Hi Folks,

I posted one of these questions in the new members area so hopefully I don't catch any flak for cross-posting.

I have a couple of starter questions :
1. When I was going through all the paperwork that came with my MDX I found a Code Alarm Professional Series CA 5050 Owner's Guide. The car only came with one Acura key (Driver 2) and nothing else. I asked if the car has a remote starter installed but the salesman avoided the question (this was via e-mail and the dealership is NOT an Acura shop). So I don't know if I have a remote starter or not. One thing I did note is that I have a little device stuck to the windshield behind the rearview mirror. When I went through the Acura owner's manuals I didn't see anything like this so I am thinking it's aftermarket. Has anyone else got a similar device? It's about 2.5" x 1.5". It's black / dark and seems to have a button and a cable ribbon coming out of it but I have no idea where the cable goes other than "into the ceiling". I took another closer look at the "thing" and it definitely looks like it has a short antenna sticking out of it - I didn't notice that before. Looked on the code-alarm website and didn't immediately see any images of the device, just the key fobs, and so I can't tell exactly what it is.

2. Do MDXs have a known issue with battery charging? When I picked up my MDX it had just had some battery work done. I was able to drive the car home with no issues but when I got home I started to play around with things like activating XM, programming homelink, etc. Then I tried to start the car and my dash lit up like a flashing Christmas tree and there was a lot of clicking. I did some research and most things pointed to a bad battery. I jump started the car when my wife got home and everything has been OK since. Then this morning I decided to update the gracenote database and so I left that going in my garage (car engine off) for about an hour (since the update can take up to 25 mins apparently). When I went back to the car there was a warning about low battery charge and the car sputtered when it started. I have it running now to get a charge but this seems very weird. I've run my previous cars electronic devices without the car running without having this issue so I am a little concerned. Any thoughts?

Thanks, Max

 

It sounds like you either have a bad battery or you have a parasitic drain. I'd start with getting the battery tested.