[The Beagle]

No problems when the car is turned on and running, but after parking and pushing the "off" button the vehicle sometimes acts haunted. Not every time. Sometimes just a little for a minute and then it's quiet. Sometimes it goes on for over half an hour.

In each instance, some or occasionally all of the following symptoms manifest:

• A few indicator lights on the dash flicker on and off, accompanied by a couple click sounds (sound like mechanical relays to my untrained ear)
• The entire dashboard lights up, flickering on and off, accompanied by a cascade of clicking sounds (as above, just a whole lot more of them)
• Dome light comes on and stays on for at least a few minutes
• If locked, the car alarm may be triggered after some amount of the flickering behavior has happened
• Next couple times car starts up, check engine light, traction control light, and/or remote entry system light may be on, but then clear themselves after a couple more trips.

We brought it by the dealer shop thinking it might be the battery, but they report the battery is fine.

Anyone else experienced a 'haunting' like this? And, even if not, does anyone have suggestions as to how I could describe the symptoms for search purposes? "dash lights come on after car turned off" gets me a lot of hits for "dash lights go off after car turned on".

 

[jnissen]

Sounds like a relay issue. Was the vehicle ever in deep water? Normally a failing relay will fail to conduct properly. They also can fail to return properly and it will act like you never turned off the relay. In this case almost seems like it could be a mechanical issue in the relay that allows it to operate most of the time but the springs inside are not working so the rest state allows for intermittent actives.

I asked if it’s been exposed to deep water as water will screw up a lot of electro-mechanical items. Flood damage this is a common symptom.

Which relay? That’s more difficult. I’m not up on the location of the main relay(s) for this year.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[egads]

Do ask about this in the 2011-2017 section, many folks do not get down this far. I also am thinking water intrusion,
but maybe from a leak. I just don't remember where this model year leaks (if it does) But water dripping onto a fuse
panel (with relays attached) can cause weird stuff.

 

[Odysseygonebroke]

No problems when the car is turned on and running, but after parking and pushing the "off" button the vehicle sometimes acts haunted. Not every time. Sometimes just a little for a minute and then it's quiet. Sometimes it goes on for over half an hour.

In each instance, some or occasionally all of the following symptoms manifest:

• A few indicator lights on the dash flicker on and off, accompanied by a couple click sounds (sound like mechanical relays to my untrained ear)
• The entire dashboard lights up, flickering on and off, accompanied by a cascade of clicking sounds (as above, just a whole lot more of them)
• Dome light comes on and stays on for at least a few minutes
• If locked, the car alarm may be triggered after some amount of the flickering behavior has happened
• Next couple times car starts up, check engine light, traction control light, and/or remote entry system light may be on, but then clear themselves after a couple more trips.

We brought it by the dealer shop thinking it might be the battery, but they report the battery is fine.

Anyone else experienced a 'haunting' like this? And, even if not, does anyone have suggestions as to how I could describe the symptoms for search purposes? "dash lights come on after car turned off" gets me a lot of hits for "dash lights go off after car turned on".

Check your battery cables on the post they might be loose.

 

[Mizter]

No problems when the car is turned on and running, but after parking and pushing the "off" button the vehicle sometimes acts haunted. Not every time. Sometimes just a little for a minute and then it's quiet. Sometimes it goes on for over half an hour.

In each instance, some or occasionally all of the following symptoms manifest:

• A few indicator lights on the dash flicker on and off, accompanied by a couple click sounds (sound like mechanical relays to my untrained ear)
• The entire dashboard lights up, flickering on and off, accompanied by a cascade of clicking sounds (as above, just a whole lot more of them)
• Dome light comes on and stays on for at least a few minutes
• If locked, the car alarm may be triggered after some amount of the flickering behavior has happened
• Next couple times car starts up, check engine light, traction control light, and/or remote entry system light may be on, but then clear themselves after a couple more trips.

We brought it by the dealer shop thinking it might be the battery, but they report the battery is fine.

