I would have sent you to your room too if you came to me with electrical problems with all those electrical mods...

 

So I have to leave it overnight and they are doing the 130 electrical diagnosis I'm sure I'm out of warranty so I'm so screwed.

 

Went through my Honda battery fast also, so I suspected my alternator. Oddly enough, my volts were running a little high. Autozone in my area couldn't check my alternator out of my 2007 Fit. Apparently they don't have the hardware that they need to bolt it to their machine (and I checked at 4 different Autozones). I just replaced it myself and it fixed the problem. Hope the fix is that easy for you.

 

hum...

custom "side marker mirror lighting"?

custom ambient or OE? I would assume custom, since they shouldn't have a problem with the OE version. at the very least, they can't complain about it.

custom wired AMP?

HIDs?

you sir, have WAY too much going on.

not an expert opinion, but me thinks you overworked the alternator. but there are plenty of other possibilities, like multiple blown fuses (even main fuses)... shorted/fried/damaged wires... etc.

FYI: when jumping a car, it doesn't matter if you swap the battery out or not. if it doesn't jump, it's not just a battery issue (if at all). the should alternator will produce more than enough electricity to power the system... even when a battery is flat out dead. though, the battery can be a "break" in the circuit if the car shuts off when they pull the jumper cables. but alas... that requires the car to start when jumped.

so yeah, you asking about swapping the battery, only made you a nuisance to them.

FYI #2: I also have a 2010... still on original battery, even after the battery died twice (1st was playing with new radio with engine off, 2nd was after a month long overseas trip immediately after that first "death"). and that was 13 months ago!

I also have HIDs (running off relay now) and what I believe to be a more electrically demanding radio (with navigation).

and I just added a remote starter too... well, back in October, anyway.

granted, my Fit is at the dealer also for repairs... but they're more of a mechanical nature (broken engine mount).

 

After re-reading your first few postings multiple times, I have to ask if you did any initial diagnosis.

1. Is there any voltage across the battery terminals? If so how much?
2. When it would not jump start, did you check to see if you have any lights working with the jumper pack / machine attached? If the answer is no then how do you know the jumper pack or generator installed that had any voltage out? What was the voltage across your battery with the jumper installed?

This failure sounds like a dirty/loose battery cable connection or a blown mega-fuse. (That 80 amp thing in the fuse box.) Without some additional initial diagnosis information from you, it is impossible to remotely tell what is wrong. We are just guessing.

If you do not know how to use a voltmeter or multi-meter then a $4.00 test light could have told you the same things.

If you are going to add additional non-OEM electrical things to your car, then you need to be prepared to trouble shoot the nonstandard or modified wiring from them on your own. If you don't, then be prepared to pay big bucks to someone (in this case Honda) to figure out your modifications before determining the real failure.

Get a cheap multimeter or test light and thrown it in the glove compartment for use the next time your Fit fails to start. Or carry a credit card with a high dollar limit. It will do the same thing but it usually takes a lot longer.

7 Function Multimeter

multimeter - Walmart.com

Mini Multimeter 82008 from Sears.com

Performance W2981 Heavy-Duty Circuit Tester: Tools : Walmart.com

Circuit Tester

Craftsman Mini Coil Cord Circuit Tester - Tools - Mechanics & Auto Tools - Diagnostic Tools & Testers

 

When I had my old Civic this happened to me. Drove to my local grocery store to buy stuff and when I came out to my car, there was no power at all. No lights, no clicks, no anything. Tried cleaning battery terminals, nothing. Checked all fuses, nothing. After 2 hours at the grocery parking lot, decided to tow it back home. $70 to tow it home. When I got home, me and my buddy we're puzzled as to what caused it, and out of nowhere he suggested that we clean all the contact points of the ground wires.

Dunno how he thought of that, but that was the problem.
Since your car went to a different shop (bodyshop), look out for your ground connections.

But yeah, goodluck with the stealership. I used to work for a Honda dealership, so I know how they do business.

 

This sorta happened to my Integra. At one point my dash, rear and radio wouldn't work, turns out it was the wiring directly from my radio was exposed to the metal frame around the radio, thus being improperly grounded.
Then another time it was simply my alternator gave out and my car wouldn't start for crap, lol.

 

Yea I have OEM ambient lighting which was all plug and play. Pretty much just an amp hids and side mirror markers lighting and a double din stereo. Well see what happens today hopefully nothing to big.

 

It has to be the main fuse, or a bad connection in one of the main cables off of the battery.

 

They said they were testing wires for a short but haven't found anything yet.

 

From what im reading you have wayy too much stuff "custom" wired. Unplug your amp from the battery, disconnect the HIDs, and go back and check your connections on your Ambient lighting and side marker lights.
You probably could have saved yourself some money by going back and checking your handy work before the tow. for something to drain a charged battery in 15-20 minutes tells me that theres something drawing a huge amount of power that is obviously hardwired to the battery, not tied in thru the Ignition. i have an 09 with the OE battery with 60k, and a couple electrical mods, no problems.

 

any updates cfran55?

 

They blamed it on my wiring and it says fixed main ground wiring. I think they just replaced the negative cable because they left turn signal bulb out.

All in all cost me 133. He even said your lucky you took it here and not some untrustworthy place that would probably charge me $700+.

 

this is a good subject, granted all the electrical things you got running and installed you should really a multimeter.

my wife's SUV needed a new battery about a month ago. 4 weeks after the new battery the car died again. with the multimeter i saw the battery was dead but after jumping the car the alternator was pushing power to it. at the end it came down to a faulty battery terminal that cost $4 to replace.

bottom line - get a multimeter

FYI - my old civic (manual) had a severely weak battery, i ignored the issued until it just would start and i had to get jumped. finally i started parking backwards and on slopes so that i could roll forward with the clutch depressed in 1st and once i was rolling i would dump the clutch and the motor would get its rolling start that way

 

I'm pretty sure it's just a bad ground.

 

Bad grounds are the source of many electrical "gremlins".

I have several of those cheap Harbor Freight multimeters, one in each house and car. An even simpler device for those who dont even want to deal with that is a cigarette lighter plug in battery/alternator tester that just displays a green yellow or red led.

12 Volt Battery/Alternator Tester