When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Performed the upgrade today. Went with a Walmart Everstart maxx 750cca battery. There was a problem. The positive terminal was not sitting properly. I torqued it down to the point where it wasn't loose and the last turn ended up tearing the terminal! I think this needed a shim. Very worried I went to the auto store and the guy said this happens all the time. Luckily there was barely enough wire left to expose to clamp to this terminal. I really would have liked it to be OEM, but its more solid than ever. Starts up fantastic and the stereo does sound better. I'll do a better wiring job on the subwoofer power cable, but it will be fine for a few days.
Luckily it looks like everything can be be replaced and the entire harness is dead ends to all connectors inside the engine bay. Part number for the wire harness for our cars is 32111-RL5-A00 - https://www.acuraoemparts.com/oem-pa...ZC1tYW51YWw%3D
Things to note -
- The top battery clamp that the J hooks connects can bend/dent the battery. Be careful when tightening it down.
- Looks into getting shims for the battery terminal or be prepared to replace the terminal all together like I did.
Stock clamps are not that great. Better to go aftermarket with that. However, even after market clamps can strip because they are made of lead or some type of equally soft metal material.
Save your money with "battery shims" and just get a tiny piece of sheet aluminum (or any metal material) and just wedge it on the upper half of the batteries terminal for a very snug fit.
These bettery terminals are wider at the bottom the it is on the top. So, if you can equal out the width with a piece of metal wedged in with the terminal, it will clamp down tighter then a whales butthole.
This is how I have mine with the oem clamp and it's been like this since I have upgraded to the bigger battery.
Old thread but after dealing with my battery constantly dying due to whatever reason including my HFL drawing 220ma I had the HFL replaced. But the issue still exists and it has to be because the battery is terrible. Even an Optima Yellow Top doesn’t survive the cold because it’s only 450cca which is ridiculous because my old 2001 Chevrolet Cavalier with manual windows, seats and everything else housed a 700cca Duralast Gold. Acura is doing customers wrong by putting such a small battery and this also explains why my 08 Civic had trouble on cold days because the batteries were identical.
Anyways, as of today, I have an Optima Red Top, as recommended above, with 720cca and 900ca. Far better than the stock battery. Let’s hope it holds but my buddy laughed at me and asked if I mixed up my old battery with a Power Wheels one.
Old thread but after dealing with my battery constantly dying due to whatever reason including my HFL drawing 220ma I had the HFL replaced. But the issue still exists and it has to be because the battery is terrible. Even an Optima Yellow Top doesn’t survive the cold because it’s only 450cca which is ridiculous because my old 2001 Chevrolet Cavalier with manual windows, seats and everything else housed a 700cca Duralast Gold. Acura is doing customers wrong by putting such a small battery and this also explains why my 08 Civic had trouble on cold days because the batteries were identical.
Anyways, as of today, I have an Optima Red Top, as recommended above, with 720cca and 900ca. Far better than the stock battery. Let’s hope it holds but my buddy laughed at me and asked if I mixed up my old battery with a Power Wheels one.
Damn, so all that with the dealer and them covering 75% was a wash? Did you inform them that you paid to have a problem fixed and its not fixed?
Glad to hear you upgraded the battery. Minus the OEM terminal breaking I am so happy I did it. Never have a problem starting the car. Did you go with the 51r size or bigger 24f battery?
Damn, so all that with the dealer and them covering 75% was a wash? Did you inform them that you paid to have a problem fixed and its not fixed?
Glad to hear you upgraded the battery. Minus the OEM terminal breaking I am so happy I did it. Never have a problem starting the car. Did you go with the 51r size or bigger 24f battery?
The replacement of my HFL did help the battery last longer. But in the cold the battery still drained because there’s still a draw with any car and my commute isn’t that long. Plus, after all of the issues I had, I can’t know for sure if my old battery wasn’t malfunctioning at this point. Either way, I’m going from 450cca (when working properly) to 720cca so the upgrade is necessary. The TSX 4Cyl batteries are extremely underpowered and definitely not made for those that live in colder environments. Hopefully the new battery helps the battery survive and it should in most cases since it nearly doubles my output just by going with a larger battery.
As for size, I went larger. It’s the one recommended for the V6 TSX. I have the same battery Username 0 uses in Post #13. I’m posting 2 links below. The first is my new battery and second is the one I replaced.
