Hey all, popping in the forum to say hi. As the title says, I'm a brand new owner of a reliable 98 RL and its my first one that I owned rather than the family car.

Also to ask if there is any special things I need to look out for when maintaining my Black Pearl?
And if it's possible to just replace the lights in my mileage counter rather than the more expensive cluster assembly?
Also with the age of the car, is it ok to bring it to any tire shop for a wheel alignment?

I may have lots of questions, but I do promise pictures of any work I do (can't say they will be professional though).

 

wheel alignment can be done but the front end and the rear has to be thoroughly checked for worn components
the light bulbs s can be individually replaced but you have to be extremely careful and put the screws iin the same hole they came from

 

Ah thanks answering.
When I brought the car to my mechanic for an inspection, he mentioned something about a boot cover starting to go and one of my wheel bearings starting to make sounds. Do you think it's worth it DIY or should I just give the job to him?

 

Welcome to the forum. The OAT/Odometer lights out is a well know problem on the first generation RL's (and the problem usually isn't burned out bulbs.) See my experience in 2017 below and decide what it's worth to you to have the problem fixed if it's not bulbs.

Long story! Just got my RL back from the dealer after 10 days with my odometer functioning. I took my car to the Acura dealer last December to have the timing belt, water pump, and radiator hoses replaced and to have them troubleshoot my odometer which had been dead for about 2 1/2 months. The tech said it was the bulbs for the unit that were bad. I ordered the bulbs for the whole cluster ($371.00) and was going to have the tech install them but he had reservations about taking the dash apart and possibly damaging the trim piece around the radio and climate controls. The reason he had reservations is the OEM piece costs over $1200.00, and he didn't even think he could get one. I told him to wait and I would research getting a back-up trim piece before he tries to fix it. I found a trim piece on eBay and told him I would bring the car back in July or August, 2017 to have the bulbs installed which is what I did. The end of the first day I get a call that the bulbs didn't fix the problem and that it need the odometer, trip-meter print ($411.00) to fix it. The end of day two I get a call that the that part didn't fix it and "oh-by-the-way" the tech inadvertently broke the instrument cluster glass. At this point the tech says it's most likely the circuit board that runs the whole length of the dashboard and depending on what reference you use it runs anywhere from $612.00 to over $900.00. At this point with me having spent over $780.00 they decide to buy me a used instrument cluster and ship it with my old cluster to a company in California that is authorized to download the milage information from the chip on my old cluster and upload onto the replacement cluster's chip. The cluster came back Friday the 18th and on Saturday the 19th after they install the new bulbs, odometer, trip-meter board and the new glass on my used instrument cluster I pick my car up on the 19th with 106,403 miles displayed along the the outside air temperature. I'm a happy-camper at this point until I get in to drive away and notice the SRS light is on, and the first thing that comes to mind is the seat belt buckle the dealer replaced last year under warranty. The tech comes back with his laptop and runs a diagnostic resets the light when I asked him why he didn't notice it before he said that he thought my car came in with the SRS light on I said I wouldn't drive with an SRS lite because it disables the airbag system but he said a lot of people do because of the related costs of replacing parts in the system. My guess is the light was set by the system of the car the instrument cluster came from because it cleared no problem and has not come back. This is why I didn't attempt to fix this gripe myself and was willing to eat the cost of parts and the dealer's hourly labor charge to get this problem fixed. As it turns out it only cost me the price of the bulbs and the circuit board and they ate the the cost of the new glass, the used instrument cluster, shipping costs to and from California and the labor cost for putting it all back together. I feel fortunate that this worked out the way it did since the original estimate for new bulbs and the two hours labor to install was $621.37 which is high but a car without a functioning odometer is unacceptable to me. These are the issues that come with owning older vehicles and in the long run it's worth it to me. My other car is a " 32 year old Mazda RX-7 I have had for 23 years so you can see I tend to hang on to my vehicles.

 

boot cover is driveshaft or steering rack the driveshaft is easier to change than the rack so once the grease has not leaked out u shld repair it as with no grease it gets damaged quick once dust gets in steering rack is xpensive and definitely not diy if u dont know how if youre keeping the car it should be thoroughly checked over mines a 2000 and Ive gone thru quite a few things most of them i was able to do myself, the rack is a pain the second time i rebuilt it myself but swapped it out both times

 

rear wheel bearing is easy but front is harder unless you have some tools and knowledge give it to him i have a link to the wrkshop manual ive posted on this site before

 

Oh wow, that was quite a journey for an instrument cluster fix. I didn't realize that I would have to also transfer the data over from the old one to the new one. I'll look to see if the tools and new cluster for DIY is affordable on eBay, but I might give it to an Acura dealer like you did.

Fortunately my SRS light hasn't come on, but I have received a letter telling me to replace my airbags.

Also your car looks so good, what kind of maintenance do you do for the paint job?

 

Do you mean replacing the boot cover?

Thanks for it, I actually bought, for a steal, a brand new technician's, including the electrical, manual for my RL that I've been referencing.

 

I wash my RL regularly, it's garage kept, and I detail it twice a year in spring and fall. I don't know what your skill level is but if you know someone who has the skills instrument clusters and reprograming the odometer are offered on eBay. I would stay away from the dealer if at all possible, the labor rates are outrageous and frankly their honesty on issues seems suspect at best. If this RL isn't your daily driver you have the time to research and look for a local automotive electrical shop that has experience with instrument clusters if you are no inclined to tackle it yourself. Good luck!

(https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_fro...uster&_sacat=0)