Hello Acurazinits ,

My battery has been giving me a hard time for past 2 days. It dies when the car is off overnight and I've had to jump start it in the morning .

However, it starts normally if it has been off for only an hour or so. I measured the voltage at the battery terminals while the car was off and it shows about 12.6 volts.

So, I took the car to Sears and Walmart auto and they both said the battery is fine and doesn't need replacing. I'm not sure how old is the battery since this is a used car but I've had it for 2 years. I don't mind replacing the battery but battery itself seems to be ok.

Here are some side notes if it helps someone diagnose the problem:

• Ever since the battery started dying, the driver side front window started giving problems. It doesn't automatically roll up/down. I've to hold the window button to close/open. Normally, this would happen automatically, if you just press the key once. The passenger side front window works fine.
• Everything else seems to be working fine - GPS/Nav, radio, lights.
• I've an aftermarket iPhone adapter installed (iSimple) and that also works

Probably below issues are separate but I'll list anyways, if at all they are related to the battery problem.

• My HFL suddenly stopped working a couple of months ago. Now pressing the HFL button does nothing, no voice feedback, or display indication
• Cruise main button also stopped working a couple of weeks ago. It just won't stay on. Pops right back.

I guess I'm on a bad streak , I can live w/o HFL and cruise for now but can't live with the battery dying every morning. I am totally lost and not sure what to do. Any insights will be appreciated .

As always, thanks to Acurazine for all the informative posts and DIYs.

 

HFL is the culprit, it drains the battery.
disconnect it.

also there is a reset trick for the window.

 

Thanks justnspace for your quick response.

I'll try disconnecting the HFL. I'd assume just remove the fuse for the HFL? Or it is more than that?

Btw, if HFL was the problem then shouldn't the battery also have started dying 2 months ago (when HFL died)?

Thanks again.

 

 

Thanks gwiffer. I did measure the current and it seemed to be reaching as high as 720mA, when everything was off.

I am yet to pin point the exact cause. I'm going to remove fuse #15 from under the hood and leave it over night. I think that one is for HFL but not 100% sure.

 

What is the HFL and how to you disable it?

 

^Hands Free Link.

you only need to disable it or replace it if its draining your battery.

 

Hey justnspace, do you know what exactly disables the HFL without removing the entire HFL assembly?

I read in some of the forums here, and people seem to suggest different fuse numbers but without 100% surety.

Thanks

 

I dont remember reading on how to; butt, I believe you actually have to take the unit itself out.
almost like if you were going to replace it.

if you dont care about the HFL, i would just leave it disconnected/removed
butt thats me.

 

Thanks.

Anyways, so I did this test: Removed the fuse #15 from under the hood and fuses 6 & 7 from driver side interior and battery is good overnight.

Tonight I'm just going to remove fuse 6 and see the battery condition. According to latest Acura TSB 05-020 interior fuse 6 seems to be controlling the HFL unit.

 

Glad you're being a detective to figure it out!

 

A HFL replacement should correct the draining issue.

 

I completely removed my HFL from the overhead panel since there's no way I'm paying the big bucks the dealer wants to replace it when I don't even use it. And my battery draining problems vanished.....

 

^ .............and what is the dealer asking?

 

^way more than you can afford, pal.

 

Don't mess with the fuses, disconnect the HFL. I did it recently and it took less than 10 min and was super east to do. Any fuse you pull is going to disable a bunch of other things. Check you tube there is a DIY video to give you an idea of what needs to be done. I never use my HFL so I just disconnected it and left it there, only thing it effected is no more voice navi control.

 

Thanks everyone for your input.

Hispeed - I just removed the fuse (#6) to quickly determine (as opposed to removing the HFL module) if it indeed was HFL and not something else. And not surprisingly HFL was the culprit. It was drawing 380mA with the HFL and about 50mA w/o it when car was off/sleeping.

Anyways now I'm talking with Acura corporate regarding this. I want them to know (even though they already know it) that their HFL hardware sucks. I don't expect much out of it since the car is long out of warranty. But still want to try if they'll cover the HFL replacement.

Btw, if anyone wants Acura's twitter handle is @AcuraClientCare and they seem to monitor it. https://twitter.com/AcuraClientCare

 

If you do end up buying a new one, they were about $150 when I looked.

 

Excellent video tutorial!! I've had a draw issue for over a year and have been quote mucho $$$ for a diagnostic. I'm going to go through this process and report what I've found...thanks for posting this...very much appreciated

 

I am hopeful tht REMOVING the unit from the overhead will help my issue. I have a 2005 and my battery also drains overnight. About two weeks ago i went into the overhead dome light access and just unplugged the HFL. But still my battery drains. AAA checked my amperage drain on the battery with the car off and I am sitting around 1 amp. which is VERY high... I also noted that my driver side fog light, driver side running lights, driver side dash lights, the light inside the center console and my trunk light ALL do not work, however I have been on a deployment for the navy oversea's for awhile so these might have just gone out. My batter is BRAND NEW as of about 2 weeks ago. Grrrrr... I hate electrical issue's.