Bill Walton

Over the course of the last week we’ve had to jump start our TLX at least 20 times. AAA came out to jump once and checked battery, starter and alternator and showed all good. Had to jump it after that visit. Today took the car to Acura dealer and they can’t find any problems either.

Here’s a list of symptoms that we’ve noticed

1. Key FOB activates one ground light on right side mirror from inside the house.
2. Key FOB occasionally not working (batteries replaced in both FOB’s)
3. Jump start with Buick LaCrosse takes about 10 minutes of battery charging.
4. Starter clicks and lights go off when starter button depressed.
5. Jump start with BMW 328i starts the car up immediately.
6. Jump start with portable jump starter is immediate
7. Radio plays even if car doesn’t start

Any ideas out in Acura land? ECU?

2015 Acura TLX
Tech Package
70,000 miles

h_dawg

Hello, I think I would start by replacing the car battery. I was having intermittent starting issues with my 2015 Acura TLX V6 Base about a year ago. I took it to the dealer, and they too tested my battery and electrical system and said everything was fine. I was still having the problem occasionally and got tired of them giving me the run around and changed the battery and never had a problem since. I think even though the batteries may be testing "within spec" it's not enough juice to get the car to crank over. My battery was about 3.5 years old at the time and had about 40-45k miles on it. Lots of people reported similar issues, and once they replaced the battery everything seemed to be fine. I would start there and see if your problem goes away

someguy11

Bill, I could basically retype what h_dawg said as my story. It's probably the battery. My case happened to be a V6 AWD with the AGM battery, which appears to do some funky things as it's dying.

You can take your car to any AutoZone for a free load test. They will tell you what % of charge capacity it holds. If it fails or is less than 60%, replace it. I would recommend their Duralast line. Gold should work for I4 and V6 besides Advance. Platinum AGM if you want to splurge for it - supposedly best technology, longest life and best for heavy loads (many stops/starts, hence, why it's in the AWD).

flybyglass

My first clue was at a corner the auto start/stop was a slow during the re-crank. I immediately took it in. Charging system OK and battery "within spec." I said change it anyway. I have a 2015 TLX V6 AWD Advance and it has the AGM battery. The Dealer replaced, ran a spec check then gave it to may. I compared. While the old battery was "within spec" the new one had considerably more crank amps and it was also noticeable during start with a much faster crank. So all the low battery issues were avoided.

fiatlux

I had a dead battery. Dealership refused to replace it under warranty because they claim it tested good on their machine. You're dealership is probably full of crap like mine; go to Costco, pick up a new battery for $80, and call it a day.

flybyglass

I had my dealer replace as there is also a cooling fan attached to the AGM battery and I wanted to make sure it was working with the install.

Rocketsfan

I have a V6 P-AWS (no AWD) and I've had to replace my battery approximately every 1.5-2 years. If anyone has starting problems where it won't start on the first attempt after drives and quick restarts (like within 10 minutes), do yourself a favor and replace your battery. It will fix the starting problem for about 1-2 years before they may start again (like in my case) or it may fix the problem for good - who knows. I'm on my 3rd battery in 4 years. They always check out good until they're dead. I've taken this issue to 2 or 3 dealers and no clue. It's happened with an Acura battery (no idea who make these for them -- could be Interstate) and an Interstate battery. Both exhibited the same problem after about 1-1.5 years and I drove them for another 6-12 or so months. This last time it died in my parents' driveway, so I jumpstarted it and took it to a dealership to replace the battery.

narnia

I just had the same issue. Recently I noticed sometimes the car wouldn’t start right away. I thought I wasn’t pushing the brake hard enough and it would start okay on the next attempt. But then it wouldn’t start at all, bells and whistles going off and a whirring noise under the hood. I got a jump start and made it home. My battery is 5 years old👍🏻 so I figured I needed a new battery. I stopped into Auto Zone, but due to Covid restrictions they said they could sell me a battery but not do the Install. I had AAA come out and everything tested okay. I still had him replace the battery, and haven’t had any problem starting the car since then.

I was really pleased that I just had to hold down the Audio button for a few seconds to reactive my radio, and all my XM presets are still there.

rob-o

Couple things to keep in mind...
1) The price of a new battery is often less than the price of an hour's "diagnostic" fees at the dealer and most indys, so if in doubt no one could fault you for replacing the battery and going from there. If the battery is older than 3-4 years it's the most likely root cause anyway. Static voltage test at battery terminals with new battery in place and engine running > 13.5v is a darn good cheap indicator that the alternator is working. Not bulletproof, but works far more often than not in my experience.
2) If problems persist after replacing the battery (goes dead after a few days sitting, etc.), then proceed to having the charging system formally tested. If charging system is working at test time, and assuming you're not dealing with an intermittent voltage regulator, battery charge management system, etc, you've most likely got something causing a parasitic drain on the battery, which is not hard to test but can be very difficult to locate if not one of the "usual suspects" (all cars have them - I think I read somewhere that Acuras are notorious for the SOS/overhead control module causing battery drain. I've seen the power seat modules in early 2000's euro cars cause the same issue in my former life.).

