3G TL (2004-2008)
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Old 08-11-2009, 10:38 PM
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usc
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Dead battery.

BOO for waking up in the morning and getting down to the garage only to find I'm unable to unlock the car with the remote.

BOO for roadside assistance, taking close to 90minutes to send someone to my parking garage, where I baaaarely made it to Santa Monica Acura for diagnosis and swap. (7pm close)

Hurray for Santa Monica Acura service depo for sticking around and getting the battery swapped out for me under warranty.

Big fat BOO to Acura for shafting all of us with shitty batteries. Seriously, WTH.

/end rant

Good luck to everyone else whose stock battery hasn't failed them once. I was hoping I'd go unscathed but 11.5 months after my purchase, the battery kicked me in the nuts.
Old 08-11-2009, 11:22 PM
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Old 08-12-2009, 12:06 AM
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Wal mart is where i go for my batteries...5 year warranty and open 24 hours.
Old 08-12-2009, 01:11 AM
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Completely agree.. I need to upgrade soon!
Old 08-12-2009, 03:45 AM
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he is under warranty so no cost to him but the next time, got get a quality aftermarket one.
Old 08-12-2009, 06:30 AM
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I went out to dinner last night and when I pulled into the parking lot there was a WDP TSX with it's hood open. Looked like an 06 or newer model and very clean. Shortly after I arrived the AAA man did as well. They ended up changing out the battery. Not sure why Acura decided to go with these cheap batteries. I guess they got a good deal on them in bulk. Anyway, to the OP, glad you had your taken care of.
Old 08-12-2009, 07:34 AM
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well, since your in a warmer climate batteries tend to go quicker because of excessive heat and overcharging. Heat causes the battery fluid to evaporate which damages the internal structure over time. Which could effect the voltage regulartor and charge battery at a higher rate = slow death.
btw My s4 is sitting in my garage in my home in Miami with the battery disconnected sitting on my work bench.

Thats my hypothesis. lol
ohh and acura using cheaper quality batteries = less spent on production = more net.

even my audi came with a crappy battery
Old 08-12-2009, 09:55 AM
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I had contemplated getting an Optima yellow top as when the battery died as I did a search here on the forums. But found a few responses stating that the new battery people received from the dealer is different than the silly one with the window. Figuring this should be covered under warranty, I thought I'd give that a try first. And the new one does have that sticker saying "100 months warranty" on it. So hopefully this one will survive more than a year.

Once I'm out of warranty, however, Optima will be getting my business.

In case people were wondering. The car is 11.5 months old, w/ 6775 miles on it. Not sure if I can really chalk up the premature battery death to overheating and wear-n-tear since the average temperature where I live is about 70.

The service manager even admitted (off the record) that Acura batteries suck. His theory was that Acura's throwing too much technology into the cars but failed to take that into consideration when selecting the right batteries to be used.
Old 08-12-2009, 10:57 AM
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mine failed too right around a year and a half of owning the car. no biggie, as the roadside came pretty quick. he said he's jumped a good number of TL's in the past month alone (at the time). Weir Canyon Acura techs also stayed past 7pm to get my thing done and out that same night iirc.
Old 08-12-2009, 11:47 AM
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I managed to get 5 years out of my stock battery (about 100k miles) before it completely died. A red top is sitting under the hood now
Old 08-12-2009, 11:49 AM
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Yellowtop under my hood. Was in my TSX, now the TL-S.
Old 08-12-2009, 06:53 PM
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I thought I would add myself to the list. My battery crapped out a couple weeks ago with no warning. My car was built 02/2008 and had 6900 at the time. Dealer replaced it under warranty. On the other hand my 2005 4Runner still has the original battery (Panasonic) and is still going strong.
Old 08-12-2009, 07:32 PM
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did your battery show any signs or symptoms of going out? Bought my car used and the battery is 4 years old
Old 08-12-2009, 08:55 PM
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Wow, it did not even make one year.

I have been lucky so far - so far, so good.
Old 08-13-2009, 02:05 AM
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I had absolutely no signs that the battery was going to crap out. I simply didn't drive it for... 3 days (Sat/Sun/Mon). Was driving the RDX running errands over the weekend. Wanted to take the TL to work in the morning and kaplut. And it wasn't as if I left the trunk open or left the lights on.

