Hi All,

This past week I had an incident with my 1999 TL that acted just like a failed ignition switch. After starting normally, driving without incident, and stopping at a local store, the car would not even click the starter solenoid upon return. When the ignition was turned on, the normal dash warning lights came on but flickered and even the door locks would not activate remotely.

After successfully jump-starting the car, I drove home and before shutting down, I checked the alternator and found a healthy 14.6 volts. Shutting power in the car, the trouble-free 4+ year old Optima red top battery checked out at 12.6 volts. Having had the ignition switch burn out previously and after re-reading previous posts, I came to the conclusion that this was another switch issue and ordered and installed a new switch. No success as the same issues remained.

After running a number of possibilities through my mind (i.e. bad starter, solenoid, electronic component, etc.), and having restarted the car with the help of a spare battery, I decided to exchange the batteries and check the result. Success, everything worked with no issues.

Although I am a proponent of Optima batteries, this failure is rather disconcerting as there was no warning and the battery tests at a full 12.6 volts. Although I intend to replace the battery, I would like to know if anyone else has had any similar issues that have lead to other fixes just to verify that I have solved the problem.

Thanks all,
Rsy (RAC68)

 

12.6 is not fully charged
go to a parts store for a free charging system test
make sure the alternator is putting out correctly under load,,headlights-cabin fan on

also look at main battery ground cable and the small braided ground cables from frame to engine,,those go bad- break = less ground = funky probs
those are more than a decade in use,,,not much $ or effort to replace them

 

Thanks for your reply. I will look at both. After putting a charger on the Optima battery, I can get voltage up to 13.2 volts, however, the full charge light never went on. As a control, I charged a duplicate Optima battery in the Healey and the light did come on when fully charged. This makes me believe the battery is faulty.

Thanks again,
Ray

 

Your battery may have been at 12.6V, but after a load was applied to it (like cranking) the voltage must have dropped to below 12V. A bad battery is not always easy to diagnose in these modern cars.

 

were you sure your cables were making good contact on the battery?

 

if you call optima they can direct you to a store with an optima tester to see if that battery is good or not

 

Actually 04tl04tl04tl....(whatever), 12.6V is a 100% fully charged battery after the surface charge has been removed. Although it is not uncommon to see a fully charged battery at 12.5 or 12.7. Anyhow, I'm suspecting one of two (possibly both) issues here. The battery: Optima batteries just flat out SUCK. Dry cell (or gel cell) batteries are very delicate and are easily damaged when they are either completely discharged or left slightly discharged even once! Trust me, Ive seen many of people come into my shop with parasitic drains (power being pulled from the battery when vehicle is off) and one discharge generally deems these batteries SHIT. Although wet cell batteries are capable of this too, it doesn't happen nearly as often. If your battery is indeed bad as you say it is, I'd say that your issue lies in the charging system somewhere. And by charging "system", I do not mean just the alternator. On these cars, as well as Honda and Acura in general, I see many ground/power distribution issues. Excessive resistance, corrosion is one of the problems. Check your battery terminals for both of these. Also, check the grounding points at which the ground cable is itself is attached to the transmission itself (most cars attach to engine but I think this one is trans) and look for poor connections and highly corroded copper wiring. I'm quite certain you will find the problem in one of those areas. Good luck!

 

Your Battery Shit the Bed Had this same thing happen to me couple weeks back, coming out of a Club at 230 in the morning. Not the Perfect time for something like that to happen. Optima Yellow top Was reading fully charged but woundt turn the car over. Changed the Battery the next morning problem solved still waiting on optima for a new battery though but just change the battery and you should be good

 

OK sorry,, I must be thinking about my honda bike battery volts being higher, 13sum for it

I do know that ground cables are critical and have been pointing that out recently-as more reports of broken or crudded frame to ground wires come in here,,and what I find on my own cars

and that a normal home style battery charger is not designed to fully charge a dead batt,,
just enough to get it working to start the car and have some juice left over-
then the alternator can fill it to spec

Note: jump starting a dead TL or similar car is very bad for it
Causes the alt to run all the cars systems, and charge battery at same time, not a job it was made for

 

Hi All,

First, thank you for your responses, ideas, and suggestions. I have just finished cleaning the grounds now on the forward bulkhead and transmission housing and have found no major issues. I have also coated the battery terminals and ground connections with the dialectic grease used by Chrysler, Vaseline, as told to me by their Chief Engineer and also a Healey owner.

I was surprised at the negative opinions of the Optima battery as I had purchased them (Acura TL and Austin Healey) to eliminate any unexpected (failures without warning) situations. I had a response from Optima that indicated, as many here had also stated, a load test is really the only practical way to determine the health of the battery. They suggested that charging at 10 amps would help reverse sulfation (a negative chemical reaction that retards battery performance). Following their suggestion, I charged at 10 amps for 3 hours and achieved a green light at standard charger settings for the first time since failure. I also achieved a stable 12.9 volts (Optima indicates 12.8 volts is full charge for the Red top) but still need to execute a load test.

I have had batteries give some indication of impending failure when begin to cranked slowly, this gave me all and then there was nothing. So far my spare standard battery is working well and I will probably not purchase an Optima replacement, or even use my present one even if it now tests good, as I have lost confidence in the brand.

Again, thanks all,

Ray (RAC68)

 

most batteries these days are lucky to get 3 to 4 years out of them
Optima should last longer, but your particular use or non-use of the car may have been a factor,,or a cell got dry (do they have removable caps?)
there is a lot of heat in the TL underhood,,or any modern car-they are tightly enclosed
Heat can easily be trapped inside that plastic battery box and cover
Mine runs topless for a reason

Im guessing you cleaned the battery cable ends and post on batt before coating?
Before doing that: its good to dip the battery cable ends in a cup of hot water and baking soda
cleans up any acid buildup --that blue stuff outside also grows inside killing the cables

note fast buildup up the blue crud on terminals means the batt is outgassing something fierce (and going dry inside),, and its attracted to those points

the sealer keeps that from reaching the terminals,
but the real prob is usually that batt had top vents,,not side vents which are better- from what I had explained to me by the `Batteries Plus` guys