vayankee

Hello,
We have two Legends in the family, a '92L and a '94L. We are considering getting a 2008 RL. I have read a bunch of things about the model, but I wonder how I can tell what special features, like swiveling headlights or other items, that the used car we are considering actually has. Can anyone tell me where to find that information in the car itself, because the dealer may not know. Thanks.

oo7spy

Wikipedia is typically accurate enough for trim options. The 2008 is the last year of the KB1 chassis and had three trims offered, Base, Tech I, and Tech II/CMBS. The base has no navigation, but instead it has a compass on the nav screen. The tech has navigation but no ACC or CMBS. Those features are visible in the form of a plastic shield over the front emblem, and two buttons on the bottom right(?) leg of the steering wheel (both legs will have buttons).

RL09

You can also tell a Tech II if the steering wheel cruise button says 'ACC' instead of 'Cruise'. Then it's a Tech II.

vayankee

Thanks for the info! I just stumbled on this topic here: https://acurazine.com/forums/second-...ackage-728228/

No wonder I was confused, and the various car review writers, too.

vayankee

WE test drove a pretty nice 2008 RL on Saturday. It felt very good on the road, engine pulled nicely, and the nav worked well. I talked to my mechanic and he was concern about the type of fuel injection, saying that he might foresee problems if it was what he called direct injection. I did not do much searching but wondered if anyone here could say anything about direct injection and whether it tends to lead to carbon buildup. Also, how difficult is adjusting the valves?

Thanks a lot!

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

Honda held off on Direct Injection till VERY VERY late in the game.
I believe Mazda was doing D/I in 2004, where it DID have lots of carbon build up. but with the mazda's you could simply add a oil catch can to solve the problem.

I believe Honda/Acura chose to withhold the D/I technology till late in the game, presumably to fix these D/I problems.
BMW had the same exact D/I carbon build up problems.
but now, in 2016 where MOST engines are using D/I, you dont hear of the carbon build up as a problem any more.

adjusting valves isnt hard, but time consuming and should be done when the timing belt is being changed, because everything will torn down and the valves will be easily accessible

oo7spy

If your mechanic has no clue what kind of engine is in the car he is inspecting, you should get a new mechanic. He can't possibly be savvy about Hondas if he will randomly pull out a BS concern that has no bearing on your car. Furthermore, Honda builds the most reliable engines in the world. There are concerns about buying a 2G RL (as with any model), but the engine isn't one of them. WTF?

MrVtech

I'd look for rust. . How rusted the exhaust pipes are.. Frame rust. Big issue in states using salt. Depends on how an owner kept the car. Inside or outside. Engine is superb. I just did head gasket job.. and very minimal carbon build up in these engines after 150k miles. Basically little screw driver and vacuum cleaner removed everything.. only thing on newer hondas is ivtek. Or what ever that technology i called to shut off 3 cylinders on highways. Leads to oil burning. I don't think 08 RL has it. Bmw burn oil by "design" all the time. All 6 cylinder engines. I thought it's funny how bmw dealers sell u bmw with extra oil bottle included) I mean it's no rotary engine. . Why do u need to burn oil by design??

MrVtech

Yea and find a different my mechanic. If u don't know what u are looking at.. don't talk random stuff out of your ass.. he probably talked about direct injection with wise look of experience and knowledge. To show he knows stuff others dont.

vayankee

I was going to apologize for misleading readers with my wording about my mechanic's concern about carbon buildup from direct injection. After re-reading my post, I don't see why some readers were critical of what I wrote. AS I said, the mechanic was not claiming to be an expert on direct injection, and he was just trying to protect my interests. His specialty is German cars (we have covered a lot of issues re; my '85 VW Quantum with various "improvements") and so he knows a bit about direct injection problems (see justnspace above and Wikipedia on vtec).

I certainly do appreciate folks reading and responding with useful comments. Thanks to MrVtech for the reminder about rust. The dealer has agreed to having me take the car for inspection by a service shop-we have no Acura dealer nearby, so I rely on the Honda dealer.

