When will Honda bring back the accord hybrid?

Honda Accord trouble- here yesterday, gone today! Do I still take it to the mechanic?

• I have a 2000 Honda Accord SE with 104,000 miles on it. Never gave me an ounce of trouble until this weekend. I drove it to town at night & noticed a "whistle/hiss" sound coming from the passenger side floorboard on my way home. Almost sounded like water running through pipes in a house? The sound persisted for 5 seconds when I shut the car off. Then it stopped. I left the car sitting for the next 2 days. I did NOT leave any lights on....but when I went to start it 2 days later it was TOTALLY dead. Even the little clock on the dash was off. I got a jump-start- charged up quickly, started fine- and that's when it started acting weird. Running rough. When I bumped the gas pedal, when it came back down to idle it would "choke out" like it was going to shut off. I had to keep my foot on the gas to keep it on....if I let off the gas, the RPMs dipped down below the normal 800 and it acted like it was going to shut off. Twice it DID shut off, other times it would "recover" and maintain normal idle....but it was idling rough. And I still had the "hiss" sound coming from the dash. The hiss cycled on and off, not seemingly related to the gas pedal OR the air conditioner compressor. At one point, there was a loud noise from the engine compartment (I had the hood up so am 100% sure it came from the front)- it sounded like somebody opened a steam valve and the car blew off a ton of white steam (pretty sure it was not smoke). It freaked me out so I shut the car off. Started it 5 mins later and it hasn't done that since. I let it run & as the car warmed up to operating temp, the idle smoothed out and it started acting normal. I still had the "hiss" but it was quieter. I experimented with turning the AC off & on, different settings, etc....it still blows very cold & very hot air just fine. I drove it around the block a few times and the idle problem was gone, the hiss was quieter....so I let it sit overnight. This morning I made an appointment to take it to Honda 85 miles away(nobody near me works on foriegn cars- I am very very rural). I went out to start it & it started fine. Let it run for an hour while I cleaned it up a little. Ran fine. And the HISS is GONE! I drove it out on the highway at 65 mph, let it warm up, ran the A/C off and on.....it is acting 100% normal!! The only thing I can even THINK of as a connection- is I found a *dead bird* underneath where I let the car sit overnight. Looking online at Honda tech forums, my car's symptoms sounded similar to problems with the vacuum/intake system. Is there ANY way a bird could have gotten in my intake system & caused an obstruction- and then fallen out? (My knowledge of mechanics is limited BUT I am having a hard time seeing how it could happen LOL). So here's my main question....DO you think it's still wise to go ahead and bring it to Honda? It's a minimum $100 diagnostic fee and a 170 mile round trip. HOWEVER if I don't take it in and the car breaks down, it's an 85 mile TOW and considerable inconvenience for me since it is my ONLY car and I work 40 miles away from my house!!! Knowing me, I'll probably bring it in regardless, but I figured I'd see if any mechanics or car-savvy folks had any words of wisdom. Thanks :)

• Answer:

  I'd definately have it checked out to confirm there is no problem if that's the case. Sounds like it could be a leak in the cooling system somewhere. The battery dying is not relevant to any hissing sounds.