Well wife came home from work last night to show me 12Volt Battery Charging System FAILURE or something close to that. She said it came on once this weekend but went off and she forgot about it. Well I saw it last night but this morning the car is acting fine. I am taking it up to dealer even though they have not called me back. They are 1 hour away, but she is off today and then works the next 5 driving 100 miles each day.

I am going to have them look at the rear end noise while there and the upper black door trim which is not stuck down. Wish me luck my friends.

And if they give us a loaner a I am going to raise hell if they give us one of the 4 cylinder ILX clunkers. I bought a 57K car and should at least get a V6 TSX for a loaner.

 

Good Luck, hope all comes out well..

Still looking for the Growl...

 

I had the same problem - I left car on when I pulled into dealership so service rep could witness. He pulled back to the shop area and turned car off. When tech started the car the light was off. They checked the battery, starter and alternator - all was AOK. If you check the owners manual it states this light comes on when there is an issue when the battery is not being charged (pg 481).

Pg 84 also states this appears when there is a problem with a sensor on the battery.

Keeps us informed of your findings.

 

Car is up there, they gave a 2013 MDX as a loaner. Base model AWD but not to bad to get a feel for them. Drove a 2014 MDX AWD and that think rocked. Did a 16 mile drive with 5 miles on highway getting 32MPG and the other 11 miles on city streets. She averaged 24MPG. Not to shabby. They say this AWD beat the 2013 AWD around the ring by 8 seconds. That is a big difference.

 

Are they going to diagnose the rear groaning noise, too, while in there Scott?

 

They are supposed too. There was a software update for the battery sensing charging system that is supposed to get rid of false warnings. Door pieces will be installed today and continue to look at growl They have not found a problem so far. Car is due to be driven back down to us on Friday and they will pick up their MDX then if the car is fine.

 

Door pieces = accessories? On the growl; I noticed it sounds similar to the noise I would get on my '10 RL when I would cover the microphine of the noise cancelling system. Good to hear the charging system error will be taken care of by a software update.

 

I don't think that would be related to this "growl". It's not an electrical or audio based noise. This is something coming from the chassis of the car being caused by something mechanical. moving parts, not a tech/electronic component.

 

The door pieces are the black molding that goes up the back side of the door. Does not look like the sticky tape stuck. So they are getting in brand new ones to fix it. I would of took them off myself and put new tape on and they probably would of been fine. But hey they are the Acura Dealership.

 

I had stated it sounded similar - not that it was the cause.

 

Scott
I just spoke to my service rep and he did some research but could not find anything listed on Acuras tech help site that stated a software update would remedy this. Can you send me any info that would point him to the right TSB (technical service bulletin)? Thank you.

 

I noticed the growl quite a bit today. Creeping around the parket lot of a shopping plaza looking for a store, pretty much anywhere from 1-10mph, you hear it. And it's starting to get annoying, especially when everything is that quiet at those speeds, you really hear it.

Scott, keep us posted as I'd like to know if we are onto a possible TSB here. Mine is about due for it's first oil change and I will be bringing it up with them as well. Just good to know if I can reference this situation or not if it ends up being something they find.

 

Acura looked at the rear end of the car and talked to HQ and the growl is normal as the wheels are realigning them selves and it is the clutch in the mechanism we are hearing.

 

Thanks for the update Scott. Really appreciate it. Sounds like a pass. On to the next!

 

Hey All,
I was at a grocery store today and while backing out of the parking spot I thought I heard what you are describing as the growl, it was faint, but everything is faint to me...

 

Release hostage from trunk.

 

It sucks that the RLX has so many problems, I expected much less on a 60k car.

 

U know this from experience?

 

Got to love how people like to tear apart a new model year car. Issues will be found and fixed, Honda/Acura have a great record of making things right so why are you jumping all over them on the RLX?

My car has had software updates, door issues have been fixed and car being delivered back to us later today. Had a 2013 MDX the entire time our car was down. Rear end was checked and they checked with Acura and it is a normal sound of the clutches and wheels moving. It is heard more at low speed since it is harder to turn a slow moving wheel than a faster moving wheel.

And the reason we did not get the car back Friday is service manager found a small hairline crack on the new black door replacement piece and said he was ordering another one and would not deliver a car to a customer like that. They got the part Saturday and installed it yesterday.

 

Scott,
Do you have a TSB # on the software update for the charging system error light? My dealer is not seeing anything about a software update.

 

No I do not have it, I know I saw him reading about it on his computer screen when I dropped my car off.

 

1st year new model symptoms ?

 

Just about all first year models of any car will have bugs, I'm sure all will be fixed to your satisfaction.

 

If a symptom - all very minor in my book.

