Several years ago, I asked how to get rid of the musty smell from air vents. I was recommended Klima Cleaner.
https://acurazine.com/forums/showthread.php?p=11935033
I put it off for years and finally got around to buying it, followed the directions, sprayed some through the central vents, and guess what, engine won't start. It really sucks, I completely babied and loved this car and to see this happen now, coming at the worst possible time in my life It's my fault for not knowing better, but
First, I want to bring this to light so that no one else uses Klima Cleaner in their Acura TL and Second, I really need some help!

The engine tries to start (*chug chug chug chug*) but doesn't turn on. What's else is that, in the engine bay, there's all this random clicking going on - probably a short right? Also the P in the dash for parking shows flickering light. What else is weird - with key disconnected, if battery is disconnected and reconnected, the battery sparks and the radiator fans turn on for a few seconds. I'm scared to death of turning on the car in fear of breaking cylinder heads (as shown in some related past threads with ECU issues), or burning out a coil pack, etc.

I'm learning as I go about reading this, but what do you suggest I do? I'm scared to go to dealer about this as the ones in LA, I think, rip you off. And even my regular trusted mechanic said to take it to an electric shop. But some advice please, I want to be armed with some knowledge before going in.!

 

lets start with the easy stuff, first.
it could be as simple as the battery.
can you disconnect the battery and take it to a parts store?
they will tell you if the battery is good.

 

Battery was tested by my mechanic with some meter and gauge he had. It's relatively new and good. He won't do further work because he says the electric symptoms are beyond him.

 

See if someone can jump you. I had that happen several weeks ago and it was a dead battery. If they can't jump you, it's something else like starter, etc.

 

jump start? you need to tell us what you tried already.
how did you diagnose a "fried" ECU
puddles of your cleaner inside the ecu case?

 

I did some searching first and waited a day before posting this thread. I read through
https://acurazine.com/forums/showthread.php?p=13758300
and several other threads for people who couldn't start engine after ecu exposed to water. Well my ECU was exposed to the whole can of Klima Cleaner per Klima cleaner can's instructions.

After seeing how my car has become dysfunctional, digged into an old file to find the service manual to find the location of the ECU - which is right under the central vents. The central where I sprayed the Klima Cleaner into per instructions.

Only tried starting engine a few times. While battery is connected, shorting sounds with flickering lights seen. Headlights still work, AC/fans still work. Immobilizer does not recognize my key anymore. Today I can't even crank the engine. Definitely not simply a battery problem.

 

That is not the proper way to test the battery, and you should find another mechanic immediately if a simple diagnostic is beyond him.

 

+2

 

is this cleaner corrosive? Did it eat away at the plastic inside the vents for it to leak onto the ecu which is on the floor behind the center console.

 

I responded to your PM, but to help other people this happened to me as well a year or so ago. I took it to the Acura dealership since the coil pack exploded and I could not figure out what was wrong. Ended up replacing an ignition fuse and the coil pack and the car was good to go. I hope yours ends up being as simple as a fuse.

 

You can easily pull back the carpet and take a look at the ECU.

Here's a scan from the manual, might be able to at least see if it's caked in whatever you sprayed in the vents and go from there.

 

Today is street cleaning day on my side of the street and the ECU is rejecting my key, I can't even put it in neutral to move the car!

 

There is a shift lock that you can use. Look for the small rectangular cover next to the shift, pry it off and insert your key.

 

Thank you for sticking around and replying. I started it up today and the thing is going haywire. It's clicking and making shorting sounds all around the engine bay. The fan turns on when the battery terminal is connected and turns on, off, on off. The dashboard flickers. P light flickers. The immobilizer was on - key light blinking. After disconnect, was able to start engine for 15 seconds. Sounded, felt like crap - spewing plumes of white smoke clouds and had to switch the battery off.

It also produced two days ago - fuel pump fault. And today it posted throttle body sensor fault. Then, the check engine light flickers and goes away.

