mani

I apologize if I am reposting this but searching gave me a number of different theories. My HFL keeps saying BOOTING UP and never works. I never paid attention as I don't use Bluetooth. However, my car battery drained 3 months ago which I took to tiresplus (as I had purchased and it was under warranty by them). After all tests, they said everything was OK but then it happened again and I noticed that it wouldn't hold charge for more than 20 hours. Well they checked and the battery was pulling a 400-500 mA charge for some reason even on OFF. They wanted to charge me $ 100 bucks to pull off all fuses, so I said no and decided to check them all myself. After finding nothing, I took it to a different store and they gladly replaced the battery after doing a test. Now I didnt have any problems till this weekend, when the battery drained again when I didnt drive for 2 days. Now I jump started the car drove it for 15 minutes. For some reason like an idiot I check on the HFL again only this time to notice the same BOOTING UP link. I parked the car last night and then this morning it was drained again, this time not even lasting for 16 hours.

My question is, before I disconnect the HFL, does anyone know that this 400-500mA charge draw could have been caused by the HFL unit? Are they supposed to continue running even when you turn the car off ? And last, I am assuming if I do disconnect it, would I loose capability of voice activated controls as well or just the Bluetooth feature ?

Thanks in advance guys.

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

^just disconnect it.
you're like almost there...

HFL is HANDS FREE LINK...only for phone - bluetooth.
voice commands will be there.

like seriously, you almost solved the problem!!! disconnect the HFL!!

mani

Thank you So much !

mani

If this fixes it, the first thing Imma do is change my signature :-D

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

^lol!!

seriously tho, it takes like 15 mins to disconnect.

and then like 5 mins to test the battery to see if its still drawing

mani

I know I'm an idiot, but I do not have a device to test if the battery is still drawing..... is it possible Autozone or Discount auto could tell me ? I dont even mind buying and returning :-D

Will Y.

Actually, 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 it 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.

mani

Thanks

vietxquangstah

iTrader: (7)

if the HFL module is draining your battery you will notice atleast a 250ma current draw with the car off.

Yes 250ma is enough to drain your battery. 2 weeks ago I noticed my bluetooth was just saying "booting up". I did research on it here on AZine and found out its a faulty bluetooth module and will drain the battery until you disconnect the unit.

I disconnect the unit and checked for parasitic current draw again. When the Bluetooth module was hooked in I was getting 250ma. after disconnecting it I got 0ma.

all you need is a multimeter

mani

I have an aftermarket clifford pager alarm with suspension sensors and I dont know what... That might be causing another 100mA draw ?
Also, I don't understand why does the HFL working after the car is shut off? and Acura has been using the same module on numerous models for years... Why not fix it ?

Will Y.

The manual explains that the HFL is designed to stay on until 30 minutes after the ignition is shut off. The HFL is to shut itself off at that point, but the defective/broken HFL won't shut down, thus drawing & draining power from the battery.

I assume that Acura intended the HFL to be used until the conversation has ended, a few minutes after the car is parked and shut down.

mani

Just to be sure, The BLUE CONNECTOR is for the HFL ?

vietxquangstah

iTrader: (7)

It will be the connector that plugs into the "HFL Unit Housing"

Slpr04UA6

OT-^did you try baking your's yet?

vietxquangstah

iTrader: (7)

Not yet! I plan to. It's been 100 degrees here lately and I've been too lazy to sit in the heat to reinstall the hands free module. I'm waiting for a buddy of mine to move back so I can use his 2 car garage to work on my car in. Should be by next week.

mani

Thanks for the diagram. I will do this tomorrow. For today, I disconnected the blue one as I didn't have a tool to open the screws handy. I will update when this is done tomorrow.
Thanks again for the help.

sauceja

iTrader: (2)

I just took mine out last night. The feeler guage to remove the sunroof switch worked in 2 seconds. Then just stick a finger in and pull the unit down.
Just make sure you have a torx bit to get the hfl unit out as there is a black cord to the mic that won't come out.

I am about to put my hfl in the oven here in a few minutes.

Slpr04UA6

^ Good Luck!

mani

Aright update. Yesterday evening as I mentioned, I unplugged the blue socket only as I didn't have the tools to unscrew the four bolts. Turns out that the HFL can be disconnected without the removal of those bolts. The voice commands for navi and other stuff continue working and the mic is not the same as the one for the HFL.
You can confirm by checking the bluetooth buttons on your steering wheel... After disconnecting the blue connector, the steering wheel controls for the bluetooth don't work. But the other buttons for voice continue.

I would like to thank all of you for helping me with this issue. Seems like for the time being the issue is solved. The car started fine with a crisp fresh ignition without any issues this morning and I made it to work on time :-D

mani

What's with the " Baking it " part ? I don't get it ...

Will Y.

Baking the HFL circuit boards @ 385*F in the oven for 8-10 minutes: see https://acurazine.com/forums/showthr...792642&page=10, post numbers 507 through 532 or so.

If baking doesn't work, a new HFL is @$160-$180 from our dealer vendors.

mani

OK. I would like to edit my post. Unplugging the blue connector does not disable the HFL and the battery still drains. Yesterday morning, I tried to start the car after it was parked for about 20 hours and no juice. So this time, I borrowed the tools to unscrew the 4 bolts and disconnected the black multi connector that is plugged on to the HFL. I left the car parked for about 18 hours and started it this morning to take it to dealership for an oil change and no problem. Lets see if it happens again. The only problem is that the Voice Recongnition for Navi and Audio controls can not hear my voice commands... It keeps saying Pardon, and Repeat. I am guessing the HFL mic is shared by the voice recongnition.

m44

The Hands Free Link drain is a known issue on the Acura TL.
Acura needs to issue a recall on this product since it's a safety issue.
Also, after you go through a lot of battery the entire charging system fails.