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Honda Accord 2013+ Maintenance and Repair

274 messages,  Last post on May 16, 2013 at 8:22 PM

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Messages Page 11 of 28

#95 of 274 Re: 2013 Accord 4DR EX-L V6 (no NAVI) ISSUES! [quality4us] by trainingwheels

Jan 17, 2013 (9:50 pm)

Replying to: quality4us (Jan 14, 2013 8:30 pm)
I have experienced your problem #5 several times already, during the 200 miles I have driven my new 2013 Accord 4DR EX-L V6 (no Navi). It happens intermittently. The audio sound quality will be extremely bad, screechy and so distorted that speech cannot be understood. Changing stations within the same source, or changing between sources (XM, FM, AM, CD), or turning audio off and back on does not fix the problem. Then after turning the car off and restarting it, the audio will return to normal sound quality, as you said. At first I thought it might be related to cold weather, but it happened again today at 45 F.

#96 of 274 Re: 2013 Accord 4DR EX-L V6 (no NAVI) ISSUES! [quality4us] by tommy101

Jan 19, 2013 (9:45 pm)

Replying to: quality4us (Jan 14, 2013 8:30 pm)
In regards to the 2013 Accord sport, purchased several months ago.
 
1. Hood vibration on the freeway, never had a hood vibrate before on any car.
 
2. Live in California so weather is not an issue, in the morning my first attempt to start the car. It will not turn over with first attempt. Second time it turns over. Very disappointing NEW CAR?
 
3. Noticeable vibration/hesitation when I reach 20-30 mph.
 
4. At a stop light, the steering wheel tends to rotate when i accelerate.

#97 of 274 Re: Two concerns with 2013 Accord Touring Sedan. [nor10] by angileri

Jan 21, 2013 (11:31 am)

Replying to: nor10 (Dec 09, 2012 2:19 pm)
I have a 2013 Accord Sport and notice the same thing with my radio, the reception really stinks, even with stations that are in the same city I am driving in have lots of static.
 
I wonder if this is because of no external antenna?
 
Also my Sport does not have XM radio, is this an upgrade or was it supposed to be offered on all models of the Accord? Does it just need to be activated?

#98 of 274 Re: 2013 Accord 4DR EX-L V6 (no NAVI) ISSUES! [quality4us] by quality4us

Jan 22, 2013 (10:08 pm)

Replying to: quality4us (Jan 14, 2013 8:30 pm)
UPDATE from quality4us:
 
I brought my Accord V6 into my local Honda service center to address the 5 problems I identified in my first post (#86). The Honda service personnel were VERY interested and attentive! Here is the status of the five items:
 
1. The head technician wanted to drive with me to see if we could reproduce the engine vibration at about 1700 rpm. After a short drive, we both felt the vibration. He reported later that they replicated the vibration in the shop and noted that it only occurs when the engine is in 3-cylinder mode. This appears to be a fuel economy feature found only in the V6. As I understand it, you will experience it more in ECON mode but also at times in Drive (w/ no ECON). The technician then drove two other brand new V6 Accords from their lot and noticed the exact same vibration, which means the problem is NOT isolated to my vehicle. The service center contacted American Honda and was told that they have no indication that this is abnormal behavior. My interpretation of this is that the problem has not been sufficiently reported to Honda to warrant a technical fix. My dealer indicated that they will monitor Honda technical bulletins and report any other customer complaints. Bottom line: this is a real technical issue that will take awhile to surface and for Honda to take action for a technical fix. I cannot imagine that this highly engineered car was designed to have this vibration.
 
2. The vibration at highway speeds may be linked to the problem discussed above. We put this on hold and I agreed to conduct more highway trips to better describe the conditions.
 
3. The image from the side-mounted camera that did not switch off was due to user error! There is a button on the end of the turn signal that, if pushed, will keep the image on. I apparently pushed this button. However, I will monitor this situation to be sure.
 
4. and 5. My Honda service center report that American Honda IS AWARE of the audio issues (screeching, tinny sounds, static, etc.) and will soon issue a software fix, perhaps later this month.
 
A few observations:
 
It is good to know that there are Honda service centers that care enough to diagnose a problem and be persistent to get an answer from American Honda.
 
Honda does seem to be responding to some of the complaints that have come in and appear willing to make fixes, at least to the audio issue.
 
Customers must insist that problems they encounter, however minor, are diagnosed, reported, and addressed. I documented the problems I found and submitted a certified letter to American Honda as required under the Maryland Lemon Law. This was not an irate letter -- just a straightforward documentation of my issues. By doing so, I have started a process that gives me certain rights (i.e., refund for my purchase) if Honda is unable to fix the problem after a certain number of attempts.
 
