Hi all,
I have had my 2000 Accord SE since new, 140K miles on it. Get about 20 MPG around town.
Not too bad, suspension a little soft and noisy. Reconditioned auto transmission, ignition immobilizer circuit board replaced
no other major repairs.

Here's my question. Is it in any way harmful to the car to put the ignition to "on"
and leave it that way without starting the car? Say for an extended period - about 10 minutes?

 

No worries if you have a strong battery. It is not harmful to the car.

If you have the stereo, headlights or other electrical devices operating during that time, it will drain your battery. 10 minutes usually shouldn't do much, but it could drain an old tired battery enough to cause a no start issue.

 

Thanks for the info
This came about when I left the window open while getting some gas, had to go inside,
in the meantime my wife, who does not drive, had turned the key to "on" so she could
close the window. Probably less that 10 minutes.

Can I ask another thing? I'm trying to open the casing behind the steering wheel to free something
that's trapped in there. I can hear something loose around as I turn the wheel; it might be some glass
fragments from when somebody smashed the window a few year back. I suspect a piece has got in there.
There are two screws on the lower side, but the two pieces did not open up like I thought they would
when I removed the screws.

 

Sorry, I'm not going to be much help, I'm not really all that familiar with the 2000 interior trim.

 

I am not familiar with your car's model but I believe those two piece may be separated with a putty knife or similar tool.

Good luck,
Sam

 

The other thing that occurred to me, and it really does sound as if you had a kids plastic beach bucket
and a small stone rattling around in it, it may be in the steering wheel itself.
The incident I mentioned, somebody smashed the window and stole the air bag out of the steering wheel.
I suppose it's feasible that what ever is there could be in the steering wheel itself, especially if
when the new airbag was fitted, somebody missed something

The other weird thing is (the incident happened more than five years ago) sometimes I don't
hear anything at all. This is the first time I've heard it for more than a couple of years. It seems that what ever it is
sometimes gets "stuck" somewhere, you go on bumpy road and the thing is freed again, at least for a while

 

Hope these picts help.