Did your car also have these sorts of symptoms?

Since it's going ape shit everywhere, and two, it matches with some of the randomness of the symptoms found in other threads associated with ECU-moisture problems. I'm going out on a whim in saying it's my ECU. I'll try getting that replaced tomorrow.

 

Thanks, I wish I knew of that! I was forced to tow it to some shop that is letting me sit it there overnight.

 

Used that knowledge to peep in at the ECU. It honestly looks fine, but symptoms say otherwise.

 

Hear's to hoping! I hope I did not fry the coil packs and all the other stuff like the other fellows with water/cklima clean in their ecu wish me luck

 

i would be writing a email to the company that make the clearner, or my lawyer to wrte to them. sue the fuck outta those mf's

 

Alright guys, I know there was some doubt about this from some of you, but it's confirmed. I opened it up thanks to Mzilvar's awesome upload picture directions, and YUP a small puddle of Klima cleaner evaporated sits on the majority of top of the ECU. The rear side shows other areas where it's stuck. I removed wire harnesses in back, one was plugged in the green gunk left by the Klima Cleaner. It got all up in Socket C and it's wire harness connections.

There were multiple threads recommending people use this product, and soon I will post pictures, and the evidence will be clear, don't fuck with this product in your car if using through the central vent method.

 

It was obviously shorting the fuck out of the computer, because the car was going bat shit crazy flickering, clicking, making shorting noises, with just the battery connected and key in ignition position 2.

Now it appears to me that Socket C is related to the transmission and the pressure switches. I definitely should replace those before I take the car to the dealer to get my New ECU reprogrammed right? What else would you recommend?

 

I've advised people against using that crap in the past, I'm sorry I missed your old thread. It usually results in people telling me I don't know what I'm talking about anyway but anyway...

I would call the company and tell them the product destroyed your ECU and you followed the instructions perfectly. See what they can do. Be nice at first until the first reply back and decide then which direction to take it.

If you have to get another ECU, LKQ is a decent junkyard to start with since they have an inventory of all used parts. I don't know the requirements for the TL but probably same transmission and same year should work. I believe the for the key to work it has to be taken to the dealer but I've never had to replace the ECU before.

I would leave it with the battery unplugged. Many outputs such as fuel injectors, sometimes coil packs always have positive going to them and the ECU supplies the ground to trigger them. That's probably how the ECU fries the coil packs, it probably gives it a full time ground instead of ground for 1/10th milisecond. Leaving the battery connected has the potential to fry this stuff even with the key off in some instances.

You can always leave the ECU out of the car, opened up, and let it dry for a couple days and try again.

I hope you took a picture of this crap inside of the ECU.

 

Hey ihc, thanks for your reply. I have an appointment with the dealer tomorrow to reprogram the ECU unit to my immobilizer. I replaced the damaged ECU with a used one off eBay. The car no longer makes random electrical shorting noises, and parking P lights are no longer flickering. Things look normal and I'm hoping they are. Of course I can't start the car since the immobilizer with changed ECU is preventing that.

Here's the ECU top after it was pulled out. The dirty dried puddle is that of the Klima Kleaner.




This is where it was pulled out from. (thanks for directions mzilah)




Here's Terminal C which is the one it seems to have shorted with Klima Kleaner residue dried up.



Here's Terminal C's female socket - wire harness, also shows Klima Kleaner residue


Inner workings of your TL ECU in case you were wondering what this $740 list itemlooked like



Here's Terminal C's functions.


Now my question for the last diagram is that, when comparing to my pictures, Socket C's pin 5 and 13 are clearly hit by the green residue. 5 and 13 control pressure switch gear 3 and 4. I'm worried that I should change my pressure switches before taking it to dealer, so that I don't ruin transmission on the way home. Also hoping there's nothing else I must do *before* taking it to the stealership.

