fiatlux

Friday morning I went to go start the car and it wouldn't turn over. Battery measured 11.9V so yeah it's pretty dead. I had the car jumped by ARA and took it into the dealership to get the battery tested and replaced. When I get there, they tell me that it'll take 2 hours for them to test the battery, and they may need to keep it overnight. I ask for a loaner, and they tell me that they don't have any for the next 2 weeks, and they don't reimburse rentals. They do however offer a shuttle...but they only service a 5 mile radius, which is absolutely worthless in a suburban area. I end up taking an Uber back to work, and later that day I get a call back saying the car is ready. When I get there, they claim the battery is still good and that I probably just left something on inside the car, or sat in the car after turning it off and used the bluetooth to make a call for too long. Basically I must have done something wrong. I can't imagine what could have been left on, because the infotainment system can't be turned on when the ignition is off, and even if you left the lights on purposely, they turn off after a few minutes. I'm told to bring the car back if it happens again. I park the car Friday night, measure the battery at 12.7V, and the next day it's dead again, this time measuring 9.2V. I call in to schedule an appointment to have the car left with them for a couple days so they can see that the battery is not holding charge, only to discover that if they think the battery does hold charge I'll be charged a $150 diagnosis fee.

I'm very hesitant to go forward with them because what's to stop them from just putting the battery onto a trickle charger ripping me off for $150? At this point it feels like they're just waiting for me to roll over the 50K mile cutoff for the warranty. I've owned a Lexus, BMW, and MB and have never had their service department immediately jump to the conclusion that it must be the customer who's at fault, never had a situation where I wasn't provided a loaner or rental, and was definitely never told that I could be charged a fee if they couldn't find something wrong. It's almost as if Acura doesn't care about customer retention...

dennis0

Honda battery warranty is worthless. I've gone through this process (and failed), and they make the process so stupidly hard and time-consuming it's practically not worth trying to get any of the pro-rated refund back. Back when I owned a Fit, my 3-year-old battery started struggling in the winter mornings until a week later it just didn't start. I called AAA to jump-start, and they even tested the battery for me and gave me a print-out of a failed diagnostic test. I went to the dealer to try to get some money back towards a new battery, but they had to test using their own comprehensive battery tester. I waited a couple hours, and lo and behold, my battery passed their test. I was pretty pissed. I'm convinced they intentionally set the pass bar low on their testers in order to not honor their warranties. I wasn't going to get stranded a second time, so I begrudgingly accepted my fate and bought a new battery. The second time my battery failed, I found out to get a pro-rated refund, I had to take the battery back to the original dealer I bought the battery from. I was fuming. I was already at a dealer, and the original dealer was 50 miles away. I only took consolation in the fact that my dying battery would've passed their tests in flying colors anyway, so no money would've been saved.

In conclusion, I don't recommend trying to do a pro-rated return. Given the time and hassle required to go through the steps to save something like $20-$30 (assuming you are even successful), you're better off just buying a new battery straight off the bat and be done with it.

centflatsx

Sounds like the dealership is playing games. If that was the original battery it should have been replaced. If they had to get the battery to fail for it to be replaced then they should do it. My last car was an Accord and I had suspicion it was about to go so I went to a Honda dealership and they had an issue with their machine that tests batteries. This was one that would be more accurate. They used the portable device instead which was not as good. They said to replace the battery under warranty it has to be at a certain level. They kept my lights on with engine off to see if they could get it to go low enough. I waited about an hour and it didn't make it to the level. They did however replace it for me. They said it was close enough. Now that's great service. The battery was almost three years old and it's FL and with heat batteries don't last as long. They probably figured it was old enough and low enough to replace. I'd go to another Acura dealership if you could.

fiatlux

Well, it's definitely a bad cell. When I take the battery out and shake it around a bit, I can get it to show anywhere from 9.4V to 12.05V.

