AliShibaz

Hello. I just bought a 2008 Acura MDX and I can't get the remote engine start device to work.
I searched the Net and found a few sites that showed Youtube demos in which they showed you start the car with a device by pressing LOCK and then pressing and holding the ENGINE button.
But that doesn't work for me. My device looks very different than the ones in those videos. I wish I could take a picture of my device but I don't have a camera. I will describe it for you later.

The thing is I went to a local repair shop and someone there figured it out and showed me how to do it. He got it to work every time. As I recall, he pressed the LOCK button once and then pressed and released the ENGINE button twice in a row.
My device has a display window that is about one-half inch by one-half inch. When he pressed ENGINE for the second time, it displayed some icons and the number 10 in the window. He said that meant the engine would run for 10 minutes and you could change that length of time.
Then to get it to start he just pressed LOCK once more and it started right up. He did that twice and it worked each time.

But I must be forgetting one of the steps in that sequence because when I got her home, my poor baby wouldn't work that way again.
I must have tried 20 times but I can't get it to work again. I am too embarrassed to go back to that repair place and ask him again.

Can anyone here help me? BTW, I live in Canada and it really cold in Canada and I sure would like to start my baby and warm her up before I get in.

Here is the description of my device.
At the top it has a red PANIC button. Underneath that it has a LOCK button on the left and UNLOCK button on the right.
Under those it has the ENGINE button and the display window is under that button. It is one-half inch by one-half inch.

Can anyone help me?

AliShibaz

I think I may have found something. But it is 3AM now and it feels like minus 100 outside so I cannot try it yet.
I found a site that describes a remote device very similar to mine. That site is:
http://owners.acura.com/Linked-Conte...r%20Manual.pdf

It says to press and release ENGINE and within 2 seconds press LOCK. They say that starts the engine.
To stop it they say press and release ENGINE and withing 2 seconds press UNLOCK.

I will try this in the morning and let you all know.

AliShibaz

Yes. That works fine.
But I feel sorry for anyone who buys a 2008 Acura MDX and likely other year models around 2008. I can`t find those instructions anywhere in the User manual.

AliShibaz

I want to finish this thread with the following info I have learned. It took a long time to learn this. For some reason, some people advised me of many different ways to operate the remote control.

I want to say that for a long time I thought there was something wrong with my User Manual because I couldn't find any info on the remote control. But I failed to realize that a small white booklet comes with the manuals and it is called "Remote Control Starter System".
It has all the correct info but it contains some very bizarre instructions that it takes a very long time to understand. I will try to explain them now in very brief terms.

The 2008 Acura MDX comes with 3 devices that are used to start the car and lock the doors. Two of them look very similar and the only difference is there is a number engraved on the back of them that says either "1" or "2". This is about the car having two drivers. The car has a memory for two drivers. It remembers the positions of the seats, the mirrors and the steering wheel for each driver.
So if you have a spouse, you may consider using Key One and let your spouse use Key Two. After you set those positions, the car will remember and when Key One is used to open the car and/or start it, it thinks you are Driver One and it moves the seat, steering wheel and mirrors to the position set by Driver One - same for Driver Two.

The third box is the remote control starter. It looks different than the other two because it has a display window and the others do not. It is used to remotely start the car and allow it to run for up to 20 minutes which is good when it's really hot or really cold outside. Many people also think it's always good to let the car "warm up" for a few minutes (maybe 3 or 4 mins) before starting to drive.

Anyway, I will use the following abbreviations to describe the function of the Remote Starter:
P&R means Press and then immediately Release.
P&H means Press and Hold for a time. P&H 2 secs means "press and hold for 2 seconds".
There are 3 primary buttons on the Remote Starter. They are 1) ENGINE 2) LOCK 3) UNLOCK.

To start the car remotely:
1) P&R ENGINE then quickly after that
2) P&R LOCK
This sequence will start the engine running for 10 minutes and leave all the doors locked.

To have the car run for 20 minutes, first use the above sequence to have it start running for 10 minutes. Then do it a second time and it will run for 20 minutes.
After each sequence, you will see a number in the display window that indicates how much longer the engine will run.

Next, how to stop the engine and leave the doors locked:
1) P&R ENGINE then quickly after that
2) P&R UNLOCK
This will stop the engine but the doors remain locked.

How to stop the engine and leave the doors unlocked.
1) P&R UNLOCK

I will have to check the above sequence in the morning to be certain it is correct.

When you remotely start the car, there are a whole lot of restrictions in place about one of the other key boxes. You can understand these if you think about how if a thief gets ahold of one of the keys while you have the remote starter.
Say you remotely start the car with the doors locked. You do not want the thief then to us the regular key to get into the car and drive it away. So the two regular style key boxes will not work when the car has been started with the Remote Starter.

I have to double check a couple of these sequences. But I hope you get the idea why there are so many restrictions once the car has been started with the Remote Starter.
Acura wants to protect you from getting the car stolen so they won't let anyone use a regular key box in case it turns out that it's a thief who has gotten ahold of that box somehow.

Good Luck. Please let me know if I got any of these wrong.

AliShibaz

Dang! I can't seem to edit my prevous posts. Can anyone explain that to me?

I wanted to say the reason the two numbers "1" and "2" are so hard to see is because they are not printed in a normal visible way. Instead, they are sort of "engraved" onto the black plastic part of the key and you have to look at them in a good light and kind of squint and move them around until you can see them. It's not easy.

Anyway, good luck with that. It is a big mystery to me why Acura made those numbers so hard to see. It's as if they don't want anyone besides the car owner to know they are there. Very strange.

AliShibaz

P.S. I just figured out how to edit my posts. You just click on "Quck Reply" and it lets you edit them.

AliShibaz

Ack! Wrong again. I give up. Sorry.