Hi all, dont know what is the cause of this. past 2 weeks my jazz not starting some time in the morning. i checked the battery status that is blue means ok. battery seems quickly drained if i use any interior instruments. even test with volts digital metre and is like 12.40v. any clue what is the problem....

 

Sounds like it's probably the battery, though it could possibly be the alternator or an electrical connection to the battery. I'd look at the battery connections first, since it's quick and easy and cheap to clean and redo any that are loose or corroded or otherwise look questionable. Assuming that's not the problem, I'd replace the battery particularly if its several years old. Five to ten years seems to be typical for a car battery, depending on climate and usage conditions and so forth. There were also a few years where at least the US Fits had poor/defective batteries from the factory that would wear out quite quickly (and that can be replaced under warranty); search the forum for details. I don't know if that applies to the Jazz as well or not, which IIRC uses a different battery from the US model.

At least in the US, many auto parts stores will do free battery checks.

 

A fully charged battery should read somewhere between 12.6 and 12.8 after it has been sitting. Connect a voltmeter across the battery and start the car. The voltage should read between 13.8 and 14.2 at fast idle. If it does then the alternator is OK and I would be shopping for a new battery if you can't get 12.6 after the battery has been sitting for off charge 1/2 hour.

 

thanks guys. just checked this morning with volts meter before starting is sitting 12.34v and when i start the car its reading 14v its mean the alternator is OK. it needs charging then but indicator in the battery is blue thats mean its fully charged???
for charging can i take it to the battery people or charge it at home.?????

 

At 14 v the alternator is OK. The battery should charge from normal driving unless you are doing a lot of very short trips (1 or 2 miles) at night. I believe you have a bad (weak) battery unless something is draining it over night.

Do you have any non-OEM electrical devices that could be drawing down the battery?
Do you have anything that is left on like an interior light over night.

I believe Auto Zone will do a load (capacity) test on it for free.

How old is the battery?

The OEM Honda Fit battery is very small in capacity. I believe, like others here, that your battery needs to be replaced.

Mine is 3.5 years old and when it comes time to replace it I'm going to find a way to put a larger capacity battery in the Fit. I have heard that you can install a Group 51 or 51R in a Fit with only small modifications. I have never tried it.

 

i do small trips more than long. got OEM devices and nothing left on at night also i remove the key when parked. its OEM honda jazz battery. i just disconnect the negative terminal from the battery and short it back to negative terminal, its sparks......... its mean something is using the battery???? beside the clock and computer box but the ingnition key is out and nothing is left on in the car?????????? inst when the ingition key is out all the acc should be off aswell?????????????? why is still give the spark when i short it back the negative terminal????????????

 

If you think you have an unexplained current draw when the vehicle is off, disconnect the negative cable and set your multi-meter to the 10 amp scale. (Most (not all) meters require you to plug one of the leads into a different socket when using the 10 amp scale.) With the ignition key removed, all of the lights off, and the doors closed, connect one of the meter leads to the battery and the other one to the negative cable.

You are now reading the current draw with the car at rest. I do not know the programming in the body and power train computers in a Honda but I can tell you the expectations on a GM product. I would expect Hondas to be similar.

The design on GM is to see less than 20 ma. (.020 amps) when the car is completely asleep. At that rate GM says a car can be parked for 30 days and still start. Keep in mind they use a larger battery.

Back to the Honda FIT. When you first connect the meter expect a current draw of over 1/2 amp. Then after the computer(s) sense that there is no current draw from activity in the car by lights etc, they will go into sleep mode and the draw should drop off to less than 20 ma.

Check your immediate draw and then wait a minute or two with the meter connected to see if it drops off to around 20 ma. I would wait several minutes. If the draw is way too high, then you are going to have to find the draw. You can do this by pulling each fuse one at a time trying to find what circuit is drawing the current. Once you have found the fuse offending fuse we can start to chase down what is on that circuit.

I do not know your situation, but if you have 120 vac nearby you could plug in a small battery charger overnight. You can get a 1.5 or 2 amp overnight charger for around $10.00 or $12.00 from TSC or Harbor Freight. You can get a 6 amp charger for around $25.00 at Wally World, or TSC, or Harbor Freight. You do not want an expensive automatic one. Get the cheapest manual one you can find and install it over night. That is long enough to top off almost any battery.

I'm still thinking that you have a bad battery, but you can do the above checks before replacing the battery to make sure.

 

The battery in my car was faulty and it got me stuck twice . Then I bought a new battery from the dealer then same issue they ran a check and it was a defective battery so I felt a lot better

 

First and foremost, check all of your connections between the battery, starter solenoidm, and starter. I don't know how many times we've seen that but its a lot. Not just Hondas either.
The fact its not regular says to me its a connection problem or dependent on ambient temperature.