As an aside, I noticed that the car will draw about 0.25A-0.7A when off. Anyone else seeing readings like that?

dennis0

Could your battery have lost too much water? Sounds like a wetting issue if voltage changes after every time you shake it. Anyways, it's not something it could recover from. Those current readings seem way off. Batteries have a capacity of 40-50 Ah. That means with that draw, you wouldn't be able to start your car if it sits for more than a day or two. I would think current draw would be very small when car is off, maybe < 50 mA.

ESHBG

Don't bother, I have been through numerous Acura batteries and it wasn't worth the hassle at all. Find yourself a good aftermarket one that won't randomly leave you stranded after only a few years and you will be much better off.

fiatlux

The thing that bothers me isn’t even that the OEM batteries are junk, but that the service advisors act in this manner. I forgot to mention, I got there 10 min before my appointment time, checked in, and then waited 40 min before being seen. No apologies, no acknowledgements, and it wasn’t even because they were busy because I saw SAs just sitting there with no customers.

As trivial as this whole thing may seem, it’s definitely soured me on the brand. I still like the cars themselves and was planning to buy an RDX later this year, but when you buy a car you’re also buying the entire experience, and I’ll be damned if I’m shelling out $50K and get treated no better than a Honda customer. With the other “real” luxury automakers, even though you may have to take the car in more often (Lexus aside), at least they treat you well. Yeah, I know this makes me sound entitled, but I should be entitled to an experience consistent with what other competitors in this space offer. If Acura doesn’t have the fortitude to keep its dealerships in line (and yes I know dealerships are independently owned), then maybe they should quit billing themselves as a luxury automaker.

In any case, I’m just going to buy a replacement battery from Costco for $90. It’s not worth the headache of having to take a few hours from work and risk getting ripped off for $150 to fight this. I suppose all I can do is vote with my wallet. It’s too bad too, because I really do like the RDX.

noclue02

My adviser said when the hood is open, the parasitic test will show a small amperage draw (don't know if that is true or not). Maybe your reading is from that? I tried to measure mine and it was somewhere from 0.75a to 1.75a =/ But from my experience and like what's everyone saying, just forget it and get a different battery elsewhere. It is not worth the hassle to go with Acura.

hadokenuh

Go with the $90 Costco battery! You won't regret. There might be a parasite draw somewhere but you will need a new battery soon anyway. In my case, I am on my 3rd battery with my 6 year old TL. Same thing with my wife MDX, 3rd battery in 5 years. They keep blaming the hot Houston weather. I don't know about that. Going thru a battery every 1.5 years isn't fun especially you are on the road. Plus 2 Acuras means that I'd need to deal with it almost every 10 months. Small problem but huge inconvenience.

Acura batteries are crap. I don't know why they are not improving because it's been years with the issue.

Acura battery warranty is also crap. I don't know how other companies do it but (1) Acuracare doesn't warranty batteries (2) Only bumper to bumper ((b2b) warranty does (3) Although it say 100 month warranty or something on the battery, it will only be covered if you paid your money for it. If it was replaced under (b2b) warranty and it dies after (b2b) warranty expires, you are out of luck.

ConradValmont

I'll also add to the battery issues & can confirm there is some type of excessive parasitic drain occurring with the TLX, especially on the SH-AWD. Experienced two additional stalls on start-stop just a year later with a dealer replaced battery.

Rocketsfan

I'll echo what others are saying. I can even say this may not necessarily be an OEM battery issue. I've owned my car for almost exactly 4 years now and I just got my 3rd battery. In my case, after about 1-1.5 years it will start exhibiting starting problems after a 10-20 mile drive and then attempting to restart but never overnight or after being parked at work for several hours. A few weeks ago, my 2nd battery died after a trip from Dallas to Houston (luckily after I parked the car in my parents' driveway). I've had 3 dealerships and an NTB all look into this and nobody can find the problem. I've pretty much resigned myself to having to replace my battery every 1-2 years. BTW, the first battery was OEM, second was Interstate, and the third battery is an OEM again. This also isn't an SH-AWD version of the car. If you check the Problems forum, you'll see others have had similar starting/battery issues.

