Hey everyone. Long time no post. I was long overdue for replacing my motor mounts and car was making bad noise as I went over the bumpy roads of New Orleans. Took it to my mechanic on 3/18 and he replaced right and front motor mounts (he said those we the only ones that needed to be replaced) and he also put in new spark plugs I had. Got the car back and haven’t been driving very much as I have been working from home. A few days later battery is dead. I bring it back to mechanic and he puts battery charger for a few hrs. He calls me and says battery must be bad has it wasn’t charging on his tester. Battery was less then 2 yrs old so I Got a free replacement at Costco. With new battery I think I am good to go. A week goes by and battery is dead again. I have driven a total of ~30 miles since the motor mounts and spark plugs were replaced. I jumped the car yesterday, ran the engine for over an hr drive it around the block and car barely started this morning. I believe the battery that I replaced was actually good as I had zero issues before I got this work done.

another thing when I picked up the car from mechanic after motor mounts and plugs, the triangle light with ! Was lit up and after driving it the VSA light came on. Mechanic played dumb and I ended up finding a way to reset the vsa system on this site that worked.

Before I take it to a different mechanic that specializes in electronics I figured I would check with everyone here

Could anything with the motor mounts have created an electric draw on the battery that doesn’t turn stop when the car is turned off?

fyi I had the alternator checked yesterday at O’Reilly. It passed along with the current new battery that was dead yesterday morning. The alternator is about a year old.

thanks in advance

 

As these TL's have aged the typical electrical parts that cause the battery to drain are as followed

1. Hands free link. It stays active even when the vehicle if off.
2. A/C compressor relay. It may stick causing an electrical draw .
3. Defective Alternator. It can cause an electrical draw
4. The navigation/radio setup. I've seen it, not as common, but can cause an electrical draw.

As for the engine mounts, they are straight forward. The front and rear mounts have a vac. line under them. The passenger side mount doesn't. The ABS unit is on the passenger side. The technician may have hit it, or unplugged it causing the VSA light to come on. As old as these vehicles are, it can can anything ABS or stability control issue. But as my wild guess, you may have a bad cell in the battery which will cause all sort of electrical issues. Since you had the charging system somewhat checked, I would look into the hands free link as the possible issue. For peace of mind, replace the A/C relay (under the hood by the air filter). Have another place do a charging system test to make sure the alternator isn't causing an electrical draw, while there have them inspect the engine mounts to make sure it was done correctly. Have them also scan the VSA / Stability controller for any codes.

 

That's similar to what happened to me. Two weeks ago. My passenger side mount not secured by the bolts they were just in there loose. Stripped the aluminum bracket behind the timing chain cover. Replaced the bracket with new one and reinstalled ground wire (detached due to previously installed Innovative Mounts). After putting the car back to the ground and starting it my VSA came on. Thought it would reset with a 10 mile drive it did not. Started thinking what I may have done in error. Closest thing I can think of is the leverage took I was using slipped and banged on the VSA modulator. Are you saying that a slight bang against the assembly can cause it to malfunction lighting the ABS off indicator in the cluster?

 

I had the same things - torn motor mounts, dead battery and VSA warning - but all at separate occasion. Dead battery wasn't in any way connected with motor mount replacement. It died a few times when the TL was left unused for a while, disconnecting Handsfree module took care of the issue, parasitic drain caused it, well known issue.

Replaced all 3 motor mounts and 3 transmission mounts on 2006 AT with 110k miles a few months ago. Front and right motor mounts were completely shot, rear was in good shape but replaced it anyway. There's no way to find out without removing it. The 3 transmission mounts were also replaced, top mount was badly broken, front and rear transmission mounts were cracked all the way.

VSA warning lights with /!\ came on after tire rotation, no idea how it happened, but resetting worked.

 

Start with HandsFreeLink. Does it work?

 

Worked for me and for a lot of people. It's only 10 min work, super easy.

 

I unplugged the HFL yesterday. Will let everyone know if that solves the issue. Just a strange coincidence if that’s the case I guess.

my NAV hasn’t worked in over a year either. Pretty sure the dvd unit went out as the screen just says check disc. Sucks because I can’t set my clock. I know there are a bunch of threads on here about that. Not really interested in spending a lot of $$ to fix that atm but hope that’s not draining the battery either

 

almost certain it's the hands free link. i'm hoping you're good to go now. one of the most common failures on the TL

 

I was having similar battery issues, and while it's been garaged dealing with everything else, I've disconnected the HFL (never worked anyway, wouldn't accept the verbal password since I bought it 10 years ago). We'll see if this helps my issue as well.

 

Issue seems to be solved after unplugging the HFL. Car has been starting with no issues!
As always thanks everyone

 

5. The + battery cable. After all these years, it could be corroded internally where you can't see it.
.

 

having issues again with the TL being dead again. Like completely dead. I am on starting it maybe once per week, but it was a brand new battery a few months back (when I originally started this post). Alternator is maybe a year old. I disconnected the HFL a month or so back. I will replace the A/C compressor relay soon.

I guess I need to do a better job of starting the car and letting it run longer. Maybe that is the issue, the battery hasn’t had a chance to fully charge itself backup. I am working from home, so the only time I drive is to goto grocery etc. and sometimes I take my wife’s pilot or I drive my 93 300ZX TT ( my other baby)

 

Or invest in a battery tender

 

I park on the street. Dont have a driveway. Not a good option to keep a battery tender attached. Plus New Orleans is not a city where you can keep your hood open overnight even if I wanted to use an extension cord

I wish I could do this because I have also have issues keeping the battery charged on my 300zx (from not driving it enough. It stays under a car cover most of the time)

I love New Orleans, but it’s the price I pay to live here. This happened about 45 days ago around 450am. Someone decided to take a bat(or blunt object) to my windshield. My security camera got the car that drove by but didn’t get any plates.



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