This was spot on. I had been having issues for about two months where the alarm would go off and all the dash lights would flash on a 2016 Honda Pilot Touring. I opened up the module as shown in the video and sure enough the coverage on the board was missing. I cleaned it with an Q-tip and isopropyl alcohol and put a drop of glue to cover the exposed IC. It's been 3 weeks now and everything is working beautifully. Thanks so much for posting this.

I thank you sir, very much! You must be an angle to bring kindness and help to this world. Our car is 2017 RDX. It started the same symptoms last year twice after we moved down to Florida, then it disappeared. The symptoms appeared again 2 days ago when the car was park under the sun in 90+ degrees. The intermittent dashboard light flash and horn came on and off even in the garage. After seeing your video in KZfaq, I decided to give a try. Today I spent 3 hours to remove the compartment and the controller underneath, but found out that's the controller for steering. Finally I found out the Keyless Access Module in 2017 RDX is under the dashboard on the driver's side. It's easy to locate and remove. If I knew it's located on the driver side, I would have fixed it in about 30 minutes. After following your instruction, the issue was resolved! The control board in our car has exact same appearance on that IC chip. Exact missing sealer coverage on the same area of that IC, something grew on the side and the side legs. This is manufacturer's production defect! Honda should be responsible to fix the issue for the consumers! Thanks again for the great video and your kind heart!

Thank you for doing this. This video brings back trauma lol from having my car alarm go off so many times in middle of the night, the flickering/clicking of the dashboard lights… The worst part of all is at the car runs completely normal. Which you think would be a good thing, but in reality keeps the Honda dealership from believing you that there’s something wrong with the car. Only the Honda Odyssey forms, and KZfaq videos like this help me press the Honda dealership to fixing the right part. From having the dashboard lights flickering almost daily to after me, forcing them to fix this part to having it, and not having it all in two years, gave me so much satisfaction. I solved the issue that the Honda techs couldn’t.

Regina G's video is awesome. However, Acura should recall for this issue. But they didn't. I called their customer relationship. They refused to do anything since this has not been recalled. We should join our force and sue Acura and let Acura recall for such common failure. For anyone who want to sue Acura, please reply with your car model and year.

Thank you, thank you! You've just saved me a major headache! These units are on backorder and I was about to purchase a used part which would have likely had the same issue. I will be taking my control module out and cleaning it myself! Temps are below freezing here now so I will be sure to let my Pilot warm up real good before attempting to dismantle the dash. Thank you! UPDATE: I performed the fix and it worked perfectly. Hardest part was getting the circut board out of the casing. Could see a small area that wasnt sealed all the way. Carefully cleaned with rubbing alcohol and sealed with super glue. 2019 Honda Pilot works fine now! Took less than an hour.

I don't know how to thank you enough for this. Literally microscopic problem, you're a damn hero.

Just did this to my daughters 2017 pilot which has been to the dealer multiple times for this issue. It was doing the clicking, lights on/off and alarm had been going off randomly. After reinstalling all seems good and no issues so far! Thank you for this video. Dealer had replaced the keyless access control unit last summer but it must have been defective also as it looks like the factory applied sealant was not covering the chip you reference fully. Cleaning it and applying the super glue to seal stopped the short and hoping it stays that way. So mad at Honda that they seem to be ignoring this issue so many are having with these vehicles.

EXCELLET video! The most worrisome issues with trim is breaking the clips. Showing the location and orientation of them makes all the difference in the world for removal without breaking them. IDK if you can but add "no start key fob" or "random alarm" or something like that to the description as that what started this fiasco for me. Thanks again.

Thank you very much for taking the time to show us how to fix this crazy issue without paying $$$ to the stealership. I followed your video step by step and applied a polish top coat to cover that spot. Hopefully, the problem will be fixed.

Had this problem with my wife's 2020 Passport today. Came across your video and performed the repair. Took about 45 minutes all together, being careful removing the interior plastics. Dealership wanted $180 just for diagnostics. Thank you very much!

Wish I could give you a hug. Had no idea what was wrong with my 2016 Honda Odyssey until I happened to find your video. From several different forums I had read I was preparing for the worst, at least financially, which was something my family cannot afford at this time. Your video was spot on in diagnosing my issue, and repaired it myself with only being setback the cost of a new bottle of superglue. BTW, on my Oddysey this module is located on the driver’s side underneath the dash up high almost behind the steering column. It can be removed without taking out the dash board by removing the lone screw holing the bracket in place. Thank you very, very much for your video!!!

As I posted on the other video, thank you and you should be knighted for your service to the Honda/Acura community! To get the circuit board out of the case, we took plastic drinking straws and folded them. Then we pried the tab back with a screwdriver and jammed the pointy, folded end of the straw into the gap to hold the tab back. After doing this on all four tabs, a little prying with the screwdriver made it pop right out.

