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2000 Acura SRS light.

My son's car is an Acura 2000 3.2TL. Recently, the SRS light came on. Searching the web I noticed this was a common problem. Acura extended the warranty on some of the components in the SRS to take care of this problem.

Initially, the local Acura dealer said the component, an SPORD SRS Unit, which costs about $300 then another $200 to install, needed replacing. Of course, that was not one of the components covered by the extended warranty. When my son asked the service department for the OBD scanner code to do his own research, he was told it was 13-5. Further internet searching turned up nothing on this code. The next day the dealer calls and says, never mind, the battery is weak and that's why the light came on.

The service department then measured the cold cranking amps of the battery and said it was 220 and that was too low. So my question is if the battery has enough power to start the car, how can it be so weak as to enable a fault condition in the SRS? How much power could the SRS need to operate? Of course my son will get stuck with a $100 diagnostic fee if he declines the repair. If he gets the battery replaced at the dealer the diagnostic fee would be applied toward the battery replacement and the final cost would be $132. I'm thinking that it was just a an onboard computer glitch that triggered the light and this cold cranking amp measurement discussion is a ruse to have him buy a battery because they really don't know what's going on. Appeals to management have gone nowhere.

Thanks for your replies.

--
David Farber
David Farber's Service Center
L.A., CA
Reply to
David Farber
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Giving the dealer the benefit of the doubt, I would argue it is very possible that the battery is weak enough to crank the engine and induce a glitch into the computer. My 2001 Ford Expedition has a battery that is about 6 1/2 years old. I live in Florida, it starts every day, but I know it is bad. When I crank the engine the electronic instrument panel goes through a prolonged reset. The voltage is sufficient to turn the starter motor which is insensitive to voltage, but the electronics are sensitive to voltage and need time to reset properly.

In fact a month ago the battery went dead because I left the interior lights on for a few hours. I intend to get this fixed soon.

If the battery is over 3 years old, I would agree that replacement may be in order. $132 is a little steep for a battery, however dealer repairs and parts usually are much higher.

Go with the dealers recommendation and if the SRS light happens to come back on again, in a short time, be sure and insist they apply a credit for the battery replacement against the repair job.

David Farber wrote:

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**THE-RFI-EMI-GUY**

Get a good battery guy to test it. The older guys usually know their stuff.

Reply to
Homer J Simpson

It is possible for a weak battery to cause transient trouble codes. The Ford Contour/Mercury Mystique had a similar issue. If the battery got too weak, it would fool the computer into thinking there was an airbag failure.

Airbags need to build up a charge to fire the explosives used to fill the bag. If the battery is too weak, it may not charge up properly and trigger a code.

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Reply to
Andrew Rossmann

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I'm just wondering how many people are driving around with "weak" batteries that will not have enough power to enable their SRS when the opportunity calls for it. You would think with a battery strong enough to start a car and an alternator also supplying power to the system, that it could charge up whatever electronics are in the module to keep it in standby mode.

The dealer did agree to 50% off of any additional repairs if the new battery does not correct the problem.

Thanks for your reply.

--
David Farber
David Farber's Service Center
L.A., CA
Reply to
David Farber

Well if the SRS controller is not able to deal with the glitch at startup and reset to operational status once the alternator brings the voltage up then that strikes me as a design flaw. I've never heard of this sort of thing happening, if the car cranks normally the battery should be fine.

Reply to
James Sweet

I own a Chevy Trailblazer 2003. It is chock full of electronics. Fly by wire throttle, 4speed electronic shift tranny, 4 wheel ABS, Automatic 4WD (selector switch not a mechanical shifter) theater dimming interior lights, automatic headlamps, all electronic gauges etc..... Last year I had battery trouble. Had to jump start it after leaving the radio on for 2 hours at a drive in theater that broadcast their audio on FM. The next day it started fine and drove it to the dealer. They tested it and said it had ZERO cranking amps :) Not once did I notice any glitches in the electronics even though the battery was toast. I would say the SRS in this Honda is very poorly designed as someone else suggested.

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Reply to
Meat Plow

Ahh...Another who is "enlightened".

Acura=Made by Honda,every damn part in the car has a "Honda" stamp/sticker on it.

"Powered By Acura" my ass.

Reply to
PhattyMo

It must have had more than zero cranking amps or you would not have been able to start it unless you jumped it, or it was a stick and you roll started it. My guess is their meter bottoms out at something like 150 CCA and the guy didn't know better or didn't feel like explaining.

Reply to
James Sweet

LOL I've been snicking at those stickers for years.

Stick-on horsepower, must drop the 0-60 time by at least 0.2 for every sticker and glued on piece of plastic crap.

Reply to
James Sweet

That must be one POWERFUL radio to kill the battery in 2 hours, or the battery itself was close to death to begin with. I also assume you were in Accessory mode, and not letting it sit in RUN, with all the other electronics running?

Also, if it had ZERO cranking amps, how did you start it to get to the dealer?

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Reply to
Andrew Rossmann

Well that's what I though too but didn't want to argue.

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Reply to
Meat Plow

The battery obviously had problems and yes the switch was in ACC.

It started up the next day so I don't know why the dealer made that claim. I put a new battery in it the same day and all is well now.

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Meat Plow

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