I tried to jump start another car today using my 05 RL. I could barely get the red plastic over the positive terminal folded back enough to get a decent contact with the cable clamp. I was not able to get the other car started.

Then, to make matters worse, a power steering error light came on in the RL and I noticed that for about a minute the power steering did not in fact work! I figure this is because of the drainage from the battery while trying to jump the other car. Has anyone else seen this??? And what is the best way to get to that positive terminal on the RL battery?

Acurod

 

The plastic cover pops off. You'll notice three little clips on it, but IIRC you have to actually disconnect the terminal to take it off completely.

 

+1

I never noticed any lights during my RL ownership after I used it to jump another car. Perhaps this is the first sign that your battery is dying? In this car, an early sign of battery failure is unexpected lights and other electrical issues.

 

This exact sequence of events happened to me last night. Couldn't provide enough juice to jump-start an old Taurus, and everything else happened exactly as OP described. Went away by itself in a matter of moments, but it really freaked me out. And this happened even though my battery and my alternator are both less than a year old.

I've read (and experienced, in one or two cases) the Arcade Show of Idiot Lights long described by other posters here. All I can figure is that Honda, having gone to extreme lengths with aluminum, carbon fiber and magnesium to save weight on a rather porky design, decided to save a little more weight from a very heavy component by spec'ing a battery of marginal size. An electrical strain this small shouldn't cause a total freakout, but evidently it just does.