I would be interested to hear from others about their experience with these problems.

#99 of 274 Re: 2013 Accord 4DR EX-L V6 (no NAVI) ISSUES! [quality4us] by rodut

Jan 23, 2013 (10:16 am)

Replying to: quality4us (Jan 22, 2013 10:08 pm)
Funny !
 
It's obvious you never played with cars when you were a kid. If you remove a spark plug cable from any cylinder, of any engine, it starts vibrating. When I disconnected two spark plugs on a 4 cylinder engine (30 years ago) it started vibrating so badly that I thought it would break my engine mounts !
 
Any engine is weight balanced by design when all its cylinders fire. Example: Stand up and move both your hands up and down at the same time. Your body doesn't move. Now think one hand is disabled (by some useless computer software) and then move up and down the remaining hand only. Your body will shake all the time.
 
This is what you bought ! VCM means Variable Cylinder Management. It disables some cylinders at some times. You buy computers, and then you complain because they act ?? Obviously it pisses you off. That's why you worked so hard to earn the money to buy that new car. To get computers to piss you off.
 
Memo: next time buy a 4 cylinder. There is no software to disable cylinders on that one. If you buy a manual transmission too, you get no software to change your gears. I just bought a 2012 4 cyl manual. It's smooth like silk. A dream to drive. My fourth 4 cyl manual Accord. The first one was a 1979 Accord coupe. I drove that one till the paint peeled off. Then I had a 1994, and a 2001.
 
H.O.N.D.A. means: Happy Owner Never Drives Anything else. Just take care what you buy. They started offering lots of electronic crap. The market begs for it, so they have to offer it.

#100 of 274 Re: 2013 Accord 4DR EX-L V6 (no NAVI) ISSUES! [quality4us] by trainingwheels

Jan 24, 2013 (5:40 pm)

Replying to: quality4us (Jan 22, 2013 10:08 pm)
I have also experienced the hesitation/vibration at about 1700 rpm (your item #1) on my 2013 Accord 4DR EX-L V6 (no NAVI). Thank you for posting such clear, factual descriptions of your issues.

#101 of 274 Re: 2013 Accord 4DR EX-L V6 (no NAVI) ISSUES! [rodut] by frogee

Jan 24, 2013 (7:45 pm)

Replying to: rodut (Jan 23, 2013 10:16 am)
I have also noticed a strange vibration/clatter on my V-6 Accord. Buying a 4 is not the answer, if you want the power and smoothness generally associated with a six. I realize that manufacturers are desperate to get fuel economy numbers up, but they should not be so aggressive that drivability suffers. I had planned to bring this to the attention of my dealer and am encouraged by the experience of the original poster.

#103 of 274 Re: 2013 Accord 4DR EX-L V6 (no NAVI) ISSUES! [frogee] by rodut

Jan 25, 2013 (8:15 am)

Replying to: frogee (Jan 24, 2013 7:45 pm)
I wonder if you recently drove a 4 cylinder Accord. Its power and smoothness are incredible. Obviously if you want to shred the asphalt, a V6 is better. But really you can't talk about V6 smoothness when some cylinders are disabled, so the engine becomes asymmetric. It's like a bird flying with one wing only.
 
It would be really entertaining to be able to see the engine block running on half cylinders, under load. I am sure it vibrates like crazy. But you can't see it. When you stop and open the hood, it always fires all 6 cylinders. Allowing the customers to see the 3 cylinder operation would be a marketing disaster.

#104 of 274 Re: 2013 Accord 4DR EX-L V6 (no NAVI) ISSUES! [quality4us] by davee4

Jan 26, 2013 (3:20 pm)

Replying to: quality4us (Jan 22, 2013 10:08 pm)
I also have the same issue with V6 engine vibration as you described. In fact, my experience was identical to yours. I brought the vehicle in to the dealer, they noticed the issue on a test drive and contacted Honda to determine if there were issues. According to them this was not abnormal.
 
Like you, I am concerned that this vibration should not occur and could eventually lead to problems with the engine. Although not described by you, at highway speeds the issues is not evident. If this is the case, my thought was that an eventual software revision to minimize 3 cylinder operation below say 50 MPH would help. I would be curious to see how this would impact MPG.
 
I will continue to pursue this with the dealer until resolved.
 
One final note, aside from this issue, there are absolutely no other problems with the vehicle.

Messages Page 11 of 28

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