And the service report indicates:
Old 08-13-2009, 02:19 AM
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Originally Posted by usc
BOO for waking up in the morning and getting down to the garage only to find I'm unable to unlock the car with the remote.

BOO for roadside assistance, taking close to 90minutes to send someone to my parking garage, where I baaaarely made it to Santa Monica Acura for diagnosis and swap. (7pm close)

Hurray for Santa Monica Acura service depo for sticking around and getting the battery swapped out for me under warranty.

Big fat BOO to Acura for shafting all of us with shitty batteries. Seriously, WTH.

/end rant

Good luck to everyone else whose stock battery hasn't failed them once. I was hoping I'd go unscathed but 11.5 months after my purchase, the battery kicked me in the nuts.
Maybe you should of bought a lexus lol just joking
Old 08-13-2009, 02:46 PM
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Zing!

Nah, sister-in-law recently bought the is250 w/ navi. Holy smokes that car is expensive for what it is. That or the Acura TL was so much better in value (bang-for-the-buck)! Minus the Made in Macau battery.
Old 08-13-2009, 09:24 PM
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anyone who replaces a battery should drive it an hour to fully charge, then take it to a parts store (usa members) for a free system test
Make sure the alternator is putting out the correct amount and the voltage regulator is performing on spec

Too much juice boils the ~water~ out
Old 08-13-2009, 09:38 PM
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I waxed the car today and had the radio playing. After about an hour, I decided to pull into the garage to get out of the heat and...grumble click click click. Dead. The battery in this car was replaced with an OEM one in 2007 @ 50K miles by the previous owner.

Note: Avoid Acura batteries. Unless you want to carry jumper cables in your trunk at all times.
Old 08-14-2009, 09:38 PM
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I don't know if I'm doing something right or different than most of you or am plain lucky, but I got 8.5 years out of my original Accord battery and am currently still running my original TL battery 5.5+ years
Old 08-16-2009, 10:11 AM
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Batteries can be a crap shoot for all kinds of reasons - I've had em last for 5-6 years. But then, have seen them eat it in less than a year. My Landlord's battery in his 8 month old Lincoln MKS went completely dead after 7 months....
Old 08-16-2009, 02:24 PM
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The stock battery is too small in my opinion for a car like the TL. Almost everything in this car is electrical and draws lots of amps when things are running. Sometimes we forget to think that we may not run the car long enough to let the battery charge up.
Old 08-16-2009, 02:48 PM
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That happened to me this past weekend. I drove the Tuesday morning, then went away for vacation. Started it Sunday morning, it was totally and absolutly dead. had to get a jump. It stuggles to start the car sometimes too. I need to take it to Acura to get checked out.

Questions: When they check out the battery and if the alternator is putting out teh right voltage, etc...will they be able to figure out that I have an underdrive pulley on the car? I don't have a system or anything like that, so it's not like the underdrive pulley is causing the car to not get enough voltage to operate properly.
Old 08-16-2009, 03:57 PM
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Originally Posted by mglax13
That happened to me this past weekend. I drove the Tuesday morning, then went away for vacation. Started it Sunday morning, it was totally and absolutly dead. had to get a jump. It stuggles to start the car sometimes too. I need to take it to Acura to get checked out.

Questions: When they check out the battery and if the alternator is putting out teh right voltage, etc...will they be able to figure out that I have an underdrive pulley on the car? I don't have a system or anything like that, so it's not like the underdrive pulley is causing the car to not get enough voltage to operate properly.
It shouldn't affect their opinion if your car struggles to start sometimes and has been dead upon startup. They more than likely won't replace it if they "test" the battery and it shows up as normal. I took my TL to the Acura dealer yesterday to have some service done and they tested the battery since it died on me this weekend. It tested as normal and the service guy claimed it was "like new." So who knows. Your experience could be different than mine.
Old 08-16-2009, 04:08 PM
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Those of you that have the Delphi electronics batteries, replace them even if they test good because they are garbage and probably will fail prematurly. Thats all I ever saw when I worked at the dealer.
Old 08-16-2009, 07:18 PM
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mine crapped out last night, jumped and drove it to the dealer, will find out tomorrow what they'll do.
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