big_mac65

Ok so for some reason my car hates cold weather as much as I do. Every year when the cold comes... my battery craps out. I don't know what really is going on, for some reason my car won't start or barely will after I haven't driven it for a day. I took it in to Autozone for them to check the battery and they tell me its still good.

Now I have a 1000watt stereo system and some led neon lights to illuminate the floorboard but thats as far as extra components go. Do you guys think I need a capacitor or something, maybe a bigger/better battery than the stock one? I'm out of ideas. Im leaning towards the battery idea since I doubt a capacitor would solve my problem considering when the car is not on, the amp shouldn't be drawing power. However, I dont know what battery to get. Help would GREATLY BE APPRECIATED!!!

Oh yea, its also snowing down in the south, all those down here, stay safe out there.

LoveMyTL-S

Your HFL may be drawing the power. It's a known issue with the TL. There's a TSB on it. May want to get it checked.

Jesstzn

There has been a bunch of threads on this recently ... Have you checked the battery cables and terminals? Not just visually but physically clean them.

Also what symptoms are you having .. noises when it tries to start etc?

jdm_94-07TypeS

iTrader: (10)

That's exactly happen to me this weekend and ended buying a new battery. Is you HFL working correctly??usually if you have a HFL problem, it freezes up or won't to response to commands or works. I just took my car to my friend, he's a Acura mechanic and told me just change the battery because my HFL is working good but He told me too that he also had seen some power seat and power mirror controls modules cause this. After 30 minutes current draw should be around 30 miliamps.Anything over 50 miliamps is a problem.
I change my battery 3 days ago and it's working very good.
when you get the car to autozone they told you that the baterry is totally good or it could use some re-charge??

big_mac65

Unfortunately I can't check to see if my HFL is working bc my navigation unit is currently being fixed by alpine. (Had the restart screen of death) Had no known issues with it before hand. As for Autozone, they said that the battery was fine and that there shouldn't be a problem.

The problem only seems to come when the car is not driven for a day or so. If Im constantly driving it, everything is okay. But as soon as it's left alone, for a little amount of time, it gets all mad at me and won't start. Then I just jump the battery and right away starts no problem. The car still has juice, all lights work fine, but when I try to start the car, it will almost turn over and start but just doesn't quite make the cut. No real noises to report other than the belt being slightly louder than normal when first started, (I'm more thinking that has to do with cold weather) and cables were cleaned not too long ago. Something is drawing the power away, however, I'm not sure what... Any ideas? If I were to uninstall my amp, and it were to work, what would I need to do?

Also on a side note, is there any high perfomance batteries for our car that someone could recommend?

nfnsquared

I'm not sure, but the HFL could still be drawing power with the navi removed. Do you see a phone icon when you have your cell phone in the car? You could try disconnecting the HFL in the overhead console (pretty easy to get to) or you could pull fuse #6 (you'll lose a couple of other things, see below) and see if that make any difference.

How long ago? Who cleaned them and how were they cleaned?

I'd still go back and clean them. Actually remove the cables, clean (remove the battery and soak the cable connectors in baking soda/warm water solution, brush clean), and then re-tighten. I'd also recommend purchasing terminal protectant and pads ($5 at Wally World). I can't believe how many of these types of problems have been merely loose/dirty/corroded battery connections.


Here's CR last battery report. Our battery size is 24F. Seems like the Everstart would be a great deal:

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

Yes, you dont want your cables looking like this....

big_mac65

Yeah, my cables look nothing like that.

Thanks, nfnsquared for all that info! Ill try the fuse thing. I had all my battery cables cleaned by my mechanic about a month ago and they are still looking good. I'll keep you updated and I may look into a better battery in the near future.

csmeance

How high do you usually run your audio system? Car batteries are like any battery, once they become discharged they can never recharge back to 100%. If you use your system and draw quite a bit of electric, it's possible that your battery may be at the end of it's life.

I suggest that you do the following:
1. Go to a carparts store and have them check the alternator and battery (should be free).
2. Perform the "Big 3" upgrade on the grounds to help improve grounding and keep your system from killing a new battery.
3. Get a new battery since jumping the car over and over again can ruin electronic components.
4. When installing the new battery, hook up a multimeter in series with the car and check the draw (miliamps). After about 30 minutes, it should be about 20-30 milliamps. If it is higher, than you have an excessive draw on the battery while it's off.

BTW, I suggest you get a Optima Dry-Cell battery since those tend to be pretty good at discharging and recharging.

TL SLEEPER

Get a red top battery thats what I did no more problems with the cold. It's got 800 cold cranking amps at 32°

esco115

I just experienced this issue, I had the car covered up and hadn't started it in like a little over a week... Due to snow and whatnot... so today I uncovered and tried to unlock it nothing, start nothing... called the dealer up and guess what? dude tells me "oh yeah for some reason all the newer acura have that issue once it hasn't been started in like 3 days"... I was like wtf are u serious? And you find nothing wrong about your statement? he states "unfortunately I do but there is nothing we can do about it just have acura tow it in and we will get running for you"... I said no thanks!

Am I the only one that seems to find something wrong with this?

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

^didnt understand your story.
all batteries die.
if you're going to let your car sit, you need to do some preventive maintenance.
also, make sure your HFL isnt draining your battery.

Mug

What years have the HFL problem?

esco115

Sorry I missed some words or mixed some.. lol it was late... As for the all batteries dying, yes I know that not an idiot, however I out the 15+ cars I've owned never had I once ever had a battery die while the car was non-op for a week unless the battery was shitty anyways. In this case I've had this same car sitting for 3 weeks and not once did I have an issue till recently. HFL btw was a 04-05 model year issues not 07-08. I barely use it anyways besides the point.

cherplex

iTrader: (3)

Wow had same issue this morning, battery was low I have a jump box and used that to start. I need to clean terminals and replace the battery anyway. Good Info in this tread. I have no idea what the code is for the radio though, dealer I bought it from didn't provide the documentation.

RealSteiner

wow.. I also have been experiencing problems with my battery. Today I thought I was going to be stranded at work until I gave it a little gas. I belive it IS due to the cold and I hope it lasts 'till spring . If not, Kinetik for the win.

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

no black binder?
sometimes the radio code is sticked inside of the glove compartment.
also, I believe you can call a dealer with your vin # to get the code

cherplex

iTrader: (3)

There were no stickers but I followed instructions on myacura.com and was able to retrieve the serial# from the radio itself and called the dealer and got the code.