Anyone else experienced a 'haunting' like this? And, even if not, does anyone have suggestions as to how I could describe the symptoms for search purposes? "dash lights come on after car turned off" gets me a lot of hits for "dash lights go off after car turned on".

Hi. Did you ever get this fixed? My 2016 Odyssey is doing the EXACT SAME THING.

 

[anavidi]

My 2016 Odyssey with 38k is doing the same thing. Parked in the garage unlocked and every light on the dash is flickering, relays under the hood are clicking, lights inside/outside are flickering, the electrical gremlins are on a rampage inside this thing!! What's the cause, and what's the fix??? I caught it on video.

 

[egads]

I bet your battery is toast. When mine died it was the weirdest thing I have ever experienced in a car.lots of lights and clicks. These vans eat batteries. It is practically impossible to not use a ton of power just getting in and out of one before it is even started.
By the way, once I did replace the battery, several things (like the rear hatch) simply did not work. Some folks have had to go to the dealer for a reset. My 2015 EX-L just sort of fixed itself after a couple of days.

 

[anavidi]

I put in a new battery a month ago hoping to fix this issue. It didn't really fix the issue so I did a 'hard reset' by connecting the positive and negative battery connectors together. That fixed the issue for a few weeks. It seems to have come back as my wife parked the van outside for the day and the alarm started blaring, since she parked it and locked it. Then pulled it into the garage in the evening and left it unlocked, that's when lights/relays just started going haywire.

It seems like I may be one of those folks you refer to who has to get a reset (what is a reset?)

Here's the video clip

 

[egads]

Is there some parasitic drain on the battery? Is the battery low when this happens? I wonder if a rodent chewed wires when it was parked outside?
I am so sorry folks who have reported this issue in this thread have never returned with the cause.

 

[anavidi]

Strangely the battery isn't low, starts up nice and strong! I have a feeling there's a weak/bad connection somewhere within the alarm/computer brain. This looks like an intermittent ground problem, but I was able to rule that out with some wire. I'll report back if I'm able to find anything useful.

 

[anavidi]

Just a little update...

I am able to replicate the problem when the van sits outside the garage during the day, it's about 50-60 degrees outside and I think the drop in temperature triggers the issue. I treated the harnesses from the fuse box to the Multiplex Control Unit (MICU) with Deoxit and reseated the ones that I was able to access. Since then it's only been 24hrs but I haven't had the issue. Fingers crossed the issue was that simple, I'll know in a few weeks. I'll get the car scanned today and see if there's any error codes which may also give me some clues.

 

[egads]

Thank you for following up, so many don't. It will help folks for years to come. Some who never even register and post but just find a thread by Googling.

 

[anavidi]

Thanks egads!
I frequently scour forums for information/fixes and it's completely frustrating when someone posts the exact issue that I am looking to fix -only to find that the thread was never updated with a resolution!

My uncle is a retired transmission shop owner so I visited him today to perform a scan with his scanner. No codes! It's been a day and no gremlins, fingers crossed that was the fix!

 

[Jdm honda alberta]

Wow can't believe others have this issue. Mine is spot on the same. I'm hoping for an update. Hopefully it worked .

 

[jackie_n]

The original description of the problem is exactly what I'm experiencing with my 2016 Odyssey. Neither my regular mechanic nor the dealership's service dept has been able to make any headway. Have any of the other posters found a permanent solution? My internet searches have turned up conflicting accounts of MICU and Body Control Module solutions, and I'm at my wit's end trying to solve this!

 

[Jdm honda alberta]

. Just found this on YouTube. Hopefully it's Helpful. Not alot of info about what part was replaced.

 

[Jdm honda alberta]

Thanks egads!
I frequently scour forums for information/fixes and it's completely frustrating when someone posts the exact issue that I am looking to fix -only to find that the thread was never updated with a resolution!

My uncle is a retired transmission shop owner so I visited him today to perform a scan with his scanner. No codes! It's been a day and no gremlins, fingers crossed that was the fix!

any luck

 

[anavidi]

It's been about two weeks and so far the only thing we've noticed is that the alarm went off when parked in a parking lot. There hasn't been any gremlin activity in the garage since. I have yet to scan the car since the alarm was triggered to see if there's any codes that have come up in the last two weeks.