 

vehicle (RLX) too new to have established TSB........

 

TSB are usually CREATED once there are numerous complaints about a "new" vehicle....WE are the suckers who beg and plead with the service departments to make them aware of a new issue.....and don't expect it to toss a code.....My 2001 Acura CL Type S had the "actuators" failing faster than they could keep up with....NO Codes generated.....the only way to prove to them my Type S was slow like the basic model was to look at a new one on the lot to prove these folks otherwise thus generating a "TSB" internally to all the dealerships.....YOU MUST BE FIRM WITH THEM ON NEW VEHICLES!

 

so while on the subject of "issues" and "TSB"s....I reported a few additional things I've noticed with my RLX to the service center during my visit yesterday for it's first oil change.

1. rapid clicking fan noise coming from the engine when running idle after 2-3 minutes. can only be heard outside of the vehicle. dealer checked with Acura and have reported that this is something they are getting reports from other owners and that's it's apparently normal based on the design of some injection fan on the engine. I'd like to know if others here can hear it. honestly I think this should be a TSB. A car of this value shouldn't make a noise like this. IMO.

2. brake whining when creeping to a slow halt in stop and go traffic. they said nothing could be found abnormal with brake operation. again, very annoying and poorly designed IMO. a 60k+ car shouldn't sound like an old beater when applying the brakes.

3. occasionally "low whining" from the AC system. It sounds as if a vent or some opening isn't operating properly and causing a low whistling or whine. I have to shut off the AC and then turn it back on for it to go away. I did not report this one yet to the service center but plan to on the next visit.

curious to know if anyone else here has encountered these. my goal here is not to bash the car, I f'n love my RLX, but these are some pretty annoying design issues that I just don't feel should be occurring in a car of this price.

 

The loaner they gave me (2014 Acura RLX) has this same noise! at slow speeds, mostly when accelerating from stop and its driving me nuts

I guess I'm lucky I got a RLX as a loaner when I dropped a TSX for servicing

 

I knew going into a new model first year that some issues would pop up - the same when Ibought my first TSX in 2003. As long as they are addressed within the first year I do not mind being their test bunny. I am still enjoying this fine automobole.

 

I agree. The 2005 RL had some teething pains that went away in subsequent model years. Go over to the Cadillac forums and you'll see plenty of posts about the 2008 and 2009 CTS that seem to be cleared up in later years. Over on the ATS forum there are their share of teething pains, whether it's the rough idling turbo engine, CUE issues and other software related issues.

Say what you will about Acura's uninspired styling, their engineering is among the best.

 

Acura's engineering is always Honda solid, but 1st year teething issues can still be annoying. Thankfully, we have forums like this where people can compare experiences and resolve issues. I can attest that Acurazine members have helped Acura with some issues in the past, and employees do read our posts.

 

Thanks for the feedback NueronBob. Hopefully my post was seen as nothing more than an information post on what appear to be classic "teething pain" issues on the first release of the 3rd gen.

 

I can get the Charging System FAILURE notice to replicate on the MID screen just by trying to use my phone book/call history list on the lower screen. Each time I press the phone button and look at my call history list and scroll through the listing looking for a previously called number the Charging System Failure notice will come up. Turn off the car and it goes away. I have asked my service rep to report to Acura.

 

1550 miles. First incident of charging system warning bug. :-)

 

Were you trying to use your cell phone onscreen phonebook? When I try to pull up numbers on the screen I get the charging system warning. I can replicate this time after time.

 

The iPhone was in my hand, and I know that I was doing something but I don't remember what.

I remembered reading about your experience, so I unplugged the device and left it unplugged.

The next two times I started the car, no issues.

When I run around today, I'll have the iPhone plugged into the USB port, and I'll see if it happens again.

I also unplugged an aftermarket conversion piece that just installs a USB where there's a DC socket in the bin, in case that produces an unusual draw. For some reason it has a diode on it that consumes power to show that it's working right. You never know with these cheap aftermarket electronics...always tempting because they cost NOTHING but you just never know.

It hasn't escaped my attention that the charging system error seems to happen to people around 1500-1600 miles. That's strange.

I'm not too worried because I know it's a ghost error and is solved with the TSB about a firmware change. I'll probably take care of it at the first service, but I'll report back to you if it happens again today.

Do you plan on getting yours fixed?

 

Thought I would dig back through this thread. In case others here didn't already see in the recently posted TSB thread, both the "suspension groaning" we all experienced and the "A/C groan" that I was experiencing both became actual legitimate TSB's recently posted on the sticky thread here on the RLX forum.

I just picked up my Advanced from the Service Center after taking it in to have both "groan" TSB's performed on the car, and they nailed it. Both the A/C groan and the suspension groan are completely gone.