Did this fix to my 2018 Ridgeline, it worked perfectly. Have been driving the truck every day for two weeks now with no issues.The hardest part was getting the circuitboard out of it's plastic housing, A couple of extra hands helped a lot. I used the zoom on my phone and still really could not see the build up on the board so I cleaned and used a x-acto knife very carefully on that area. Don't forget the super glue. Thanks for these awesome videos!

We just took out our board today. Hoping everything goes well. Thanks for this video.... How did you figure this out? Update: This legitimately fixes the issue. Props to the man who figured this out. Originally we called Honda, and they played dumb. This video saved us money We thank you and cheers to you, thank you.

Wow, lets see. Did my 2018 Ridgeline. It started with random horn alarm, cluster spazing, relays chatter a couple months ago. Replaced 6yr old oem battery to Walmart AGM battery, was good for a month til it spazzed again overnight. Started searching forums n found your vid. Just did your fix, my BCM appeared to have more clearcoat over chip than yours in vid. i think it was covering all legs, but hard to tell. I zoomed cam pic to get better visual. I cleaned as u say anyways to try n put nail polish. Lets hope. I will comment if issue reoccurs. No news is good news. N in 6 months+ if its fixed I owe u beer, dinner, Nobel prize, n name my 3rd born after u. Thanks!

I shared this with the NHTSA. This is an amazing display mechanical prowess in this day and age! Thanks again for doing the work and informing us!

I have very the same problem, it only happen when himidity is high. You probably right, i haven't look up my honda pilot 2017. Thanks for the post, good thing i found this i've been looking for this video just finally found.

Great detailed instructions. I’ve broken a lot of these little clips over the years on various vehicles. Nice to have a video showing where they all are. I had my wife in the drivers seat pausing the video at each step as we followed along. Anyway, this fixed my alarm and flashing dash problems!

I had this exact issue with a 2019 Pilot. The dealer wanted $175 just to diagnose the problem. I was able to find the Smart Power Control Unit with this video and clean the circuit board successfully. Thank you! I did a detailed inspection of the board under a microscope and could not find corrosion, but the chip you highlighted was not fully sealed on my board. I cleaned it with an alcohol swab anyway, then sealed it with superglue. Now it works and all the ghosts have disappeared. Some of the issues I had prior to fixing it was the Alarm going off sporadically, an "Auto Engine Idle Stop System Problem" Alert in the driver's console, and the battery draining. I find it puzzling that Honda has issued a TSB for various cars of this era, excluding the Pilot.

Just did everything you said, let’s hope it works. I want to thank you because your video was very helpful!

Absolutely fantastic video. Honda should be ashamed of themselves. I had a 2016 Odyssey EX-L and this fixed my issue (for now at least). One note for Odyssey owners in my year is that this control IS NOT under the glove box but under the steering wheel on the driver’s side. There’s a couple of videos out there showing how to get to it but you need to contort your body like an Olympic gymnast if you don’t wanna take any trim off.

2017 MDX with 40K miles. Changed remote batteries, charged the main battery and still had problems with headlights and alarm randomly going off in the middle of the night. Both chips were sealed in my unit but i could see the whiskers where you showed. Cleaned and used nail polish to seal.

Thank you so much for making this video. I have been dealing with this issue for months now on my 2017 Ridgeline. The dealer is completely clueless on this issue. I ordered a new BCM 4/6/23 and it is still on backorder, with no anticipated ship date. I just pulled my BCM from the vehicle and was able to get it out of the plastic case (this was the hardest part of the job). Before I go any further, I am going to pick up a magnifying glass, as the parts are so small that I cannot see any problems with the naked eye.

Thank you for these video's. I followed them and all is well now.

Thank you for sharing. I tried this on Acura TLX 2017 model and so far I don’t this issue anymore. For anyone who is trying this on Acura TLX, control unit located above glove box.

Just made this repair on my 2016 Pilot. Seems to be in working order. Trim was a bit different but very similar. Control module was under/behind the glove box as this video shows. @Regina G thank you for making this video.

This worked for me. 2018 Acura TLX. Exact same problem. Flickering in the dash got so bad I nearly couldn't start my car anymore. Was previously unplugging the battery everytime I got out the car. 1. Only main difference from this video and the TLX is there is 1 less bolt and/or 1 less screw before you can pull out the glove box and the panel. 2. Also you need to pry out the silver trim on the left near the shifter but very easy. 3. In addition, I didnt use super glue I order Conformal coating which is what you're supposed to use for electronic boards and I didnt just coat the section he pointed to but I coated the entire right section of the board because it was missing all the coating. You can hold the green board in the light and you'll see the entire right side is missing the coating. 4. Getting the board out of the black box was easily the hardest part. I for sure broke a few of the clips but it still slid back in snug after. What a LEGEND for this video. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!

