oh, didn't know what I was thinking. I meant to say the plastic connector between the 2 boards. it fell off the tin foil and touched the surface of the oven. I might have been thinking about switching the burnt bulbs in my HVAC while typing that out. Silly me

 

Hmm.. interesting development.

So I just had an idea after reading what you did to get it to work again.

What if I potted the entire board. This would prevent it from separating and could prevent heat from transferring into it.

I currently don't have one, I pitched the two that I had out since I couldn't get them to work.

But I may purchase a new one and pot the entire thing inside of the plastic black case that goes over it.

That would prevent components from lifting and should help with the heat transfer in the roof since plastic is not a good conductor of heat.

 

or if you have pics of the 2 boards (top and bottom) + from the green connector, that would help a bit too, I am just hoping that they only switched some wires within the connector and there is not a major change...

thanks!

 

Here these should help.

Looks like the only difference is a couple wires jumpered ?

Says for the '04 M/T, not sure if the others are the same.

 

I have a HFL Module for sale if anyone is interested. It was installed in the car for only 2 weeks and works perfectly. The only reason I am selling is because we sold the car and the new owner was not interested in the bluetooth functionality lol.

 

where are you located and how much do u ask for it?

thanks.

 

LF,

Can't send you PMs. Your quota is full.

 

Baking the boards for 8min@385F worked for this guy! 2006 TSX (Bluetooth module in passenger right-side kickpanel.)

 

Hey guys i found this one hope helps
http://www.acuraoemparts.com/delray/...FQqk4Aod1kkAZQ

 

LMAO, I love acurazine...the cycle of posting and threads.
It's like a repeated guy coming up on a piece of land and "discovering America" in 1493, then 1495 again etc.

Still nice of you to share!

 

anybody still have the original pics from mmclendon? his links are no good

lfpayne, can't PM. do you still have the HFL unit for sale?

 

Hi,
I was reading one post in AcuraZine about hidden feature of Acura TL such as making a phone call on the phone and transfer it to HFL in TL, and I was so motivated to do this function though my HFL died last year! So I tried baking HFL circuits in the oven last night (7pm), it worked! and all phone calls were made properly and even old phone-book information were still there. I was a little worried about battery in this morning but it was ok, I came to work with no issue as usual, HFL was still working. I do not know how long this lasts and will update if I see any battery issue or HFL failure again! FYI, I used foil to cover top & bottom and foil ball to support underneath circuit panel. 385 degree 8 mins.

 

first thing i do when i get home (after changing my kid's diapers) is to bake my hfl. i can't justify the $170 for a new module since i can't find anything cheaper used

 

My hfl link is acting up too. I've had the car for 2/3 weeks and it has never worked. I worked for like 15 min. today but wouldn't pair to my phone,now back to no response. I have a 2006 Tl with Navi..My board looks nothing like the one's I 've seen on the thread..

http://
http://
http://L=http://s1313.photobucket.com/user/jsmack27/media/photo3-1_zpsb10909ac.jpg.html][/URL]

 

Uhm, that's the homelink board for opening your garage door.

After you pop out the black piece with the homelink and lights look back up where it was.

There are 4 like 8mm bolts you take out then remove the bezel that the other assembly was snapped into. Your HFL is in the front part of this, one more connector and the whole thing comes out.

 

Mzilvar, thanks.. I feel silly for not even looking up after I pulled the lights out. Thanks

 

Well I found a guy that was close and was parting out a 05 TL, so I bought the Bezel with the hfl in it for $40 total. I installed it today and the button works now!! but now I have a new problem. The car won't recognize my iphone 4s. I did the system clear step and when it gets to the part to search for phones, my iphone doesn't see the car.

 

Well, my Bluetooth has been out for awhile now. Came back to see if any new tricks worked, and found the baking idea. Tried to for 7 min......let it cool. Reinstalled it, no go. Waited til the next day, baked it @ 385 for 9 min this time, and low and behold, It Worked! Has been working fine for a few days now. We will see for how long! Thanks for the idea!

 

finally pulled my board. cap looks good to the naked eye but i'm sure its toast with the hot temps in florida. next step, bake time....

 

There are firmware updates for the HFL module that improve/add support for phones. ie one was recently added to improve Siri support. TSB 12-032 details the procedure and tools needed. The tools are cables to connect a laptop to your car and Acura software, so it's a dealer job.

 

I've read that potting isn't generally used on boards with surface mount components as the expansion and contraction of the potting compound exacerbates the very problem it is supposted to correct.

 

cooked everything for 9min. no go. they proceed to precision solder all caps/components individually. still no go. i keep getting the "Booting Up" when in my HFL menu. i just need to order me a new one and put this past me

 

^sorry to hear that. To be honest I didn't have my fingers crossed that it would work, and am still surprised it did. I did not seperate the boards, and also placed the boards on the foil balls (4 of them to raise it off the cookie sheet).

Before the baking, all I had was "booting up" on the MID under HFL!

