Skirmich

Hi Folks!


Well this last Sunday 1st my Car decided to die while buying Gas. The dreaded "Click Click Click" while trying to start pointed me in the starter direction and also the battery, well.

I bought my current battery this past December brand new Optima Yellow so I could safely say my battery wasn't the culprit.

So I checked my Ground Cables.. FYI I'm not using the OEM Grounds I have custom 2AWG Stinger wires that I installed 5 years ago (Including an Extra Alternator to Chassis Ground).
I visually check them and they seemed fine, no corrosion at the ends.
Well since I had over 2 hours now stranded I called AAA for assistance, The mechanic SWORE my Starter Solenoid was bad and I trusted this fella since I haven't ever replaced my Starter (So it had +210K Miles on it).

I bought a New Starter (Set back 110 dollars no core given) in Autozone (Duralast brand bummer) with plans on getting the trusty Honda unit Rebuild just in case. I promptly installed the starter outside of the Autozone (I always carry basic tools) and proceed to start my car and get on my way.


"Click click click"... I almost had a stroke... I was now stranded for 5 hours almost 250 miles away from my Home.
Luckily a good fella helped me in the parking and pointed me to the right direction "How are your grounds?" he said.. I told him that they looked fine. He went back to his car and took out an enormous Fluke Professional Multi-meter and started to test my ground for continuity and resistance the guy was a Private Electrician Contractor.
Well my "Added" 3rd Ground from Alternator to Chassis showed "0" ZERO Continuity.
My Battery to Chassis showed Continuity but a shit ton load of resistance (Enough to light my dash up on Key II)
And my Battery to Transmission showed "0" ZERO Continuity

In short all my grounds were completely toasted I was impressed the car showed no signals what-so-ever the day before and decided that day it was enough . The guy took out jumper cables and connected my battery ground directly to the starter armature and BAMMM Car its alive!!!! 5 hours later and a brand new starter, I thanked the good man and I rushed the heck back home! The car started to act funny my dashboard completely died ever time I came to a stop and then suddenly turned back on this happened all the 250 miles back home..

When I reached home I took my battery grounds out, Still the ends looked completely fine but oh boy when I cut them open! They were completely destroyed by Corrosion..
1 hour later and brand new 0AWG (Upgraded yay!) MTX Cables the car is up and running!




I hope this story helps anyone trying to figure out what the heck is wrong when the car doesn't start! and do go buying starters just because the guy from AAA swears to god is the culprit.

01tl4tl

excellent report on a current (pun intended) condition. Several thread problems keep pointing to the dreaded 15 year old (or less) wires wearing out - on the inside~

its time to spend a few dollars (20-50?) and an hour or so replacing all the small and the main ground wires, acura sells a kit, you can DIY new cables that are better than stock,
or get a trick setup that's way better than stock- very good idea if you run the thumper tunes

thanks for sharing your adventure and admitting even the wise can be fooled!

Skirmich

^ I hope the new 0AWG wires can last longer than 5 years
Stinger Cables never failed on me before..


I even checked my First 00AWG from Alternator to Positive Battery and it seems fine too but granted that its the higher end of Stinger Cables. The MTX I bought are from an old build that were given to me as part of payment but since MTX doesn't have any "tiers" to say which is better than the other? I guess its better than my old 2AWG which are now in the trash bin. I also took the time to replace the Starter wire which I also upgraded to 2AWG before because it also looked "Fine" so I ran new 0AWG from Positive to Starter too to be safe.

TLer trash

^^I sure wouldn't have guessed a ground on your car, after reading your description of them. Especially in sunny California! I used welding cable when I did mine.

acutee

Thanks for sharing. Who would have known it was the cable. Strangely it got all corroded under the hood.

Skirmich

Well I live in San Diego and we sure have a heck loads of humidity here.. I'd make sure to apply some liquid gasket to the ends of the grounds to help keep moisture and humidity out.

Skirmich

Now I won't trust just by looking the ends.. I did make sure how to test them with a multimeter and now understands the numbers it shows when in continuity mode.

01tl4tl

If your battery terminals have ever crudded- grown the deadly blue goo
Thats battery outgassing being attracted to the lead post. Corrosion has taken hold inside the cables as a result and will go about its business.

Many years go by before you take to acurazine in search of a `no start` solution
After that, you suspect the ground AND power leads everywhere!
Its the easy place to start for weird electrical issues.

##Exception for 99s = See ignition switch thread in diy

shamal

I love it when you guys get a problem worth reporting, it's a real treat to watch you go to work, keep trying, no doubt attract attention and help from some good souls along the way, and git 'er done !
What a crew,,, great post Skirmich ! Thanks for the kit tip, 01,
All you wet coasters take heed !

Skirmich

Hope it helps buddy.

Now my IACV is acting up!! Yay!!!

RONE

Time to check into a DIY for replacing all the grounds. My '02 has had this issue VERY intermittently over the past 5+ years - always assumed it was a bad relay for the fuel pump, or something similar. But turning the ignition off and waiting for a minute has resolved the issue every time (<10 total occurrences).

Skirmich

^ pretty annoying, how can you lasted this long with it? I had to fix it day 1 since it didn't give me issues before.

Now I can officially say my IACV died!! Because 1 trouble with a car per month isn't enough! My car started to idle erratically and idle in neutral at +2.5K RPM.. cleaned it but it only works fine if I don't go up beyond 4K RPM... The valve isn't closing properly even after it's cleaned to hell..

Ordered a new IACV now I have to wait.

RONE

It did it a couple times when my parents owner the car (they were original purchasers back in '02), and the dealer never could find a reason for it. I bought the car from them several years and 60K miles ago, and it's done it probably twice in that time. Always would start within a minute after taking the key out of the ignition, so never invested too much time to track it down. Now that I know something specific to check, though....

shamal

I checked with the local dealership and they don't have a Canadian kit for this car, the mechanic said the only issue he knew about was the RL's having a grounding problem.

Skirmich

What do you mean with a "Canadian Kit"?
All cars have ground problems when the cables corrode, it isn't a specific problem to the TL or RL.

shamal

I was referring to 04's post above " its time to spend a few dollars (20-50?) and an hour or so replacing all the small and the main ground wires, acura sells a kit, you can DIY new cables that are better than stock,
or get a trick setup that's way better than stock- very good idea if you run the thumper tunes"
I changed out my battery cables when getting the starter rebuilt, they looked fine, but the exposed copper threads were not great looking. Inside the connectors the copper looked much better. Also cleaned all the connection-to-frame surfaces for the grounds. May try an Optima battery next go round on a vehicle, great info on this site about batteries too.
Thanks, to everyone for posts.