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While on the highway today, I got a warning "Check Charging System". And within 15 seconds, it pretty much came to a halt. Lost power. No power steering, nothing. I thought it was a dead battery. The battery is about 2.5 years old. I believe it is an Acura battery. Had it towed to the dealer and am waiting for diagnosis tomorrow.
Any ideas what is wrong? Is it a bad alternator? If yes, what is typically the damage at the dealer to replace alternator?
What do they charge to replace battery?
I had seen the message a few days ago in bitter cold in the morning. Once I started the car and drove off, it was all fine, till today. Also, the remote keyfob didn't work normally for a couple of days. When I locked the car, the lights didn't flash. The doors locked but no lights flashing.
Losing power streering, etc doesn't sound like a battery. That sounds more like a belt. Did you see if the serpentine or other belt had broken? Did you hear any noise when it all went south?
I didn't see any ripped belt when I looked into the engine bay. i didn't hear any noise when it all happened.
Everything was completely dead. I couldn't use any functions that needed electric power. I couldn't even turn the hazards on for traffic.
I couldn't open the trunk. The guy who towed me had to jump the battery for a bit to move the car in the dealership lot. It went dead again within seconds.
I had a timing belt service along with serpentine belt about 15K miles ago. tensioner, water pump, etc were all replaced.
The RDX has electric power steering. It sounds like your battery cells shorted out and loading down the alternator, The dealer will most likely sell you an alternator and battery. That is why they call them STEALERSHIPS.
I suspected that. Hence my question about what replacing alternator & battery would cost.
Hate going to stealership but I am 800 miles from home where I take the vehicle to local Acura/Honda specialist.
Have no choice but get it fixed and drive back.
It could be as simple as a loose battery connection. Hondas are nitorious for this, although a 2014 seems a little young for that.
I have used little lead caps on the battery terminals to keep from having to replace the entire cable.
The current miles should be disclosed in a post like this.
The dealer did diagnostics and said battery is dead. Had it replaced. I asked if alternator is good and dealer said yes. Set off for home. About 150 miles in, the warning came on again. Stayed on for 20 miles and then went away. I am going to go to another dealer in town I am in now. Unbelievable. Called my usual repair shop and they said it seems to beginning stages of alternator failing.
The 2nd dealer did diagnostics and said alternator is bad. Had that replaced. I was in no mood to mess around as I did not want to be stranded in the middle of a 600 mile ride home. My usual independent shop guy urged me to not fool around with this while I am so far away from home. Got home without any further incidents. After doing the multi-point inspection, the two dealers told me the same thing about "leaking valve cover gasket". The 2nd dealer said the alternator was covered in oil when he pulled it off to replace and speculated if that caused it to go bad. He showed me the alternator and it was indeed covered in oil. Don't know if I should believe. But I am home.
I had checked the battery connections. They weren't loose.
I do like the 2020 RDX that I looked over at the dealership. Perhaps 257K miles is enough on one car.
Yeah, I think you've gotten your money's worth out the car. Good to hear that they'll last that many miles, tho. We only have 36k miles on our '14. Were do you live & what do you do to get that many miles on it? Just curious...
Do you guys have recommendations for jump starter to keep in my car? I had one bought at Costco and it didn't jump the battery. It was also useless when I tried to charge my cell phone which happened to die at the same time as the car battery dying. Don't want to buy the bulky one I see at Costco. Thanks.
Yesterday I hit 300,000 miles. And guess what, the alternator died yet again. When I was 150 miles away from home. WTF!
I checked the battery connections, belts, etc. Nothing wrong. Same symptoms as last time.
Again, the message was "Check Charging System" and car died on the highway and I was again able to pull off the road and have it towed 150 miles back home.
Way to be rewarded for reaching a personal milestone in terms of mileage. <sarcasm>
I am going to buy the alternator at Autozone for $212 and have it installed by my local Acura specialist shop.
Only a DENSO alternator should be used. Remanufactured is ok. Auto parts store ones do not produce the amperage required.
You will have to replace it again. This is what is really going on:
It's been a while since I visited here as I sold my TL last year. I hope you don't mind me jumping in here regarding the issue you had earlier. I am experiencing the same thing. At first it just flashed on the Dashboard "Check Charging System". I sold the car to my daughter last December 2021 and this summer it got worse, leaving her stranded twice and requiring to be towed. The dash lights flash, braking and steering intermittently get hard to use and then the engine cuts off. We have towed it twice to a Honda dealership and an automotive repair shop I trust and both times they can't find anything wrong. It starts fine, battery and alternator tests good. She takes it home and a week or month later she is stranded again.
I don't remember the error code but what I found out about it is to check wiring between alternator and fuse box. I had that checked and was told it was good to go. Wednesday before Thanksgiving it died again.
Any suggestions or thoughts? Thanks!
It's been a while since I visited here as I sold my TL last year. I hope you don't mind me jumping in here regarding the issue you had earlier. I am experiencing the same thing. At first it just flashed on the Dashboard "Check Charging System". I sold the car to my daughter last December 2021 and this summer it got worse, leaving her stranded twice and requiring to be towed. The dash lights flash, braking and steering intermittently get hard to use and then the engine cuts off. We have towed it twice to a Honda dealership and an automotive repair shop I trust and both times they can't find anything wrong. It starts fine, battery and alternator tests good. She takes it home and a week or month later she is stranded again.
I don't remember the error code but what I found out about it is to check wiring between alternator and fuse box. I had that checked and was told it was good to go. Wednesday before Thanksgiving it died again.
Any suggestions or thoughts? Thanks!
If you're referring to your 09 TL you appear to be in the wrong subforum. But either way, if your alternator is original, I would look into replacing it. I replaced the alternator in my 06 TL last year, it had around 230k on it if I remember correctly. Same thing with me, check charging system light comes on, battery randomly dead....It's amazing it even lasted that long. They don't go at once, they literally alternate (lol) between charging and not charging...sometimes it will be fine, other times not. They tend to heat up significantly when they decide to go out too, if you have a IR thermometer, or a careful hand, you can tell when one is way hotter than it should be. I'd look into replacing it, along with looking at inspecting your battery connections.
Last edited by TheSauceBoss; 11-30-2021 at 02:27 PM.
The best thing any vehicle owner can do is install one of these, so that you know what the battery charge voltage is and that is based on your alternator.
The plug-in and factory installed units do just fine, although I have my home-made units wired directly to the battery for an always-on condition even when the vehicle is shut down. They only draw 2 mA at the most.
In my RDX. Plugs right into the power port. About $15 from Amazon.
And on the other vehicles:
Home-made voltmeter. Voltage while idling...
AGM battery on a cold day, 14.8V...
Home-made voltmeter on one of my motorcycles. On a charger in "maintnenance mode"...
The dealer did diagnostics and said battery is dead. Had it replaced. I asked if alternator is good and dealer said yes. Set off for home. About 150 miles in, the warning came on again. Stayed on for 20 miles and then went away. I am going to go to another dealer in town I am in now. Unbelievable. Called my usual repair shop and they said it seems to beginning stages of alternator failing.
hey. Did you find out issues? Was it alternator?
Originally Posted by egads
Only a DENSO alternator should be used. Remanufactured is ok. Auto parts store ones do not produce the amperage required.
You will have to replace it again. This is what is really going on:
01-01-2020, 12:55 PM
Good to hear that they'll last that many miles, tho. We only have 36k miles on our '14. Were do you live & what do you do to get that many miles on it? Just curious...
