ceb

We know it is cold outside. I drove about an hour and a half on the highway, then turned the car off, lights off and stayed on the phone for about 15 minutes.

When I tried to start the car I got a very weak click, click, click. AAA jumped it.

What the dealer said is after the poll.

ceb

Dealer (Pohanka Acura in Chantilly, VA) says:

Battery is fine. The problem is "Vehicle has after market interior lights with bigger amperage draw than factory"

On a side note - according to the two(!) multi-point inspection reports, my tires are at 5/32nd, 6/32ns, 7/32nd and 6.25/32nds - or - if you look at the other sheet - all 4 tires are at 4.62mm

My brakes are either at 8.5mm front and 8mm rear or 7mm all around.

It is odd that the dealer believes that LED lights draw more than conventional bulbs.

I'm waiting for a response from the GM before I contact Acura.

Pick one of the descriptors in my signature block to describe this dealer.

Pohanka used to have a good reputation, they have great hours and are open 7 days a week. The problem is that they believe that each and every customer just fell off the turnip truck.

leo200617

For the last 2 weeks, I had to jump start the TSX (using another car) every morning I use the TSX (I use the car every 3-4 days).

Went to the dealership last Friday, explained the situation, dealer replaced the OEM 410CCA battery with a brand new Acura 500CCA battery without questioning me, they did not even test the faulty battery.

It was covered by the 4 year warranty (I was not aware that the battery was under warranty).

The car is only 2 years old. FYI I live in Montreal, a good working battery is necessary. Now the car starts even faster than when the car was new!

Also, when I open the doors, all the interior LEDs I installed draw 6amp (around 72 watts). Dealer did not say anything

TacoBello

Dealers love it when people modify cars under warranty. Why? Any aftermarket changes to your car while under warranty means they can tell you to pound sand for that specific item, or anything related to it.

Do the LEDs draw more? It doesn't even matter. Not oem. Not getting fixed.

If the GM does help you out, consider yourself lucky. They honestly have no reason to. Hopefully you get this sorted out in your favor, but if it doesn't, don't be too surprised. Dealerships are the greasiest places ever. I dislike them with a passion.

Harper

^ I'm guessing you're not a "local" of the 2nd gen CU2 forums......let me introduce you to Ceb, the warranty denials guru......

ceb

The easiest thing of course would be to buy a 500CCA from Autozone for $100 but in this case it is the principle. I hate it when some moron tries to treat me like an idiot.

The dealership will fix my starting issue under warranty. I'll just have to get Acura involved again and the dealer will get another black eye.

The issue is simple. The battery died and something drew far too much power. I know it wasn't the lights and it was probably the HFL. The denial of warranty service based upon the mere presence of an aftermarket item is a violation. The statement that the LEds consume more power than OE shows their incompetence. Their arrogance in making up numbers on the multi-point inspection report is inexcusable.

ceb

Battery was dead today again. The service manager apologized for the problems and for the tech's comments about LEDs drawing more power. He said that LEDs draw less power so the problem must be elsewhere.

So now I'm driving an MDX Advance until they find the problem - nice car.

loner

FWIW, my TSX suddenly started having a dead battery recently. It charged fine, kept going dead overnight. I unplugged the reverse camera and dashcam I had installed, thinking there might be a short that was draining the battery. This did not make any difference.

However, when I unplugged my Bluetooth OBD reader, that seemed to do the trick. No more dead batteries. Not sure why, since that the OBD reader had been in there for a year.

I considered that maybe the battery is just on the verge of going bad. However, it's just a year old and has the proper voltages, both when charging and at rest.

ceb

Sure. It might be just about anything.

ceb

I got my car back tonight. They found several failures. It turns out that their battery tester was broken and showed all batteries as "good." The fixed their tester and my battery showed a fault code (Does failure code 3LA2J-KRW20 mean anything to anyone?)

Also, the power outlet was inop. Power was going to the outlet but the outlet was dead (new since the battery failure). They changed the outlet and it was intermittent. They found a defective relay (#4), changed that and all was good.

