g6civcx

On my 05 RL, I always shut the ignition switch off, and lock the car in the garage. Today, after about a few weeks of cold weather, the battery is completely drained.

No problem. I'll hook up my battery tender and jump it. All the lights come on and such. I think it's good to go.

But no

I can't turn the ignition switch. It just won't turn to ON. Any idea? I feel like such an idiot

Rob L

sometiems the switch can be a pain in the ass and you have to jerk the steering wheel to get the switch to turn.

1violinist

A few RL owners experienced dead batteries and the dealer replaced the bad batteries with new ones. I've been told that jumping the dead battery the old fashion way is not advisible.. something has to do with electric and electronic systems. Contact your dealer and have them replace your battery.

2veloce

Battery replaced on my RL. RL was in the garage for 5 days over the holidays, nothing was left on, iginition switch was off and the battery died. No lights, no keyless entry - no nothing would work.

Acura's TLC came to the rescue as the car had to be transported on a roll back to the dealer.

Dealer replaced the battery and stated it had a dead cell.

g6civcx

Yes, finally got it fired up. It was a pain. I did everything I was supposed to before I left it. Closed all the doors, turned off all the lights, made sure the ignition was off, etc.

I'll bring it in at the next oil change and see.

g6civcx

Oh, and I asked the service advisor if I should jumpstart it or not, and he said to jumpstart it. I didn't like that. All the lights flashed and the needles jumped all over the place.

The fuel level jumped all the way over into the coolant temperature gauge

legendguy

g6civcx

If you are stupid, I am doubly so. I have drained the battery not once but twice! See my thread:

https://acurazine.com/forums/showthread.php?t=125

Both times I used jumper cables to start the RL as described in the user manual (ie. the standard method) and things started up just fine. Had to reenter the radio code the first time. In my case, I left the dome light on and, since it does not turn off by itself, the car drained overnight. The other possible cause for battery drain is not completely turning the starter to off (no key you know).

I second the idea of trying to jiggle the started a little (and maybe the wheel too) to see if you can get it to push in. Otherwise, perhaps the recognition of your fobs is lost and then you will likely have to get dealer help. Good luck and let us know.

Sorry, confusing, I posted just after your last thread. Congrats on getting started!!

g6civcx

Yea, thanks for the tip. Sometimes the jiggling the steering wheel works.

It has happened before. The anti-theft got triggered and it would not turn at all.

8-)

Soon after getting my car, I had it waxed at a local place. I got in the car and spent minutes trying to get the ignition thingy to turn, but it was obviously locked in place. Frustrated, I got out of the car. The wax man came over and asked if something was wrong. I explained the problem, and he said "let me try." As he gets in, he tugs on the steering wheel as he sits. Of course, the ignition turned, and he looked at me like I'm a total loser. And this was done in front of my kids!

I've got to remember that tug on the steering wheel thing.

dseag2

It's not just the RL. I've found that many car ignitions lock up at times. Tugging the steering wheel has always worked for me.

8-)

My '95 Mazda did it too. But it happened like once a year, and that one time always had me scratching my head for a minute until I remembered. First time in the RL was like starting all over again.

petemc

g6civcx,

If I remember right, Acura metioned something about turning off the auto lights if you are leaving the car for a longer period of time. Did you have the lights on auto, or had you turned them off?

Pete

g6civcx

I turned off everything. Made sure all the interior lights were off. I even turned off all the lights in the garage to see if I left any light on.

I don't know what happened.

2veloce

Same here, it seem that at one time or another each car or truck that I have owned did the same.

petemc

g6civcx,

I wasn't questioning that you turned everything off, but in the manual it states that if the car is to be left for a longer period of time (over a week) then it is recommended that the lights are not left in the auto setting. I guess the sensor has a high current drain even when the ignition is turned off, and so I was curious to learn if that could have helped cause the problem.

I didn't drive my car too far when I first got it, and spent many hours in my garage testing the voice recognition, playing the 5.1 surround etc. Yup, you guessed it, I drained the battery too

Pete

g6civcx

I read the manual and it says we should disconnect the battery if we were to store it for prolonged periods of time. I only put it in the garage for a week.

goldendragon576

this happens all the time and it's always because the knob wasn't turned all the way off. Keep in mind you have to not just turn the car off towards you, but push in and turn, otherwise you may think it's off but it's not totally off and your still running the navi or something.

AcuraRLBlue

It actually doesn't require pushing in the knob to turn the ignation switch all the way off, and this is the problem. There are two things you could do to make sure that it is off:

1. Look to make sure that the switch is at the "O" position, and
2. Look for the green key symbol on the instrument panel to light up

Having the "Good bye" lighting up is not sufficient.

Fabvsix

Any battery is B E T T E R than OEM ! Period !!!!!!!

Dump that OEM and get a Sears or Interstate or Optima and your worries are gone. Replacing it with another OEM junk battery is not too smart ! Honda/Acura pays battery company's to produce 2.5 year span batteries, that's if they even last that long. With all the electronics in this car, that would be my first mod !

Rob L

Is my RL diff or something? I dont get how people can turn the ignition and not have the car turn off....before I got the car I heard of peeps doing this but when I got it and used the switch I was thinking to myself "huh...how do people have a hard time with this?"

Odd...