Mrs Bing's car appears to be slightly possessed - having read about the weirdness that can be caused by bad batteries on here, I think that may be the problem, but I'm open to ideas before I go booking it in to get it looked at...
All of the things that are happening are electrical - the car starts and runs fine. 2003 Honda Accord, 106k miles, had a new starter motor 6k miles / 18 months ago (last service at this time too), and a new battery 2 years ago. Was being driven regularly 30 to 40 miles a day during the week, but over the last year only used for short journeys and the occassional family trip or rugby expedition on a Sunday since Mrs Bing stopped working. The car is kept outside and if not loved, is looked after.
Symptoms -
- occassionally believes the rear passenger door is open when it is not - it'll lock the car but the alarm then goes off a few mins later when it decides the door is open (shows on the dash as open). I have had the sensor where the door shuts apart, and it's all connected fine as far as I can see.
- Windows randomly decide whether they are one-touch or not
- Apparently the interior lights go on and off when they feel like it when driving (not witnessed this...)
- Today the car immobiliser system decided it didn't recognise the code for either key and would turn over but not start. Turning to position 0 and trying again results in a start. However, on closing the doors and locking remotely the immobiliser light continued flashing, and even though locked the alarm kept going off a few minutes later
- Just now it has decided that central locking is so last week and won't lock with a key press (immobiliser light is now not flashing and the car starts first time). Sitting in the car the locking button results in no locking, and using the key in the door results only in the drivers door locking. I have locked the other doors manually, but I guess the alarm and immobiliser are not set as I have no flashing red light on the dash
- We did have a persistent problem with the emissions light coming on and the car occassionally going into 'safe' (5mph) mode... However this has now disappeared and been gone for a few months.
I think it is probably the battery... However, if a car is only run on short journeys, will a battery really only last 2 years ? If it should last longer, does the 'disconnect the battery for 20mins' trick to re-set everything work on all cars, or just BMWs ?
Note that my man-toolbag does not contain a voltmeter or ampmeter yet, so I cannot go out and check charge or current... Or whatever I would do.
I think I probably need to take it to a garage for a proper diagnosis, but I'd like to try a few things first if anyone has any suggestions, just in case it is an easy fix.
Cheers for any help that is out there !
All of the things that are happening are electrical - the car starts and runs fine. 2003 Honda Accord, 106k miles, had a new starter motor 6k miles / 18 months ago (last service at this time too), and a new battery 2 years ago. Was being driven regularly 30 to 40 miles a day during the week, but over the last year only used for short journeys and the occassional family trip or rugby expedition on a Sunday since Mrs Bing stopped working. The car is kept outside and if not loved, is looked after.
Symptoms -
- occassionally believes the rear passenger door is open when it is not - it'll lock the car but the alarm then goes off a few mins later when it decides the door is open (shows on the dash as open). I have had the sensor where the door shuts apart, and it's all connected fine as far as I can see.
- Windows randomly decide whether they are one-touch or not
- Apparently the interior lights go on and off when they feel like it when driving (not witnessed this...)
- Today the car immobiliser system decided it didn't recognise the code for either key and would turn over but not start. Turning to position 0 and trying again results in a start. However, on closing the doors and locking remotely the immobiliser light continued flashing, and even though locked the alarm kept going off a few minutes later
- Just now it has decided that central locking is so last week and won't lock with a key press (immobiliser light is now not flashing and the car starts first time). Sitting in the car the locking button results in no locking, and using the key in the door results only in the drivers door locking. I have locked the other doors manually, but I guess the alarm and immobiliser are not set as I have no flashing red light on the dash
- We did have a persistent problem with the emissions light coming on and the car occassionally going into 'safe' (5mph) mode... However this has now disappeared and been gone for a few months.
I think it is probably the battery... However, if a car is only run on short journeys, will a battery really only last 2 years ? If it should last longer, does the 'disconnect the battery for 20mins' trick to re-set everything work on all cars, or just BMWs ?
Note that my man-toolbag does not contain a voltmeter or ampmeter yet, so I cannot go out and check charge or current... Or whatever I would do.
I think I probably need to take it to a garage for a proper diagnosis, but I'd like to try a few things first if anyone has any suggestions, just in case it is an easy fix.
Cheers for any help that is out there !
