My first problem with the crz. Dead 12v Battery

[Rotiv]

Hey guys, i just want to share my ''story'' because this may happen to you.
I have a european spec CRZ from last year.
So i went on a mini-vacation (3days) and when i came back my battery was totally dead, the remote didnt even open the car and i had to open it with the key. Inside nothing was on not even the blue lines on the dashboard.
So i called honda assistance and they sent a hauler. The guy from the hauler jump started my car and then i took it to my local honda dealer because i thought that wasnt normal, i was sure i didnt leave any lights or something like that on.
I left it there and they called me back the next day, everything is fine they said. They tested the battery, recharged it overnight and sent me home.
A couple of weeks later, coming from work, after rotating the key on the ignition the radio went dead for a second and started up again, i started the car and went home. But i knew something odd was happening...
The next day same thing happens comming from work. Although this time the radio didnt came back on. But the car did start and i went home.
On the third day also comming from work, the radio didnt start and i got some error messages, check abs and check esc, and nothing happened when i pushed the little red button... So i jump start the car and went back to the dealer, this time i was sure it was a real problem.
They took the car in and they tested the battery again and again... On the second day they contacted Honda because they didnt know what to do next. But on the third day a battery test didnt pass, faulty battery cell was the error message. They replaced the faulty battery and iam riding my honda again xD

POST UPDATE:

I totally forgot about this post and i think its important to updated since the problem wasnt the 12v battery.
After 2 more visits to dealer and 2 months after we finally found what was really wrong with my car. I noticed that the battery only went dead if i locked the car, so i suspected it was something wrong with the locks or the alarm. I was right, they found a damaged cable that goes from the right door lock to the engine bay. Thats why it was a intermittent failure, only at the end the car started to empty the battery every time i locked it.
If anyone is having battery issues i recommend measuring the 12v battery every time you last time you use the car and again the next morning, thats how i found my problem. The battery should have close to 12v or even more than 12v in the morning, sometimes i found my battery with 10v and even 9v ( i also found that the car always starts if the battery was more than 10v).
And about the low amperage of the 12v battery. I dont think you should have to replace to a more powerfull battery to solve any problems that your car my have. If honda puts that battery in the car, the car should run flawlessy and endure ocassional normal long stops like any other car. I am sure this is something they test.

[hoisumguo]

Great share. I think someone else was reporting a faulty battery cel recently too. Good that you are working again.

-Hoi

[MachVEvan]

Good to know.

I don't know why so many factory batteries are going down. I can only assume that maybe 5% of people on this forum have had this issue...but if that is an indicator for the problem at large, I'm sure Honda is pretty mad at their battery distributor. >

[stonetyke]

Did they replace one of the cells for the main battery (100.8v) or the 12v battery ?
It's just your title says the 12v and I thought this was only a back up and not normally used for starting the car.

[Colin]

Originally Posted by stonetyke

Did they replace one of the cells for the main battery (100.8v) or the 12v battery ?
It's just your title says the 12v and I thought this was only a back up and not normally used for starting the car.

This is an often discussed topic, but the general consensus is that the 12V battery does not actually start the car in most cases, but it always runs the computer and electronics that tell the IMA battery how to work. So a dead 12v battery means you have no computer control over the energy stored in the IMA pack.

For the OP, many have reported that in this situation, the IMA pack restores the charge to the 12v battery after a 10-15 minute wait. No word if this functionality still works if there is a physical fault in the battery though. For example, I had always thought that a cell failed when the lead plates (which must have a gap between them) start to crack and the debris falls to the bottom of the cell, shorting out the gaps. In this situation, maybe the car cannot restore the charge to the other 5 cells as a safety precaution?

[Exhell]

I'm glad I don't have that kind of issue because I just got back from my week long trip and my car started normally. I also had 1 'bar' of gas left on the gauge when I started it up after 7 days lol

[Rotiv]

they replaced the 12v battery. In my case the ima pack never restored the power of the 12v battery. Maybe because it was faulty. I dont know

[Scotty001]

Originally Posted by Rotiv

they replaced the 12v battery. In my case the ima pack never restored the power of the 12v battery. Maybe because it was faulty. I dont know

^ Yes ..

Also - I believe Colin gave a pretty good-viable explanation.. I'm not an engineer but makes perfect sense.

[MachVEvan]

Originally Posted by Colin

This is an often discussed topic, but the general consensus is that the 12V battery does not actually start the car in most cases, but it always runs the computer and electronics that tell the IMA battery how to work. So a dead 12v battery means you have no computer control over the energy stored in the IMA pack.

For the OP, many have reported that in this situation, the IMA pack restores the charge to the 12v battery after a 10-15 minute wait. No word if this functionality still works if there is a physical fault in the battery though. For example, I had always thought that a cell failed when the lead plates (which must have a gap between them) start to crack and the debris falls to the bottom of the cell, shorting out the gaps. In this situation, maybe the car cannot restore the charge to the other 5 cells as a safety precaution?

I agree, that may be what happens, but I have a theory on the root cause of cell breakage.

On liquid electolyte batteries you have a series of lead plates arranged like a ladder, about 5-10mm apart. These plates are suspended in a sulfuric acid and water mixture(electrolyte). Without being too technical, a molecular change occurs on the plates, creating SO2 and hydrogen to be striped from the H2O creating heat, etc, etc. The electrolyte solution not only is responsible for the chemical/electrical reaction, but also serves to control heat buildup in the lead plates. If the solution gets hot enough to vaporize the water, the level in the battery will drop. This is where the problem may lie in our batteries! When the fluid level drops and exposes the tops of the plates there is nowhere for the heat to go, fracturing the tops of the plates over time and eventually the plates will fall into the solution and cause a short in the battery.

The preliminary fracturing will cause the intermittent problems described by the OP since the plate can sometimes swing around inside the battery and cause a short that is not always present.

I think that the factory that built the batteries did not install the correct amount of electrolyte to control the heat buildup in the plates for a specific run of batteries. It's a bummer, but I'm sure that it's not threatening to our cars electronics, just our wallets.

[RedefinedCRZ]

I had my battery die on mine. I think my stereo had something to do with it. But I just replaced it with a Kinetik KHC800 now it starts like it is plugged into the city grid. LOL