centflatsx

Had three batteries replaced under warranty. Two with Honda and at least one with Acura. Maybe 2 with Acura as well. No issues at all. I even had the battery replaced at AutoZone and brought the receipt to the Honda dealership and they reimbursed me for it. It was a little process with the guy I dealt with but they did send a check. The warranty does work. If the dealership you're dealing with isn't helping then report it to corporate. At least we're not talking about hundreds of dollars here.Going over all the voltage information and this and that. Obviously something is wrong. If the batteries keep having an issue then there is another issue like an alternator. I'd just get the battery replaced and then deal with Acura if it should be under warranty.

hadokenuh

Bumper to Bumper warranty or Acuracare (Extended warranty)?

mk5

Bad dealership. You need to take it to another one in the area (if there is one).

fiatlux

There's another one, but that one doesn't have appointments for a few days and also charges you $30 for a loaner. And the next closest one after that doesn't even offer loaners at all.

The insane thing is that this isn't even in the middle of nowhere; this is in Silicon Valley where the luxury car space is extra competitive. I guess the Acura dealerships around here must have given up and decided to just move down-market..

ESHBG

RE: Acura dealerships, I can attest that some continue to go downhill and it's embarrassing when my friends who bought a Honda or Hyundai are treated way better.

centflatsx

Just the std warranty. 3 year 36,000. If you have an older car then yeah you'll need an extended. I lease.

fiatlux

The standard warranty is 4 year 50K miles...

Rocketsfan

The only problem with this is that if it dies when you're on the road, you'll need to have an Acura dealership around to take advantage of their warranty. I don't know about the others, but I've had 3 dealerships look at my car and none of them found anything wrong with the starter or alternator. Even during the starting issues nobody can find anything wrong with the battery. Ultimately they find the battery is a little weak, but still "ok". This last time, I could've gone to an NTB by my parents' house (where it failed to start), but I took it a bit further to an Acura dealership just to see if a 3rd dealership could spot something. They couldn't, so I just ended up replacing the battery there because that fixes the problem for a year or so, and I didn't want to risk it driving back on my road trip.

hadokenuh

That's my whole point.

The Acuracare (Acura's extended warranty) doesn't cover batteries!

someguy11

I always go back to these two service bulletins related to batteries when this topic comes up.
A) Acura must have had enough people come in with auto idle stop and stall issues to warrant creation of these. I'm not surprised considering how many of us report practically the same issue.
B) These AGM consistently reach about 3-4 years of life before failing to restart the car. Some of us are shorter than that. Then they just exhibit these issues.
C) My dealer was similar to those discussed here. After first stall almost 4 years after Date of Manufacture, 40,000 miles, they took it back to shop, tested battery and gave me car back saying "it checked out." I was like, "Okay, so why did it stall?" "Not sure. But we have a test procedure that we followed and it's good." "Is that the test that loads it for a couple hours?" "That's the one." It happened again two weeks later, took it to AutoZone, tested at 60% original capacity, paid for a replacement. I wasn't going to fight the dealer or risk ongoing stalls.

Acura knows of issues with this battery toward the end of the warranty period. Some dealers are being really stingy when they start exhibiting issues. It's total garbage customer service to throw their hands up and say, "Well, the tester said it's good, so here are your keys back" only to have it stall a week or month later and threaten a $150 diagnostic fee if it tests good again.

I suspect Acura or the manufacturer of this machine figured out a way to get it to pass/accept/okay/good on a report when tested in a 70 deg F shop for two hours, but in the real world (starting/restarting) applications, outside in the frigid cold or searing heat, when called upon for a 1-second instant current load, it doesn't actually have enough Voltage or Amps to crank the starter.