 

[jackie_n]

TL;DR: replaced the smart entry "keyless entry control module." It's been more than a month now, including rainy weather and huge temperature fluctuations, and problem hasn't returned.

[My teenager told me my posts are always too long.]

I thought I'd post an update here:

Recap of the problem: for literally a year, I've had the following symptoms with my 2016 Odyssey (around 80K miles):

- dashboard warning lights (engine light, LDW, FCW, Emissions, and VSA) come on every couple of weeks; the warning lights stay on for anywhere from a few hours to a few days, then go off again. I didn't notice any changes in how the van was driving. When my mechanic pulled the error codes, the info was that there were a ton of codes, and none of the error codes seemed to indicate what was actually wrong.

- car alarm goes off randomly, very frequently (like every two days). (Note: in order to save the neighborhood from this nightmare, and to save me from my neighbors' wrath, I disconnected the hood latch sensor so that the alarm wouldn't arm.)

- when the car is turned off and parked, sometimes randomly I would hear rapid clicking from the dash. Sometimes that clicking would be accompanied by all the dashboard lights flickering on and off for about 30 seconds, repeating that sequence for a few minutes. This is the "poltergeist," "haunted," or "gremlins" effect that others have described.

Attempted (ineffective) fixes: my mechanic pulled the error codes that were stored, and said they were mostly "communication" codes. In the intervening year, I have gotten a new battery (the battery was not the problem; the new battery did nothing to address the problem). My regular mechanic actually didn't believe my description of the problem until I was able to make a video recording of the clicking/flickering on my cell phone. I also took the van to the local Honda dealership's repair shop and paid for their "advanced diagnosis" service, and they told me they couldn't diagnose anything, cleared the error codes, and sent me home (super frustrating!).

Finally, however, my regular mechanic agreed to replace the Smart Entry "Keyless Entry Control Module." So far it's only been 48 hours, but no symptoms (we reconnected the hood latch sensor so the alarm would arm). I will update again after a bit longer.

Funny (frustrating) side note: my mechanic was not able to re-program the new module (the entry on my invoice says "Program keyless actuator module") with my keys, so they ended up having to take my van into the local Honda dealership to get it re-programmed; this whole repair took a full week!

One additional side-note: when I showed my mechanic the cell-phone video I took of the clicking and dash lights so they actually understood the problem, they finally ran a search in their "identifix" mechanic's database. That search turned up two possible repairs: one was the Keyless Entry Control Module; the other (just FYI) was that it could possibly be the solid-state electronics in the driver's side door handle.

Edited to add: it's now been a month with some rainy weather and big temperature fluctuations, and it's fixed! The alarm hasn't gone off, and none of the other symptoms have returned. I'm feeling cautiously optimistic. I posted photos (with the part numbers visible) of the part I had replaced in a post further down this thread.

 

[CBus]

Thank you for this reply; I am so glad I found this forum!! My 2016 Odyssey has been doing this for the past couple months (flickering dashboard and clicking sounds). The alarm started going off the past couple days and neither my regular mechanic of the Honda Dealership can diagnose the issue. I've spent the last 2 days taking it in every time it goes off because they want to rerun the diagnosis. I was told this evening by the Honda mechanic that it may be the pistons and it would cost me over $7,000 to fix. This makes zero sense to me and I feel like they are just grasping at straws to come up with a diagnosis. I can't keep days off of work so I decided to leave it there while I research to see if I can't find a more plausible diagnosis and rent a car for a few days. I'll keep on researching, but this thread has given me a huge head start so THANK YOU!! I will be sure to provide an update once my issue is resolved. For anyone else working through this, please do the same.

On a side note, I asked the Honda mechanic if he could disconnect the alarm so I could get back to work today and he said the since it's factory installed, it's impossible to disconnect it. I'll have to research how to do it myself if needed.