9SpeedTran

Probably about the end of June this first happened -- it was in the mid 90s and I had driven the car hard for about an hour on the highway, then on a regular street Auto Engine Idle Stop kicked in, and then when I took my foot off the brake after a minute or so, the car stalled. I had to take my foot off the brake, turn off the car, then put my foot on the brake and start it up again. So this happened several more times, and I took it in to Acura, and they spend a couple days checking it out and a good amount of time on the phone with Techline, but couldn't find out what it was. I had originally thought it was the battery but it checked out fine. So I got the car back and it did this a couple more times, so I started restarting it by jiggling the wheel instead of lifting my foot off the brake. That always worked fine, as did the restart when it turns itself back on with a timer.

Until this morning. I was sitting at a light and the timer kicked in to restart the car, and it stalled. I plan to take it in to the shop tomorrow or Saturday when my service person is in. Until then I will simply turn off the Auto Idle Stop.

Has anyone else had this happen?

sbillard

Might be the battery. I did have this, preceded by some almost not starting. Turned out the battery had an issue. It was replaced under warranty.

Rocketsfan

I don't have an SH-AWD, but I had sluggish starts and occasionally the car would fail to start on the first push of the button. I took it to a dealership and they couldn't find anything wrong and the battery checked out as being ok. I don't know what they did, but the car didn't have any problems starting for about 6 months. Then it started happening occasionally again. Took it to another dealership and again, the battery was ok... again, no issues for a while (can't remember how long) and then again, it started happening. I just said "screw it" and replaced the battery. My starts are much better now and no problems starting for a couple of months at least. I'm guessing the issue was the battery. If it's not too much of an expense for you, go ahead and replace the battery if you're still on your first battery. Of course then Acura gets out of giving you a new battery, I guess. I've gotten to the point of just replacing these things at the first sign of starting problems no matter what the dealership says. On my last Acura, I almost got stranded in another state because the battery was ok, but then died soon after. Luckily I was in a Walmart parking lot when it died in McAlester, Oklahoma.

99CL

I've been having the same issue for the pass couple of months. Dealer couldn't find anything wrong since there was no error codes nor happened when they kept it for two days. They performed an software update after it stalled when I pulled into the service area. I kept the car on and called the service adviser and tech out. It worked fine when I got the car back but it does it again. I always turn off the Auto Start when I get into the car but those few times that I forget, it feels like a gamble if the car will restart.

Maybe I'll change out the battery. Sometimes it has a hard time starting.

sbillard

It took over two hours on the test bed before my battery showed up faulty.

9SpeedTran

I am having it in for scheduled service on Sat and will get the battery changed. At a minimum, it will reduce the variables involved in troubleshooting the problem, but I suspect it will resolve it. The car is nearly 3 years old, has over 50K miles on it, and that battery has been used hard. :-)

Thanks to everyone for sharing their experiences and guidance!

andre12dbsi

This happened to my TLX earlier this year. The dealer replaced the battery and it resolved the issue. Hopefully the battery replacement will work in your case as well.

9SpeedTran

So the battery checked out fine but I had them replace it anyway and I could sure tell the difference. Whereas before when it restarted (when it didnt stall) it was kind of tentative, like it almost wanted to stall, now it bursts into life, like it did before all this started. So, tentatively, problem solved. But $290 for a battery?!?!?!?!!!

CPR

Too bad not under warranty; $290? ridiculous! Strange, because the dealer tire prices are very competitive
You'd think, a battery would be reasonable; wishful thinking; should've gone to Sears for a Die Hard!

pyrodan007

Fully agree, 290 for a shitty Acura battery is excessive. Also had to replace mine in the TL after less than two years and I used that car daily lol. TLX is ok for now, but did have a low battery warning in the winter. Strangely stop-start seems ok. Probably because I have a small 400 amp lithium starter pack always plugged into car's lighter port in armrest.

Rocketsfan

I'm trying not to give dealerships or Acura more of my money, so when I decided to replace my supposedly good battery that should've been replaced under warranty, I went to NTB and got an Interstate. Man, I think you got reemed on that. Even if it's an AGM battery, that's nutty.

I don't know who is making Acura's batteries for the TLX -- anyone know?

On the bright side, let's hope the battery swap works and you don't stall out again. For anyone else that has similar sluggish starting or stalling issues, just replace the batteries or try to get Acura to replace it unless you want to potentially be stalled/stranded somewhere. lol.

JT4

I am surprised they charged you so much, usually the dealer will pro-rate the battery..

9SpeedTran

They did cut me some slack on the transmission fluid replacement they did (since I broke the 50K mile barrier). So it wasnt all pain. Just mostly. :-)

99CL

I'll have to try getting a new battery then. I looked up the Interstate Battery and their AGM battery is recommend on their site. Think that runs about $260. Can't believe batteries could cost so much!

9SpeedTran

Yeah these must be extra heavy duty. With the AIES on, the car shuts off and restarts probably 50 times a day, maybe more depending on traffic. When added to normal battery drain from all the electronic gizmos the car is packed with, that is not a normal duty cycle.

