Clearly an electrical issue, but not sure what the cause is.

Started the car up this morning and seemed to take an extra second or two to start. Car had been sitting for the last 3 days so I didn't think too much of it. Windows were moving really slowly when I rolled them up. Battery light was on on the dash, but went away after a few miles.

After driving about five miles, car was struggling to get into first gear (automatic transmission) from idle, and was moving roughly up through the gears. Then the airbag indicator in the dash went on and off. Navigation and radio turned off then back on.

At one point decided to turn around and head home because the transmission was just not feeling right. Had to get the rpms up a bit before the car would even move. Then the power steering and brakes got really stiff.

Everything seemed to start riding normal, but when I got to my destination, I turned the car off and tried to re-start... completely DEAD!

Any ideas?

 

I can't speak for the TL, but the exact same thing happened to my Trans Am one night. Turned out the belt driving the alternator became loose and could not effectively charge the battery, resulting in a whole mess of electrical problems (on top of running rough) before I pulled into a parking lot and the battery was dead. Tightened the belt, recharged the battery, and it was good as new.

So the first thing I would check is your belt. Then your alternator itself, use a voltmeter to ensure it is outputting the correct amperage. Other than that, I'm sure someone with more experience (beyond a couple months with these TL's) will chime in.

 

Start here:

1.) Check all battery cables and connections to confirm tight and clean
2.) Check battery voltage with voltmeter
-- assuming pretty low since you say everything is dead
-- when you say "dead", does this mean no chimes or lights at all?
3.) Remove battery have tested

Once you rule those out, then move on to the alternator. My guess is the battery connections are messed up. Rarely does a battery just go completely dead immediately.

 

Is your HFL (hands free link) receiver still plugged in? It's a common cause for rapid battery drain on these cars.

https://acurazine.com/forums/3g-tl-a...c-draw-856535/

 

I should clarify...when I attempted to re-start, I had nothing. No lights, no indicators, no radio. I went out about 2 hours later and the lights came on and the radio, dash all lit up, but not enough juice to start.

I did manage to get it jumped. Drove a for a while without any of the other issues I described from earlier. Turned the car off and attempted to re-start. Again, not enough juice to turn over.

 

Strange....your alternator should have charged the battery when you were "driving for awhile just fine" previously....but if it's dead on a re-start, it would seem to me that just the battery itself is toast.

If you can, remove the battery and take it to autozone. They will be able to put in on a charger that tells you the health of the battery, and whether or not you need to replace it. There should also be a sticker somewhere on the battery that will display the month/year of manufacture. Depending on the age, it could simply be time for a new one.

 

Me thinks you need a new battery, and/or you have something draining it like others have pointed out.

 

Put a new battery in and haven't encountered any issues, but with limited driving so far today. I have been driving different cars for many many years but have never encountered all of these issues while driving with a dead battery. Would a toasted battery typically create all of these other electrical issues while driving???

 

failing battery = fluctuating or overall low voltage. Spikes and dips in voltage affect the ECU in odd ways that manifest in the issues you encountered.

 

I agree with thoiboi, I had a jeep once and it started fine, rode two miles down the road to get gas/coffee and when I went to start it all the lights in the dash came on/ off, rafio on/off, interior lights ect.ect. Come to find out it was just my battery that was bad.

 

Very strange things indeed can happen when a battery starts to fail. Many, many, years ago as a young pup I had a battery drop a cell (one of the six internal cells shorted). I was stuck in a parking lot at 11pm. Crazy flickering lights display on the instrument cluster but interior lights were reasonably bright and headlights even worked. Just couldn't start the car. There was voltage but just not enough overall power to start. AAA comes and gives a jump. Car runs fine all the way home but immediately won't restart. It was a stick so I counted my lucky stars I didn't stall it on the way home. Next day new battery problem solved. Sound familiar?

 

I'm with everyone else, battery is dying/dead or the alternator is going/gone. I'd check the tension on the drive belt just to make sure there isn't any crazy slack, but chances are it's the battery or alternator. I had some similar issues when my alternator positive wire was loose on my old car. Lights would all come on on the dash and the car did cut out and die on me before I found the culprit. Double check all your battery and alternator connections as well, something could be intermittent.

 

If you are going to get your battery tested, I would also have them test the alternator. I remember when the alternator was going bad on mine, it made whining noise while driving and the backup camera would show reverted and few other electrical problems don't know if that was due to the alternator dying or the battery, but found out the alternator needed to be replaced due to a bad diode, after putting new alternator in, few days later the battery started dying as well and the battery was only couple years old, so I put a new battery in as well (was still under 3 years warranty thank god). Right after that, I immediately removed the dead HFL module, I think it was the main reason for draining the battery as this has been a common issue on our TLs.