awood

When I first start my car, before the NAV has got its position from the positioning system, it seems to "guess" which way I'm going. I assume it has a built in compass.

The problem is that the "guess" is about 40 degress off counter-clockwise, so the car position gets to be off by a significant amount.

I'm guessing this is fixed since no matter which directly the car is pointing, its still off by 40 degress.

Altering the position of the car in the setup menu doesn't help. When I power off the car, the problem comes right back.

Is there a way to calibrate the nav?

Thanks.

Desert_TL

Get in your car, turn the nav on, and hold down the "GUIDE", "MENU", and "CANCEL" buttons for about 5 seconds. The factory calibration screen will come up. Go through all of the screens and all of the options and see if there is a direction calibration in there. There should be.

kenny5

If I remember correctly, the owner's manual does not recommend tinkering with the nav calibration, although you may do so. If your nav worked well (initially) when you got the car (assuming you got it new) but is now malfunctioning, this appears to warrant a visit to the dealership.

kenny5

If I remember correctly, the owner's manual does not recommend tinkering with the nav calibration, although you may do so. If your nav worked well (initially) when you got the car (assuming you got it new) but is now malfunctioning, this appears to warrant a visit to the dealership. BTW, have your installed any aftermarket device or tinting near your nav antenna that may interfere with gps reception? If so, remove them to see if your problem persists.

Xpditor

Did you, by any chance, have metallic tint installed on the back window (contrary to the warning in the navi owner's manual?

Also, GPS has no way of knowing what direction you are pointed. It only knows where you are. If you are moving, it knows which way you are headed.

It is the gyros in the navi system which can tell instantly when you turn and which keep track of your heading from motion sensing. It is possible that portion of your navi is malfunctioning.

When I start up in the morning, the directional triangle is the same as it was when I put it to bed- accurately pointing East.

I would ask the dealer to check it (and then hold my breath that they know what they are doing).

rocketguy

I noticed this compass mis-pointing issues when I first got my '06 TL back in May. On my TL, if you DO NOT have any route guidance (blue route) in use, then the compass seems to update ONLY when you change roads (names). If you ARE using route guidance the compass seems to update continually.

When the compass is mis-pointing, touch the compass screen (change to "N up Heading") then change back to the compass, the compass will point correctly; I call this "forced updating" of the compass. I'm assuming this is normal for the older nav systems and no I do not have tint on my windows.

The GPS system can determine direction but only if your moving.

If this 'awood' and I are the only compass mis-pointing are the only two that this is occuring to then we have the same problem and we my need to see the dealer.

When I test drove an '07 TL-S the new, improved navigation system's compass seemed to update continually all the time.

Desert_TL

Yeah but the thing is, it doesn't matter if the compass updates "all the time" if the compass itself is out of calibration. Even if it updates continuously, then all it will do is continuously tell him that he's off by 40 degrees.

Get into that nav system and calibrate it yourself! Don't be a wimp! It's easy, it will take you 2 minutes, and you don't have to drive all the way to the Acura dealership and explain/argue with them about why they should fix it for free. (Anyone who has done the startup screen/no nag hack as explained in the electronics forum has had to enter the nav's factory diagnostic screen and none of them have ever had any problems, myself included!)