 

Got back from the dealer today. It was sputtering and throwing a lot of gas. Tech and Service Employee acted all crazy saying that the fuel is too rich, it will blow out the cat converter. It had a CEL, and lucky I bought a CEL checker a few days ago from Amazon for $30 bucks. Looked at the codes right there. O2 sensor code, and Cylinder misfire 1-6. I reset the codes by deleting them, and car was fine after that.

I performed the procedure Turbonut had in a post awhile back (thanks dude), and the car was running fine after that!

The only thing I am kinda annoyed with is that the Auto - single-click window down function no longer works! I don't know what's up with that. Feel free to chime in.

Still grateful that other things didn't get smoked.

 

Are you sure the ECU didn't get fried because of a blocked drain tube instead of the Karma stuff? I'd be absolutely sure before you spend much time with the A/C running...

 

Reset the windows. Forgot the procedure. Its in manual

 

No, I'm sure it's what caused it, here's why. 1st the pictures, the green color is the Klima cleaner shorted in the terminals. Two, I have not run AC for months because it smells so awful in my car to the point it's difficult to breathe. No condensate builds without AC. Three, following Klima kleaner's directions, after inserting the solution, wait 30 minutes and turn blower on Max to dry --- This is when the shorting started happening (with shorting sounds in engine bay and flickering dashboard), not a moment before, but exactly at the time I used the Klima kleaner. Four, the ECU smells overwhelmingly & powerfully like the Klima Kleaner, it got All over it.


But yeah, I did read other threads on fried ECUs and blocked drains are what caused those cases. I am definitely more paranoid about it now, and will check the drain.


You know what's the shitty part after all's said and done about this? The son of a bitch AC still moderately smells like the putrid vacuum dust bag odor. It's better, but......How ironic is that? DANG.

 

Sorry, another question. Since white plumes of smoke were coming out when the car initially started... with cylinder misfire codes (now cleared), does that mean I should jump and get an oil change to get rid of the dirty parts/ or oil? Spark plugs need to be changed asap?

 

you did replace the cabin filter correct?

 

Correct. Stink existed day one since I purchased car used. Filter replaced, it literally did nothing for the smell, though I know it has helped others.

 

Did you try a carbon-type cabin filter? carbon will adsorb odors - for more than you probably want to know about them, try this link:

https://acurazine.com/forums/showthread.php?t=869210

 

Because of the location of the ECU in the TL, it would seem that any liquid sprayed into the central vent system could short-circuit the ECU, not just that particular brand (Klima).

GM makes (or their dealers sell) a similar product for cleaning the vent system and AC evaporator, which is supposedly non-toxic and water based. The instructions for GM cars is similar to that described above, but most ECUs in GM cars are between the seats (under the center console), and would not be affected by this process (of spraying into the vents).

I post this just to indicate that I think it is probably the 'cleaning' process itself, rather than the specific product, that has caused the problem - just in case someone is thinking of performing this procedure with a different product than the Klima Cleaner.

 

dc, I completely agree with you there.

 

What a mess, hope it's fixed.

 

I have the 2005 Acura TL A-spec. In December my son noticed a puddle in the floor board on the passenger side in the front. He checked the fluid levels and noticed that the coolant was low.
After refilling the coolant the car gave an error code that it did not recognize the key.
We tried all three keys and each time when the car was shifted out of park it would stall. Eventually not starting at all.
My son seems to think it is a bad heater core. But would that case the puddle in the floor board?
And if it is a heater core and ECU how much are we talking about?

 

Those filters work well. I use the baking soda and carbon and while its not an immediate huge difference the car smells so much fresher all the time. It won't help if the AC evaporator core has bacteria growing on it but that might not be the case.

 

The puddle is most likely from the infamous plugged drain tube. It's a simple fix to unplug the tube, but the ECU is around $900 retail. There are several threads on how a blocked drain tube led to water in the ECU, frying it. Sounds like it may be too late, but you never know. I certainly would keep power off until you can be certain. Good luck.