TLXinTX

A quick note on jumping the batteries: make sure you read the Owner's Manual section on jumping the battery. For the V6 TLX, you're not supposed to put red-to-red and black-to-black between the jumper cables and battery terminals. It actually requires removing the plastic engine cover and grounding way off to the left of the engine. Many of the portable battery jumper kits don't reach that far between cables either.

I found out the hard way that jumping the battery in the traditional manner can fry sensitive electronics in the car.

JohnnyRingo

I am a relatively new owner of a 2016 TLX V6 bought via the CPO program with only 17k miles, and in like new condition (I guess most CPO are in this category, but this is my first CPO purchase, as I have always bought cars brand new).

I have been reading many posts on this forum about various little items that are concerning. Fortunately the car is running well, with no issues. I plan to keep a close eye on things while it still is under the new car warranty period.

One thing that I modified right away that "might be" part of the perceived battery drain is the lights being left on for 15-30 seconds every time the car is turned off. I changed mine to turn off as soon as I close the drivers door. I don't want or need them to stay on that long.

I also turned off the drivers seat to move backward and forward every time the drivers door opened/closed.

I turned off the seat movements as I am the person who drives the car 99.9% of the time, and did not want excessive use of the seat motors. I have adjusted the seat to my liking, and set it as a memory to key fob 1. No more moving forward and backwards while the engine is not running, draining the battery.

I am certain that there are many other electronic items that are using the battery without the engine running--but these are two that I modified.

noclue02

I did those that you've mentioned the first week when I got the car. My battery died after 2 years. My 2013 Accord LX, and the battery died in 2 yrs as well. Now, I tried to charge my battery once a week using the trickle charger, hoping to avoid this short live issue.

JohnnyRingo

Thank you for updating. I will keep an eye on my battery voltage.

someguy11

Congrats on your new used TLX. If you perceive no issues, then the car is right for you. There is an encyclopedia worth of issues with the V6, ZF9 and SH-AWD (which you don't have) on this forum to digest. I would make sure the VCM engine mount TSB and low pressure fuel pump recall are done. Listen for chirping under your hood as this will either be a defective high pressure fuel pump or a rubbing timing belt. Your vibration, since you have FWD/PAWS, should be resolved by a road force balancing of tires. I know, I had to look that up after buying my TLX too. It's an advanced balancing as if the car were on the tires. If you ever feel rough or poor shifting, your 2016 won't qualify for much of any fixes except a software update, which won't do much.

TLX lights are LEDs, which are extremely low drain. You can research LED if you want (I studied them in college). They can probably be on for months before draining the battery, so minimizing that setting isn't helping much. Taillight LED strip is the same way. I turned off the seat movement option for the same reason as you - I didn't want that wear on the motor trip after trip, and besides, it didn't really help me get in or out of the car. I'm the primary (only) driver of my car too, so leaving the setting for my wife's FOB on rarely operates the motor anyway.

TLX electronics will drain battery fast if left at an airport or something. Many owners report issues after a week or so. This depends on what engine and package you own and your battery age/condition (yours should be a standard lead acid without auto idle stop). I've never had a problem with my AGM battery after not starting my car for up to ten days. Just be aware. There isn't really much you can do about it if parking anywhere besides home. If you know you're going away for a while, the best fixes are either a trickle charger in your garage or having a wife or buddy start your car to let it idle for five-ten minutes halfway through your trip.

JohnnyRingo

Thank you for the information!!!

I plan to get the TSB's done the next time the car is due for an oil change at my local dealer. I suspect that the TSB's have not been done, as unless you come to these forums you may not realize that you have an issue.

I had no idea that the rattling of my passenger seat belt buckle above 65 MPH could be remedied by a TSB. Same thing with a slight "surge" when going downhill, and applying no gas to the pedal, that the car speeds up unexpectedly. Another TSB, that if you don't follow these types of websites, you would suspect that is just the way the car behaves (despite it not really being safe with that bug in the transmission programming of gear ratios).

