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Hi all - I've got a battery drain in my 2006 TL that kills the battery every night or so to where it needs charging for the car to start. I know the problem isn't the HFL as I dis-connected that a few years ago when it was draining the battery. I've also read about several folks here that had a problem with the A/C clutch relay but I did the check on that and it's not the problem. I did find issues with (2) fuses however. Fuse #6 has a drain of 260 ma and #7 has a drain of 360 ma. These are both 7.5 amp fuses next to each other in the fuse block. I talked with a mechanic friend today who says the next step is to start dis-connecting one item at a time to check but according to the wiring diagrams there are unfortunately a lot of items on each one of these circuits. Before we start going crazy with this, I was wondering if anyone here has had an issue with these particular fuses causing a battery drain? Thanks for any help or advice on this problem!
In the long run, your best bet would be to get the Electrical Troubleshooting Manual, but I don't know if they are even still available.
That's really weird to have such a current drain on 2 different circuits. Are you sure the HFL is really disconnected? Do you have Navi? What electrical mods, if any, have you done?
Thanks for the input guys! The car has only 80,000 miles, no navigation, and has no electrical mods. Those circuits include a lot of items so tracking it down could be fun. I did find out since last night:
I) I found an old post from Smirkle as he had the exact same problem. He disconnected the HFL but still had a problem, then he disconnected another circuit board in same area and that took care of it. I'm going to pull that apart and check asap.
II) I noticed the power window buttons are always lit up, which I think is not normal but don't know for sure as I never looked at them that close. When I push the window lock button the drivers window button stays lit but the buttons on other three doors goes out, which makes sense as those will not work with window locks on. I'm curious about these lights being on and need to check that out this evening when I have car back here as well.
That sounds like a good place to start though.. I haven't seen many instances of the window control unit being the culprit, but that doesn't mean it's ruled out.
If you turn off the car, buttons remain lit for some time, or until you open any of the doors.
If there is no key in ignition, and door is open, those buttons should be off.
If they remain lit, you found your drain, or part of it. Does the windows work then?
Hi all - ended up fixing it today! Had two issues:
I) I found an old post from Smirkle who had the same problem. He mentioned that he dis-connected the HFL, but still had an issue. He then dis-connected something else up in that area. I un-plugged the homelink module that has the garage door buttons on it and my battery drain was cut in half to about 300 ma, so I had the problem half fixed.
II) I had disconnected the HFL link years ago due to a battery drain so I figured that wasn't an issue. When I started the above repair however I remembered something very important. Several months ago we had the headliner replaced as it was sagging really bad, and then it dawned on me, I wonder if the guys who did the headliner plugged the HFL back in? Bingo, that was it, problems solved!
Now I just need to figure out how to get map lights working again as they were part of dis-connecting the home-link module. Thanks again for the help and input.
Now I just need to figure out how to get map lights working again as they were part of dis-connecting the home-link module. Thanks again for the help and input.
Keep us updated. A lot of times people aren't following up on these acura tl battery drain issues.
I suspect I have some other drain going on as the HFL was already disconnected on mine.
My drains were the Homelink (garage door opener) AND HFL. These were two separate fuses, #6 and 7. For the Homelink assembly, which includes the roof map lights, I found a ton of these available on Ebay, used, for $25-30. This seems like the cheapest and easiest way to go for sure. For the HFL I just disconnected it. Car has been fine since then and amp-meter shows a drain of .03 amps which is normal.
My drains were the Homelink (garage door opener) AND HFL. These were two separate fuses, #6 and 7. For the Homelink assembly, which includes the roof map lights, I found a ton of these available on Ebay, used, for $25-30. This seems like the cheapest and easiest way to go for sure. For the HFL I just disconnected it. Car has been fine since then and amp-meter shows a drain of .03 amps which is normal.
So is there another connector for the Homelink? I disconnected my HFL a while back. Or do you just pull the fuse for the Homelink to stop the drain? (Stupid question sorry)
You disconnect the plug going to it, as it shares fuse with other components. You wrote that your battery goes flat over night. HFL doesn't draw enough current to drain battery that quickly. Homelink is separate module
The Hands Free Link doesn't cause the battery to drain over a 10-12hr period? So I need to figure out where the "Homelink" module is at and disconnect that. I don't use that.
The thing that you call homelink is just those couple buttons that can be used to open garage door. If it doesn't cause draw, why disconnect it?
I'm just guessing, but I don't think HFL will draw anything above 300mA. 2-3 days and car might not start. 10h of that draw shouldn't be enough do drain battery flat.
The thing that you call homelink is just those couple buttons that can be used to open garage door. If it doesn't cause draw, why disconnect it?
I'm just guessing, but I don't think HFL will draw anything above 300mA. 2-3 days and car might not start. 10h of that draw shouldn't be enough do drain battery flat.
I almost want to test to see if it draws anything at all, as I think really it shouldn't as the opener codes are stored permanently.
I always need to jump my car when both; 1) I haven't driven the car in ~2 days, AND 2) in the winter time. Summertime I can let the car sit for 2-3 days and be perfectly fine starting it.
So far I've; Disconnected HFL back in December, that didn't do it. I've also disconnected the AC relay last week and just needed to jump the car yesterday so that didn't do it.
Hopefully tonight I'll also disconnect the HomeLink and see if that's it.
I bought a Fluke clamp meter last week, and when I went to test my parasitic draw I couldn't get any decent readings on it. Til I read the spec's, and it doesn't have milliamp resolution.... FMLL
If my regular multimeter has mA resolution, could I simply wire it in series of the batteries negative terminal, to ground?
How old is the battery? You might just have a bad battery. I had a newer battery and it was having issues so I got it tested and it tested bad even though it was like 2 months old.
