torxteer

I recently bought a 2004 TL (6MT) / non-nav. I love this car. I finally got around to pairing my phone and can make (and receive, presumably) calls with the HFL -- very nice. One thing, though, is that my back button on steering wheel appears to be non-functional. I can't hang up the phone And if I press the talk button and then decide I don't want to make a call, there appears to be no way to get back to radio mode (short of turning off the car?).

I assume I'm reading the manual right and that indeed my back button is broken.

Has anyone had this issue before?

I assume this is a basic switch, but since it involves the steering wheel (and possibly airbags...), I also assume this is something that I'm gonna have to take to the dealer. Any tips or experience would be greatly appreciated!

Adobeman

It's hard to say if it is the switch or the wiring. If it's the switch it should be a pretty striaght forward repair. The A/B will have to come out of the wheel to get at it though. That's not all that hard to do but don't attempt it unless you are familiar with the shop procedures for doing it. If it's the wiring then that could be a royal PITA.

I'm not that much of a phone user but with an MT the HFL is a godsend. So you should get it looked at. BTW the whole switch assy is about $20 on-line so if you are at comfortable with the work it may be worth a shot. Without a wiring schematic I'm not sure what harnessing you'd even need to check.

Item 003 in this link 35890-SEP-A01 SWITCH ASSY., HANDS FREE

torxteer

Thanks for the info -- and link. Yes, that is pretty cheap. Hmm -- I'll see if I can get any closer to figuring this out. I've got a service manual here, so I'll flip through the procedures annd schematics and see if I can make figure out how I might narrow this down.

I do hope it's the switch -- thanks again for the link.

Trip

Just a thought . . . are you tapping the button only once? I've found that after initiating a call and then cancelling it, tapping once leaves HFL engaged - as if its waiting for another command. I need to tap once or twice more to fully back out of HFL.

torxteer

That's good to know, but I'm definitely hitting this multiple times -- and tried holding it down, etc. All to no avail.

I ordered the part Adobeman suggested, as I figure it's worth me spending $20 to remove the switch from the equation; the airbag removal looks like it's pretty straightforward. I'll make sure to follow procedure closely, as I don't want this $20 project to suddenly become a $500 project

WhenI called Acura the technician said something about a fuse possibly being involved, and when I asked whether the back switch would be on a different fuse from the talk switch they seemed exasperated with me and said they'd have to look into it. I've actually had good experience with Acura dealerships in the past, but after that exchange (which also involved some ridiculous key-cutting quotes), it looks like I'll be taking this to my local Honda dealer instead.

I'll follow up to with the results of the switch replacement.

rbf351

if you open the switch you'll see it's basically 1 wire that works the entire switch. it just uses a bunch of resistors that trigger the proper command when you press the button, and the brown wire is what controls the phone system.

most likely one of the resistors in the switch died, also there is no fuse from the switch to the hfl unit

torxteer

Thank you -- that's very encouraging! Hopefully soon I'll be able to hang up after leaving a voicemail message