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Okay here’s a problem that i’ve been dealing with for few months now. When i go to start my 2016 LX it makes sort of a whining screeching noise from under the hood, i have to turn the ignition back and forth to get it to start and after a few tries it does start. I’ve tracked it down to be coming from the under the hood fuse box and took a stethoscope and found out that it is one of the relays specifically the white denso one. So i assumed the relay failed so i got a replacement not name brand but the same relay, when i installed it the relay the result was the same just a different noise? So then i went out of my way to get the exact same relay and got the same result. I can’t wrap my brain around it so i thought id ask some professionals! Help me! (Also i have attached a photo of the specific relay.)
Maybe the thing the relay is trying to activate is the problem. When power is applied to the relay, it oscillates back and forth, trying to make the device work.
If its key start, i would guess the ignition SWITCH..that you seem to need to jiggle, ....is not supplying enough power to make complete contact, only vibrate the relay,that may be a main /fuel relay. Disconnect the battery and move the ignition switch around a whole bunch, including crank position, on, off, etc..... now try, I also sense you either drive very little, or are a courier, but not an average driver (user of car), nothing to do with your driving.
Last edited by 2015FITEX; Mar 31, 2026 at 10:35 PM.
If its key start, i would guess the ignition SWITCH..that you seem to need to jiggle, ....is not supplying enough power to make complete contact, only vibrate the relay,that may be a main /fuel relay. Disconnect the battery and move the ignition switch around a whole bunch, including crank position, on, off, etc..... now try, I also sense you either drive very little, or are a courier, but not an average driver (user of car), nothing to do with your driving.
I drive the car pretty frequently i’m always out in about. i’ll try the disconnect battery trick that you mentioned see if that has any effect. also my battery acts weird. like it will work for a couple of days just fine no slow crank or anything then outta nowhere it dies? not sure if that has anything to do with the problem attached but i thought i would mention it.
The way the relay is wired, the power for its coil and its load contacts come from the same wire. If something up-stream on the green wire is limiting current, turning the key to Start could cause rapid cycling of the relay - an irregular buzzing or whining sound.
Skip down a paragraph if you don't care why it's happening. Turning the key to Start will first energize the relay coil (because it takes very little current to do so), but as soon as the relay's load contacts physically close, the resulting electrical connection to the starter solenoid (which consumes 10s of amps) sucks up all the available current, making the voltage on the green wire drop to near zero. That drop de-energizes the relay coil. The spring inside the relay takes over, pulling the load contacts back to their resting position, breaking the electrical connection to the starter solenoid. With the available current no longer being hogged by the solenoid, voltage on the green wire jumps back up to near battery voltage, and the cycle repeats. The speed of the cycling is limited only by the momentum of the relay contacts, so it can happen 10s or 100s of times a second, depending on the relay design.
The root cause of the problem is a restriction on the power supply for the green wire.
The wire loops through the dash fuse box - probably a convenient way of connecting the harnesses - you could track down the terminals at the fuse box connectors, but I doubt that's the problem.
Next is the ignition switch, which is a wear item. The electrical contacts inside the switch wear down over time until they make poor contact, causing strange behavior. The starter engaging after turning the key multiple times fits right in here. The switch is replaceable separately from the lock - it just unplugs and unscrews from the key cylinder on the steering column.
A partially-blown fuse (Fuse 1-2 in the auxiliary dash fuse box, or Fuse 1 at the positive battery terminal) is possible. Fuses with dashes in their designators are part of a multi-fuse block (bar-shaped order-from-Honda part). IIRC, the battery terminal fuses have screw terminals - a loose screw is possible. Neither of those provide much explanation for the multiple-key-turns observation.
So - check for loose screws at the battery terminal, replace the ignition switch. If you have more time than money, you could try disassembling the switch to clean it, re-lube with dielectric grease.
The way the relay is wired, the power for its coil and its load contacts come from the same wire. If something up-stream on the green wire is limiting current, turning the key to Start could cause rapid cycling of the relay - an irregular buzzing or whining sound.
Skip down a paragraph if you don't care why it's happening. Turning the key to Start will first energize the relay coil (because it takes very little current to do so), but as soon as the relay's load contacts physically close, the resulting electrical connection to the starter solenoid (which consumes 10s of amps) sucks up all the available current, making the voltage on the green wire drop to near zero. That drop de-energizes the relay coil. The spring inside the relay takes over, pulling the load contacts back to their resting position, breaking the electrical connection to the starter solenoid. With the available current no longer being hogged by the solenoid, voltage on the green wire jumps back up to near battery voltage, and the cycle repeats. The speed of the cycling is limited only by the momentum of the relay contacts, so it can happen 10s or 100s of times a second, depending on the relay design.
