I have a 1997 RL in very good condition. Its been running fine since my brother sold it to me two years ago. Its got 175K miles on it and the check engine/maintenence light has been on several months. But I wasn't well off enough at the time to have it checked into. I took it to a local garage who ran the test. Sure, I wish I could tell you the two codes he read off, but had trouble hearing after he told me the cost would be $1250.00 for the repair. Something about removing intake manifold and a clogged injector of some kind. The other was an EVAP system, cannister...? I don't actually think anything that serious could be wrong as the car was driving smoothly, started easily, nothing at all noticeable. I told them I'd bring it back in two days. Since leaving their parking lot, I've had to turn the key twice to get it started, their is a strange noise you can barely hear, and the car got 10 mpg since i drove off. I know I've said much and provided little, but can anyone take a stab at what might have happened here?

 

clogged egr and tube is a known issue. There are some how tos floating around if your willing to do the work yourself. The 91-95 Legends also have this issue being the engine is almost identical minus displacement.

do you think they did something to your car to make it run worse before you left? Cause it sounds like you think they did

 

Yah like Old hatch said, there is a step by step on how to remove and clean the intake manifold, but use google as it is not on this forum if i recall.

 

Nope, more than likely it's on the Acura Legend forums.

 

If you are having to turn the key "twice" to get the car to start, I highly suggest that you buy a new "main switch" from your Acura dealer ASAP. The main switch relay is failing and it will leave you stranded. it is a Honda idea from years past. My CRX had a main switch that failed when the weather turned cold. It is a $150+ part and takes all of 5 minutes to install. It is located beside the steering column nearest to the transmission tunnel. I recall it is brown. Pull the old one out and snap in the new one and drive for another 200,000 miles.

As to the intake manifold. It is a EGR valve that gets clogged up. It is not for the faint of heart, and requires some mechanical ability to remove the intake manifold to clean the intake and ERG valve. Our 97 had to have this work done twice. The part is on the underside of the intake manifold that needs to be cleaned.

 

Hey Alfadoctor my car also have a P0401 EGR flow insufficcient. I took off the EGR and cleaned it with Carb Choke and the light still came back. Does it mean the underside of the intake manifold needed to be cleaned too? So how much the mechanic usually charge for?

 

I do not know what the cost is, but it is labor intensive. My RL was in the dealer for 2 days. I was lucky in that the car was still under the California emissions warranty and it was covered by Acura. Yes, unfortunately there is more to it than just cleaning the EGR valve.

here is a link on another website that explains all about what has to be done. http://www.acura-legend.com/vbulleti...leaning-79886/

 

I was wrong..the part is only $72. It is called a Main Relay Switch, has two connectors and is locked into a fixture that you will have to loosen by moving a tab up to release the relay. Takes all of 5 min to change out once you get the lower panel cover off. Its way up under the dash.

 

if you're handy with a soldering iron you can just reflow and add some solder to all the pads in the relay; that's what I did when mine went bad. also, rather than pay $72 you can pick one up from the right junk yard for just a couple bucks (i keep a spare in my car just in case since i don't always have my butane iron with me)

 

I posted the insufficient egr flow DIY from another forum awhile ago in hopes that it might help someone like myself I guess no one noticed it oh well here it is again .....
http://www.acura-legend.com/vbulleti...leaning-79886/

 

I found that link and posted... Impressive work!

 

Thanks for your reply. I can't change my oil much less do any repairs. I took it to a certified acura mechanic. two days later after taking it to 1st mechanic. Oh, yes. Even the certified mechanic thought they fried my cpu. had to order used on. e put it on but said it needed to be reprogrammed. we're at $600+programming+whatever is wrong. It drove so bad two days after they first looked at it, I didn't think the car would even make it to Memphis, 20 miles away. Certified mechanic said most of these problems were caused by cpu malfuntion.

 

yeah the ecu is tied to the imobilizer system, so new ecu needs to be programmed to the immobilizer system. I'm pretty sure that's a dealer only procedure.