But whatever test Acura is doing to determine whether these batteries are good clearly does not capture the characteristic that actually enables the batteries to reliably start the car. I find that whole topic pretty interesting.

CybrRdr

If you live in a hot weather state then your battery will go bad sooner especially if your car is not garaged. I never had battery issues in San Diego but when I moved to Houston I had to replace my battery on average every 2 years. I guess having a black car in Texas didn't help either.

Rocketsfan

I just went to NTB's site and their price on there is $239, but not sure if that includes installation, and it doesn't include taxes and fees. I thought AGM's would be cheaper than that by now. Maybe 9SpeedTran didn't get screwed over as bad as I thought. lol.

BTW, the AGM battery only comes on the SH-AWD model, from what I recall. Probably because of all the "start/stop/start/stop"'ing it does.

nascar9900

My 2105 TLX SH-AWD experienced the failure to restart after auto idle shutoff multiple times. AutoZone and the dealer both tested the battery and it came back good. After 10 restart failures and finally capturing the event on video, the dealer reported the battery as bad and replaced it.

As others have reported, the restarts were much stronger - for about 3 months. Then it failed 2 times in about a week. But then worked fine for 2 months but has now failed twice this last week. AutoZone says the battery checks out good.

The dealer Service Manager says the same thing happened to one of his Acuras so he doesn't doubt my sanity. I suggested it might be the starter or starter solenoid. He said there are a lot of other things in the restart system than just the battery, starter and solenoid. (He mentioned an extra alternator, cold air compressor to keep the AC cool while the engine is off, etc. Note - I am skeptical but hopeful.) He insisted I bring it in for a compete diagnostics. (That will be tomorrow morning.)

I will report back with additional info once I have it.

Symptoms:
Normally it just starts up.
Sometimes it tries to restart, then audibly gets bogged down and struggles, but does start.
But sometimes it stalls when getting bogged down, goes into neutral, the info panel tells the driver to put it Park, then you have to push the start button to turn it off, then 1-2 times more to actually start the engine, then put it back in Drive. Takes about 20 seconds once you have the sequence memorized. (Just enough time for the driver behind you to honk his horn, but not enough time to load a gun.)

As others reported - the most common time it happens is after a long drive (20+ minutes) on the highway.

pyrodan007

That's odd, I'd expect the battery to get a charge after the long drive and not be dead-ish

Rocketsfan

FYI : I don't have an AWD, but have had the problems with the car starting on the first attempt in the past. As mentioned above (about 2.5 months ago), after the battery kept testing out good, I eventually just replaced the battery on my own dime. The car started much better and the non-starts were gone for a few months (I'd have to check when I actually replaced the battery, but I think it was sometime around 4th of July). The non-start returned a couple of weeks ago, and since then there was one sluggish/weak start. The rest of the time, the starts have still been fairly strong.... so, who knows.

9SpeedTran

So far so good with the new battery. Fingers crossed... :-)

scottcorinna

My wife’s 2015 TLX stalled on her a couple of months ago. We mentioned it to the service manger and during the service they ran the same battery test and code check as others have had with the same result.
A couple of weeks ago I was driving the car on the freeway for about an hour and after coming off the ramp the car did what it should and the engined stopped. However it appeared to me the the transmission did not shift into neutral during the auto stop so the engine stalled and wouldn’t restart. After about 6 attempts the engine finally fired.
I have an oil service due soon so will mention it again to the service manager.
Hope to get a better answer.

nascar9900

I had similar issues (see my post above). ACURA replaced the battery in March and the problem went away for about 3 months, then reoccurred about 3 more times, went away for another 2 months and came back again.

They kept the car longer this time and did more tests. This time they determined the voltage was falling below 7 volts when doing / attempting the Auto Idle Restart. This would explain the restart symptoms even though the battery checks out as good, and why a new, stronger battery will make the problem go away for awhile.

They replaced the starter, starter voltage stabilizer and some cables. ACURA kept the old parts and will be putting them into a test car to see if they can't duplicate the failure to restart themselves.

Hopefully this will correct my problem for good.

9SpeedTran

Fortunately for me the problem has not re-occurred at all since I got the new battery, but thanks very much for sharing this info!

scottcorinna

Finally got the TLX into the shop and the tech called Acura with the symptoms.
Acura said there is a small percentage af cars that have this problem and the fix is to replace a piece in the transmission and upload new firmware to the car.
We pick the car up today so I’ll let you know how it goes.

9SpeedTran

Fascinating. Definitely let us know how it goes, and thanks for sharing this!

neil0311

I have this same exact issue. Can you please post more details on what they did? Part numbers, TSBs, etc?

I’ve raised this twice with my dealer and they have told me twice that they find nothing. The car has stalled at lights several times, and now I disable every time.

Momyc

Guys, I start to get those symptoms for the first time after 2 years and 10 months having the car.
Mine starts ok in the morning , even is very cold outside (-18C !) but after driving the car for 10-15 min and stop for a short period of time(10-15min) then it doesn't start . The engine stalls after one crank .After waiting 10-20 sec I try again to re-start and still no luck. After 3-4 attempts is starting finally.
It happens to me 3 times in the last 2 days. I don't use Auto start/stop as I'm always on Sport+ .
I'll call the dealer tomorrow (Monday) to have it checked , hopefully I wouldn't get stuck .
I have only 2 month and half to go on my lease and I hope it wouldn't disappoint me more.