All in all I still like the car, as it drives very nicely except for those two situations.

Hopefully the local dealer can provide the fix, as I am still under a bumper to bumper warranty for 23 more months.

mapleloaf

Sorry to hear about your experiences. Although dealers are agents and not employees of the car companies they represent, they should provide a good level of service. I find Dealership experiences for most brands have a wide range of service standards, or lack there of. I stay with my Acura dealer as much for the great service I get as for the cars themselves. I have built up that relationship over the past 11 years and would not likely give it up going forward. Not everything is perfect, but the measure of any type of customer service is as much about how they respond when things go wrong.

neuronbob

^^^^^
This. My dealer has offered excellent service and has stood behind me when I had issues with my cars. This is a factor in my continuing to buy/lease Acuras at all. Longtime owners know the OEM batteries die at around three years, no matter how much you baby them. You’d probably have to trickle charge on a daily basis to get them to last longer.

DohcIVTEC

iTrader: (1)

So I have a 2017 4 cyl tech. Mine died today after less than 2.5 years of ownership and thank goodness for the Acura roadside assistance. I called for a boost, then called the local dealership for a battery swap under the bumper to bumper warranty. The AAA subcontractor told me my battery was toast, but he’ll charge it longer so that I would have enough juice to drive to the dealership. Luckily my battery was completely drained when I arrived at the dealership, and when the service advisor turned it off It was toast. They had to boost the car to bring it to the back, so they didn’t need to do any testing lol

But on that note, does Costco have the battery for the 4 cylinder? I read the earlier post about going to Costco, but I wasn’t sure what motor the posters had. I plan on changing it every 2 years now - preventative.

Christopher.

Man that all sounds like a load of crap to me. I had a not very old Toyota Sienna and my Toyota dealer SAID they tested the battery, and "it was fine", though it was not. Another dealer tested it for me and showed me that one cell was partially bad, they did not charge me for doing that test and I feel like no reasonable dealer would. It really doesn't take much effort, and if they do the test for you, odds are the customer will get a new batter from them anyway, so why not?

Also, my Acura dealer (Lindsey Acura, in Ohio) has never said "we don't have a loaner". I would call the Acura customer 1-800 number and explain to them, if I was at Acura corporate, I would NOT want to hear of a dealer treating customers this way, that's for sure!

Now THAT sounds like how this kind of situation should play out, not the BS treatment that it sounds like OP was experiencing.

I left mine at the airport parking lot for about 10 days when I went on a trip to Japan last year - no problem w/the battery when we got back.

neuronbob

An aside and comparison: I am on the original battery in my CTS-V wagon that I've now had for almost seven years. Battery location in the rear of the car, and consistent garage storage, seem to help. I've never even had to trickle charge the battery once. It did need one jump earlier this year, but I was a moron and left the car in accessory mode, which would have drained the battery even if it weren't olderish.

OTOH, my TLX is an "outside" car, and I start it on a regular basis on single digit/below zero days during the winter here in Cleveland. So far, holding up...but I'm hoping it will hang on until the end of my lease in nine months. Maybe I'll run a cable out when the temps get cold, and trickle charge the battery daily during the winter....

dezymond

Just replaced my battery today. Had no choice really, the car wouldn't start until it was jump started by another car. Tried 3 different portable jumpers and the only thing that works was the good ol fashioned way. Battery is 4yrs and 4mo old based on manufacturing date. I got a bit more than 3.5yrs out of it and 60050 miles.

$260 out of pocket....had to pay for the labor for them to install cause I didn't have any tools on me and have no time to take another car to get a new battery. Damn batteries are expensive...

Will be more proactive about changing it until I'm left stranded one day...

centflatsx

You got your money's worth out of that battery. You're lucky to get 2.5 years here with the FL heat and humidity.

Rocketsfan

I'd be ecstatic to get 3.5-4 years out of my batteries -- hell, that sounds normal. I'm on battery #3 in 5 years.

dezymond

That's insane. I'd be annoyed spending this amount of money on a battery so often.