 

i do appreciate the advice and guidance. can't say i didn't try. cheers to AZ and all the great peeps that contribute

 

new hfl module arrived yesterday. replace the old with the new within 10 mins and immediately was able to pair my phone and setup my phonebook. sigh!!! its good to have my bluetooth again

 

I replaced the cap. Re_touched the solder on other power supply caps too. I powered the unit and measured the voltages all levels are stable. But it did not work. But thanks for all the ideas.

 

Makes sense, I've got an android tab in my dash now though and have calls routed to Google Voice so I can just use the tab.

Still trying to get a mic input to work on it though, bluetooth headsets are borked on the N7 unless they've come out with a fix recently.

I'll probably never purchase another HFL again.

 

Again, for the Canadian folks, I believe there are good news, the US and Canadian models seem to be identical, check this out:
http://www.acura-cl.com/forums/showt...php?p=14165089

Thanks to mattymac, if it goes well, he (she) just saved me about $400 which is the difference that the Canadian dealers are ripping us off, sorry, charging us up here.

Cheers.

 

My blue tooth randomly stopped working one day and now when i tryed hooking up my iphone to it, it lags out on the last step. Anyideas? Its an 05 acura tl

 

Try turning off your WiFi on the iPhone. For some reason it was interfering with my ability to pair my iPhone 5 to my TL ('06). It would time out at the last step, but after turning off the WiFi it went through smoothly.

 

Hey, how is your HFL after couple of months, still ok?

Thanks.

 

Hey Guys, I just signed up specifically for this thread and more or less revive the issue. I have a 2005 Acura TL myself, I was experiencing HFL problems and getting stuck at BOOTING UP, so after investigation of the issue and much help from you guys. I have fixed the issue.
I own a few Smartphone/Computer repair shops in Florida but we will pretty much fix anything with a PCB.

The conclusion I have come to is the problem all comes down to the board connector, after many hours of examining both boards and testing every circuit with a multimeter and power source my HFL is hot from the harness all the way in. So I disconnected the top board and tested all the pins in the connector, same thing all fine. So I did what a few members did, I applied pressure to the connector and sure enough the HFL Booted and everything worked perfectly. Within a few minutes the Bluetooth disconnected and would no longer pair with my phone or any other for that matter. So to get to what I did, I pulled the HFL out again and returned to my shop, most guys using ovens it's a great tip but risky as you could cause more damage to the PCB. We have a SMD Rework station, it is a small station that produces hot air which is controllable and regulated, I used the smallest nozzle I had and reflowed the main Bluetooth chip. What I did it directly heated the chip at 90 degrees Celsius for 120 seconds, than increased to 120 degrees celsicus and all the way up to 300 degrees Celsius. The reason for this is you do not want to "shock" the chipset by raising the heat to fast. Once the chip reached 300 degrees Celsius on the surface (you can verify by user a laser thermo) I let it cool for 45 minutes. Next thing I did was checked the capacitor and added some thicker solder points using some Rosen Core. Next thing was the connector, this was the culprit, same thing I heated all the points till the solder liquified and than cooled. Next I joined the boards together and used a silicon based adhesive and painted the connector to join together, this created a tight seal but if ever need to split a razor blade would slice right threw it. After than I took foam and cut a thin rectangular piece and seated it on the bottom of the board than reassembled so when putting the shroud back on and replacing the 3 screws it would apply pressure to keep the connector locked. After all that my HFL worked perfectly and the voice recognition works amazingly. I know this is a very long post for my first post but hopefully it'll help someone. I am also considering offering a service to do all of this and warranty it through my company and offer a mail in service. If anyone has any questions and need help DIY Ill be more than happy to help anyway possible.

 

Thanks for the info GramKrackr, would you think a heat gun would be a little more sufficient in a at home DIY reflow vs the oven?

 

If you find a cheap solution please advise ... I have the same problem with my 04 tl

 

Hey GramKrackr,

Thanks for sharing, I can see that you put some time into it and we all appreciate your feedback. Also thanks for offering to help others.
I would be cautious though, in your case the culprit was the connector, but any part on the board can get a poor connection and there are quite a few on board (especially the SMD ones).
Do you believe that the poor ventilation of the module combined with the heat it generates is what loosens the solder connections?

 

just took my 06 TL in the shop today and they covered the HFL unit. If you have your warranty you should be good. Also, they noted a drain on the battery from this.

 

How do you still have warranty on an '06? My bumper to bumper expired in July of '12 on my '08. HFL module crapped out in May of this year. Dealer and Acura customer care were no help. Just replaced this weekend ($175 for the new module). I plan to get into the failed module to see if I can repair (or have someone repair it) and save as a spare.

 

Does anyone have the photos that are mentioned in this thread? I have tried to go to the link but it appears to be gone. My HFL is out and I'd like to give this repair a shot but I'm not sure which capacitor is being referenced. I have found out that all of the units are the same only the housing is different so I can just buy one on e-bay, but I figure if I can get it working this way it's worth it to try.

 

I just looked at the photos from mzilvar. Are all HFL units supposed to have 2 boards? I've got an '07 TL S Type and there was only one board in mine when I took it apart?

 

You gave a link to a site here you had posted pictures but it seems to be broken. Can you repost pics that show which caps we should be looking at.