Thanks again to all!

acura_fantacy

Also ask for service record, 08 is due for timing belt / water pump replacement which runs about $1k.

I had a similar vintage Bmw 540, in comparison my RL is really bullet proof.

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

hi!
spotted in your sig that you have a Ruckus. Cute little machine!
lol

acura_fantacy

oo7spy

Don't sweat it. The level for obtaining a mechanic's liscense is kind of low. There are many bad ones out there which make the likes of car enthusiasts who COULD do the job but choose to do something else very wary. We are only trying to protect you from misinformation. There are lots and lots of guys who work on Honda's regularly which could give you a much better evaluation of your new purchase than a German specialist. That's all.

vayankee

Well, we got a 2008 RL with 134K today-for my wife. Terrific ride and handling! I will have questions as we go along. Picked it up near DC and then took her home to central VA. Kinda beat right now.

Thanks again for everyone's comments!

oo7spy

Congrats! Welcome to the community.

Best place to search is the "search this forum" toolbar in the main subforum.

vayankee

Thanks, it looks like a great car.

RL09

Congratulations. Is it a base, tech 1 or 2?




... is now.

vayankee

No CMBS, so Tech 1, I believe. Unfortunately, we folks in the upper senior levels miss things. Today we realized that the RH mirror has a 2 inch dent in the plastic underside, and the LH mirror turn signal indicator has half its lens missing! Duh!

oo7spy

Why wasn't that caught when you inspected it?

teh CL

iTrader: (1)

Because..

vayankee

When you get to 75, you will know the answer to why anything? I should have asked, before I drove 200 miles for the car, "what was wrong with it?" But I was just so impressed with all the service that had been done on the car (via Carfax), and reliability was a top priority.

vayankee

The car is new to us, and it needs some attention. I tried to find in the service manual that I downloaded from this site how to remove the console (between the seats) , but no luck. Also, I need to find out how to remove the side mirrors. Any help, please? Thanks.

vayankee

Also, any one have any experience with this manual: RepairSurge ?

projektvertx

iTrader: (2)

I went ahead and combined the two threads, since I think you're more likely to get some good responses here. As far as the side mirrors are concerned, titomang did a power folding mirror conversion, but the steps to replacing the mirror are encompassed in his thread, it's pretty straightforward, happy wrenching :

https://acurazine.com/forums/second-...irrors-911689/

oo7spy

Didn't realize you were old. Sorry for the whippersnapper comments, Pops.

oo7spy

I saw your post about the drive by wire system in the new owner thread. Try a throttle reset procedure and see if that helps. The car has spent the past years learning how the old lady liked to drive and shift.

vayankee

I try to think of the years in terms of "fine wine"- and enjoy what I can, like a fine automobile..

vayankee

This is exactly what I needed. Thanks so much! I will have to wait for spring, however-too cold here, w/o a garage.

vayankee

Very interesting!!! And, as I think I mentioned,the car is my wife's to drive, so maybe I will not undertake this, but I sure will read up on it.

08KBP_VA

I would have done a visual before you made the long drive since was in my area, done it many times before and had other do it for me. We all know how trusting the dealers are!

Anyways, congrats and welcome

vayankee

Thanks for your message-I did not think of asking on the Forum for a member to do a visual - good idea for a sticky on buying an RL or any car. The good news as far as I am concerned now is that I don't have to find used mirrors: Acura sells the individual parts of the mirrors that I need, and cheaper than the used mirrors that I found online, so I placed an order this morning

TonyCD

Great news about being able to get the mirror parts separately. You'll find one of the luxuries of RL ownership is that while parts are much costlier than for ordinary Hondas, they're both cheaper and easier to work on than German luxury cars.

The '08 was a particularly trouble-free year for the RL -- all the bugs had been thoroughly worked out by then. I foresee years of enjoyable ownership for you and your bride. And if you think the car is comforting now, just wait till you take a highway trip and the weather turns sour -- the RL is unbeatably confidence-inspiring in those conditions.

Welcome to an exclusive club!