Hello I'm newly registered, but have read in the forums off and on for the last couple of years. I'll just TMI to get it out of the way. I'm a female who is now raising her grandchildren and special needs son so money is a big issue right now. Unfortunately all the mechanics I have known have passed away and so now I have to rely on the dealership or a specific local garage. I'm not above getting my hands dirty, nor afraid to work on a car if I have to and if its something I can handle. I just dropped thousands of dollars on a Grand Caravan, so my TL dying on me was not in the game plan and being down to one vehicle scares me to death.

Symptoms, I had begun to notice that the fan was running what seemed to me a really long time after shutting it off. Granted, the end of summer gets hot in Oklahoma, but this year I'd go back out and it still be running. I paid attn to the gauges while driving and on a few occasions when I went back out to check, I turn on to accessories and the temp was fine. Hoses were fine as I had two replaced the last coupe years of so.

Then on cold start in the mornings the brake light light would intermittently flash on and off. It wouldn't happen every day, but it did get more frequent. I engaged the parking brake on different days and released and even would reach down and pull up on it while driving to see if it was just getting lax. Didn't help. I know this might be a separate issue, but my gut told me something was coming and nobody believed me.

Left one morning and dropped everyone off and came back home. Went to leave around noon and car wouldn't start. I tried jumping it and still wouldn't start. I get a click, I can hear the fuel pump, all lights, radio, alarm, and locks work just fine. It has sat for about a month now and today I took a ball ping hammer and lightly tapped the solenoid and no start. I tried putting it in neutral and starting it, no start. I took the side of my fist and hit the ignition a few times, no start.

Awhile back the battery posts were cleaned and they put some stuff on there to keep them from corroding, I think my battery is fine. I learned how to change spark plugs when I was 7 years old, carried a blanket in the trunk of my 78' Firebird so I could crawl underneath to tap starter for months, learned to park on a hill so I could pop the clutch when the solenoid when out in an old 3 on the tree Chevy Cheyenne I had.

I've read multiple sites, various threads on the what ifs... starter/solenoid/ ignition switch, ground wires, ECU issues, and even fuses... But which fuse? I know it is bad for an ignition, but I have to have a lot of keys on my key chain. Could this have done it? Yes, its happened to me before! I'm the kind of person that gets in tune with their car. I'm that lady that says that thingy or that noise, but notices real quick when something is wrong. Even though I may not have the right terminology, I understand more than I can explain since I have been raised up around mechanics. I hear and feel things others don't and can definitely tell you when you need front end work done. My back has a knack for alignment issues!

I guess I'm asking for a checklist that I could do without hurting myself or the car before having it towed in to Acura. What would you guys do?

 

Sounds like a bad battery to me. However, check the battery cables first for corrosion and soundness. Give them a light tug to see if they've deteriorated and check for looseness. Especially since they've just been work on.

Charge the dead battery until it's fully charge or leave the jumpers on the TL for 15/20 minutes while it's attach to your other car while it's running. Then hopefully I'll start.

 

Bought new battery and still the same thing. My cables and connections look like this.

 

Therss definitely some corrosion there

 

Sorry, I don't know how to resize pics on my phone. In the third picture, there are frayed strands on that wire. Is that a block ground?

 

The third pic is a grounding cable. It's normal to be bare.

Your cables are in bad shape. Remove them from the car and soak them in a baking soda and water solution (15% baking soda) and scub them with a wire brush or replace them with new. Also clean the mounting points on the car side. Buy a battery terminal cleaner ($5) and clean the cable's area where it mounts to the battery posts... You want fresh metal showing.

 

That third pic looks really bad. That white stuff is completely corroded and you can see some fraying of the cable. Might be better to replace.