Can this failure have caused the battery to discharge rapidly?

thoiboi

Relay #4 is the turn signal relay isn't it? If so yeah, faulty relay can set to always on and potentially drain a battery.

ceb

They said that relay 4 was the one that caused intermittent power to the accessory outlet.

thoiboi

Did you have anything plugged in there? If not, how could it be draining anything?


Nevertheless, glad it's getting fixed!!

ceb

I've got a decent quality phone charger plugged in to the (under the armrest outlet) that charges a battery pack that charges my phone - but - nothing has changed in the last year and that wasn't the outlet that was bad. The bad outlet was the one next to the "not an ashtray" on the console. Nothing has been plugged in there for year

ceb

Oh, and according to the multi-point inspection, my tires are at 6/32nds and 4/32nds (they are actually at 7/32nds and 6+/32nds - so they'll go after this winter.) and my brakes are at 9mm front and 6mm rear (who knows what is right?)

RTM

I suspect that both "outlets" run off the same fuse and relay, that's why there is a combined 120W max on those.

Just the action of pulling the fuse in will draw some juice (electromagnet), but if it was just stuck on (contacts welded shut), it would only draw if there was a load (your phone charger)

I know nothing about battery charger test codes.

ceb

I would have also suspected that they use the same fuse, but the OM shows the fuse for the console outlet as under the steering wheel while the fuse for the under armrest outlet is on the passenger side.


I only knew that the outlet was inop as my wife tried to charge her phone there and it wouldn't work. I raised the armrest and the charger in there still glowed blue - so it was getting power.


The thing that really befuddles me is the very quick drain. After driving mostly highway for an hour and a half, the battery had to be full. 15 minutes of HFL (and the under armrest charger) can't have drained the battery to the point where you just get clicks - or could it?

damaged442

Hard to say sometimes what brings on the death of the battery. I had what I thought was a perfectly good battery in my car. It exhibited no symptoms of failing. I brought the car in the garage and swapped out the pads and rotors. Got it all back together and went to start the car...

Nothing but click...

Pulled battery out and tested it, and it tested bad. Replaced it and haven't had an issue since. That was three years ago.


How the hell can swapping brakes cause a battery to go bad?? Still makes no sense to me. I thought there was no correlation in anything I had done that would have killed it that fast. I know they are weak to begin with, but...who knows? I had just driven it to the parts store to get all the stuff for the brake job too.

ceb

As an interesting side note, my battery was swapped for a 500CCA battery (from the originally delivered 410CCA). I know of another member who got his battery swapped for a 500CCA battery as well under warranty. Maybe they figured out that 410CCA isn't enough to start a warm lawnmower.

RTM

Had a similar fail while stopping at Target once, in the middle of a long drive.

What I was told is that batteries fail due to a build up of crud sloughing off the plates, and accumulating in the bottom of the cell. When the crud gets high enough, it shorts out the cell. Longer life batteries have deeper reservoirs under the plates, so they last longer. Shop Mechanic said he'd had luck in the past sloshing a battery to move the crud around under dire circumstances, but didn't recommend it as a routine.

More on it here.
https://www.batterystuff.com/kb/arti...eries-die.html

bayareatifosi

We just had a similar thing happen - took our 2011 TSX Wagon in for an oil change to the local Honda dealership (no Acura nearby) since they had a great special on 3 items...Decided on the full multi-point, alignment check, and the oil change - for under $40. I could have had an electrical system check, but since our battery is only 9 months old I figured it wasn't needed! Oops

We get the car home and 2 days later try to drive it and it starts acting like the battery is having trouble...found the back door interior light on, so figured the light drained the battery. Re-charged the battery, and 2 days later no start at all. I then found one of the rear lights in the trunk/cargo area was also on - OK two lights left on...hmmm that is strange...recharge battery again. The next morning no start...I check the battery cables and the positive one was a little loose and could spin on the terminal. I re-seated both of them and tightened it up and charged it again. After charging the car starts just fine, so I figure it must have been the combination of lights and the poorly tightened battery cables. Car then sat for a few more days and this morning no start again...jumping it and it runs fine...

Time for a new battery - but it sure seems like work on the car hastened the battery dying...