shahram72

OK, it's Easter morning, and my RL is supposed to arrive here in Irmo, SC all the way from Ohio. I know it may not arrive today, but they said it would. The driver was headed down to Florida so they wanted to drop my car off on the way. It is an 05 in Carbon Gray and I keep looking outside every time I hear a truck. Thought I would start a post to chronicle the event, which is a big deal for me. I have been working hard for years to get something nice for myself. A few years ago I bought a Honda Pilot to replace my aging pickup and had to promptly give it to my wife as we had a second child shortly thereafter. So I have been driving my wife's 02 Mazda 626 for several years. It's not a bad car, just has absolutely zero enthusiast appeal. It was up for a timing belt and other items, and I just didn't want to spend big bucks on a car I don't even like.

So I thought I'd share my anxiety on waiting on the car today and hoping that all the surprises are good ones! I will update as soon as it arrives (if it arrives). Of course there will be pics if I can figure it out on this board.

HEAVY_RL

iTrader: (1)

Congrats, I love my CGP and I had the same anxiety when I drove to GA to get mine and waited in front of the dealer for the transfer truck to arrive.

Take pics so you don't get banned.

rlx015

Make sure you do a lot of searching on this forum about little things 05s have gave other owners.

Congrats and welcome!

shahram72

Oh don't tell me that! It looks like most are pretty problem free. I don't expect to never have to fix anything, but I do expect to try and do a lot of it myself, like the guy who sent his DVD nav unit to Alpine to get refurbished for $170 instead of $500 at the dealer. I plan to never set foot at the Acura dealer. I do have a good Honda mechanic, tho, as I also own a Pilot (maybe they share the same oil filter). That's why I am here, to learn and save, otherwise you might as well own a new one if you have to pay to fix it all the time.

Banned for not posting pics?

Oh, and I just spoke the the shipping company on the phone, left a message and they actually called me back on Easter. It is going to arrive later today and they will call when in the area, that's all I know.

TonyCD

2005's were the first year, of course, and they did have a lot of new technologies and systems that had some quirks -- all repairable, mind you, but you don't want to have an issue and be needlessly in the dark about what it is. The weight-saving carbon fiber driveshaft and the A/C compressor were two of them, but there were also others. Again, all of them can be remedied, but do consult the resources on this site.

Enjoy your "new" RL, and definitely keep us posted!

HEAVY_RL

iTrader: (1)

haha, just messing with ya on the pics... Don't let them scare you with that 05 talk... I love mine and we have a good network of people here and lots of old threads that will help with what ever you run into.

Hell, I still search old threads to fix little quirks I find.

My only advice is:
1. to invest in a good strong battery day one
2. track down the radio and GPS codes
3. buy and extended warranty if its available
4. DO NOT wash the car with the key fob in your pocket. LoL

shahram72

I've already done 3, but it does not cover all the electronic do dads, and i don't understand 4. Do you get quite wet when washing your car?

shahram72

Where the heck is the edit button?!???!

I have an update... The carrier just called and said the truck flipped over!!!!

Just kidding, I shouldn't joke like that! But he did say he was in WV now and would arrive here late, like at 9:30pm. And I get up at 3:30am to go to work so I won't get any sleep tonight. I'm not going to be able to just lock it up and leave it in the driveway!! I gotta play with it! And now I may not drive it to work, no chance to test it out, but I'm probably being over cautious. Should I drive it to work at 4am? I just don't feel comfortable taking a used car I just got on it's first trip at 4am when I can't call for help.

getakey

If you wash your car with fob in pocket, the door handle touch sensors will cycle quite often with the water touching the handle. In some cases, the sensors then stop working for a few hours.

That said, I always wash mine with fob in my pocket.
2005 with 150 K miles

neuronbob

Heavy actually meant, pix or .

We can wait until you get some sleep for you to post pictures. We will bust your chops relentlessly until you do.

Seriously....welcome to the club. Where in Ohio is your car coming from?

oo7spy

You are correct. All Hondas use the same oil filter.

shahram72

Really, I was just thinking because the pilot and rl share the same 3.5L motor. They can't all use the same filter.