It’s still to early to tell but I started my car this morning after it sat for 30 hours and it did so with no issues. On my old battery, my remote starter wouldn’t work properly due to a weak battery and it only cranks a bit. On this battery, first try it was on. The temperatures reached -4 before windchill while it sat so I’d say it’s an improvement.
I have to believe that I had the perfect storm of issues. A HFL issue which drew 220ma for 2+ years and possibly a battery that failed prematurely. Hopefully with a larger class battery and a new HFL my issues will be gone.
It’s still to early to tell but I started my car this morning after it sat for 30 hours and it did so with no issues. On my old battery, my remote starter wouldn’t work properly due to a weak battery and it only cranks a bit. On this battery, first try it was on. The temperatures reached -4 before windchill while it sat so I’d say it’s an improvement.
I have to believe that I had the perfect storm of issues. A HFL issue which drew 220ma for 2+ years and possibly a battery that failed prematurely. Hopefully with a larger class battery and a new HFL my issues will be gone.
FWIW I tossed the OEM battery after 3 winters; general consensus is that the Panasonic supplied OEM batteries are weak even for its advertised CCA (albeit quite low for our cars as you've mentioned). Once you start adding accessories and the BT HFL issue, you probably didn't really stand a chance.
I'm from Toronto and own a MY13 TSX TECH, and even during the first winter the car has ever seen, there were times when I didn't have a high level of confidence the car would turn over. It finally gave up on me about 2 years ago. Replaced it with a Costco 51R (OEM size) and it's been so much better. Don't recall the CCAs on the Costco batteries; if anything it was just mildly better on paper. In practice, the difference was day and night.
FWIW I tossed the OEM battery after 3 winters; general consensus is that the Panasonic supplied OEM batteries are weak even for its advertised CCA (albeit quite low for our cars as you've mentioned). Once you start adding accessories and the BT HFL issue, you probably didn't really stand a chance.
I'm from Toronto and own a MY13 TSX TECH, and even during the first winter the car has ever seen, there were times when I didn't have a high level of confidence the car would turn over. It finally gave up on me about 2 years ago. Replaced it with a Costco 51R (OEM size) and it's been so much better. Don't recall the CCAs on the Costco batteries; if anything it was just mildly better on paper. In practice, the difference was day and night.
The stock battery was very unreliable which is why I upgraded. I went through 3 Duralast Golds which couldn’t keep up so they gave me a refund and I got an Optima Yellow Top. That couldn’t keep up either as I had a dead car on several instances or it struggled to start. During start up, my dashboard would flicker the lights on and off because it was so weak. I guess it makes sense though considering stock CCA is set to 430cca while the Yellow Top only raised it to 450cca. With the car drawing a normal 24ma of power and a remote starter drawing another 24ma, it just couldn’t keep up despite the draw being in an acceptable range. I’m not surprised though because even though the dealer didn’t tell me directly the battery is undersized they did say it will die in extreme cold if not driven for a couple of days.
On a positive note, when I went to clear the snow last night as mentioned above, it started like a champ. It also started without issue 9 hours later and in this weather the old battery would have already struggled in this cold.
Awesome, glad to hear your getting this problem fixed once and for all. Other users have reported their stereo sounding different with a bigger battery. Have you noticed any difference in the stereo?
Awesome, glad to hear your getting this problem fixed once and for all. Other users have reported their stereo sounding different with a bigger battery. Have you noticed any difference in the stereo?
The car started within 1 second using the remote start today! This is absolutely amazing... my 08 Civic wouldn’t even start in this cold with one because of the small battery. I really wish I would have changed that battery out too but oh well. Again, Acura should be ashamed of themselves for putting such a small battery that will fail. My brother in law, who’s brother is a mechanic for a Hyundai dealer, said they have multiple pallets of “dead” batteries to send back to corporate because they had to replace them. A ton of customers have been complaining about the car failing to start in the cold. Gee, I wonder why?
As for the radio, honestly I always thought it sounded great. But it does sound like it has just a little bit more “pop” to it. Difficult to explain but unless I’m imagining things it does seem a bit better.
On a side note, my dads battery in his older Ford Explorer died yesterday. His light on the outside mirror turns on for no reason and the cold killed it. He told me he jumped it and charged it but when I asked how he charged it he said he ran the car for 15 minutes. I just looked at him because he should know better as he is very mechanical inclined so I told him to charge it overnight with a charger or it’ll be dead in the morning. He told me it’ll be fine and didn’t do it. This morning the car was completely dead. 😂
...at this point he needs to trust me on battery information. I’ve been through enough with this car to know what does and doesn’t work. Haha
Last edited by KrylonBlue; 02-07-2018 at 04:18 PM.
