Please help...no radio and AC/heating buttons do not work

ebutler24

New Member
Good morning:

Apparently last Thursday a family member of mine left the overhead light on in our 2006 Civic. Unfortunately, we went out of town for the weekend not knowing this happened. Upon our return Monday we tried to start the car but the battery died. We received a jump, charged the battery, and got the car to running. We put in the code for the radio and it worked fine. A day later we had to have some power steering service done on the car. After receiving it back, I noticed that the radio and the AC/heating buttons did not work at all on the car. We took the vehicle back to the place and they said they checked fuses. We were told to take it to the dealership to have it reprogrammed. The dealership said they did not know what was wrong and would have to further diagnose.

With the car back home, I began to do some troubleshooting. First, I had someone check the voltage across the battery. It was reading at 12.8 V. Second, I noticed that the anti-theft light was still blinking so I figured it would just require a reset of the system. Therefore, I disconnected the battery and reconnected it. I input the code for the radio and it began to work. The next day I checked all of the fuses myself. The fuses seemed to be fine. I also noticed that the radio sometimes would come on and sometimes it would turn off. I noticed that the anti-theft system light still continues to blink and so I tried to troubleshoot that again (put the key into the ignition in ACC mode, leave it for 10-15 mins, and turn off). It worked one time and then it turned off again. I tried the two fobs I have--one fob was the original one and the other was a facsimile I had programmed by the dealership.

Is there something else I should try? The funny thing is that the problem with the radio and AC/heat buttons not working only surfaced when the battery died. Before I left my home last weekend the AC/heat buttons were working and so was the radio.

Thanks for your time and have a great day!
 

Mr.Baker

Mr. Search
Registered VIP
5+ Year Member
10+ Year Member
This is why I'll continue to try to keep driving older Hondas'.
It seems like once the batteries die on a lot of these newer cars, it causes trouble with the electrical system.

Could the battery be failing since it has been run dead?
 


ebutler24

New Member
This is why I'll continue to try to keep driving older Hondas'.
It seems like once the batteries die on a lot of these newer cars, it causes trouble with the electrical system.

Could the battery be failing since it has been run dead?
Mr. Baker,

Thank you for your comment. You are now the third person to suggest to me that it might be the battery. I think I am seriously going to look into that today.

The funny thing about this is that I thought 2006 was "old enough" to avoid electronic complexity. We also have a 2006 Highlander which has no key f.o.b. or anti-theft features so I thought that Honda would be comparable in its evolution of these features but I was wrong.

However, I do agree with you. I told my wife that one of the reasons why I will never buy new is because of the electronics on these cars can cause so many problems ("keyless" entry, etc.). All I want is a car that is reliable. To me, having fancy features on a car is useless if the car does not serve it purpose (getting you from point "A" to "B"). I will survey those features when I rent a car and am not responsible for having to repair those issues if something goes wrong.
 

Mr.Baker

Mr. Search
Registered VIP
5+ Year Member
10+ Year Member
For some reason I feel that the voltage meter should be reading higher for a fully charged, 100% functional battery.
The battery was failing on our '06 Element, we left the interior lights on, killing the battery. After we jumped it, it was having trouble starting, we tested the battery and it came in at 11 volts, but apparently wasn't enough to support the electrical system. We replaced the battery and all has been well since.
 


Last edited:

ebutler24

New Member
For some reason I feel that the voltage meter should be reading higher for a fully charged, 100% functional battery.
The battery was failing on our '06 Element, we left the interior lights o. After we jumped it, it was having trouble starting, we tested the battery and it came in at 11 volts, but apparently wasn't enough to support the electrical system. We replaced the battery and all has been well since.
OK. The last time I checked the voltage (+12.8 V) was Thursday. I do not know what the voltage was last Monday when the car was jumped. Perhaps it was much higher. I also know that as I was checking the fuses on Friday I saw that the "Check Engine Light" came on. The OBD II code came back and the error was related to voltage so maybe I have been losing voltage over the last few days. My wife has been driving the car the past few days and she hasn't had any issues with normal vehicle operation other than the radio and AC issues.
 


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