Integral9

So I took my car into the shop (not dealer) the tuesday before xmas for it's A12 service. Needed an oil change and brake fluid flush and the air filters replaced. There were no problems starting the car (as usual) or when I dropped the car off late in the evening near COB.

The next day my shop calls me and tells me they had trouble starting the car, but were able get it into the garage and perform the service. They also had trouble starting it when the pulled it off the lift. So they did a battery load test and said the battery failed the test and needed to be replaced. (3 yr old original battery) Then they test drove the car around the block and the engine died and they cannot get it started again. Then they tell me they think the car's alarm was somehow tripped and the fuel shutoff was engaged and they cannot reset it. So they want my spare key to reprogram the car's alarm to my key. Well that wasn't the problem and after spending a day and a half trying to figure it out, they took the car to the dealer. The dealer calls me and says the ECU is fried. Fortunately, it's still under warranty so the cost is nill and I needed the power steering recall done anyway, so they went ahead and did that.

Now I have been going to this shop for years and never had a problem with any of their service so I don't want to say their mechanic messed up my car. But I can't figure out what could have happened to fry the ecu and drain the battery in less than 12 hours. Could someone trying to steal the car do that? Any other ideas? I still don't have the car back yet.

huludicidal

Seems pretty sketch to me. Never heard of an ECU just "going bad" without some help from a short circuit caused by negligence or environment (water, static). In my experience, you have to do some pretty stupid things to get the ECU to short. Even if the shop was to blame, they'd be hard pressed to admit it because they would surely lose your loyal business and have to pay for the new ECU. The only way to *really* know what has been done to your car during service is to do the service yourself, if capable. Wish I could help in some other way but I am out of ideas without inspecting it myself.

mrgold35

Good thing you were covered under warranty! I would hate to think what would happen if you did not have the coverage; would the dealership fix it in good faith.

nj2pa2nc

just for your info the battery has a warranty of 4 years unlimited mileage.

Integral9

Got the car back with a new ECU and battery on the Thursday after xmas. The shop and the dealer are blaming the battery for the ECU burning up. All I can say to that is I have never seen a Panasonic battery in a car before I bought this one. And prior to that they were the "batteries included" brand. Looks like the factory tried to save a few bucks. I just hope the battery didn't take anything else with it or damage anything else that I haven't noticed yet.

Thanks for the replies guys. Sorry I couldn't get back to you. Holidays and family and such craziness. I wish I had though, could have saved me about $100 on the new battery purchased. Do'h! But maybe it's for the best, as now I have an Interstate battery (shop installed) instead of the Panasonic that the car came with. I'm assuming the dealer would have installed another Panasonic.

PACman

Wow...1st time I've heard of this happening to our car.

Miamicarfan

To my knowledge, only one other person on this board has reported an ECU failure. In that case, the ECU had to be replaced because the heater core leaked water into the ECU.

Other that that, the ECUs on the 2004-2008 TSXs have been solid.

Can anyone else remember another board member ever having a problem with the ECU?

PACman

I remember that too. I recall he was so upset that he stopped posting. Not sure if he even owns a TSX.

https://acurazine.com/forums/1g-tsx-problems-fixes-128/warning-2004-ecus-danger-flooding-677834/

nigelboyne

at a guess i would say they fried the ecu by jumping the car wrong with jump leads i have heard of this happening to other cars

npolite

It's possible but usually that would have fried a lot more. Most of the fuses would have blown if not damaged components. The OP should look inside the fuse box and see if the fuses look new.