Acura TL dying
08-04-2012, 11:09 PM
#1
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Acura TL dying
I have an '05 Acura TL which I bought this December. It was clearly well kept and is in just about perfect condition despite its age.
I had no problems until about 2 months ago. I am only 16 so every time that my family goes to my baseball tournaments or vacations out of town, we take my parents' car and mine stays home. When I have gotten back from these vacations, some just three days, for about the past 2 months each time my car has been dead. After the first time, I have checked it thoroughly to make sure no interior lights or such have been left on. It is totally dead to the point where the key won't unlock it without manually sticking it in.
We took it to the shop and he did not find anything wrong with it. While looking through the car records, we noticed the previous owners reported very similar problems and had the battery replaced just February 2011. (The reason that we think the battery may not be the problem.)
Does anyone have any idea of what may be causing this? Is there something that I could possibly be leaving on that is running the battery down? Is this a problem that has shown up before?
All help greatly appreciated.
I had no problems until about 2 months ago. I am only 16 so every time that my family goes to my baseball tournaments or vacations out of town, we take my parents' car and mine stays home. When I have gotten back from these vacations, some just three days, for about the past 2 months each time my car has been dead. After the first time, I have checked it thoroughly to make sure no interior lights or such have been left on. It is totally dead to the point where the key won't unlock it without manually sticking it in.
We took it to the shop and he did not find anything wrong with it. While looking through the car records, we noticed the previous owners reported very similar problems and had the battery replaced just February 2011. (The reason that we think the battery may not be the problem.)
Does anyone have any idea of what may be causing this? Is there something that I could possibly be leaving on that is running the battery down? Is this a problem that has shown up before?
All help greatly appreciated.
08-04-2012, 11:21 PM
#2
Senior Moderator
You might have a bad Bluetooth/Hands Free Module that is causing the dead battery. The best way to see if this is the problem is to get some alligator clip wires like these:
and a digital multimeter (voltmeter) (found at stores for 5-20 dollars):
and make sure you have your radio codes, presets, etc written down. Take the positive terminal off the battery and hook it up to the negative side of the multimeter using the alligator wires. Then take the positive side of the multimeter and hook it up to the battery. Make sure the multimeter is in Milliamps!!!!! DO NOT TRY TO START YOUR CAR WITH THE MULTIMETER HOOKED UP!!!!!!
Close the hood and lock the car. The multimeter should be reading somewhere in the 200-250 mA range. Wait at least 20 minutes and check what the reading is. If it is still 200+ mA then you have something draining on the battery. If it's around 30-50mA then you don't have anything draining on the battery.
If there is a drain, pull out the fuse for the Hands Free Link (HFL) module and repeat. If it's still high after that time period, pull out the fuses for stuff 1 at a time (don't replace the fuses taken out!!!) and you can narrow it down to what system is the faulty one.
and a digital multimeter (voltmeter) (found at stores for 5-20 dollars):
and make sure you have your radio codes, presets, etc written down. Take the positive terminal off the battery and hook it up to the negative side of the multimeter using the alligator wires. Then take the positive side of the multimeter and hook it up to the battery. Make sure the multimeter is in Milliamps!!!!! DO NOT TRY TO START YOUR CAR WITH THE MULTIMETER HOOKED UP!!!!!!
Close the hood and lock the car. The multimeter should be reading somewhere in the 200-250 mA range. Wait at least 20 minutes and check what the reading is. If it is still 200+ mA then you have something draining on the battery. If it's around 30-50mA then you don't have anything draining on the battery.
If there is a drain, pull out the fuse for the Hands Free Link (HFL) module and repeat. If it's still high after that time period, pull out the fuses for stuff 1 at a time (don't replace the fuses taken out!!!) and you can narrow it down to what system is the faulty one.
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