It's coming from a city just west of Cleveland. Can't remember where. I'm going to have to get under it and clean it and touch up all the metal and undercoating from the salt. We get some occasional snow and salt here in SC as well, but it's rare.

oo7spy

My wife's Civic and my RL share the same filter. Honda standardized the filter a while back. Having different sizes is unnecessary and rather silly.

shahram72

OK, it's sitting in my driveway now. Hard to inspect a car in the dark and I have to get to bed anyway. Very nice car overall, drives like a dream. Very complicated systems, I will have to spend some time with it and the manuals tomorrow. Overall condition seems ok, we took it to a filling station under bright lights. There are some minor scratches and chips, that's ok, but there is curb rash under the front bumper that I would like to maybe fix, not sure you can really see it standing next to the car. One of the HID's flickers and I think it went out, but it's working now, so I think it needs a bulb, that's no biggie. But there is one issue that bothers me, there is a 1 inch by 1/2 inch rust bubble under the paint at the bottom of the trunk lid where it meets the bumper. very surprising on an Acura. There were no other signs of rust or paintwork on the car. Maybe it was a paint chip than never got touched up. I need to look it over again tomorrow in the light and
I will post pictures so maybe you guys can give me some advice on how to fix stuff economically. It's dirty from the trip but the color (carbon pearl) looked great under the gas station lights, can't wait to see it in the sun after I wash it. Talk to you guys tomorrow.... I gotta get up for work in about 4 hours.

Oh, and it has no floormats. I would like some nice factory or factory look mats with embroidered Acura logo. Any sources for that? going to pick up a cheap clear liner mat tomorrow.

oo7spy

Oemacuraparts.com is pretty much the cheapest way to get factory parts. Talk to Tim and mention Acurazine to get free shipping. I just received a coupon for all season mats in the mail from my local dealer.

Congrats on the ride! Be sure to sign in so we can all know the details of your ride.

shahram72

OK, home from work now so I'm going to go wash it then I'll take pics for you guys. I got under it and there is some rust on the pinch seams at the jack points. and some bolts and tow hooks are rusted. Of course the exhaust is rusted, but I do not see anything major that can't be fixed. I was surprised, I am from FL and have never seen this before, it is an Ohio car, I think I'm going to strip of the skid plates, plastic rocker panels on the sides and drive it up on ramps and wire brush all that stuff, then apply some rust stopping paint to it and then go over that with undercoating to stop it before it gets worse. I am tempted to pull the lights and bumpers off and try to get into every nook and cranny before other parts rust like the trunklid. I am starting to feel a little sour about it, but I still think I got what I paid for. At least I know how to do this work myself. Right now I need to order touch up paint and floormats. I think I have taupe interior but I cannot find the interior color code. The choices are gray black and cream. We know it's not black. I'm gonna get OEM mats, they are only a tiny bit more expensive. As far as touch up paint, I want to get this (drcolorchip.com) . I want something better that just touch up paint. Any suggestions? I need to order it this week.

HEAVY_RL

iTrader: (1)

Rust is normal for a northern/snow state car, its good to put some preventive work on it but in SC it probably wont get worse.

If you talk to Tim at OEM he can probably use the vin to get the right mats.

Also what are you touching up? It may be best to get it painted and have a fresh start.

neuronbob

Official congratulations!

It's mod time!

shahram72

Painted? that's a bit much. It shines like new. Other than the rust spot, which I'm not sure I'm going to mess with unless it starts to grow, it just needs some rock chips touched up, I just wanted to get something better than touch up kit with the little brush and was hoping that someone here has experience with one of the smear on chip repairs. I am trying to post the pics, but now my sd card reader is not working. ARGHH.

oo7spy

Nice! Looks like mine.








...minus the rust.

shahram72

OK, here are the pics, could not edit the last post so here is the text. Overall the car is really nice with only one door ding, and the interior is perfect, except for the cigarette lighter that won't stay closed. I am showing the closeups of the "ugly" on this car to get help for you guys on what I should do. There is a crack and some major rash on the right front bumper but you have to kneel down to see it. It was obviously driven by an older lady (scratches from fingernails on the door handle cup) who did not have a concept of dimensions and space because she scraped the front end quite a bit. Underneath it looks real bad, but it's all just that plastic sheild. There is not a lot a rust, just what I showed here, the pinch seams, some screws and bolts that I might paint or replace, and the tow hooks look bad. The rear calipers and rotors look bad, but I'm not too worried about those right now. I am thinking about leaving that bubble on the trunk lid and watching it. I think there was a chip that let water and salt in. If it dries and I encapsulate it, the rust should not grow. I'm not concerned with resale value, I intend to drive this car into the ground (but not like the old lady before me). I intend to wire brush the rust in the hidden areas and then paint with rust-o-leum (or something better) and then spray undercoat to keep that rust from getting worse. I may also remove lights and maybe bumpers to thoroughly clean behind all the sheet metal where salt is sitting and rust may be hidden. Bolts and screws are easy to replace, and the exhaust (except for header) appears to be all stainless steel and rust free. I really hate to have these pics as my first ones cause it makes the car look like a POS which it is not, it's really nice overall and so far everything appears to work. Headlights worked perfect this morning and both swiveled when I turned.

So I need advice on what to do with these issues, touch ups, and floormats. I will call oem acuraparts but they did not list mats on their site.

