual safety switch
tried jump starting

ive been told possibly ignition barrel?

any help please :)
 
#8 ·
Sounds like the starter is bad and dropping the battery down. It should at least try to turn over even with a low battery, especially with a jump.

Seeing you are seeing a voltage drop when going to the start position I would say your ignition switch is fine.

One thing to check, does the voltage drop on the battery posts themselves or only on the terminals? If posts stay high but terminals drop then you have corroded terminals. Common issue and a good cleaning of the terminal surface to battery post often resolves the issue.
 
#11 ·
How old is the battery? You need more than 12.0 volts, you need a lot of amps too. Battery may need replacing. Keep it simple. If you get a click, the ignition switch is probably not the problem. Not enough juice.
 
#12 ·
I think we all agree that you should expect to see a static charge of ~12.5 volts. If the static charge is right at 12V or below, the battery is likely on it's way out. The fly in the ointment is that the OP indicated they attempted to jump start the vehicle with no luck. Even if the battery is completely dead, a jump start ought to get it cranking. Since it sounds like the relay is clicking, that suggests to me that it's not an issue with immobilizer lockout.
 
#13 ·
yeungun is a Honda service tech, so his opinion should carry the most weight.

That said, we have not heard from Jess about how he tried to jump start the van. Simply attaching cables and then trying to start the dead car is not always successful. A depleted battery often needs to be hooked up for awhile before a jump attempt will be successful. Not everybody knows that.

We also do not know the voltage reading of the battery. 12v was mentioned by yeungun, not by Jess. What is the voltage of the battery? (And how old is it as asked before - could also if the water levels are good, etc. summer heat kills batteries.)

This does not sound like your problem, but the positive cable terminal gets stretched and appears to make good contact, but does not. Typically manifests itself with everything being fine, then complete loss of power (lights, everything). Yank hard on your positive terminal, and if it moves, then it may be contributing to the problem. This can also be tested by using a jumper cable to go directly from the battery post (not terminal) to the starter.

First eliminate battery as a source. Then eliminate positive cable. Then it might be starter.
 
#14 ·
Not everybody will agree with me but if I have *any* electrical issues *and* if the battery has at least couple of years on it, I just replace the battery first before even bothering to take out the multi-meter! Yes, there is slight exaggeration but the point is battery is the easiest and cheapest thing to replace (obviously clean the corrosion and check the cables before) rather than trying to find if your starter is bad etc.

And yes, I had exact same symptoms aka bunch of lights turning on the dash during the drive and I replaced the battery even though it was less than 3 years old. That fixed it.
 
#15 ·
The battery should always be the starting point (ooh, a pun) for electrical issues, as sontakke says. If you replace the battery, even if it is not the cause - you still get something out of it - a fresh battery. Not so when you just go replacing other parts that don't solve the problem.

My first two Ody batteries died regularly at 3 years on the dot. I replaced the last one at 5 years, because I was having the positive cable replaced and at 5 years it would go soon. I think the last one lasted because I checked water regularly, and the last year or two conditioned it regularly using a BatteryMinder.
 
#16 ·
Battery price when averaged over 3 year life is $30/year. Heck, we spend lot more than that every single week on the van just to fill the gas! People who want to save five bucks on the battery or nurse it for another year always amuse me. HOWEVER, I am one of those guys. I did that with one of my car but I carried the jump block gizmo in my trunk for a year and had to use it to drive to the Costco to get the new battery. In the retrospect, I laugh at myself for being so stubborn. The battery was dieing slowly and also corroding the terminal around it. Eventually, it cost me more to get the terminal replaced by my mechanic as they were completely eaten away by the cracked battery post area.
 
#17 ·
It is good to be able to laugh at yourself.

Nursing a weakening battery is a bad idea. On all my cars, now, batteries give no real symptoms of dying. They work until they don't. No slow cranking like on old cars. More typically, the day they die something weird electrical happens, like the radio turns itself off. Then next start attempt, no go. Usually well timed when you are a couple hours away from home, just after 5 pm, way hot day. Maybe a screaming baby or two.

Batteries have also become so variable. Seems I have had a good number fail in the warranty replacement period, then when I get one that does not, it keeps on going. Replaced an 8 year old battery, just cuz. Relative had 3 batteries in 18 months, now at almost 4 years. Get a new one so it can fail again in the warranty period?

Crazy really.
 
#18 ·
IMO, the reason you see a battery just die in these vans is because it takes little amperage to start them so they seem to start normally until there's just not enough cranking amps to do anything. My 4.0 Jeep seems to be another story, it cranks slower when it's time. To me the smoking gun is not starting with a jump and still seeing the voltage drop (I think I read that...lol). With a jump it should at least try to turn over a bit assuming a good connection. I replaced the starter on my FIL's truck recently, sounded like it was the battery going but would even do it with a jump and the battery wasn't old. You could actually hear the running vehicle drop RPM's under the load when trying to start his truck. The issue was the starter.

I'm all for troubleshooting instead of randomly replacing things. Especially something like this that can be narrowed down with a bit of work.
 
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