So… my 2010 RDX with just over 209,000km on it was at my local Honda dealer last week getting a valve adjustment, valve cover gasket etc. done and I also asked for a charging system check as it dies or has a hard time starting after sitting for a few days.

they confirmed I have a parasitic draw of 0.145A. I declined to get it further diagnosed because they were asking for another day and $400.

I got a multimeter and the alternator and battery were all good and I measured a drain of 0.76-0.24A, way more than they told me I had.

I went and started pulling fuses one by one. I pulled fuse 32 in the secondary engine comp fuse box and that dropped the draw down to ~0.02A (The recline function for the front passenger seat lol). I then drove for over half an hour to run errands and got home and remeasured. To my surprise I still had a draw of 0.25A. So I repulsed some fuses and fuse 10 in the engine main fuse box very clearly caused a draw of 0.23A as appeared and disappeared the second I pulled the fuse or put it back. So after some research, knowing the Bluetooth/hfl module is commonly an issue, I put the fuse back and went to unplug the Bluetooth module. And bam the draw went down just as it did when I pulled the fuse.

I also put fuse 32 back to double check that it was still a problem and it was.

so for now I’m gonna live without Bluetooth or a reclining passenger seat to see if the car starts better each morning and after sitting more than a week.

just incase anyone else has issues like this, here’s my experience!

 

Yeah, my '08 had the hard start after a few days of not using it. I took it in for the valve adjustment and asked to have them disconnect the HFL unit (they did it no charge at dealership). It killed that parasite.

 

i just saw a YouTube video of someone with an 08 and they had the exact same amount of parasitic draw measured and went away by unplugging the module!

im wondering if replacing it is an option? Not sure if these things are car specific and need reprogramming. I’m not too worried about it as I can just use the usb dock to play music and I never take calls while driving anyways hah

 

Yeah, even hands free takes away from attention. I usually turn my phone off and stick it in my Faraday bag to go stealth when driving anyway. I don't like the trackeability the phone system has, they know where you are all the time, not that I'm doing anything wrong, but I hate that Big Brother knows my patterns.

 

I've been dealing with a nasty parasitic drain on my 2007 Acura RDX. I unplugged my HFL device a while ago, but it did not make a difference. However, I found that my iSimple device was causing an unnecessary 40mA parasitic drain. While I had my dash torn apart, I also replaced the amplifier given my VIN was affected in the service bulletin. I couldn't diagnose whether or not the amplifier was a factoring culprit, but my issues have been so intermittent, that I replaced it out of precaution.

Feel free to check out my post:
https://acurazine.com/forums/1g-rdx-.../#post16971664