Great video! We fixed it on our 2016 Honda pilot touring. Thank you!❤😊

Just completed the fix on our 2020 Pilot today. A little bit difference on the interior body panels, compared to the Acura, but took it slowly and was able to pop out all the trim around the glovebox. Once the BCM was out (and I was able to skip the step of removing the BCM bracket by just unclipping and sliding it free), I disconnected the three connectors and had the module in my hand. After the tricky part of pulling the board out of the module housing (you have to be gentle with pulling the plastic over the tabs), it was interesting to look and see exactly the same "miss" for that conformal coating. Same chip was half covered, and even though it was incredibly hard to see, under magnification (with both iPhone mag and reading glass magnifier) did clearly notice where that "dendritic" material was wrapped around the corner. Used a watch-maker small flat-head screwdriver to scrape the material away. Swept it clean with Quetip and alcohol, and applied Krazy Glue with an artist's brush to seal everything up. Reinstalled with the reverse process, connecting back up the BCM and reinstalling the trim... and after the battery re-connect sat in the driver's seat and immediately didn't see the plaguing dash flicker. Started up fine. Re-set the "theft control" and turned off and on several times and all good. Been sitting in my parking space for about 8 hours now and no alarm. Longer test drive tomorrow, but fairly confident this fix did the trick. Can't thank you enough, Regina G, for this help. Would have been hours wasted at the dealer ( or good indie shop, with $$$ flying out the door) to get this figured out. Still vexes me how you figured this out?? Are you an engineer with IC experience? There's no way a "civilian" would have been able to figure this out. But whatever, I bow to you. You have solved a problem that Honda should be grateful to learn from.

Wow. I’m having this problem right now on a 2017 MDX. It had this issue few times last September, then stopped. Didn’t happen since then until now. That’s a lot of pulling apart, but I might be able to do it. I’m gonna give it a try. Thank you.

Just did this on my 2017 tlx, worked great! Thanks!

worked perfect for me! thanks so much for posting this!

You are the freaking MAN for posting this! You saved me from having to take my Pilot to the dealer which saved me time and more importantly- money! Thank you thank you thank you! Side note: the most difficult part of all of this was getting the control unit box open. The exact spot that you pointed out was precisely where the problem was. I used a cheap magnifying glass and the zoom on my iPhone to visually see the mess that I needed to clean. Sealed it up with gorilla super glue and popped it back into its case. I feel like a bad ass and it’s all thanks to you. ❤

Thank You so much! I had the same issue on my 2019 Honda Passport Touring, it would happen as often as once a week. Numerous dead car battery occurrences. For me the occurrences happened more often when the humidity was up. It has been one month so far and no issues.

Thank you for posting this! I have this issue with ours Acura TLX 2017. It started about 6 month ago and i had to either disconnect the battery or keep it on charger/maintainer during nights as it drains the battery and car cannot start anymore. I will try to follow your instructions, hope that Acura TLX is build similarly to MDX in that regards

Just did this repair on an 2017 Honda Ridgeline and so far works. You’re a genius! How did you figure this out?

2017 Mdx Repaired. You are the 👌 👍.

Thanks for producing two great videos. Based on the number of comments appearing on ody club, piloteer, ridgeline and other forums, many owners have experienced this problem. Looking forward to tackling the repair myself. Dealer's price for the part is $689 CAD, plus labor and taxes. Yikes!

I am having same exact issue on my vehicle, acura tlx 2017 43k miles. I will attempt this fix because dealer wants 1000$ and part if on backorder with no ETA... ridiculous. Thank you so much for this video!

Thanks, this seems to have fixed the issue on my 2016 Odyssey. This would have been the second time it was replaced by the dealer and the part is still on backorder. I don't have to worry about a dead battery now and its nice to know what the actual issue is.

Thank you so much for your video, it helps me to understand more about the problem. What you showed on video is exactly happen to my 2018 Acura RDX. I am going to follow your guides later this weekend. Again thanks a lot

Thank you! I just did this after a lot of frustration and looks like it worked. I already ordered a new module so hope it can be returned. Saved me a ton!

Thank you so much for sharing this precious step-by-step tutorial. I will follow the instructions and I will put up an update on how did it go. Thanks again and take care...

hey man! i got a 2016 mdx that has been experiencing these exact problems. i first found ur video around the time u uploaded it and it was very helpful as it solved the problem. the only concern is that it’s began to happen again a few months later which is extremely annoying. my dad and i cleaned that chip thing again but it’s just annoying we have to deal with this problem in the first place. and when we went to the acura dealership they were tryna swindle us for thousands of $

trying this tomorrow!!! will update!

My sisters 2019 HRV EX is doing this. I’m going to try this fix tomorrow. Thanks!

