Today I was driving my MDX in the morning - came out of store and tried to turn on the car - it sounded like struggling to start and then went into auxiliary mode as if not able to hold charge. It didn't give any other error message. I tried to jump start to ensure its not a battery problem but the behavior repeated and while the charge stayed about couple of seconds longer at the end it showed emission system error on dash. Since then I have not started and it will be looking to tow it to the mechanic. I was wondering if someone can help understand what this could be before dealer tries to rip me off? Someone suggested tightening gas cap but that didn't change anything.

 

Newer cars come equipped with OBDII. This can give pretty specific error codes. You either need to have a code reader or someone who can scan it and read the code. Without that everything is only a wild guess.

 

Bad battery can cause sensors to light and all sorts of other issues

 

How old is the battery?

 

About a year and half old.

 

Can you take the battery out and get it tested? Most NTB/Autozone etc. locations will test your battery for free.

 

Leaving it for someone needing info in future - it turned out the onboard system/firmware required updated!! And once done returned back to BAU . Interesting that it caused complete standstill for MDX requiring to be towed.