Momyc

UPDATE: The dealer changed the battery under warranty and it seems to fix the issue. I hope I'm good up to mid-March when the lease is finished.

ConradValmont

Initially read this post a few months ago, this actually happened last night at a light during a busy commute. Stalled & all power shut down. Dazed a sec, shifted to Park hit Start button, didn't work. A few more seconds did it again, then it fired up. No problems with starting since last night with 4-5 starts today, but I took it to the dealership. Too busy over there today, appointment scheduled tomorrow. Concern is if they test the battery and say it's ok. I'm not confident it won't stall again if I use idle stop. Was about to just straight purchase another battery but the warranty for the battery is 4 years/50k miles. I'm at 48,500.

More concerned with what scottcorinna mentioned about that additional fix if it is starting to be a more widespread problem with our 2+ year old cars. Service advisor said no other customers had encountered this yet.

sbillard

When this happened to me the battery initially tested OK. Fortunately my dealer was persistent. They tested the battery for over 2 hours until it did fail. Then it was replaced under warranty. (No cost, not prorated!)

99CL

My dealer changed out the battery. They couldn't replicate the issue (that always happens). One of the techs said they seen the issue before and it was the battery. They tested it for a longer period of time and it failed. Acura said they seen the issue before as well and it's the battery.

Mr Hyde

Will keep an eye on this.

Wonder where the starter is at in its life cycle with all the start/stops. The AGM battery is pretty expensive, so the $200+ cost isn't that out of line, but that's only on the AWD cars. The others have regular lead acid batteries if I am not mistaken.

Rocketsfan

I think these battery issues affect non-SH-AWD TLX's, too. My car had issues starting where the battery "checked out". I finally gave up and didn't want to get stranded and replaced the battery on my own dime even though it should be under warranty. I did have one failure to start on the first attempt since then (I think), but so far that's been it. It seems to have fixed the problem. If you're at 2-3 years and having starting issues... consider replacing the battery.

ConradValmont

Dealer ended up replacing the battery. They performed tests, battery didn't fail although my stall incident did appear as some event code. Still managed to avg 30.2 mpg last week with very minimal idle-stop usage. Legitimate concern the AGM battery will start to fail every 2-3 years even if the battery doesn't completely fail.

sbillard

Or maybe sooner. I'm having this problem again now. At the end of May last year the dealer replaced my battery. After much testing it finally failed on the tester. Took the car back yesterday for the same issue. Dealer said the tester claimed the battery was fine. Because of that they could not initiate a test. (Wow, what kind of software does that!) Anyway, they have the car now for road testing to see if the problem will show up for them. (Naturally it is intermittent.) Since replacing the battery totally fixed the problem last time I am pretty sure it will be the solution again. But only a little more than a year to fail? Makes one reluctant to use an Acura battery. Any recommendations for a good one?

EE4Life

See the following July 2018 Acura Service News Articles:

B18070D
Testing Absorbed Glass Mat Batteries
Affected Vehicles: 2016-18 MDX - With Advance Package, 2017 NSX - ALL, 2015-18 TLX - SH-AWD

B18070E
Looking for Failed 12-Volt Batteries
Affected Vehicles: 2016 MDX - ALL, 2015-16 TLX - V6

https://acurazine.com/forums/third-g.../#post16274011

KeithL

Rocketsfan

I doubt Acura makes their own batteries. They're probably just rebadged. And like I've said before, I don't have an AWD, but had weak starts after about 1.5 or so years of ownership. Replaced the battery with an Interstate battery and that fixed the problem. Now almost exactly 1 year later, I'm having weak start problems again, and of course, dealership can't duplicate.

kfurrow

I purchased my TLX October, 2015. In August 2016 the auto stop began to occasionally fail to restart and other times is barely started and I began disabling auto-stop every time I used the car -- until my wife started driving it in mid-2017, forgot to push the button and it left her stranded for awhile at a stop light until she called me and I walked her through the restart procedure (she won't drive that car now). In August the dealer tested battery as bad and replaced during a visit where the transmission and numerous other systems were replaced (5 pages of parts in the service write-up, 22 days in the shop). One year later in August 2018 the auto-stop began acting up again. The Infotainment stack would often flicker during successful and failed restarts. The dealer said battery tested as good so they drove the car around for two days without duplicating the issue. I then suggested they engage the rear defroster and max out the seat coolers to increase current draw. Still no go. Finally they discovered that the voltage sometimes dropped to 6 volts for 1/2 second during restarts. Maybe they have some mobile diagnostic system?

Net result was a new battery (and a $1700 warranty bill to Acura, last year's bill was something like $7000). What am I to think other than this car destroys $290 batteries yearly. BTW a buddy's 2015 BMW 3-series also has auto-stop but it can be permanently disabled and also still has it's original battery (and transmission!). I guess I bought the wrong brand of automobile... My warranty expires very soon.

I miss my 1999 TL, the best car I've ever owned. The 2015 TLX is tied as the worst.