Got the accord v6 tie down plate and perfect fit. I used the 4cyl J-rods (195mm or 7.5in in length). So if you go my route, you just need the battery and the plate.
By the looks of it you removed the plastic/rubber piece that covers that air intake hole right in front of the battery. Did you ever put it back? I had to take the piece off and trim a small piece off to fit the battery tie on my Optima Red Top. Even so, the tie is angled but that’s fine because it holds it in place properly.
I have a 2011 TSX Wagon. My original 425CCA battery lasted one month shy of five years. I replaced it with 51R Interstate from Costco with 625CCA. That battery lasted a few months past three years. I've read that the thinner plates required to get more CCA into a small battery case can actually cause the battery to have a shorter life. So, I decided to upsize to a group 24. I got the larger battery hold down from Honda along with one longer J-hook. Also bought a simple plastic group 24 battery tray from Amazon for $6, in case of leakage. Decided on a ValuePower battery from Walmart for $50. 600CCA and made by East Penn. A lot of people seem to think East Penn is superior to Johnson Controls (they make Interstate). Also the top of the battery is flat, so the hold-down does not touch the filler caps.
Walmart sources batteries from both Johnson Controls (serial numbers beginning with JC) and East Penn (serial numbers beginning with EP). Right now, EP batteries have no filler caps, while JC have traditional filler caps that interfere with the V6 hold down. Location is often the reason for the sourcing. I am in PA, fairly close to where East Penn manufactures.
With not much else going on today...I decided to do the 51R to 24F battery conversion for my 09 TSX-BASE. Same conversion I had previously performed on our 12 Accord Coupe (4 cyl) out of necessity as the 51R just didn't have the "juice" for those cold Jan/Feb mornings of OH in which my son was using the car. For the 51R to 24F conversion in the 12 Accord...I only had to purchase longer J-rods as the battery tray was same as the V6 model and top strap has a couple of spacer tabs which can be bent up to accommodate the 24F battery.
Since the 09 TSX has both battery tray and top strap specifically made for the 51R battery...I went ahead and purchased the battery tray and top strap for the V6 model to accommodate the 24F battery several weeks ago. I know some in this thread have mentioned that the V6 battery tray (part # 31521-TA0-A10) had to be altered or they weren't sure it would fit...well I had no trouble getting the unaltered V6 battery tray to fit. Same with the V6 top strap...no trouble with the V6 top strap fitting the WalMart 24F (Everstart Maxx) battery made by Johnson Controls. The only difference in the two battery trays besides size is the "51R tray" has a couple nipples on the bottom which engage the steel platform and the V6 battery tray has a completely flat bottom with no engagement "nipples."
One very pleasant surprise from this swap is the previous owner had purchased a 51R (Everstart Maxx) from WalMart...so when I took the battery in to swap for the 24F (Everstart Maxx) the clerk said "you've probably got money left on that." I said "yeah the 51R is really too small for my car...thus the reason why I buying this 24F." Bottom line...I got a brand new 24F and $41.58 back for trading in the used 51R!!! Gotta love WalMart's warranty on their car batteries.
With not much else going on today...I decided to do the 51R to 24F battery conversion for my 09 TSX-BASE....
....Since the 09 TSX has both battery tray and top strap specifically made for the 51R battery...I went ahead and purchased the battery tray and top strap for the V6 model to accommodate the 24F battery several weeks ago. I know some in this thread have mentioned that the V6 battery tray (part # 31521-TA0-A10) had to be altered or they weren't sure it would fit...well I had no trouble getting the unaltered V6 battery tray to fit. Same with the V6 top strap...no trouble with the V6 top strap fitting the WalMart 24F (Everstart Maxx) battery made by Johnson Controls. The only difference in the two battery trays besides size is the "51R tray" has a couple nipples on the bottom which engage the steel platform and the V6 battery tray has a completely flat bottom with no engagement "nipples."
Finally someone posts the real info wanted on this matter, thank you! Parts have been in a cart for a while....clicking order now!
Finally someone posts the real info wanted on this matter, thank you! Parts have been in a cart for a while....clicking order now!
I hope you ordered the longer "J" rods for the V6 setup as well...I didn't mention ordering them in my post (sorry) because I had a set left over from the conversion on the 12 Accord. You will need them.
