Hi All

So I finally needed an oil change after a year of owning the ZDX which I bought used with 13-ish k miles. Went to the dealer in February to do the oil change, give it a nice detail, and fix a corroded TPMS. All went well on these fronts.

For reference - mine is a 2010 base with 21k miles. (I think I am the only one here who has a base ) And is 100% up to date on the TSBs.

Battery issue: The customer service rep came to the waiting room to tell me that the battery charge wasn't registering high enough and I needed a new one. She said it is covered under warranty and they'll take care of it. My first thought was that this might be attributed to the fact that I don't drive it as much - 2-3 times a week. I make my wife take it when she runs errands without the kids to make sure it gets some miles but for the most part it's sitting dormant either in the driveway or at an airport garage.

I am curious to see if any one else had an issue with the battery this early, and your thoughts on whether the lack of driving is legitimate. Thanks!

(Sorry for the long absence BTW )

 

^no, not at all!

Acura's OEM batteries are a little on the weak side.
if you look into this issue more; you'll see that most every one gets their battery replaced on the early side.

 

Thanks Justin... I remember seeing stuff in the TL/TSX forums, but didn't see any in the ZDX. But it makes sense to be a more encompassing Acura thing rather than model specific.

 

Saba....Justnspace is 100% correct, all Acura vehicle are subject to their weak batteries. I am not sure why Acura does not hook up with a reliable battery make and get some decent batteries...I swear that I would trust a watch battery over the crap they put in our vehicles.

Now, like you, I don't drive my vehicles often (The RDX and TL) as I have a rain car so neither of my Acura have ever seen a wet road or a drop of rain. The best little device to keep your battery charged all the time and the piece of mind is this:

http://www.canadiantire.ca/browse/pr...=1362444601872

I have one of these and I LOVE it....the best 40$ I ever invested

 

Thanks for the good advice Weather that is something I am going to look into. I guess a rain car makes sense after seeing how I could eat off the underside of your beautiful TL or RDX. I thought I kept a clean fleet but you make my cars look like they have been through an express wash.

 

I have a 10 Z tech that I needed to replace the battery last october with just 17K miles on it. A little background on my battery issues:
In Feb 2012 I had the battery sensor software update done after I received the recall notice AND after I received some of those low battery warnings myself.
Then one day in Sep 2012 when I went to start my car the navi screen displayed a message to Replace my battery. I should mention that since I got the car I have had intermitenent problems with the steering wheel radio controls. The problem was when I touched the steering wheel volume up button the radio channel would change. if I hit the mode button the volume would change, crazy things like that. This would happen only a few times a year and of course those controls would function perfectly when I brought the car in 2X to check out the problem. The dealer found no probelms, but after the replace battery message I brought the car back to the dealer and after 2 days they found an internal short in the drivers side MICU which they replaced. At that time they said the battery was OK and did not replace it.
One morning, 6 weeks after the dealer replaced the MICU and told me the battery was OK, my car failed to start and I had to jump it. I took it back to the dealer and this time they said the battery failed the performance test and replaced it under warranty. Since then, Oct 2012 I have had no battery/electrical problems.

saba, did your Z have any other electrical problems before they had to replace the battery? because I am convinced the electrical problems had something to do with my early battery failure.

 

@Drake - not that I noticed. One intermittent issue I experience is the window wiper fluid. Twice, I had it not work within 10 mins of starting her up. Then after that it worked fine. Not sure what that was, but it was super cold outside. Other than that no accessory/electronics issues. It sounds to me that yours was the MICU all along, and your battery issue just happened to coincide with it. Thanks for sharing this, I will keep an eye on electronics.

 

The thing that is fvcked up is that I was getting "low battery" warnings and even a "replace battery" message when the dealer told me the battery tested fine and then I received no "low battery" or "replace battery" messages when my battery failed and I needed to jump start it 2X.