Did same repair this week Canada same thing as your video hope I got it clean enough so far so good

I’m having a similar issue with my 2015 Acura. I’m going to check the module. Question is how in the world did you determine this was the issue?? After all with the magnitude of potential issues you found the one that requires a microscope to see?

my tlx alarm kept going off randomly the past 2 days and today the dash statted flickering will be doing this tomorrow!!

2020 Acura ILX is on the driver's side. Needed a few small extensions to get it back on. Tight space be ready to crawl all the way under by the pedals. Opening the box takes some creativity and some broken parts😅. However, it's done and time to wait and hopefully not wake up the neighbors. Nvm the neighbors, I need this nightmare to be over!

Excellent step-by-step instructions. Thank you for this DYI guide. How long should someone expect to complete?

Doooooooode! Excellent videos!

This should be a Honda recall

Thank you so much for the videos. I walked up to my 2019 RDX (65k miles) unable to open using the key fob. It looked like the car was on and running (headlights/taillights on and dash fully lit ). I had to use the actual key to open the door. Alarm randomly went off that evening and woke up to a dead battery. Think this could be my issue as well?

Thank you so much!!!

I performed this today on my 2016 Honda pilot. Now my vehicle shuts off immediately after starting up and the green immobilizer key lighter flashes several times

Thank you for this video. Did you use a memory saver when disconnecting the battery, and if so which do you recommend? Thanks!

Did you ever get the common Honda problem with multiple display warnings cycling on startup? Not sure if you addressed it in previous videos but as long as it is apart you may want to clean the connection at the negative battery cable to the fender ground. On my Honda the eyelet was clean but the fender side and threads are painted with the body color. I scraped the paint to clean metal and wire brushed what I could on the bolt and hole.

Awesome video! Thank you so much for posting! Do you think clear, acrylic finger nail polish would serve as a new protective coating?

lol it work for my tlx thank you

I have a TLX 3.5 2017 I been having this issues, I disconnect my battery one time and when I put it back I’m not having power to turn the ignition on there not light on my dash , i don’t have any fuse bad I already check everything, my battery is good, I have power in my doors and headlights but I don’t have any power in my ignition I just wondering if this could be the problem too, cause this blinker thing happens to me a lot it’s just go and then comes back after weeks but it always happens

My 2017 RDX has a different set of parts in and around the dash-glove compartment. Any video that shows how to access the TPMS control unit without breaking any of the parts?

Thank you Brother!

Can you tell me if you had to reprogram the module after you repaired or a reprogramming only necessary if the unit is actually replaced?

Thank you for the detailed video. I have a 2018 Acura TLX A-spec with the same issue. Is the Keyless Access Control unit also in the same location behind the glove box in the TLX like the MDX in the video?

I have an Acura TLX 2009, my issue is that my car acts like the key is still in the car even if the car is off, I can’t lock the car, I have changed the battery and just today and the car is completely dead, would my car still have the same defeat. It’s older car but seems like it’s having the same issues. Please someone help.

I have a 2016 acura tlx. Video is great, but I can't hardly see what needs cleaned. I can see a chip not fully coated...hoping thats it. I basically cleaned everything with alchohol. About to re coat with super glue but hoping I'm not sealing in that growth as I can't see it. Have camera zoomed all the way in and 2x reading glasses, still nothing? Thanks for video though!

This is happening with our 2019 Honda Fit. Just wondering if you have heard of this happening with Fits and is the location of the unit in a different place, possibly behind the speedometer? Can’t find much info anywhere.

where is that box located on a 2015 Honda odyssey

Im having this same problem but my Acura RDX is a 2007. Is this module similar since its an older model? I want to know if its similar before I even open up these panels. Plz help

Could this problem be a cause for parasitic battery drain ? I’m on my 2nd battery in last 5 days ? Please help ?

I have a 2018 RDX. I got the intermittent dashboard lights flickering and it also wouldn’t start. I was indeed told it is the Smart Control Unit and it is on back order

I ordered a used keyless entry control module. Does it have to be reprogrammed by a dealership.

What method did you use to pry the module open? I’m struggling trying to open up the module.

wondering why I am able to get the car started by jumping from another car? As if it was the battery. Got the battery tested at Autozone and they said my battery was fine. Reinstalled the battery and the same flickering occurred. Got it started with another jump from another car.

Is the unit in the same spot in a 2019 RDX?

Doesn't it deprogram if I remove the smart power control?

Where is this on a 2013 mdx?

None of my cameras or sonar works on my 2019 mdx help

I have the same problem on Odyssey 2016, And I simply can't locate the module! Please help if any body knows where is ti.......?

Is it similar module for tlx? 2017 tlx having same issue..

Has anyone had this issue with a 2009-14 TL

Hey where are you located i am scared to do it in my own. I am having this problem. I was thinking of getting a diagnostic to see if it really is this because what of it is something else. Can you or anyone help?

Had the same issue, it ended up being the battery 😅