Hey all,

So I helped my cousin with finding this car at Acura of Stevens Creek. It's a 2008 TSX, white with tan interior, <65k miles with brand new tires, a new power steering pump, resurfaced rotors, new brake pads, and oil/filter. In the 4 days he's had it, the car seemed to have a bit of trouble turning over. (I tried it and does seem like I have to hold the key position to crank longer, but I'm also used to push start with my 2015 TLX) He's over there now and they say the battery and starter are fine. I haven't seen it happen when I looked at the car twice. Also the upper display he says flickered once while driving at night.

Yes it's a 12 year old car and I expected him to deal with some issues, but not starting. Any ideas what may be happening? Stevens Creek Acura shows the battery is fine (practically new) and the starter is good. But they're giving him the runaround now.

 

If it's an auto zone tier starter, that could be an issue. Spark plugs, coil packs and alternator could also be at fault.

There is a parasitic draw issue with the Bluetooth equipped TSXs too.

 

My starter was weak sometimes and I thought it might be the battery. I replaced it with Denso reman a few weeks ago and it starts with enthusiasm now.

 

damn Acuras/Hondas with the parasitic draw from BT module.

I'll have to look at it for him. Or well, I'll see how big a job this is. Not my car either so don't wanna dig too deep.

 

the cool thing about Honda's is that the engineers thought out placement of items to be changed out pretty quickly and efficiently.
if you know your way around an engine bay, you will have no issues changing out the starting components(Battery, alternator, Starter) of any honda.

Toyotas to some degree will also be very easy to change out parts, as this is a part of Japanese engineering.

American and European engineering are WTF head scratchers...

 

Hah yeah wouldn't dare work on some, but I've done some very basic things only (e.g., oil changes, o2 sensors, air intake replacement) nothing having to do with taking apart the components to the engine. I YouTube'd a video and it doesn't seem difficult, but again, this isn't my car so there's that lol.

So far haven't heard of any more weak starts. Maybe it was just us being used to engine start buttons. He came from a 2013 335i

 

Could also be a battery connection that is momentarily disconnecting or has a weak connection, impeding start up. and then all of a sudden is connected and making a strong start up.
just a few thoughts.

 

Yeah people just remove the module from what I've read. I have an 04, so I never had that issue. Another thing that came to mind was that the ignition switch could be slightly worn (previously) from a heavy keychain.

 

we went ahead and cleaned the terminal posts. I haven't heard of the car having weak or longer starts since.

Hmm good thinking. That never occurred to me since I've been driving push button start for so long.

 

If it ends up being the BT module, there's a guy on the forum that will repair it for your for much cheaper than a salvaged or new replacement. Just search for "bt" or "bluetooth" battery drain here on the foum.