Hey guys, a little over a month ago I bought a 2006 RL with 92k miles. I have been happy with the car but 3 days after I bought it the drivers "unlock" side of the handle has stopped working. About a week after ownership I started noticing the power steering pump whining. Now after a little over a month of ownership I washed the RL and put it back into the garage and when I went to drive it out the headlights stay on in "auto" in the bright of day. I drove it around it the sunny 70 degree weather and they never cut off so now I manually have to cut them on and off. I test drove the car for 3 days before I bought it and these issues were non-existant when I test drove it....I even had a buddy who's a Lexus tech check it out for me. Now i'm to the point i'm getting scared to drive it seeing I've had more issues with it in a month than I had with my Infiniti in over 2 years. Do you guys have any ideas of things to look for or to try....i'm really worried. Thanks for any help or ideas guys

 

The auto light sensitivity on your car could be set too high. You can change it in the multi-information display (MID) under your speedometer.

 

How is your Power steering fluid? Is the level accurate? Is the fluid clean?
I would recommend you take your car to a TRUSTED Honda/Acura mechanic and do a PS fluid flush using the correct PS fluid, before you go for a new PS pump.

Do you have any maintenance records for this car? Were fluids changed recently/ever? At 92k miles, if the maintenance was neglected, you may experience all sorts of issues with ANY car.

Door handles on these cars (mostly 2005 model and early 2006) are known to fail. There are many discussions on this forum. You can order them online and replace them. I consider this more of a "cosmetic" issue but i also agree that it is pretty annoying do deal with it on a 50k car.

The headlight sensor issue ... as already posted, check the sensitivity level using the MID screen. Also, CLEAN the headlight sensor, in case there is dust or something else blocking it.

 

its a used car,thats the risk u take

 

Thanks guys for the help. The auto lights have worked well for a month and then nothing...the first day afterward was so bright outside I was wearing my sunglasses. I will still check it to see. I'm assuming the sensor for the auto lights is the one in the middle of the dashboard? I didn't get any records with the car, I felt confident it was taken care of by the fact that other than a couple light scratches it looks brand new, only by a couple buttons in the interior can you tell the car has some miles on it. It was also a one owner car so I figured it must have been pretty reliable for someone to keep it almost 100k miles. Best of all you can barely hear it running, my buddy who's a Lexus tech said it was quieter at 92k than a es350 is new. The door handles are a bummer but whats the chances of it going out 3 days after I buy it? That's my luck I guess! Whats a good place online to buy acura parts? The power steering issue is what scares me the most, I checked the fluid and its not into the add part but it looks like it could use a bit. I haven't read any problems with the ps on RL's but read numerous posts about TL's having an o-ring needing changing that made the pump whine while cold because it was sucking air. What are the chances it could happen to a RL? Thanks again guys for the help!

 

So a car with almost 100k runs great and needs the PS fluid checked, a setting changed, and a door handle replaced (which isnt critical for use of the car).

Sounds like a terrible buy hang in there. LoL

There was a TSB on the power steering hose, might want to see if that was done.
My door handle died a month after I got mine, and I think I caused it by washing the car with the key in my pocket. No matter, it was changed out and I had no issues.
Also make sure the setting is right on the auto lights, and make sure nothing is covering up the sensor.

 

Just out of curiosity, is there a spec on PS fluid changes?

i just change it every 3 years, treat it like brake fluid. It is a B level maintenance item, which says check condition of all fluids, but how do you check the condition of PS fluid? I can never tell.

Thanks

 

yeah like you purchase the car BRAND NEW lmao

 

Has the door handle actually died? I have a 2006 since new and have had the handles changed twice. Even now the drivers side door handle will occassionally decide to take a break. Sometimes it takes touching repeatedly before it responds.

 

regarding door handle, my understanding was that the most common failure was locking rather than unlocking. Is it still failing to unlock?

 

Purchased on '06 this year. No problems, and I've loved every minute of it. Makes me smile every time I walk up to it in a parking lot.

