I had a few 6-month periods when my car battery would drain after sitting overnight; and then randomly if I would turn it off in drive-thrus or after it had sat for a bit. It seemed random, but I replaced the battery at least three times. I took it down to the automotive store and they could tell that the battery was draining, and chalked it up to faulty batteries. The alternator was working fine. On a hot summer day, during this time, I had been doing freeway driving and then headed through town. When I stopped at a traffic light after getting off of the freeway, my car began making a horrible noise and smoking . . . a lot. I thought we were on fire. I stopped, checked under the hood, and nothing. Started the car again and headed home. No further problem. Then for about one year, the problem seemed to have resolved itself. It then reared its ugly head again in Spring 2016. I had two other episodes of the horrible noise and smoking, and battery dying. I replaced the battery again. I did some internet research and found a couple of threads online where other people had experienced the same thing, and spent thousands of dollars to have it diagnosed and not repaired. I finally stumbled upon one that explained that the fix was just as simple fix: replace the relay switch for the air conditioning. I did that, and have had no problems for about six months.

Last week, I had to jump start my car after I dropped the kids at gate for school bus. After I waited there for 10 minutes, I got in the car and tried to start it, it was not starting. I had to call my friend to do jump start. It happened again next day and I took the car to Pep boys ( to check battery). They checked the battery and told me that it is in good condition. He said it could be that you forgot to turn the lights of previous night. I went back home and made sure that all the lights are off. Next day, I dropped the kids at gate and same episode happened. My friend helped me to jump start the car. I took the car to pep boys and forced them to change (even though they claimed battery is good). But issue is not went away and I suppose, there is an internal draining of battery (due to some broken electrical units ?).

My Odyssey has had several issues, but none of which bothers me more than the battery mysteriously draining.

I have replaced the battery, new terminal and checked the alternator. Everything on the surface seems to check out. It will start during normal starts and stops throughout the day, but drains the battery overnight. Every time I have to jump start the vehicle it makes a sound as another subscriber described as "it is about to blast off". Mine too makes this awful noise and steam starts to poor out from the passenger side of the engine.

This is my wife's car and most times she is toting around our 3 beautiful children. Honda better take note and come up with a reasonable fix for this issue....I have researched and found that battery draining has been a long time issue with the Odyssey, and in fact a friend that works at a Honda dealer said they stock lots of Odyssey batteries due to the numerous issues.

Same problem battery keeps going almost dead or odyssey wont start. This time I had to jump start my wife who were stranded 50miles away. After the jump start, the nav. system did not work the doors did not work nor did the power doors on each side. The radio worked only, and the door lock only worked when the odyssey was turned on. Called the Honda Dealer (Larry Simmons Pkg, WV) told them of the continuing problems...they only offered to run some diagnostics testing, they stated it could be a fuse..maybe or something else,

Update from Nov 7, 2011: As of March 1, 2011 the Honda Dealer had a similar problem with one other vehicle. They replace our AC compressor clutch relay, which I was told could stick sometimes causing battery drain or causing it to die. New problem has occurred Nov. 7th, 2011 battery was dead and now DVD system doesn't work anymore. Dealer in Maryland stated the battery is dead and needs replaced. This will be the first battery being replaced.

This problem started on Nov. 25 10' the battery went dead....nothing worked. I though it was maybe the kids left on a light...no after talking to a Honda dealer, they (larry Simmons or Parkersburg Wv. said that the Odyssey turns off every light after 5min period for reasons as above. So I did not thing nothing of it. My wife had a jump start pack in the back so she attached it according to the manual and waited about 2-3 min and the odyssey started right up....? This got me to think why a 2yr vehicle is having problems as a dead battery??? Told local Honda dealer about incident next oil change...they never heard of this problem...go figure.

My new honda odyssey's battery kept draining and leaving myself and/or my wife stranded with multiple kids. Took it to the dealer multiple times. They said nothing wrong with it multiple times. Then they tried changing the battery and fuses and promised it was fixed. Dead battery again. then a " specialist" came and said he found the problem with a short circuit behind the glove box. Dead 2 more times after that. maddening!!!! Took it back and of course they said nothing wrong with it again. now I am stuck with a lemon! Beware.

Whenever we have the car off for more than a few hours, we go out to find that it will not start (must be jumped off). I have turned EVERYTHING off inside the car and cannot understand what the problem is. This started as an occurrence that happened every week or so and now it is EVERY day! I took the car to the dealer last week and was told that there is nothing wrong with it. Additionally, at times it makes a noise like it is about to "blast off" (this is the only way to describe it) with white smoke that smells like steam streaming out from under the car. We had a 2000 Odyssey before purchasing this van in June 2008 and had NO problems. I am very frustrated and want to know if others are having similar problems.