matou1947

Being in electronics i checked all capacitors on my single board 2008 HFL module that would not pair my Iphone 4 and two other phones , capacitors all good, i then checked all solders ha ha... redid solder on 4 capacitors.They had either too little solder or greyish look contacts.I also resoldered two pins of the grey connector, One had no solder on one side and the other was cracked.
Bingo it paired first time.
P.S. Although it is well fixed the board should have been fixed on all four corners to make sure it would not vibrate. Idealy it should have been shock mounted. Why? Since there is no more
lead in the solder we see regularly cracked solders and too little solder on pads and if the board vibrates as in a printer that makes solder cracks,

autoperformance

Could you tell me exactly what you do to fix ? I have a single board 2007 and sometime my HFL work sometime don't.

If you have some picture to show where is the problem in your board that could help me a lot.

thank you

JOHN0183

I was wondering what year mdx did you use for the tl maybe I could find a used one . And also you by any chance have the schematic where to replace the capacitor on a 2007 Acura TL base .

autoperformance

?

matou1947

Bad solders could be anywhere on the board and on the connector of the HFL module. Check all the capacitors pads to see if there is enough solder on the pads, use a magnifying glass and check if the solder is cracked. The solder joint should not have surface pitting. Look for bad solder joints images on Google. These days we have more bad solder because there is no more lead in solder that to meet the now mandatory ROHS norm. Adding solder is relatively easily with a 40 watts soldering iron and a long tip. The hard part is removing the capacitors if they need to be replaced. Do not... do not try to replace those surface mount capacitors if you do not have a solid soldering experience. BELEIVE me you gone ruin your board. If you see a capacitor with a dome shape top it is bad, they may look perfect but be bad. Some multimeters have a function to test capacitors but when they are in some circuits you can not read their true value. Sometimes you can, if you can find such a multimeter test all capacitors, start with the large one. Their value is written on the capacitor, if the value that you read is within 20 pourcent of the value on the capacitor it is good, otherwise you will not be able to check the value unless you remove at least one leg of the capacitor and do not forget find someone to do it for you if you have no experience in removing surface mount capacitors.

kpaul5257

FYI - Acura is finally getting sued over the dead battery issues caused by defective HFL module. I have a 2005 TL that the battery goes dead after sitting for a few days. Had to disconnect the HFL like everyone else because I don't want to pay to have it fixed. The attorney's website has an easy online form to fill out to be added to the lawsuit.

https://hbsslaw.com/cases/honda-acur...reelink-defect

Case update it is proceeding to discovery! Honda knew about it since 2005 with older models not just "X"s.

DEFENDANT NAME: American Honda Motor Company Inc.
CASE NUMBER: 16-cv-04507
COURT: U.S. District Court for the Central District of California
PRACTICE AREA: Automotive Litigation, Consumer Rights
STATUS: Active
DATE FILED: 06/22/16
KEY ATTORNEYS:
Steve W. Berman
Catherine Y.N. Gannon
Christopher R. Pitoun
RELATED DOCUMENTS:
Order Granting in Part and Denying in Part Defendant's Motion to Dismiss 04/25/17
Amended Complaint 10/17/16
Complaint 08/03/16
CONTACT:
206-623-7292
CASE UPDATE

Judge Jon S. Tigar, of the Northern District of California, recently denied (download Judge Tigar's Order) in large part Honda’s requests to dismiss plaintiffs’ claims—representing a big win for consumers. In doing so, Judge Tigar found it was plausible that the HandsFree Link defect posed a safety risk because drained batteries could cause the car to stop unexpectedly on the road. He also found that plaintiffs have adequately plead that Acura/Honda knew about the relationship between the HandsFree Link and drained batteries as early as 2005, but withheld this information from consumers. With this decision, a large number of Plaintiffs’ claims are allowed to continue.

Plaintiffs anticipate filing an amended complaint by July 2017, which will update some of the allegations at issue, and are eager to move forward with the discovery process in order to build on the momentum of this recent win.

jon2000

Great post! I tried to sign up for this but it's only for USA and I'm in Canada. I replied in kpaul5257's new thread about this as well.

kpaul5257

You could use my address

StealthTL-S

I removed my dead HFL module. I had delayed buying a new one. Is my battery slowing draining?? It still says pending bluetooth if I go through the menu and stop on the display.
I had terrible corrosion on my battery that I cleaned and it returned. I have cleaned it again and greased it this time. I am just about to order a new one, but it is $310.00 ($50.00 back for core) at OEM acura parts.

guitarplayer16

iTrader: (8)

Your battery sholdn't be draining.