 

I've heard multiple occurances of the RL's door handles failing. The light thing...well stuff happens to cars after 100K. You might start to see some interior button lights go out, etc.

 

True story on those int lights...

 

on 2005 RL. had door handle problems early on. folks have to have your RL inspected before buying. but this is well known issue but i love my RL will buy again if they fix the front grill face... car runs great at above miles.

 

I probably should say first that I really like this car and have all intentions of keeping it for a long time. I expect there to be pre-existing "issues" with it, it just worries me having all these NEW issues in less than a month and 500 miles of ownership. I'm going to change the PS fluid asap...I'm curious if maybe the dealership (Infiniti dealership)put the wrong fluid in it since I'm 100% positive it was dead quite until about a week after I bought it I noticed it. The unlock side of the handle is completely dead yet the lock side works 100% of the time. Without doubt the auto headlight sensor worked great until I washed it a few days ago and it hasn't worked since. Heavy_RL got me thinking about when the door handle stopped working and I'm thinking it also was a time I washed the car, I remember having the keyfob in my pocket and not realizing it when the car was locking/unlocking constantly. It started working randomly and within a week it was completely dead. Whats the chance water is shorting something out? I just hand wash the car with a water hose and haven't hosed down anything under the hood. Again I love the car but now I'm afraid to wash it, lol.

 

discountacuraparts.com is pretty awesome. Clint there is extremely helpful if you're having trouble locating a particular part in their catalog.

 

It may have been a coincidence but I'm almost sure thats what killed mine.

 

Was the car purchased from a dealer or private sale?

If dealer, didn't it have some kind of warranty?

 

With everything going on around here I completely forgot about the car being a CPO, so the powertrain warranty should still cover the power steering pump so that's good. I had the charging system and battery checked out and everything checks out so its not that. I finally got a few minutes to play around in the car since i've had the holidays off and I have found out that neither left or right power mirrors work on the car. I looked in the manual to try and find out what fuse controls the mirrors but they weren't listed so they must be combined with something else....anyone have any idea? If not I'm going to just start pulling fuses from the 3 or 4(whichever) fuse boxes there is to see if I hopefully can find some blown ones.

 

I read somewhere that someone with similar problems with the outside mirrors disconnected the battery for a few minutes. This resets the computers and in his case the mirrors started working again. Just don't leave the battery disconnected for any length of time or you will have to enter security codes for the nav and radio.

That is curious that the manual doesn't specify which fuse goes to the outside mirrors. I checked, and you are correct. Anyone know which fuse?

 

You checked the obvious? I seem to recall one person forgot that the mirror selector was centered, so neither left or right mirror worked since the selector was in the neutral position.

 

Chas that sounds like something I would do but its not the case THIS time, lol.....Robarsan, you tha man!!! Well I told everyone I had the battery checked, my neighbor who's the Lexus man came over and unhooked the battery and checked everything from the alternator on the car to the cells in the battery and all was great. Well he hooked it all back up and I entered all my codes for the nav and stereo and I drove it the few hundred feet back home. This morning when I left EVERYTHING on the car works great, the auto headlights and all the mirrors work perfect now. Add me to the list of people this has happened to Robarson...I work in electronics and never thought that unhooking the battery would work since the "issues" didn't happen all at one time. Whatever it is I don't care since the entire car works again, thanks to everyone who chimed in you guys helped so much!

 

You should try this before changing a handle next time too. I've already had one handle replaced, and thought I was going to have to change the other one. The passenger side stopped working over a year ago, but I did not change since I don't use it that often. Then I had to change the battery, and from having the battery disconnected for a few minutes, the door handle works again.

 

my 2006 RL had the same darn problem locking and unlocking, I got into an 09 Tl and life has been good since.

 

So your advice is to buy a lesser car?

 

I know of a lady whose Navigator's battery died and it needed new tires. Her husband bought her a Lexus RX450h. Issues solved.