Hi,

I bought a Costco battery a little over a year ago and my car died over the weekend. I got the battery replaced, but I'm wondering if the alternator is going bad. Could someone please tell me how I can tell which is the culprit?

Thanks!

 

If you go to Autozone or the like, they can perform a load test on your battery/alternator. It's free!

 

Thanks a lot, Vlad!

 

Make sure your HFL is not staying on all the time. Feel the upper console near the windshield after sitting all night and see if it's warm.

If you have a volt meter, make sure you have around 12.4v with the engine off, at least 13.4 with it on. The absolute numbers aren't that important, you're looking for an increase in voltage from engine off to engine running. If there's no change it's most likely the alternator. If there is a change it could still be the alternator but not a sure thing as it is with no change.

 

Thank you for your response, I Hate Cars.

I don't think it's the HFL since it hasn't been working for a few weeks now. When I try to turn it on, it just saying "Booting Up", but never comes on. I will feel the upper console tomorrow morning just to be certain. I never even thought HFL could be on all the time...

Unfortunately, I don't have a volt meter so I won't be able to do those tests.

 

^yikes.
what you just said points to the HFL.

if its constantly on "booting up" it will drain the battery.

 

Thank you, Justnspace!

Uh oh... Is there a way to turn it off? I've been trying to find a part number for the HFL unit, but could not find it any where...

 

Hey guys, on the subject of a bad alternator, this just happened:

I have a stock 07 TL-S with 67k miles- no repairs needed yet other than normal maintenance items.
We drove my car from NYC area to Burlington, VT (about 5 hours), and then the next day from Burlington to Montreal (about 2 hours).
3 people in car, running A/C constantly, using the nav system, and playing music from an Iphone.
Just after we had crossed the border (when we slowed down), the battery light came on. That was the first time I have ever seen that. We got back up to highway speed and it went off, so I thought maybe it was nothing. But then we hit traffic as we approached the city, and it came back on. Then I noticed a lag in trying to accelerate (basically the car rev'd very slow). Anyway it was pretty scary and the nav flickered off, and then electrical systems one by one. I made it in the city, 10 blocks from the hotel, when basically everything flickered off and went dead. I pulled over just before.

So I had some car buffs with me, and when we ended up getting jumped we tested and it was the alternator. I think they said t was showing little to no voltage. Anyway it sucked being in another country and they told us no parts were available till Monday. We searched and searched and struck out, so then we bought another battery and juggled the batteries on our way home (we had another car of friends, so we were able to do this and make it back to VT). The guys put in a new alternator and everything is solid now.

Now for my concerns: I brought my car into the dealership to do an oil change and the power steering recall on the car. Then almost immediately after they serviced my vehicle, I ran into the alternator dying. My car is stock, and I don't stress the car or do any racing/etc. At about 67k miles, is this just a terrible coincidence, or is it possible the dealership screwed something up???

I can't confirm this yet, but the friend of my friend who did the bulk of the repair said something looked off with the belt. Either it wasn't fully seated, or tightened, or something?

I'm going to try to get more of his opinion, but would the service guys have to mess with that region at all if they were performing the recall (Recall ID # 91790 - STEERING:HYDRAULIC POWER ASSIST:HOSE, PIPING, AND CONNECTIONS)?

Thanks much in advance.

 

The auto tensioner on my accessory drive belt had a defect around 50k miles. If the belt isn't properly tensioned, then I would expect the alternator to not produce the amount of power that it should be producing.

In regards to your question, yes they work in that area. If I were performing that recall service, I would remove the belt in case any P/S fluid accidentally dripped on it. Perhaps they did just that and reinstalled it improperly? If they did take it off and something was wrong with your tensioner, they would not hesitate to try and sell you a new tensioner lol.

Pop your hood and check your belt deflection. It should be so tight that you can barely deflect it at all. This isn't an official number, but for a 9 inch distance between pulleys, you should probably see 1/2 inch of lateral deflection if you press the belt in the center of those pulleys. Edit: take that last bit with a grain of salt, I'm not referencing any specs.

 

It'll take about 3 minutes to disconnect the HFL.
1) Use a thin knife or feeler gauge blade to pop out the sunroof switch, which can then be disconnected from its multi-pin connector.
2) Then insert your fingers into the rear of the hole for the sunroof switch and pull down on the overhead console containing the map lights, switch and Homelink before unplugging the console control panel from its multi-pin connector.
3) That exposes the four 8 mm bolts holding the HFL bezel; I think you can unplug the HFL without unbolting the HFL. If you have to unbolt the HFL, add 1 minute to remove the bolts, unplug the HFL and reinstall the bolts.

There is a lengthy HFL thread here: https://acurazine.com/forums/3g-tl-audio-bluetooth-electronics-navigation-94/bluetooth-fails-792642/.

It contains the new HFL part numbers after post 250 or so, and also suggestions on baking the HFL's circuit board(s) in the oven to fix solder/flux issues-- that's at the last two pages or so of that thread.

G/L.

 

OP sorry to hear your problem but you bought a costco battery. Kirland auto battery.

which group type do you have. I plan to get a new battery from costco but they dont have one that is compatible with 06 and older models, but 07-08 they do.

Let me know which you have, they have group 35 which may work but not guarantees.

 

Thank you very much, Will!

I actually found those instructions on another thread and disconnected the HFL last night. I touched the upper console as I Hate Cars instructed and it was still pretty hot. This morning, the engine started much stronger than yesterday. Looks like it was the HFL!

I have the 24F size which is group 35, I believe (the 07-08 ones). There is an asterisk in the Costco book because the vents are flush on the OEM battery. The Costco one are not. Everything fit fine and the bracket to hold the battery down fit as well.

 

Oops, forgot to mention that the bracket will press down on the vent thingies. Not sure if that's ok...

 

Thanks. Well the belt is properly tightened now since my friends swapped the alternator, so I can't tell if beforehand it was loose/defective. He seems to say it looked ok though. I do know that if my car was outside overnight on rainy/humid nights, I would start up the car in the morning and hear a clicking/squealing noise that was proportional to my RPM's. Someone mentioned that the belt was probably loose. Maybe it being loose for a while eventually took out the alternator.

 

WoW. I just posted a reply on my own post with the same problem. Its 99% the HFL buddy. Looks like most of the Acura's have the same issue. Its sad that Acura won't offer a fix ....

 

I'm glad I saw this. I recently got my radio code so I've been trying to get my HFL set up the last couple days, and have been having battery issues since then. Almost bought a new battery last night but wanted to see if it would hold a charge today while I was at work since autozone said it was fine, I was planning on pulling the alternator today to have them test that but maybe this will do it. Literally took 2 minutes with a flathead to disconnect the HFL. Sorry to bring this back from the dead but it seems pretty important.