I've had my HFL unplugged for a long time and it says "BOOTING UP" when you go use the MID. No problems with battery draining. I can go a couple weeks without driving my car and no problems starting.

StealthTL-S

Thank you man.

dmarcus48

Make sure you unplug or remove the dead bt module. If you don't it'll drain the battery.

Dave

dealdynamo

Thx I pulled fuse 6 and 7 and now it WORKS you are a genius

Ray-Ray

Many thanks to this forum and you hardy contributors---I fixed my hands-free link AND my dead battery problems with a quick repair.
My '06 TL Navi (bought new) had started to develop an iffy battery about the same time I really started driving it less, and I, along with my local mechanic, assumed it was the extended sitting that was killing my battery. A few months ago, I even had them run full electrical tests on it, and they didn't detect any drainage happening, and the battery tested fine, so they sent me away with recommendation to keep it on a trickle charger, which I did.
Not long after, I was researching the other problem I had, which was that my TL no longer saw my phone, wouldn't let me pair one, and when I forced the issue, I ended up with the eternal "booting up" message. Was unable to run diags via phone buttons on steering wheel, and when I tried to issue ANY phone-type spoken commands, I would just get changed fan speed or navi setting. Also noted the mentioned warm ceiling panel just aft of mirror when car was otherwise cold. This forum led me to suspect my HFL could be fixed, and dang if maybe the battery problem wasn't connected, too. Confident but not brave, I passed on baking the board or doing the capacitor fix, and opted to send away to OEMAcuraParts for the replacement HFL module: $215 net after returning old module for core credit.
Installed it one month ago. I haven't done my own work on my car in 20 years, and this took me 20 minutes---and I was being super careful at that. (Once unscrewed, ceiling bezel rained down bits of dried up plastic.) It's magical to have the car just start every time w/o wondering, and though the hands-free was less important, I paired it up immediately and it's worked solid since.
This forum has saved me pain and money, and not for the first time (check out their XM radio renewal procedures sometime). $215, 20 minutes, and my battery and phone problems are gone. Gracias all.

BiggieN

Last year when I purchased an '06 TL and HFL didn't recognize voice commands, "I'm sorry, could you repeat", I assumed it was disconnected due to the known battery drain issues.
How can I determine if the HFL is disconnected?

peter6

If it answers anything, then it is still connected.

If it's bad or disconnected, buttons for calling do nothing, and if you use menu buttons to find Hfl on list and press OK, it will say "Booting up"

Jottle

Hoping the class action goes somewhere and gets us a cheaper replacement bluetooth module. I miss having mine, and won't pay the ridiculous replacement price.

RJS Aviation

I had the problem...bad capacitor on the hfl bluetooth board on my 2006 Acura TL.

Youtube video I found was no good at the beginning...this one as well. They are wrong, at least in my 2006 TL.


Problem: I couldn't get under the edge of the plastic.

So...I read the manual. The manual says:

1. Remove the moonroof switch, unplugging the harness

2. Remove the dark plastic piece that holds the lights.

This works much better, because it is relatively easy to remove the moonroof switch (because it is designed to be easily removed). Once you remove the switch, you can slide your fingers above the plastic piece and then just pull it down. Voila!

To assemble, you put the switch into the dark plastic piece and then connect the harnesses. You do this because you can't connect the harness to the moonroof switch if you put the dark plastic piece in first.

dmarcus48

I had the teams issue with my 06 tl (1st owner) The car has been great, I have 110k on it now, the only issues I have had are an accelerater sending unit and the truck opener (the selenoid worked but whatever it pushed against broke. And the bt module. Tried the oven fix that t didn't last. I spent 2 years deciding whetwhe to go with an aftermaket device or go with own. I found a used bt module on ebay for $65, it's been ok so far.

carl53

Wife's 08 TL w Navi at 162k miles, HFL stopped working recently. Module is the single board. Priced out replacement modules at better part of $400. This thread led me to decide to try the baking technique.
I did 9 minutes at 385F. It worked. I notice that several of the bezel supports showed cracks when I went to reinstall the screws. Must have been tightened too tight upon factory installation or it was changed before. We've had the vehicle since 80k in 2013.