How old is the battery? You might just have a bad battery. I had a newer battery and it was having issues so I got it tested and it tested bad even though it was like 2 months old.
2.5yrs, which I would think is relatively young for a battery. Guess it can't hurt to have AutoZone test that and the amp.
Welp, found my parasitic draw! Hooked my MM to the negative terminal and clamp while unplugging fuses 1 by 1, and with all fuses installed, I have a 0.7amp draw normally. All fuses in the engine bay were good, it wasn't until I started pulling fuses on the inside kick panel that things started happening. Just like everyone else, it's fuses #6 & 7 are my problematic ones (I stopped after finding these 2, considering they're the most problematic ones). Unplugging #7 (back-up camera) first, the 0.7amp draw drops down to 0.125amps so that's clearly my biggest culprit, then also unplugging #6 (interior lights) the draw drops down to only 10mA. Remember this is with BOTH the AC relay and HFL unplugged.
I tried leaving #7 fuse out and obviously I lost my back-up camera (I think the entire radio as well), but also lost interior lights, as well as central locking/alarm system. So it's apparent I can't just leave that fuse out
Maybe since they're both powered by #15 underhood fuse, it's something related to that.
But before that, I already have a brand new AC relay, maybe I'll plug that in and through some witchcraft/sorcery, my draw will sort itself out (wishful thinking)
Like this guy; https://acurazine.com/forums/3g-tl-a.../#post16236864
I've had some drain lately as well. At first I thought it was the HFL. Completely unplugged it, draw went to normal. All good right? No, next morning I woke up to a dead batt with 0.4 A draw. I took out the hood 15 fuse, and all relays to check them. All checked out good with the resistance test (I didn't test em under load). I put them all back in one by one and the load is normal. 26 mA. Now, try as I might, I can't get that 0.4 A draw to happen again. Annoying, as I have to unplug the batt or risk getting stranded.
I noticed (shortly before all the above happened) while on the highway, that I felt cold air near the passenger footwell. Almost like there was a draft in my car. I didn't think too much about it at the time but now I'm thinking it's related?
I'm working on the same thing with my 2007 TL type S. I disconnected the HFL 2.5 yrs ago due to some issues. At that time, I replaced both the alternator and the battery. It has been good until a few weeks ago.
Currently, my battery holds up fine during the week but will run dead on the weekend. I brought it to Autozone and they tested it as a good battery.
For clarification since I am new to this, is the AC relay a 40 amp fuse in the under-the-hood spot 15? I replaced that last week in hopes that it would fix the issue. I'm now considering disconnecting the Homelink. Haven't run any draw tests yet.
I'm working on the same thing with my 2007 TL type S. I disconnected the HFL 2.5 yrs ago due to some issues. At that time, I replaced both the alternator and the battery. It has been good until a few weeks ago.
Currently, my battery holds up fine during the week but will run dead on the weekend. I brought it to Autozone and they tested it as a good battery.
For clarification since I am new to this, is the AC relay a 40 amp fuse in the under-the-hood spot 15? I replaced that last week in hopes that it would fix the issue. I'm now considering disconnecting the Homelink. Haven't run any draw tests yet.
#15 is the blower motor relay, #16 is the AC compressor relay.
Without knowing which circuit is your culprit for the draw, blindly disconnecting circuits randomly is like shooting in the dark.
(Since I never updated this thread) I knew my #7 interior fuse was the major culprit, which controls A LOT; XM module, combo switch unit, gauge control unit, master power window switch, power mirror switch, etc etc....
After finally unplugging my XM module, the draw dropped down to ~.035amp, no longer killing my battery
Do you have any other mods plugged in anywhere?
Backup cam, interior lights, adaptor, etc thru a 12v socket?
Do you know the voltage of the battery when turned off and on when it was tested?
I just ran an amp test using a multi-meter on each fuse under the hood and in the drivers compartment. What I found: Fuses 17 & 18 under the hood (VSA Motor & VSA) had very minor pulls. Fuse 19 drew the most energy. I'm not sure which unit of measurement it was but the multimeter was reading 59 whereas fuses 17 and 18 were around 5. So fuse 19 was drawing 80%+ of the battery.
FUSE 19 | Fl ECU | 40ampo | Fuses 1, 2, 3, and 4 in under-dash fuse/relay box
Fuses 1 - 4 in the drivers compartment did not read anything.
In the drivers compartment, fuse 7 (Back Up) had a draw of roughly 8. Not significant but there are a lot of things it controls - Acuralink control unit (XM receiver) (USA: Navigation), Clock (except Navigation), Combination switch control unit, Display panel control unit, Front passenger’s power window switch (Door multiplex control unit), Gauge control module, Immobilizer control unit-receiver, lmoes unit (Canada; ’08 USA), MICU, Navigation unit (Navigation), Power mirror control unit, Power window master switch (Door multiplex control unit), Security indicator, Wiper/washer switch, XM receiver (except USA Navigation).
Anyone know anything about Fuse 19 FI ECU? What might be causing it to use battery? I plan to take it out for a weekend to make sure that is what is causing battery drain.
Anyone know anything about Fuse 19 FI ECU? What might be causing it to use battery? I plan to take it out for a weekend to make sure that is what is causing battery drain.
No idea what it does but FI= fuel injector, ECU= engine control unit. Something to do with the fuel injectors I would think, strange. Maybe google “FI ECU drain” for different Honda and see if you get something
Update: I asked for some help from a mechanic friend since I wasn't confident in my methods of detecting. He found the drain to be coming from the Back-up Acc fuse in the driver's compartment (fuse 7 I believe). Based on others' suggestions, I suggested the XM module could be the cause. After removing it, the drain dropped to a normal level. Today was my first weekend not driving it and it started up great. Problem solved for me.
01-15-2018, 07:25 PM
