I got ready to leave for work this morning to find my car's battery dead. Yay another dead stock battery. I asked my sister who lives close to help me out and jump start the car. To make a long story short, she had the terminals switched around on her car, and now mine seems to be completely dead, except the horn which works perfectly. I know my battery is gone, but are there any other components I should be worried about, or does the TSX have some kind of fail-safe for such an act of stupidity?

 

Your only way is to replace the battery and pray. Her jumper cables should have melted or at least gotten pretty hot - unless they were really cheap ones.

And no, I don't think there is any protection in the TSX system to prevent damage, or any vehicle for that matter. Sorry ...

 

Fortunately, the main 100 amp fuse blew out so a new battery and a 20 dollar fuse from the local Honda dealership got everything fixed up. So far no problems and I've driven it about 150 miles, so I doubt anything else will turn up. I'd say it worked out well for such a screw up.

 

I agree $20 is cheap insurance - where is that fuse?
And, how did her vehicle survive?

 

IIRC, the 100A fuse is in the under-hood fuse box.

 

Yep, it's under the hood in the fuse box. Oddly the old one didn't even look blown, but it was. Her vehicle is fine, probably because my battery had practically no voltage left in it.

 

Michelin makes Smart Jumper Cables for about $40+shipping.

- You can attach either clamp to either the positive or negative connections

- The patented circuitry automatically adjusts the polarity for you

- Built-in surge protector protects your vehicle's electronics

I found this web sit that give you also a tool kit to keep in the car:

https://www.buysmartcables.com/ver4/index.asp

 

Sham Wow !

 

That looks pretty cool. I wonder what it would do with a completely dead battery though. Without the initial voltage between poles, how would it know which is which?

 

This happened to me once. Not fun. One of the batteries started to smoke. Scary stuff.

 

Anyone had a problem with a 2008 TL and dead battery problems? Mine has completely died 3 times(no warning)and the dealer cannot find the problem.Good one minute and dead the next.Tried new battery,but still has the problem.

 

sounds like a lemon to me. I'd lemon it if the dealer can't find the problem.

 

Have them check the alternator and voltage regulator.