Thanks to all for your input as this makes for a pleased spouse, and no out of pocket expense. Worth two smiles.

carl53

Unfortunately, the baking fix only lasted a day. Tried redoing it without success. Left it unplugged.

freerj

Hi - great thread. I too am attempting to diagnose these problems but haven't had any real luck yet. Here goes:

Background: 06 TL 6 speed, non-Navi, 175kmi. Have owned the car for 2 years, bluetooth paired and all worked well with HFL. About 2 months back, bluetooth started to get "crackly" on audio, then within a couple days, it would no longer detect my phone. When cleared and attempt to re-pair, no phones detected. On dash display shows "No information available", and the self test from holding down both buttons says "no problems detected" etc. Definitely do not get the "BOOTING" display that others in the thread have seen.

1. On my original unit, I followed the instructions and successfully installed a 220uF through hole cap on the pads for the original. After reassembly, the phone did pair, and it worked for about 2 weeks. Then the HFL will no longer detect the phone. I re-soldered some of the main through hole connectors that looked suspect on the main board, but no change.

2. I ordered a replacement off ebay for like $100. Plugged it in and the system was non-responsive. No audio prompt or any visual indication that HFL is working when I press either the CALL or BACK buttons. No response to holding the buttons for self-diagnostic etc. I then took the processor daughter card from the original assembly and plugged it into the main board and gave it a shot. It worked as described in (1) above, but still no Bluetooth pairing or detection of phones. The part number I purchased used here was 39770-SEP-A02ZA


3. I ordered a second replacement from Amazon that was supposed to be a new unit (was in sealed Honda factory bag), though I bought a brown interior color unit vs. the gray one because the gray ones were out of stock and I could easily just trade the board over. Same thing: Plugged it in and the system was non-responsive. No audio prompt or any visual indication that HFL is working when I press either the CALL or BACK buttons. No response to holding the buttons for self-diagnostic etc. I then again took the processor daughter card from the original assembly and plugged it into the main board and gave it a shot. It worked as described in (1) above, but still no Bluetooth pairing or detection of phones. The part number I purchased here new was 39770-SEP-A02ZB

Here are my questions:

A. Is the actual bluetooth module on the daughter board? Where is the antenna? Something specific on the daughter board I should look for?

B. Why would (2) daughter boards, supposedly good, not work? Is there some firmware update I need to do to my non-navi head unit to get things working? Something else? Seems strange that I got two bad units, one of which should have been brand new?

C. Is there anything I should be looking for in the wiring harness? Is there something that we've seen break there I need to be looking for?

What do you suggest for next steps? I'm $350 deep in this so far with no joy.

THANKS!

thoiboi

I commend you on your dedication to troubleshooting the board but it's notoriously bad and I personally would not be surprised if the board were DOA, they're so bad.. I don't believe the 06 comes with an Aux port but personally, I would just add one, add a Bluetooth Aux adapter of sorts and then just have the ability to take calls AND stream music as well!

08Acura13

Have an 07 Acura Tl with Nav. My original HFL unit went out and ordered a used unit on Ebay ( big risk). Installed...every thing works but will not pair the screen says, "no information available". Since I bought the unit used it had six phones listed as being paired. Tried doing a system clear and all the prompts work until I try to do a system clear it just keep saying... do I want to delete say "OK" I say it and it walks me through the process all over again. Is there another way to perform a hard reset for the HFL. I think it might be my Iphone I have a 7 Plus and think it might not be compatible but wanted to try a system reset.

thoiboi

08Acura13

All the voice commands work it just wont pair. It doesn't give the typical boot up in the MID screen either. When I select the handsfree it simply says no information available.

Clint08TLNAV

Looks like i'm going to try the BT45-ACU. My module died and was draining the battery so I removed it. I've already tried replacing capacitors and what not so i'm pretty much done with trying to repair it. Honestly, if I can get something that will allow me to stream music wirelessly then I might prefer that to OEM anyway. Looks like the only issue might be running the microphone but i'll figure it out and post after i'm finished and have used it for a while. For $130 it seems like a pretty good deal.

kon21

Did you pull from the internal fuse box or the engine fuse box?

peter6

I'm gonna bet it's the under-dash fuse box (one inside the car, not under the hood). But that will just reset the HFL.

GreggS



hafloresg

Hi Godin Technologies,
Are you guys still on business? My HFL - Bluetooth (2008 Acura TL Base model) is not working.

Ron A

In case they don't happen to see your post, which is likely due to the age of the post,here is their contact info.

Godin Technologies
196 Grand Oak Cir
Venice FL 34292
941-773-3848