The root cause of the problem is a restriction on the power supply for the green wire.
The wire loops through the dash fuse box - probably a convenient way of connecting the harnesses - you could track down the terminals at the fuse box connectors, but I doubt that's the problem.
Next is the ignition switch, which is a wear item. The electrical contacts inside the switch wear down over time until they make poor contact, causing strange behavior. The starter engaging after turning the key multiple times fits right in here. The switch is replaceable separately from the lock - it just unplugs and unscrews from the key cylinder on the steering column.
A partially-blown fuse (Fuse 1-2 in the auxiliary dash fuse box, or Fuse 1 at the positive battery terminal) is possible. Fuses with dashes in their designators are part of a multi-fuse block (bar-shaped order-from-Honda part). IIRC, the battery terminal fuses have screw terminals - a loose screw is possible. Neither of those provide much explanation for the multiple-key-turns observation.
So - check for loose screws at the battery terminal, replace the ignition switch. If you have more time than money, you could try disassembling the switch to clean it, re-lube with dielectric grease.
Im gonna go make sure everything is tight check for loose screws/bolts check the wiring from under the fuse box to the starter if i find any short. You also mentioned potentially a partial blown fuse in the auxiliary. where would i find this fuse on the vehicle i have a test light to test the resistance and all that good stuff. will update momentarily.
the ingnition starter switch replacement MAY be a bit difficult because literally you are stealing the car, there may be "security bolts" and they TRY to make it hard at least thats been my limited experience....no clue on the 2015 fit,its a BIT of a longshot its the ignition switch , but there are some clues that do point to it.
also...there is NO SUCH THING as a partially blown fuse, a partially blown fuse is DEFECTIVE, and you would think, would CONTINUE TO TRY AND FULLY BLOW. its made from a materal with a low melting point, its a mechanical thing
Last edited by 2015FITEX; Apr 8, 2026 at 10:09 PM.
there may be "security bolts" and they TRY to make it hard
NOPE.
If you were replacing the lock assembly on the steering column, then yes certainly. Honda column locks use snap-head bolts that need to be slotted or have the heads drilled off. The switch, however, is held to said lock with a couple of vanilla screws. You can pop the switch off the lock and stick a screwdriver in it to turn the ignition on and crank the engine. Many cars are this way - it's pretty much hot-wiring the car with less wire cutting and stripping. However that does not defeat the steering column lock or the immobilizer. As soon as you turn the steering wheel 60° (or whatever the number is), the column lock will engage and force the car to drive in a circle. The starter will definitely crank the engine, but the immobilizer won't let the engine start without the key present. The immobilizer uses a near-field/RFID style reader (number 14 in the diagram I linked above, the ring around the key hole) to look for a paired key. The mechanical lock is relatively easy to defeat compared to the immobilizer's cryptographic key.
Though hypothetically, say you have the key but the column lock has been damaged from a theft attempt. You could remove the switch and immobilizer antenna from the column lock, drill out the lock bolts to free the column, tape the key into the hole in the immobilizer antenna, then use a screwdriver to operate the switch. At that point, I don't think the car would know the difference - you could drive the car normally.
Originally Posted by 2015FITEX
there is NO SUCH THING as a partially blown fuse, a partially blown fuse is DEFECTIVE
It's highly unlikely, but possible.
When a fuse blows, the metal that made up the electrical link doesn't disappear. Some portion of it vaporizes (rapidly boils) which breaks the electrical connection. That metal vapor then deposits on nearby cool surfaces - that's the dark metallic color you see inside a blown fuse. If the metal vapor deposits itself properly (a contiguous band in contact with the fuse terminals) you end up with a resistor instead of an open circuit. If the resistance were low enough, then yes the fuse would just blow again. A medium-to-high resistance can limit the current (and power, heat production) to levels that the fuse-resistor can dissipate, even if it is the only load device in a circuit.
Obviously this is not how fuses are supposed to work, and should be designed to avoid it. Though, reality doesn't always cooperate with design. Someone recently reported the same kind of failure with a dome light bulb, causing a parasitic electrical draw:
Originally Posted by mombippy
on a follow-up to first visit where they couldn’t detect a parasitic drain-did locate one in the filament of the bulb in the overhead light.
