Over the last few years I've had a couple of bad batteries (installed a yellow top now so we're good to go for quite some time). With both batteries that went bad on me I had an interesting experience that I still can't figure out. The first time it happened I figured it was just a fluke, but it just happened again last week.

When I realized the battery was dead (keyless fob didn't work), I pulled over another vehicle of mine and tried to jump the car. I must have tried to start my Acura too soon because it died right when I tried to turn it over. Upon trying to turn the key a second time after waiting for a few minutes I was no longer getting any response from my Acura. Turning the key did absolutely nothing, almost like it was a bad starter or bad ignition. And here is the strange part, after removing all of the jumper cables I subsequently reconnected them, waited a minute, then started up the Acura without a problem. It was almost like I needed to remove the jumper cables to let the electrical system reset itself.

The other thing I noticed was that when I first put the cables on the dome lights turned on (door was open), and the alarm started sounding. Upon turning off the alarm (lock, unlock, lock, unlock on the fob ), the dome lights stayed on. After the first failed attempt at starting the car the dome lights turned off immediately, and didn't turn back on until I pulled the jumper cables off and then put them back on.

Is it possible that I'm running into a security system feature? Is the car stopping me from starting it since the alarm was going off when it got battery power?

Any thoughts and advice is welcome. Cheers!

 

the alarm sounded as the door was opened when it was dead and when you applied power it saw the door was open before it was disarmed. not a big deal.

One thing that can kill your battery is the hands free unit. before you test your battery and alt, unplug the HFL and then charge your battery and see if the problem remains, if so you got other issues and need to test the charging system (batt and alt)

also when jumping the car, bring the donor car's engine up to about 2K and hold it there so that it can charge up the battery enough to start your car. depending upon how dead your battery was it could take a few minutes to get enough juice in there

 

Thanks for the response @yeuemmaimai, however I'm not sure you read my full post. This is kind of a phantom issue, and not just an issue with the alarm sounding. I expect the alarm to sound when I first try to jump the car.

Hands free unit is fine, I've tested that a couple of months ago. And this problem doesn't relate to the battery dying, it's the act of getting it jump started, upon a second attempt of jump starting I get no response from the Acura. See the full description above. Thanks!

 

Bump! Anyone?

 

Basically what YeuEmMaiMai said, something in the car could be having a slow draw on the battery causing it to have no voltage left and that could very well be the HFL. Sure it may still work, but it may not be completely shut down after the car has turned off. Let the car sit for a number of days and see if problem persists. As for the alarm going off, it seems like you may have answered your own question, and was backed up by the guy's response.

 

Bad connection on the jumper cables. Wiggle them around next time to make sure they bite in to their connection points better.

 

@main70072 - thanks for the message. But I'm not sure you followed my line of questioning either. The following are not related to my problem: HFL, slow draw, a dead battery, the alarm going off. My problem/question relates to the actual act of jumping the car, not the process that leads up to the the dead battery. Further explanation - HFL isn't the problem: already checked for slow draw, I don't care about the dead battery problem for this question. Slow draw isn't the problem, I don't care about the dead battery in this instance. Dead battery isn't the problem at this time, that issue has been fixed. Alarm going off on the first attempt at jumping isn't the problem, I expect this every time I jump.

@jackass - This was my original thought too, part of why I never questioned it. But I triple checked the connections prior to the last couple of jumps just to make sure. Could it be bad jumper cables? They are basically brand new, only used maybe 4 times. Thanks for the input!

 

Anything is possible. Here is the process (no promises this is the actual proper way...just my way) I use when jumping:

Dead - Connect Negative
Charged - Connect Negative
Dead - Connect Positive
Charged - Connect Positive

If you don't get a good spark on that last step, you don't have good connections. If the Dead car is truly dead, it should have sparked when it connects. I usually wiggle and jiggle the cables/clamps until I see shiny metal underneath.

I have had times that the spark is pretty small and find that the dead car can't get enough juice to jump, but enough for the lights to work. My theory is that there isn't good enough metal to metal contact to support the amperage needed to start, but enough trickles through to run the lights.

My theory for your no lights issue is that the first time you connected, there was a weak connection that allowed the lights to work. When you tried to start, the connection point probably arced which ended up insulating the contact points and therefore dead until you move the cable/clamp again. My theory....that is all....nothing to back it up...but it sounded good in my head.

 

@jackass - My process is slightly different, but the last connection does indeed yield a spark each time.

Dead - Connect Negative
Charged - Connect Negative
Charged - Connect Positive
Dead - Connect Positive to metal

It's so strange, everything seems in order each time. The first jump fails, a subsequent jump requires disconnecting all cables and reconnecting them before I get any response from the TL.

That's an interesting theory on the metal, and could very well be my problem. Where do you connect your Dead Positive? We have the same car/year. Thanks!

 

I always connect negative last on the dead battery and I use a point away from said battery (sparks and hydrogen do not mix)

I apologize for not getting what you said but if you cannot jump the car reliably, check your starter and all of it's cables

 

Wtf??? You ground out your positive?

 

If doing it correctly, both Positives will be directly on the positive post/terminal. I ground on both cars usually somewhere other than the battery. If I can't get good connection due to paint or dirt, I end up going direct to post/terminal but only as a last resort and never as the final connection that will spark.

I do my best to avoid the final connection at either battery to avoid sparks. If I am going to spark, I would rather it be the post sticking out of the front of the engine or the strut mounts and no where near the either battery that has the potential to vent gas.

 

this.

 

I am sure he meant to say negative but it must be opposite day in bizzaro world...

 

Idk... OP even asked Jackass where does he connect his dead positive since they both have the same car/year, but I'm hoping you're right because that could very well be his problem as noted.

 

I hope so too because you can have one big ass explosion if you get it wrong....

 

Hahaa, yeah sorry fellas, mistype. I meant to say negative!

And you don't get an explosion if you hook it up wrong (at least if you catch it right away), I saw my brother do it wrong once, it just started melting the plastic on the jumper cables

 

he's lucky because I have seen it happen and it isn't pretty...

 

Yeah I'm guessing that for an actual explosion to take place there has to be quite a few wrong things happening all at once.

Out of curiosity, what exactly did you see? Did the battery just catch on fire? Did it make a large bang and spray acid everywhere? Did it start smoking? Details mate!

 

^it literally blew up launched straight up into the air.... (No I didn't do it, I was watching from across the street.

 

Agreed. I've seen it happen when my father was helping a neighbor jump off his car and the neighbor hooked up his end wrong. Things get bad real quick.