So in washing the car I use the radio/ cd's to make it less boring but yesterday as I'm ready to go for a ride the car wont start, I look under the hood and look in the eye of the battery to see if it's low but I don't see anything. I jump start the car and still nothing, so I'm off to get eome distilled water and put some in.
Anyone have this happen to him/her?....1st time in 17k miles....

 

yes but i have been known to spend up to 6hrs detailing so now i just use portable mp3 player but i did notice after the first time it happen it took less and less time for it to die but i didnt have trouble restarting

 

HEK- My battery is the same way. It's on it's last leg. I think to be on the safe side I'm gonna pick up an Optima Battery. Mine is to the point if I don't drive the car or even start it for a week it will be dead. Or if I'm working on the car with the radio off but the ignition on it will die (bleeding the brakes).

 

The green eye wont come up till the battery is charged.
It takes HOURS to charge up a dead battery at a reasonable rate of charge.
Fast charging (like what the alternator can put out) kills batteries, if the battery goes dead/almost dead, its best to charge it up slowly, like overnight.

Deep cycles will kill a regular battery quickly, that is why they make special deep cycle batteries for some applications.

A good battery should run the audio system in the accesory position for a long time without draining th battery.

Brett

 

Thanks for the replies, I just got back from buying some distilled water and had the pleasant surprise that this battery is really sealed ( all my previous Hondas had "sealed batteries that you could pry open")
Anyways based on the abuse it gets, here in MA during the Winter with the cold starts, the use of all the electronics, I guess I can't ask for more , Optima ??....is that a good brand?..my dad was a Die Hard fan, personally I may just get one of those "marine" batteries, I heard they last a long time...

 

My battery died for the first time (I now have 46.5k miles on my car) a couple of weekends ago. I took my pregnant wife to the store to buy groceries, but she decided she was too worn out to shop. So she sat in the car and turned on the AC without turning the ignition on!!!! aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa........

When I get back to the car, and try to start it up, of course nothing happens and I have to beg for a jump. The guy who helped me was someone in a '99 TL , whom I immediately invited to the site...

I have no idea to tell whether the battery is on its last legs and after that episode, I am afraid to run the radio without the engine on. Am I being paranoid?

 

First off, the A/C doesn't run if the car isn't running, only the fan will run. Just sounds like you had/have a dead cell. You should be able to play the radio all day w/o car running with no probs.

 

Paranoid no, just carefull, I just happened to be in my driveway when the car wouldn't start and had the Ody parked just next to me so I ran for the jumper cables and didn't have to ask anyone so I know the feeling...Now I'm curious as to how was she able to get cool air out of the AC w/out the engine running...but don't bother to reply on that one...I've seen my wife do "other" things that are hard to explain....
Anyways I'm keeping the jumper cables in the trunk...just in case...

 

Ah, thank you, learned something new today.

HEK, here in Cleveland most people (including me) have a set of jumper cables in the trunk because of our crappy winter weather. This was the first time I'd ever used mine, in 16 years of living in Cleveland. I told the wife that the next time she wanted to keep cool in the car, just to make sure the ignition was on first....

 

Went out of town and the car sat still for precisely 9 days. Would not start so charged it with a battery tender for a full 5 days at a steady 2 amps and that did not work either. This on an 06 TL purchased in November 2005. Bought an Optima D35 yellow top for $ 142.00 showed my receipt to the dealer and got a full refund without even the slightest hestitation from them. Service Manager was not surprised one bit. In fact said I should have called Acura TLC / Roadside Assistance and made a noise so that they would have sent me a tow truck and then given me a loaner.

Have had the Optima for a month now and went out of town this weekend again for about 7 days. Car started fine this morning.

Neighbor has a 2005 Lexus rx330 with the same OE Delphi battery with the green eye. She's had problems too.

 

I have a portable jump start system i got its great you can jump your car without anyone else it wasnt that expensive like 50-80 depending on the type the one i have has a air compressor w/ gauge so when ever im at home detailing the car i can check and adjust my tire pressure without leaving the house

 

Acura will replace your battery no charge in the first 12 to 24 months depending on how good a talker you are. Even if its still working but shows weak.

 

My dealer replaced mine with no questions when they completed the Navi recall work on my 05TL . . . . Sweet.

 

I called the dealer and "he" was kind of reluctant to give me a answer straight out...he said just to bring the car in and they would see if there are any issues ...so I will stop by tomorrow...

 

I had the same thing happen a few weeks ago. The XM was on at a medium volume while I did a major spring wash, vac and interior detail. After about two 1/2 hours the radio started cutting in and out for about 10 minutes until finally it shut off. My first thought was the battery and that was correct. The car wouldn't start, just did the deadly clicking.

I charged it up for about 30 min and it's been fine since then. However it was a warning. I doubt if I'll keep this battery before winter comes back. My TL is an 04 with 36K.

Also just as a suggestion for the navi - next time it's probably better to NOT use the touch screen. Let it go dark after turning on the ACC for the radio and use the steering wheel controls to change the stations. The LCD must draw a few amps, right?

And is there an Optima battery for Hondas/Acuras? according to the Optima web site and searching for a 2004 Acura "There are no matches available for this vehicle".

Oh well Consumer Reports likes the 24 battery from Wal-Mart. But Wal-Mart for car batteries? Jesh.

More "power to the people" I guess.

 

Oh well Consumer Reports likes the 24 battery from Wal-Mart. But Wal-Mart for car batteries? Jesh.

More "power to the people" I guess.

I am a longtime Die Hard user until the past few years. A few years ago some sub standard manufacturer got the Sears bid. I had a couple of Die Hards replaced after 12-18 months. There are only 3-4 manufacturers of batteries for cars. Name brand batteries recommended by Consumer Reports are one of the very few things I might buy from Wal-Mart. After my Acura replacement went bad, think I will head over to Costco. For me, the supplier is almost as. important as the product.

 

24 Battery??....is that a make??...or a model from a manufacturer??...

 

2 years and 1 week and my battery DIED. I was 1 week out of warranty and a new one cost me 90 bucks because I had to pay for the install of the new battery and diagnosis of the old battery.Long story short - the battery blows and I got taken for a ride along the way.

 

Sorry that was from post prior to mine. I think that is a battery series (size). I don't buy batteries from the dealer or places likely to go out of business. Costco and Walmart seem likely to stick around. when they give any indication of pending failure, they have zero long term future in my car. It only cost about $100 to make a certain future problem go away.

 

I had 3 Optima's , all red tops, in my 92 Integra. The first TWO had corrosion problems( Optima says that they won't corrode.) They were both replaced free by Optima, and the third had no problems.I had an aftermarket audio system (w/ 2 amps)and used to run it quite a lot on ACC. and never had to charge any of them.When I get around to doing a system in the TL I think I'm going to go with the yellow top.

 

I was going to wait and see if it would happen again but since my last post and not having had the time to visit the dealer I decided to keep an eye on the "green eye" which has remained green and have not been able to duplicate the start up failure...