12.4 vdc is not great voltage, 13.4 would be good so check the acid level in your battery cells regardless of the indicator. The fact that it drains so quickly is likely a sign of high resistance in the vehicle electrics or poorly charged battery. You need to have your dealer peform a battery load test for free against warranty claim or if they won't most aftermarket auto parts places will do it for free even if they can't offer a replacement battery (remember, it is oddball size)
good luck.

Then you can expect the most likely cause is battery letdown and Azusa in thed oddball Fit battery size seems to have a bunch of failures.

 

i 100% sure is high resistance in the vehicle that drains the battery quickly. but why there is resistance in the vehicle when all the acc are off mode. its OEM and never modified any thing. i just cant get it ( even if i put a new battery the drainage is there and is going to be same issue again. dont know if i take it to the honda dealer but they are very expensive so dont know what to do next .........

 

I'm betting the resistance is not that high and its the battery.
If you disconnect the positive connection from the battery and measure the resistance between the disconnected cable end and the ground terminal on the battery and you got very high resistance you will have to track down the source by measuring resistance from various power distribution points around the vehicle and thats exceptionally tedious. If you got only an ohm or two then its likely not a heavy power drain while the ignition key is off.

As others suggest an ammeter, especially the clamp type that measures current from a coil put around the connected positive cable from the battery is preferable; then if you get a current of half amp or more its a drain problem; if not its a battery problem. BTW those batteries haved shown failures from as soon as a year after the Fit was purchased so a dcealer load check is important. You might want to have an indeperndent, like AutoZone, do a free load test before goin g to the dealer but don't tell him you did unless he says nothing is wrong.Based on experience I'm betting the battery is the problem.
good luck.

 

Remember Ohm's law: Voltage = Current * Resistance. A high resistance means a small current, and vice-vera. (Of course, these are all relative.) A one or two ohm resistance across the battery would drain it in pretty short order, as that's a 12 or 6 amp draw, or something consuming 70+ watts.

It doesn't work to figure out the current draw of electronics (as opposed to simple passive resistances) simply by hooking up an ohmmeter, though, since the ohmmeter uses a very much different (lower) voltage to measure the resistance. Electronics are not simple resistances; they behave in highly non-linear ways. Using an ammeter is accurate. (Not all clamp-on ammeters are capable of measuring small DC currents; many can only detect AC currents.)

I do agree that, based on what EXT has said so far, the problem is most likely the battery wearing out, perhaps prematurely due to it being defective, and probably not a parasitic drain in the car.

 

You have a 3.5 year old battery and you're wondering why the car won't start? It's the battery. Get a new battery. The OEM battery is hardly good for 2 years. As far as the spark goes, you'll always see a spark. There is impedance and coils in the circuit and you'll always get an initial rush. It does not mean your battery is draining. Also, it's not a good idea to make sparks near a battery. Batteries exhaust hydrogen. Hydrogen and spark not good. That is why you're supposed to attach the negative of a jumper cable to the engine, and not to the battery terminal post... to prevent boom.

 

thanks everyone, just got a 4 amp charger today and going to charge and see what it produce. any idea how long it must charge?

 

If the battery is not completely dead, overnight (12 hours) ought to do it. I am assuming that the charger will taper off from 4 amps down to about one amp or so after completely charging. If there is a meter on your charger you will see it taper off as it gets near full charge. After it has been on charge over night, disconnect the charger and let it sit at rest for 1 hour to bleed off the surface charge. Then read the voltage. It should be 12.6 or slightly better.

I keep saying this. I think you have a low capacity (bad) battery.

 

Thgats the point; measuring resistance with the typical VOM will yield a resistance much higher that the resistance at 12 vdc. And therefore more indicative of a low resistance to the vehicle circuitry which as you say, would drain the battery quickly - or only half quickly. But good explanation.

 

Do not charge a dead battery. Dead batteries do not charge. Get a new battery for crying out loud! You risk an explosion of your cells with sulfuric acid getting all over your engine bay and body paint at best, and into your eyes at worst.

 

I drove my Fit off the lot 6 years 4 months ago and the original battery is still good... It has been completely dead from having an interior light left on a few times but has always taken a charge.. It is now beginning to lose 10% of the charge in a week or so but I am curious about how long it will last and will install a new one when it is absolutely shot.

 

its a yuasa battery. while charging it makes boiling sound. and the meter shows less then 1 amp after charging like 18 hours....... if is fully charged why the meter not switch off or ???????????????

 

Yours is an exception TC. DrewE, your posts definitely brings flashbacks (Ohm's Law).

EXT, my vote goes to replacing the battery. Considering your location (KSA), chances are your battery really gets cooked by the heat there. It's probably dry inside. Good luck!