Bought a 1998 Acura RL Limited Edition for a steal and want to work through some bugs. The steering column won't move in any direction. When I first got it you could bump the buttons and hear it trying but no movement. Now you hear nothing. Any ideas would help.

Second issue and the most irritating for me is the odometer doesn't show anymore. From what I have read it's probably the display but I am having trouble finding an affordable fix. I found a new one for around 250 but I only paid 1200 for the car I don't want to throw z ton at it. Thank you all for any responses.

 

Intimnac, I copied and pasted this old post below to give you some background on the Odometer/OAT gauge problems. This is a well-known issue on first gen Acura RL's but I went through this nightmare because I wanted my RL's accurate mileage displayed. If you are not so inclined eBay has lots of options (see link below.) The telescoping column is another well know issue with the first gen RL's, the gears are plastic and just don't last forever. I adjusted mine and I put the switch in manual so the column doesn't move automatically when the ignition is turned on, it's a 2000 RL and it still works fine.

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

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 mileage 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. 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 1985 Mazda RX-7 I have had since 1994 so you can see I tend to hang on to my vehicles. Good luck with your RL!

 

I am like you I need my odometer that tells you everything and I'd prefer accurate miles but will just settle to know the miles. I did the ring belt, oil change, water pump, and air filter myself Thursday night. Have a place in Arlington says they can fix the odometer for 400 bucks. Made an appointment for July 12. The tilt may try to fix myself. Can the plastic gear me easily removed. Ioght take it to work and see if I can machine one out of aluminum. Thanks for the help and info.

 

Lot's of unhappy Acura owners about this issue unfortunately, and many posts on this problem. This link below is a good starting place to try and research a fix.

(https://www.google.com/search?q=Acur...hrome&ie=UTF-8)

 

The odometer is an LCD panel and does not have replaceable bulbs. The problem is almost always the power supply on the main cluster board - hidden under the small square metal cover. You might get lucky and find an obvious bad solder joint or a burnt resistor if you are confident to do it. I tried all known fixes but was not lucky and had to replace the complete cluster. In my case a Euro spec metric cluster that I had to source from Canada so the problem is not limited to US versions.

 

Bruce the bulbs that light up the cluster are entirely replaceable. It is a tedious job but I have done so myself a couple of times on my 2000 RL you have to take the cluster apart VERY carefully and replace the screws exactly where you removed em from as they are all different lengths

 

Sure - but the OP and me are referencing the odometer not the cluster bulbs

 

ok got it

 

So to keep you up. The repair for the odometer and new bulbs was 409 since I let them pull it. Turned out to be a great decision since when I picked it up the tach and speedo failed. They took it all apart and fixed that at no additional cost. So when my foot gets healed I'm going to finished the trans fluid change and start looking at the tilt, telescope. If I can get that gear off I am sure I can make one out of billet aluminum. Then to the body guy to get the dent in the trunk fixed. Thank you so much for the help Bruce.

 

They probably got the meter screws mixed up, each has a dedicated position. Glad to hear the odo is working again. If you ever cut the tilt/tele gears in billet aluminum make some extras for sale, you will have many takers including me

 

Hell if I can get one off I'll make ya one free. I just have to see the shape better than a picture so I can see what kind of machine to make it on. Prolly an old Bridgeport. Thanks again and I'll keep this thread in mind if it works.

 

Man, if you decide to make one from aluminum and have a good result, probably everyone here would want to purchase one from you. Keep us posted.