A final opinion about battery tests/battery testers, and the relationship between battery testers and manufacturers, FWIW - The auto manufacturers typically subcontract some of their test equipment to a supplier. In the case of battery and charging system testers, it is reasonable to think that the manufacturers who contract out the test equipment have at least some say in how the test equipment returns a "fail". There is certainly some incentive to not have a battery "fail" a test, especially under warranty, unless the battery is able to be determined completely and irreversibly shot. If the pass/fail software is written too loosely, the battery replacements charged back to warranty add up, especially if the battery "fails" the test in an otherwise completely operable vehicle thats' just in for routine maintenance (I've seen this before - a battery test is usually part of annual services, at least with the euro cars). The flip side of this is that unfortunately it is likely that faulty batteries sometimes pass their tests and the dealers are left with no way to bill back to warranty even if they know, but cannot prove or admit publicly, that the battery is bad.
The old days of carbon pile (heat load) testers were inaccurate and probably led to many good batteries replaced at warranty expense, with no real way to verify the accuracy of the carbon pile test. The software-driven modern testers are probably in aggregate more accurate (again not bulletproof) but the test results are certainly auditable in a warranty claim review.

That's the world we live in. When the time comes that I think my battery has failed, I'm not going to give the dealer a chance to do this dance. They can do the two minute test and if it fails, great. If it passes, I'll buy my own battery, install it myself or have someone do it at my expense, then move on if other problems persist. It's better for my wallet, my sanity, and my relationship with the dealer. I can pay 100-200 bucks for a battery and be done with it or pay several hundred in "diagnostic" fees while the dealer scratches their heads wondering what's wrong because "the computer" says the battery is good.

Hope this helps!
Rob-o

nebula

I have a 2015 tlx 4 cylinder with tech package and my battery has died around 3 times. After the 1st time my dealership said nothing was wrong, after the 2nd time it died they replaced it under warranty (that was October of 2018). My battery died again last week, took the car back to dealership and after two days there running diagnostics they said everything looks good. I was truly annoyed to say the least, I actually wished they found something wrong. I’ve been looking around wanting to purchase one of those portable jump starters to keep in my trunk, just in case I’m in an area where no one can jump me (and I basically want to jump the car myself). I’ve been looking on amazon but there are so many choices, does anyone have any recommendations on which one to buy?

fiatlux

I got the one they sell at Costco because if it turns out to be junk, I can return it within a year no questions asked.

Since then I've used it 3 times and it's worked perfectly.

nebula

I took a look at Costco’s website and it seems they are out of stock of the portable jump starter. I can’t believe you had to use it 3 times, at least it’s not just me.

fiatlux

Yeah, I had quite the saga with my local dealership fighting over getting the battery replaced under warranty. They kept insisting the battery was good, even though I objectively demonstrated with a multimeter that it wouldn't hold a charge overnight. Ultimately they agreed to keep the car overnight to verify that it would be dead the next morning, but they would not give me a loaner, claiming that they were booked solid for over a month (I guess Acura's aren't particularly reliable these days if all of them were booked for a month). Anyways, I decided to just bite the bullet and replaced the battery out of pocket. I suppose they won that battle, though I've decided not to buy another Acura until their customer service (and lousy roadside assistance) matches that of their competitors, so really it's more of a pyrrhic victory for them. That experience also convinced my brother, his girlfriend, my parents, and two other family friends to forgo an Acura, even though they were originally considering the RDX and MDXs. It's a shame considering the RDX is a great car, but that's all moot if you can't trust them to do the right thing if problems arise.

Rocketsfan

As an update to the comedy... almost exactly 1.5 years later the battery I got needed to be jumped to get started. So now I'm on my 4th battery in about 6 years. And, of course, again, the dealership found nothing wrong with the bad battery, so I had to pay for the new one out of pocket. Thanks David McDavid Acura of Plano. They did recommend I get a timing belt job done, among other things, even though those were already done just about a year ago. Chuckled when they justified batteries dying quickly nowadays, though. Chuckled even more when they suggested I get a timing belt replacement done even though I had just gotten one done a year ago. I could go on about the comedy of errors and attempted upcharges, but why bother. lol.

fiatlux

Were all the new batteries Honda/Acura batteries? If so, I'm not surprised they failed so frequently; the H/A batteries are garbage.

Rocketsfan

Nope. The first one was (obviously) an "Acura" battery, the 2nd one I believe was the Interstate I bought from NTB, the 3rd was an Acura and the 4th is an Acura. They all pretty much got eaten up after 1.5-2 years or so. Maybe they're all Interstates that get eaten up, but then everybody would be reporting the issue. I think the problem, whatever it is, is just with my car or some TLXes, and the battery doesn't matter. There's something draining the battery is my guess and Acura can't figure it out. But what's odd is that even when they present starting issues, they still say the battery checks out. Even NTB said the battery checks out. But eventually it gives me enough trouble starting that I have to jump the car. One Acura dealership in Houston said the battery checked out, but to see if they could figure out what was wrong, kept it for an hour or two and attempted to restart it with the old battery and they said every-so-often they had problems starting the car and had to jumpstart it, too. So whatever is going on is a mystery that nobody has a clue what's going on.

dopeboy1

I feel like it's the cars and not necessarily the batteries. My TL eats batteries too yet my parents Honda's have had batteries last 10+ years.