2010 RDX with roughly 230,000km

Having an odd issue where the car will randomly stall/lose power. The dash lights flash, the electronics seem to lose power for a second then come back. Navi and radio then ask for security codes.

No check engine light is triggered. This can happen maybe 5-10 times in a 30 min drive. Then not happen at all for a month. Very hard to recreate the issue. Maybe 10% of the time when this happens the car will need to be shut off and restarted and then its good to go. All the other times the car will hesitate for a few seconds and then continue.

Mechanic was not able to diagnose as it did not occur when they did multiple test drives and scanner did not show any error codes. Mechanic said battery and alternator are good. Checked possible loose battery terminal. And it's not a bad gas cap.

The most recent time an error message showed "check emission system". It then cleared on its own by the time I got home.

This creates a very dangerous driving situation.

Any ideas what this could be? Anyone will similar issue?

 

Greetings and sorry to hear about your RDX misbehaving.

This tells me you're completely losing power from the battery for a split second - that's the only way you'd be prompted for the radio code.

Since your mechanic ruled out a loose battery terminal, the next thing I'd check are the under-hood fuses. Specifically the two big ones - there's a 50A/80A fuse for the starter and main battery which is held down by a pair of philips screws, and another one that's I think a single 50A fuse. The first one could very well be your culprit if it's loose.

 

Would a fuse cause intermittent issues? Are you thinking it may be a loose fuse? If it was blown it would be not working completely.

I will check those out and make sure they are well seated. Car can go a full week with no issues sometimes.

 

Check both battery cables for the full length of the cables. Make sure both cables have solid and tight connections on both ends. Some 3G TL owners have found internal corrosion in the battery cables which has caused intermittent shorting of power to the dashboard and engine. This has been discovered by squeezing the cables along the length and found a collapse when squeezed. Something to look into and try.