Occasional squealing sound and no start

Question

Hi Scotty,

live in Australia and have a second hand 2017 Honda Accord V6L (the luxury V6 version, bit of a mix between the US EX-L and Sport Touring). It has a 3.5L V6 with VCM, gets a little better fuel economy than my 2011 Jazz GE8 (VTi - models in Australia, in descending order were; VTiS, VTi, GLi, GLi-SP and I can't remember what the base model was called), Accord gets as low as 5.7L per 100km and the Jazz, usually around 6.0-6.5L per 100km.

The Accord belonged to a "Dental Software Sales Representative" who drove LONG distances in one hit, every day just about, so it had ALL highway miles on it. It had been serviced all the time on time and other than a ding or two (minor) which are easily fixed some minor scrapes on alloy wheels (easily replaced).

Everything works and I will be keeping this car for a LONG time. It has an old style Honda 6 Speed Automatic transmission and ALL the current safety tech including lane-keeping (which I didn't even know for three months, thinking one day "What does this button do?") and adaptive cruise control which I use as an aide, not relinquishing control.

Having said all that, there is one minor thing you might be able to help with.

Once every 40-50 times I start it, I get a squeal and it doesn't fire. I release my foot off the brake, wait a few seconds then put my foot back on the brake It might just be my imagination but it feels like the brake pedal has more pushback than when it squealed.

Press the start button again and it starts normally.

Could this be a sensor/solenoid or could it be the starter motor?

I read something about starter motors but the sound on the videos are nothing like the squeal I get.

Cheers,

Wes

scottykilmer · Answer

Knowing those things, I just replaced the starter. That's a known flaw

Rocket65 · Answer

Hi Scotty,

Thank you very much. I had kind of figured that was where to start but with a Starter for that model in Australia being $400-700 for genuine I was wanting to get an expert opinion beforehand.

Love your channel and watch it all the time. I love that you have clear picture of what's essential and what's nonsense, such as tech for technology sake in the more recent cars. As I said, will be holding on to the Accord for a long time. I only paid $25K Australian and it was $57K new 4 years before I bought it (guy's lease was ending which is why he agreed to the lower price with the balloon payment looming). The Jazz/Fit was my late father's car and only 60K (about 40K miles) when he passed away (2011 model) so great as a local runabout.

Cheers from down under.

Wes