2012 Pilot Touring starting problems solved. READ ON!

[EJH7977]

I just purchased a 2012 Pilot Touring last month and after 2 days driving it had encountered the hard starting issues posted by many others in the forum. First, it happened to my wife when she was driving it and I just thought she was starting it wrong. It started but sputtered and was running at about 250 RPM. This problem happened to me a day later and I also had it not start at all at times... where the starter constantly kept cranking for over 10 seconds and i had to turn off the ignition and then it would start right up. After digging through the posts I contacted a honda certified tech who advised me that the engine may not have been properly "set" at the dealership and this can lead to hard starting even with a brand new vehicle. They are supposed to do an Idle Learning Procedure "ILP" where the battery is disconnected/reconnected to reset the computer. Then, with all power off in the car i.e (no lights, radio, air, etc) also no tapping brake, accelerator, or moving steering wheel.. the engine is allowed to idle with no load for about 15 or 20 mins. This allows the computer to run through routines to fine tune the engine for idling purposes. After doing this procedure I have not had one more starting issue... 3 weeks and counting.
This may not solve the starting problems for everyone but it's worth trying since you can easily do this yourself.

[cofetym]

Glad that worked but I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you. These vehicles should not have to go through this BS.

[hefomofi]

Makes sense. Unrelated GM story, but similar issue: we have a super high-mileage Pontiac Bonneville and swapped intake manifold recently (leaking). Instructions said to completely disconnect battery but to keep computer on backup current so that ECM computer keeps settings. I ignorantly bypassed this step and we swapped manifold, when the engine initially restarted it ran so incredibly bad that I thought we put manifold in incorrectly. After rechecking installation, plug wires, compression, we restarted and still terrible idle. I figured let it run and see if it gets better as last ditch effort (was to the point the car was ready for the scrap yard; 228,000 miles). After idling for 20 minutes, it ran perfect. Looks like the computer had to completely re-learn, plus the complete manifold replacement, caused initial idle to be terrible.

[EJH7977]

Originally Posted by cofetym

Glad that worked but I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you. These vehicles should not have to go through this BS.

I am crossing my fingers because it has only been 3 weeks but, I had this bad starting occur 8 or 10 times the first week and a half I owned it. If this is the resolution to all the hard starting pilots out there... maybe we should send a letter to honda corporate to remind all their dealerships of their Pre-delivery inspection "duties". How to enforce that is another matter.

[whizmo]

I wish you the best, but I'm skeptical this is the long-term solution.

- Mark

[mrcheap]

no dealer has the time or resources to disconnect batteries before delivering cars. everything should be good to go from the factory.

i had two bad starts that happened the first day i bought the car back in november, but since then it has never happened, so i guess i am lucky or something (knock on wood). good luck to everyone else having the starting problems. i see a recall looming.

[TheBluePearl]

Well this is interesting. Our car was a showroom model for a few days before we bought it, and they had disconnected the battery during that period. When they recharged it and rolled it off the floor, it sat parked and idling for a long time.

And we don't have the starting issue. So maybe there is something to this.

[iggibar]

This can't be the fix. We had this done to both the 2011 Crosstour and 2011 Pilot...and both still do it. You're most likely just noticing a coincidence of it not giving you the problem, just as we had thought when it didn't do it for a few weeks/days after we got them back from the dealer. Our cars do this maybe once or twice a month, so the timing isn't off of your results. If this problem occurred on any of our cars more than a few times a week, I would drive it straight to the dealer and hand them the keys. What they do to it after is their business.

I still don't understand how there isn't a recall for this...it might not be a huge problem, but tell someone that your car just kept on ticking and wouldn't start, and they would think you were driving a heap of junk...tell them it's a Honda, and you'll leave them flabbergasted!

I forgot to mention that the dealer only tried the ILP because they didn't know what else to do. A mechanic who specialized in engine repair and coding said that the ILP only programs how to correctly idle an engine while it's already running, not while it is starting up.

I happen to believe that it is somehow related with the fuel system, and probably the ECU that tells it what to do when the engine is wanting to turn on.

Also, the Crosstour does/has this problem significantly more than the Pilot. I don't even care about it on the Pilot that much because it's so infrequent. I also don't care much about the Crosstour doing it because it's a lease.

[whizmo]

Originally Posted by iggibar

I still don't understand how there isn't a recall for this...

Most likely because Honda doesn't understand the problem or have a fix (yet). You can't recall a problem if you don't have a solution.

- Mark

[12pilot_lx]

I was hoping to see a TSB but I guess I have to wait and be patient.

[iggibar]

Originally Posted by whizmo

Most likely because Honda doesn't understand the problem or have a fix (yet). You can't recall a problem if you don't have a solution.

- Mark

A recall doesn't require a fix for them to be able to be recalled.

[cwessner]

I had an 11 and now a 12 and both had the starting problems when I drove them the first few thousand miles. I now have 5k on the 12 and this no longer happens, so whether the poster above is correct or not it seems to be something that works itself out, not really worried about it as it has gone away.

I don't like the way the 12 shifts compared to the 11, the 11 seemed to have a different gear ratio, not sure if its just the tires or what. Otherwise for the most part I am happy with hte changes on the 12.

[TheBluePearl]

Originally Posted by iggibar

A recall doesn't require a fix for them to be able to be recalled.

For any practical purpose, it does. If Honda doesn't know what is causing the problem, what are they going to do? Recall them and keep them in a giant garage until they know what is wrong? No car company would do a recall without some sort of action to be taken, because that would be the definition of pointless.

[iggibar]

Originally Posted by TheBluePearl

For any practical purpose, it does. If Honda doesn't know what is causing the problem, what are they going to do? Recall them and keep them in a giant garage until they know what is wrong? No car company would do a recall without some sort of action to be taken, because that would be the definition of pointless.

It wouldn't be only up to Honda to recall them, the NHTSA can force a company to recall a car for problem whether they have a fix or not, if it seems to be dangerous to the drivers or pedestrians, or if it is deemed to be against automotive consumer protection laws...which this problem could be one of.
The NHTSA, the people who FORCE companies to issue recalls, doesn't care about how the car company fixes it, if it has a fix, or how they have to maintain the vehicles until a fix is brought up.

[whizmo]

Originally Posted by iggibar

It wouldn't be only up to Honda to recall them, the NHTSA can force a company to recall a car for problem whether they have a fix or not, if it seems to be dangerous to the drivers or pedestrians, or if it is deemed to be against automotive consumer protection laws...which this problem could be one of.
The NHTSA, the people who FORCE companies to issue recalls, doesn't care about how the car company fixes it, if it has a fix, or how they have to maintain the vehicles until a fix is brought up.

In theory, the NHTSA could force a mfg to inform consumers that their vehicles are unsafe and they should not drive them until the mfg has come up with a fix. I'm not aware of this ever happening, but perhaps it has in the past.

I don't see how this situation applies here though. Do you really think NHTSA would tell consumers that a widely-used car (probably 75K+ 2012's on the road) that very rarely fails to start is an imminent safety hazard and must be parked while Honda hunts around for a fix?

Honda may or may not be working on a solution to this problem. If they are, they'll likely issue a TSB which my guess will not be mandatory since this isn't a safety issue. Anything is possible but the chances of a formal recall seem very low to me.

- Mark