I accidentally left the interior light on Friday night. Monday morning the battery was dead. These are the steps I had to take to get it running.

1. I tried to boost it with a battery charger boost setting. Since the battery had 0 Volts, the "smart" battery charger could not detect a battery and would not start.
2. I had to boost it with the truck parked next to it. In a two car garage, the truck is parked against the wall, and the HCH is parked against the truck. I had to move the car back to get into the truck to get the hood open. Did anyone know you can't shift out of Park with a dead battery?
3. Just in front of the gearshift is a small slot. You have to pop the cover off and insert your key to manually pop the gearshift out of Park. The salesman at the dealership had told me about this feature and it is documented in the owners manual.
4. Push the car back (it is very light, one handed push will get it moving) to get into the truck, connect the booster cables, push the door unlock button on the key to shut off the alarm, and start the car. This was the first time I have heard the starter turn over. Interesting sound. The IMA seems to do a battery recal after this as well.
5. Don't leave the interior lights on anymore.
6. Remember I wrote these instructions for the next time I do.

 

Yeah. I think that everyone should know about that trick. It really comes in handy. Once I was in a friend's 4runner and the alternator broke. Once it ran out of battery, we were stuck in the middle of the freeway rolling backwards into oncoming traffic. Luckily, she pulled the ebrake and we stopped before we hit anyone. She put it into park so the car would stay still. A good samaritan came by to tow us out of the road, but the car would not get out of park. We had to get a jump in the middle of the freeway, by having a car in the lane next to us stop parallel (the cables were too short to reach from the other guy's car (which was stopped in front of ours). Of course no Californians offered to help. The people who did help were visiting from Idaho. Now that I know what it is like to be in that situation, I am willing to help (as long as the people aren't too sketchy). If there was a way (or if we knew what it was) to get the car out of park w/o starting the ignition it would have been extremely helpful and much safer.

 

I forgot a few instructions.

If the key won't turn, the steering wheel locked. Turn the steering wheel until the key turns again. (All vehicles are like this I believe)

The radio will be in security mode. You need to enter the security code to unlock it. This is very important as driving without the radio is extremely quiet and you will notice your car making strange noises that make you question its operation.

 

That's why we have one of these:

http://snipurl.com/1vd4o

Also, great for an extra 12V source for camping and tailgating

 

Oiler: Not all cars are like that. Most modern cars have some sort of steering wheel lock though. Luxury cars have one that automatically engages when you remove the key and reengages upon placing the key inside.
Thanks for the tip on that though. I have met quite a few people who can't start their car due to that. :p

 

Oiler, the same thing happened to me (battery died, left interior lights on), but i maxed out the security code attempts stupidly trying to put in various combinations...
would my dealer know the codes?? And do you know how i can reset the attempts to put in the codes? (after a number of failed attempts, it just states "code error E" and won't let me put in any more attempts)

 

Also, also, a great Christmas present. We have given these to all the semi-responsible adults on my wife's side of the family

 

Hyrbiding: To reset the attempts, simply remove fuse No. 23 (10A) from the under-hood fuse/relay box, then reinsert it. You will have 10 more attempts. The code should have come with your car on a little card (hopefully you didn't lose it). Also, it may be on your ownerlink account. If you cannot find it, take it to the dealer and they can probably override it.

 

cool, thanks so much for the info Colby.. i managed to find the card in my glove compartment.. along with several other things i never knew i had... (i got my car just a few wks ago)..

so i got the radio working again and hopefully i don't leave my interior lights on again!

 

haha. No problem. I would put that code in a safe place, type it into ownerlink, and write it down several times (not in your car). I have seen so many people who keep those cards in their glove compartments, that I'm sure that most stereo thieves just look for the code too. However, I don't think our radios are as valuable as regular ISO-dinn radios, because you need an 8G civic to use it.

What surprised me was that your interior lights killed your battery. My parking lights did it to mine. I think it took about 9 hours (judging by the time on the radio). That was before I had my solar panel, so my battery may not have been fully charged. In my old car (2001 explorer sport), I left the 7 in LCD display on all night (yes, with the keys in ignition and all) and in the morning it was still going!