I like being able to use the OEM tray because it has the "wall" on the left side to protect the battery from direct engine heat.
Not sure if this is still an active thread, but I got a 2010 tsx 2.4 not too long ago and was really unimpressed by the battery performance. In canada it could get pretty brutal in the winters, so I wanted the peace of mind that my car would start every time. So I decided to swap out the tiny 430cca to a larger 24f 700cca kirkland battery. I didnt bother trying to find oem parts to use to make it fit, I just crafted something up on my own
So for the battery tray, I just went to the store and got a plastic bin that I found to fit the 24f dimensions almost perfectly. I cut it down so that it was shallower like the oem tray was. It ended up fitting perfectly where the oem tray would have gone, and the bin I got was pretty sturdy plastic too.
Then, obviously the oem bracket wouldnt fit the width of the 24f battery. So instead, I got some galvanized metal perforated plumbers tape. I cut it just longer than the width of the battery, and reused the oem j-hooks to bolt into it. I taped around the plumbers tape just as an extra precaution but I probably didnt need to.
Anyway, the battery is completely fastened down, it won’t budge an inch. I’m pretty satisfied with how it turned out, I just did it last night and so I havent really gotten a chance to test drive the car much yet. I drove it for a few mins last night after changing it and noticed that the seat warmers seemed to heat up faster, and the car started seamlessly even after leaving the lights on for a few mins.
Active or not, people still use the search to find all sorts of info. The more the better.
I went the OEM parts route. New battery tray/plastics, 1 longer j-hook, & top tie-down bar. The original cables reach just fine if you reposition the plastic clamp a little ways down the loom. The bigger tray will fit and bolt in, although a little tweaked for my liking. So I just made a new hole in the tray where it needed to be for that perfect fit. Nothing difficult to figure out. And the little air deflector thing in front of the battery needed a slight trim to clear the larger battery tie-down. Legit looks OEM and should have come this way. Cranks over like a dream, how it should be.
Thats great! And yes I 100% agree this should have been the size battery they used from the factory. When I was buying the car it actually died in the shop garage, so I requested that the battery be replaced if I were to buy the car. And he did replace it for me with a new magnacharge, but even though it was a new battery it had completely unimpressive power i’m assuming just bc of its size. Definitely worth the upgrade
Damn, wish I saw this thread before I bought a new battery last month. I only drive 1mile round trip daily to the train so my battery takes a beating sinve it rarely gets a good charge. I had resorted to a battery tender on the weekends as the battery ages which usually get's me an additional year of life. This would have certainly helped. If I still have my wagon next time I'm do for a battery change, will certainly go this route. Thanks for all the info.
Damn, wish I saw this thread before I bought a new battery last month. I only drive 1mile round trip daily to the train so my battery takes a beating sinve it rarely gets a good charge. I had resorted to a battery tender on the weekends as the battery ages which usually get's me an additional year of life. This would have certainly helped. If I still have my wagon next time I'm do for a battery change, will certainly go this route. Thanks for all the info.
Not sure how it works but with a V6 battery and 1 mile round trips, would you still need to use the battery tender?
Or does it also charge up faster when driving, and you could charge it fully with some other weekend trips?
I converted my 2011 TSX wagon from 51R to 24 a while back. Just some new information. I bought a battery tester and ran a check on my two cars, TSX with 600 CCA Group 24 battery and the 2007 Accord V6 with 640 CCA Group 35. Both batteries were 2 years and 10 months old. The East Penn "Value" battery in the Acura from Walmart tested 100% at 98% charge. Tested amps were actually higher than the battery rating. The Costo/Interstate battery in the Honda tested 66% life at 95% charge with tested 427 amp vs 640 rating with a recommendation to replace. Costco replaced the battery, but I did have to pay the $25 difference in cost between 2019 and present. I've always preferred East Penn. Interestingly, I checked at the local Walmart and all of their batteries were East Penn, but made in Mexico and all at least two months old. The Costco replacement battery was just three weeks old. Also checked and found that the East Penn facility in Folcroft near the Philadelphia Airport is listed as closed. Hope they didn't close the manufacturing plant near Quakertown. I've read that lower CCA batteries can last longer because they have fewer, more rugged plates than higher CCA batteries in the same size case. Charging systems in both cars tested good, so only other difference is pattern of use with the Acura getting driven farther and more frequently than the Honda.
01-31-2017, 09:32 AM
probably cuz our Acuras are really just Hondas with a different badge