The thing that got me was it didn't really show much sign of dying. Ok maybe there were 1 or 2 startups within the last few weeks that didn't turn the engine but still would've expected that a bit more.

Oh well new battery in and good as new.

TLXinTX

Just piling on here re: my 2015 TLX V6 Tech.

In September 2018, I noticed that my car didn't always start up quickly or reliability on occasion. I got the battery tested at O'Reilly's, and they showed it was good. Two weeks later, my car stranded me in a grocery store parking lot. Roadside assistance unsuccessfully tries jumping the car and has to tow it back to the dealer. (Note: There's a very specific method for jumping the V6 models -- don't just put post-to-post.)

On the good news front, the dealer replaced the battery under warranty.

Fast forward 12 months later, and it's the same thing: the car doesn't always like starting, especially if the engine was running a few minutes prior. Again, I get it tested at the nearby O'Reilly's and they tell me the battery checks out fine. I took it into the dealer and they say the battery's bad and needs to be replaced. This time it's $270 (!!) because "the last replacement was under warranty."

How can Acura use these terrible batteries? What's a good aftermarket brand I can keep in mind this time next year when the OEM battery craps out again?

Rocket_man

I just replaced the battery in my 2015 TLX V-6 for the 2nd time. The first battery lasted about a year and was replaced under warranty. But as has been mentioned, the '100 month' warranty only applies if you paid for that battery. If it was replaced under warranty you have essentially no warranty. So if it is your 2nd battery, save the aggravation of Acura service and just go aftermarket. This last time my car left me stranded in a bank parking lot after starting just fine getting me there. I had a tow truck put a battery assist on and it started right away. I took it to Autozome who tested it and said it tested fine but had low voltage drop when starting. I took it to Acura and using their testor, it tested OK. But in hearing the symptoms the SA said they battery probably has a few weeks left. I think Acura rigs this testor to their benefit. But in reality since the installed battery was a warranty battery, I'd have to pay the full costs. I drove to Autozone a bought a $158 battery with better CCA and far better warranty. Installed it in the parking lot and the car has been fine.

After many many years of Honda and Acura batteries I can say their batteries are crap. Most owners will agree. If you need a new battery, just go aftermarket and save the aggravation of dealing with Acura Service. If you have an issue with the aftermarket battery, any Autozone will deal with you and whatever warranty you have left.

Rocketsfan

Sadly, those of you looking to go aftermarket as a solution to batteries dying quickly may not find satisfaction. After my original Acura battery died within 1-2 years, I replaced it with an Interstate battery. That one began exhibiting issues with starts within a year and left me stranded luckily on my parents' driveway when I went to visit them. Luckily I wasn't left stranded somewhere between Dallas and Houston. I replaced that battery back in June. This time I replaced it with an Acura battery. It's already had a couple of issues with starting but seems to be ok for now. Some of us apparently have cars that eat batteries. Anybody know who makes these Acura batteries? I'm asking because it seems both the Acura OEM batteries and Interstate batteries didn't last more than 1-2 years in this car.

The problem with getting these batteries tested is that I took it to 2 dealers and 1 NTB and all of them said the batteries tested out "good". Even shortly before my most recent dead battery, it had tested out fine. All I can say is, if you're having starting problems that require multiple attempts on occasion, get ready to be stranded unless you replace the thing. Once I start having starting issues, I can usually get another 3-6 months of the battery before it croaks.

horseshoez

iTrader: (2)

All this talk of crappy OEM batteries has me baffled, I had one of Honda's 100-month batteries in my V6 Accord, and not only did the damn thing make it 100-months, it made it two months shy of 10-years (for those not wanting to do the math, that's 118-months). Were it not for the fact the 3-year old aftermarket battery in my TL died on a Sunday, I would have had been more than happy to put an OEM battery in my car.