TLDan2008

This morning, my garaged 2007 TL has a strange problem starting. At first, it started to turn over with the usual sounds, then made a weird wheezy noise, then the usual sounds again, but did not start. I turned the ignition off. When I attempted starting again, just the whining wheezing noise occurs, like some motor (starter?) is spinning, but no engine combustion or startup sounds.

It has sat garaged for 1day.
It has a new battery in the past year.
HFL has been disconnected for several years.

I read some threads this morning, about bad gas science, dead batteries, flooding, etc, but I'm not even getting engine turnover sounds. And it sounds like the battery is fine, since something is whining/wheezing/spinning, no typical dead battery clicking noises.

Oddly I just wanted to move my car out of the garage, so I could work on the snowblower issue (not the shear pins - ugh). When it snows it pours.

I may have to call for a tow to a garage. But figured I'd ping this group for any thoughts/ideas/remedies first.

Thanks.

polobunny

Check battery with multimeter. Do your headlights dim when trying to start the car?

Has the car ever been difficult to start? Your starter motor might be the problem.

HighTL

I had a similar issue when trying to start my car on a cold morning over the weekend in NJ. After many attempts with the "Check starting system" message I tried to jumpstart the which started the car. Not sure if it's a weak battery or the cold morning. I believe my HFL is still connected.

It's been several days now but haven't had any issues starting since.

TLDan2008

OK I feel dumb. I believe it was simply flooded, or had some kind of fuel injection issue. All I did originally this morning was turn the key like I usually do and that wheezing/whining sound started shortly after, but no immediate startup.

It was 10 degrees F this morning, and I think even inside my garage (semi-insulated) it was still pretty cold.

I placed an electric space heater in front of the car blowing warm air into the engine (probably not recommended for all kinds of safety reasons). I then spent several hours diagnosing the snowblower (ugh - appears to be the auger gearbox, but I digress).

The garage was still pretty darn cold - exhaling showed breath pretty well.

I locked/unlocked the TL manually with the key, followed by locking/unlocking using the remote (don't ask, I read something about that somewhere working for some related startup issue, plus my remote has been giving me trouble lately, probably the battery needs replacing, but I'm in the weeds again).

I got in, turned the headlights on, they were nice and bright, and attempted starting the car. Headlights remained bright - did not dim at all. But it was still the wheezing sound only. I then floored the gas pedal and held it down. Suddenly in the wheezing there was a thump, then another, then suddenly two in a row, and more. I kept the gas pedal floored and ignition switch turned on, and after what seemed like forever, it combusted and started up. I yelled hallelujah, jumped out, opened the garage door (yeah should have done that first in any case, but I wanted to save the warmth if the car did not start) and backed it out to the driveway. It's idling now.

Thanks for the quick suggestions. Hope my story helps any others that face the same thing with their TL on a cold winter morning. I'll get the battery checked anyhow, or pick up a meter, but I really don't think that was it since the lights were bright and remained bright, and so I guess the wheezing/whining was simply the starter spinning madly.

It had/has a full tank of Mobil gas, so no Costo-like gas separation science theories.

Dan

HighTL

Actually I think this is what happened to me lol

https://acurazine.com/forums/problem...things-865381/

Turbonut

iTrader: (1)

No car should be started when cold then shut off quickly, but normally the problem is in the ecu logic as some cars are worse than others. Not heard of this problem with the Acura/Honda line.

TLDan2008

This likely explains it. My use case must have really begun when I moved the car into the garage Sunday night. Very likely I did the very same thing described in that link, simply started it up, rolled it forward into the garage, and shut it down, probably all inside a minute or so. On Monday morning, I'm thinking it's the extreme 10% cold seizing up the starter or engine or something, but the car was already flooded. I guess I'll make sure my trip into the garage includes going around the block or to a store first.