Not Totally Auto Clueless!
Recently my car has been acting slightly weird. This is unrelated to the whole car radio fiasco (don’t get me wrong, I love my radio!) and I had chalked it up to my car starting to show it’s age. My car is only 7 years old, but it has seen it’s share of mileage - especially the year I was commuting back to Dallas every weekend…
The first issue - my headlight alarm stopped working. Matt noticed it first - I’m pretty used to turning my headlights on and off every time I get in and out of the car. This first issue led to the awareness that my battery was also going out. Matt managed to kill the battery twice by leaving the headlights on. I knew I needed a new battery but was putting off buying one. Then I finally forgot to turn the headlights off when I was at the gym Monday during lunch. After calling a coworker to rescue me and getting another one to jump the battery after work.
Next issue I had noticed was that my doors were apparently locking themselves. For those of you that don’t have a Honda - your car may not have a safety quirk that Hondas do. When you unlock the cars remotely, it gives you a certain amount of time to open any of the doors before it will re-lock them. I think it’s about 30 seconds. Anyhow, I was getting suspicious that my car was ignoring that rule and was locking the doors even after I opened them. It was very hard to be sure because each time I had the keys in my hand and theoretically could have bumped the lock button… Maybe… But I was suspicious.
Then today I was googling the headlight alarm issue. I found a few Honda forums that people had mentioned a similar problem. Then I noticed that they were also mentioning the locking problem… The suspect was a door switch going out. The little switch that alerts the car that you opened the door was failing. Interestingly enough, one post mentioned that the dome light would also not be working. Huh. I was pretty sure I had noticed once or twice that my light didn’t come on. This could be the culprit!
I couldn’t wait until quitting time to test out my theory! I get in the car and the dome light is on. Hmm. I leave the door open and stick the key in the ignition - no alarm even though there should be. Another indicator the switch is problematic. I decide that it must be the switch. It isn’t until I am driving out of the garage that I realize that of course the light would have been on as soon as I hit the unlock button. I can’t wait to test another clue - at the next stop light I crack the driver door open - no light. I lean over and open the passenger door - the light comes on!!!!
It has to be the door switch and I feel like a automotive genius! =]