It looks like those rockers which are plastic along the bottom under the doors will come off with just a few screws. I think it would be a good idea to clean and treat behind them. If there's hidden rust, I'll bet that's where it is.

shahram72

Thanks.... Really makes me feel better.

oo7spy

Don't sweat it man. The car just needs a little love, and it sounds like you are the owner to give it that.

Forgive me?

Megatron

Just a couple of points to note...

1) The trunk lid on the RL is Aluminum, so it's shouldn't be rust under that bubble. At least not iron colored rust that we think of as rust. Any aluminum corrosion is aluminum oxide and that doesn't flake off or bubble up, so I'm not sure what is under that bubble. It's definitely not normal rust.

2) Are you sure that your car is Carbon Gray? From your pictures, it looks like Lakeshore Silver metallic. I have Carbon Gray myself... and it's a darker gray. Lakeshore is the lighter gray... almost has a purplish hint to it.

Just my 2 cents...

HEAVY_RL

iTrader: (1)

It definitely looks a lot lighter than my CGP... and that cancer on the trunk and the front end damage needs a body shop attention not touch up paint.

They make a product that you can spray on that under carriage rust to neutralize it.

oo7spy

Forgot he said CGP. It is definitely LSM which also happens to be the best color.

HEAVY_RL

iTrader: (1)

shahram72

I agree with you on this, but if the corrosion on the trunklid DOES NOT grow, then what's worse, the small bubble or a painted trunklid that will probably not match in color? And like you said, the work underneath can be done with a spray. I'm going to do better than that, I'm going to scrape off the rust, use the rust neutralizing paint, then undercoat it. Most of that is a torn plastic shroud and some rusty screws and bolts that can be replaced. The scrape is just cosmetic and can be repaired or not, it's the corrosion I am concerned about here.

Oh, and I found the color code on the bottom of the sticker on the door jamb. It is NH686M which is Lakeshore silver Metallic. I wanted a silver one with Black interior originally, but this is better. I LOVE this color and the two-tone taupe interior is great too. Yes, it has a color tint to it. I see blue, green and a little pink in the sunlight. Now how do I confirm the interior color code. Weren't there onlt 2 interior colors? Black and taupe?

HEAVY_RL

iTrader: (1)

Agreed, if you are ok with it leave it alone... my guess the trunk is poor prep on a previous paint job.
I just didnt want you to address the issues with touch up paint that you mentioned earlier.

Sounds like you have a great plan, please keep us posted.

oo7spy

Ebony, Taupe, and Parchment are interior options, but I can't say all were available with LSM. Taupe is a grey khaki, while Parchment is a definite tan.

Taupe is also the best interior color.

shahram72

I think it's taupe, but I need to be sure. I want to order the mats right away. I was going to go by the dealer tomorrow after work, but they have moved even farther away. Not worth the drive with the cost of gas. Of course, I don't mind driving the car as I still have only driven it to work once so far.

HEAVY_RL

iTrader: (1)

did you PM Tim at OEM Acura parts yet?

oo7spy

This is Parchment.


This is Taupe.

shahram72

Mine is Taupe for sure. it's grey, but not a dead gray. I'll email him now. Wait PM? Is here here on acurazine? What is his exact username so I can PM him?

oo7spy

OEMAcuraPartsTim

Or you can go to the site and call him in the morning.

253RL

Awesome sir and welcome! LSM! Haha this color has grown on me so much and I do love the purplish bluish hue we get under certain lighting conditions! The two tone taupe has also grown on me as well! I lucked out on all season mats on eBay for $50 shipped, id shop there first might get lucky as I did! Welcome and happy modding!

neuronbob

Yikes! Someone scraped that front end on a parking marker for sure. Otherwise, it's not in bad shape for an Ohio car. Enjoy!

shahram72

I wish that scrape were the worst of it. I can deal with cosmetics, it's the rust that's going to take some work to correct to make me feel comfortable.

I just called XM and they gave me 3 months free trial. Does my Nav support traffic info? Should that be part of my free trial? And the 05 does not support weather, right?

HEAVY_RL

iTrader: (1)

No weather, and and you can get traffic but I understand its a separate deal and its hit or miss on the coverage.

shahram72

I'm still waiting on Tim for a touch up paint part number and I'm ready to make my order. I am also going to order the two rear fender lip moldings because I am going to remove both and clean and treat the metal underneath. Just looking there kinda damaged it today, the plastic wont bend back and I'm sure there's salt trapped in there. Gonna definitely pull the tail lights out as well since that's easy. The Headlights I am sure are a bear to remove so I will probably not do that.

I found the radio code written in the manual, but there is a NAV code as well. How can I find that? Are there any more codes I need?