Hi there,
I have a 2010 Civic LX sedan (automatic) that I got in Feb 2010. It's a lease.
It's got 14,200 miles on it, and I've had all maintenance done at the dealer.
First oil change at 5750 miles, and then I had the 10,000 mile service they recommend done a little late at 11050 miles. I'm expecting my next oil change to be within a few weeks.

As you can see by the low-ish mileage, it's not driven an excessive amount. It's usually driven only once or twice during the week, and sometimes it sits for the entire work week, but it's driven every weekend.

It sat in the driveway Mon - Fri all last week, and then on Saturday when I went to drive it, it was dead. I'm 100% positive the lights were not left on, because I have a compulsive habit when I turn the car off of standing there and waiting for the interior light to shut off (because it seems to stay on an excessively long time). I'm also sure because I walk by it every day in the dark, as does my husband.

So when it wouldn't start my husband jump started it. It started right up and I drove it for about 20 minutes to a friend's home, thinking I would call the dealer on Monday and ask them to take a look at it.

After sitting in my friend's driveway for about 2 hours I went out to go home and again it was dead. Got another jump start, and it started right up, but I wanted to let it run for a minute before getting in and driving home. As we stood in the driveway with the car running, after about a minute it started to make this loud, high-pitched clicking sound (sounded like it was about to blow up), and then smoke started coming out of the back and front of the car. I jumped in, turned it off and left it. I had it towed to the dealership this morning.

I expect to hear from the service department tomorrow, and since this is a 2010, 18-month old Civic with less than 15,000 miles and up to date with required maintenance, I fully expect whatever is wrong to be 100% covered by the warranty. But when and if they can fix it, I'm going to be nervous that I have a faulty vehicle, and since it's a lease I'm going to be driving it for another almost two years.

What would cause an fairly new car to just die, and then to have smoke start coming out of it after being jump started?

 

not really sure but my guess would be that you connected the battery improperly. did you pop your hood after you turned off your car and checked your battery for expansion?

if this is what happened, then your battery is bad and will probably be replaced under warranty and your car should be fine.


your car is dying because you are not driving it that much. if you plan to let it sit for a week its probably best to disconnect the negative. not driving it for a week once in a while is fine, but it sounds like your car isnt driven much at all, so might be better to just disconnect the negative if you know its going to sit

 

I really appreciate the response, and I hope you won't mind giving me some more info. I should stress, I'm your typical unknowledgeable consumer. I buy a car and drive it, and have NO idea what goes on under the hood to make it run.

When you say I connected the battery improperly, I just want to clarify that I didn't connect anything (though if I did I'm sure I would do so improperly, haha). In fact, I never even opened the hood until the other day when we jump started it. Here's my history with the car:

I signed the lease paperwork and drove the car off the lot with about 100 miles on it.
I drove it 5000-something miles, had the oil changed (at the dealer).
I drove it another 5000-something miles and brought it to the dealer for their recommended 10,000-mile service.

I've driven about another 3,000 miles since then. This past week it sat idle for 5 days straight, but like I said it's generally not sitting for more than a few days at a time. It's usually driven about 70 miles a day 2 days a week, and then driven all weekend.

So my follow up questions, just because I know so little about all this stuff:

1. Would sitting idle for just a few days a week cause such problems?
2. Does it sound like maybe a faulty alternator?
3. Could it have been tampered with? (I don't think this is likely, but I'm thinking of all scenarios).
4. Why would it make that clicking sound like it was about to blow up and then smoke both out of the tailpipe and the hood after being jump started?

I'm going to call the dealer soon if they haven't called me (which I assume they won't), but I'm trying to be prepared. I can't imagine anything I could have done or not done to make this happen, so I'm thinking this has to be some faulty part or something.

 

sorry for the unclear post

what i meant is that when you went to jump the battery, you connected the cables wrong (positive to the negative). sounds like something simple, but it happens a lot.

1. doubt this is your problem
2. alternator would be the first thing id check after visually checking the battery; but doesnt explain the smoking
3. highly doubtful
4. when you connect the battery improperly when jumping the car...the battery will sometimes expand. if it expands enough it might start smoking and whistling/hissing before it blows up.

#4 is what i think happened, thats why i asked if you had visually inspected it. not too sure about the smoke out of the tailpipe though...might of just been condensation.

 

The only problem with this is if #4 had happened the car would not have started. More than likely the master link would have gone and there woud be damage to the cars computer and other systems.

 

Thanks so much for the responses, this forum is extremely useful!
The guy at the dealership at first said I had a faulty battery and they were going to replace it. In the process of replacing it they found that the A/C relay was stuck in the on position (I may be getting the terminology wrong here). They couldn't recreate the smoke that I saw, but said it was probably freon. (It was nighttime and dark, so it looked like regular old smoke to me, but who knows).

They replaced the relay and the battery and said I was good to go.

I did a search on these boards and found a few similar scenarios, but in those cases they seemed to notice the car was having trouble starting over a period of time, not just dying out of the blue. I never had any trouble, the car always started right up until this happened, but I'm trusting that this solved the problem and I shouldn't have any other issues. I only drive a few days a week, but when I do drive it's often far, and in some fairly remote areas where I'd hate to get stuck, so in the back of my mind I'm still a tiny bit concerned.

Does what the dealership described (A/C relay stuck and killed battery) sound pretty reasonable?

 

not really sure but as long as your car is fixed