It started with a battery drain. Battery kept dying without reason. I brought it to a dealer. They said the problem was that the positive terminal on battery wasn’t tight enough and it’s not covered by warranty. So to tighten the bolt, they charged me $300. A few days later, problem persisted. I researched online and based on what I found, I suspected a parasitic drain from somewhere. I bought a meter and tested everything. Seemed fine. Problem persisted. Almost bought a new battery but the guy at the auto parts store tested battery and said it’s fine. I described problem and he suggested that I research the TIPM. I never heard of it.
Before I had a chance to do so, a new symptom developed: trouble starting. It requires 5-8 presses on the ignition button to finally start. If the battery wasn’t fully charged, this cranking will kill it. The engine cranks but just doesn’t start. I researched the TIPM and found that these are common symptoms with a damaged TIPM. More specifically, the problem area with the TIPM is probably with the fuel relay which is causing the fuel pump to stay on and running even when the car is off. This explains the frequent dead battery.
I brought it to a different dealer because I didn’t want to get ripped off again from the last dealer who charged me $300 to tighten a screw. I described the problem. They looked at the engine for 5 seconds and said we’re not touching this car because of all the after market parts that probably caused the problem and voids my warranty. I argued back that the cold air intake and oil catch can that the they’re looking at are simple plug and play mods that everybody with this kind of car has and furthermore are not tied into anything electrical. I said, I have no option here, forget the warranty and just fix it, I’ll pay. No good. The old school neighborhood mechanic won’t touch it either because it’s a computer problem that only dealer can handle. So I am stuck having to figure this out by myself. This is crazy.
It started with a battery drain. Battery kept dying without reason. I brought it to a dealer. They said the problem was that the positive terminal on battery wasn’t tight enough and it’s not covered by warranty. So to tighten the bolt, they charged me $300. A few days later, problem persisted. I researched online and based on what I found, I suspected a parasitic drain from somewhere. I bought a meter and tested everything. Seemed fine. Problem persisted. Almost bought a new battery but the guy at the auto parts store tested battery and said it’s fine. I described problem and he suggested that I research the TIPM. I never heard of it.
Before I had a chance to do so, a new symptom developed: trouble starting. It requires 5-8 presses on the ignition button to finally start. If the battery wasn’t fully charged, this cranking will kill it. The engine cranks but just doesn’t start. I researched the TIPM and found that these are common symptoms with a damaged TIPM. More specifically, the problem area with the TIPM is probably with the fuel relay which is causing the fuel pump to stay on and running even when the car is off. This explains the frequent dead battery.
I brought it to a different dealer because I didn’t want to get ripped off again from the last dealer who charged me $300 to tighten a screw. I described the problem. They looked at the engine for 5 seconds and said we’re not touching this car because of all the after market parts that probably caused the problem and voids my warranty. I argued back that the cold air intake and oil catch can that the they’re looking at are simple plug and play mods that everybody with this kind of car has and furthermore are not tied into anything electrical. I said, I have no option here, forget the warranty and just fix it, I’ll pay. No good. The old school neighborhood mechanic won’t touch it either because it’s a computer problem that only dealer can handle. So I am stuck having to figure this out by myself. This is crazy.
- Christian M., Elizabeth, US