Huskymaniac

I am looking at some 2005 and 2006 RLs. Can you guys tell me what known issues exist that I should look for? And, once purchased, any known preventative maintenance items I should do? For example, the second generation TLs had issues with the automatic transmissions which, as I recall, had something to do with an aging pressure sensors that read too high and caused the line pressure to be too low.

Also, is there any way to check the maintenance minder to see if the timing belt reminder was ever cleared? I am OK with just waiting for the car to tell me when it thinks I should change the belt (and water pump) but it is possible that the previous owner could have cleared it without doing the work.

truonghthe

Looks into the car maint history, MyCarfax app is free to use and you only enter by VIN or plate number and it will tell you details (more detail than Carfax report itself) about the vehicle as long as they service at a dealer like Honda, Nissan, Toyota etc.... I don't rust anyone words for TB replacement unless they got record of the work being done and a far as issue goes the RL suffer from following issues

1. bubble center armrest and door armrest.
2. bubble glove box due to high temp park in the sun.
3. glove box rattle.
4. brake master cylinder leak (There is a recall on this, Honda said the main cause by using improper Honda DOT3 fluid)
5. airbag recall (its free to you but the waiting list is long).
6. interior T3 light bulb love to take naps.
7. Center bearing assembly goes bad (its just annoying, no effect on performance issue)
8. Oil pump leaks oil, actually common to Honda J series motor (cost 4-6 hours of labor, but if you do it at the same time with TB/WP then its a little cheaper)

I did research prior buying my RL and the list above come to mind, however note NOT all RL affected by the list above. When I bought my RL all the recall already performed along with 105k service, all the fluid and filter are new, I only have to deal with minor issue on wear and tear. I also familiar with the platform since I owned 2 TL which almost identical to the RL.

Huskymaniac

Thanks for the info! Do you have TLs with the auto tranny? Do you know the issue I mentioned above? I was concerned that it might also affect the RLs.

truonghthe

Yes both of my TL are automatic tranny, I had my Type S since Jan 2012 and I personally put 50k miles on the car and yet no problem with the transmission what so whatever. The RL auto actually great where both of my TL borrow the design from the RL.

rlerman

There are a lot more issues than that for 05/06, many very costly, Best to search the forum. Off hand, side mirrors, door handles, ac, AFS, torque converter, hvac console lights ...

schen72

I haven't experienced any of these issues. So far the only issue my RL has is a slight leak in the rear shocks, but at the last dealer inspection during an oil change they said it wasn't serious and you could wait a while before replacing. My car is garaged, so the armrest and glove box bubbling is mitigated.

For the airbag *igniter* recall, my dealer said there are plenty of parts now and there is no practically no wait.

truonghthe

^^^mine RL only suffer from glove box bubbling up because Texas heat, other than that the car run just like new.

Huskymaniac

I would think a high quality leather conditioner or 303 Aerospace Protectant for vinyl stuff would mitigate those issues. And window tinting helps too.

From my research, the RL from that era has extremely high reliability scores. Every car has some issues. You just want them to be minor and easy to repair. That is why I asked about the tranny, for example. If replacing pressure sensors as preventative maintenance can avoid tranny issues then that is great information to know. But is sounds like whatever plagued some of those early to mid-2000 TLs doesn't exist in the RL so that's good.

truonghthe

The problem isn't the surface treated or not, the real problem is that the RL use "soft" material and when they meet the sun melting occur. We got 105 -115 F and it would be hotter inside the car and it last for 4-5 months, RL is not the only car suffer from this "melting" issue. The Lexus LS460 suffer much worse melting issue than the RL, dash, steering wheel, door handle, trunk release button on the trunk and all of this cause by soft material used to get that luxury feeling. The GS350 is a tad better than LS but still suffer melting issue. BTW all car in TX have tint, both of the lexus got 5% tint all around and the RL got 5% in the back and 25% up front and it still melt. I also use sun shade on the front and back and melting still occur.

08KBP_VA

And these things EAT batteries...which seems to be par for the course. Not necessarily an "issue" per se but anytime there are electrical gremlins/issues the first course of action is to check battery age and replace. Think average life expectancy is ~ 3 years

Huskymaniac

That's a bummer. Back in the day there was a product that used to go over the door window. You would open the window a little, hang it on the window and roll the window back up. It had a solar panel and fan that would suck hot air out of the car. If you left the other windows open a crack, there would be decent air flow to keep the temperatures down a little in the car.

Huskymaniac

Are you talking about the main 12V battery? Is there a large parasitic draw or did they undersize the battery or alternator? If the problem is regular draw down of the charge in the battery, perhaps a high quality dual purpose marine battery would be a good solution.

truonghthe

Trust me everyone live in TX gulf coast will tell you if you leave the window crack you will find a sand dune "ok may be alittle exaggerate" but dust will be everywhere in the interior also welcome to TX where weather forecast said "90% chance of rain" in reality you got over cast and when they say "20% chance of rain" the whole city got flooded. Its rain for 10 mins then sun for 20 mins and resume the rain....

Huskymaniac

Just curious. Are you in the Houston area? My son is looking at Rice University and I am trying to get some info on the area. I hear it is nice.

truonghthe

Yes I am in Houston and it really depend on which side of town you are in.

sccrxer

So I recently picked up a 2005. Things I've noticed so far are:

Leather falling apart on the arm rest and door panels (easyish fix)

Button that controls the rear headrests in the overhead control panel is stuck in, so I can't operate them using it.

Dimple on exterior door handles sometimes doesn't respond to lock the car and arm the security. Seems to correlate to rainy weather.

Clock display over the navigation gets a loose connection so you may need to reflow the solder at some point. I just had this happen to me yesterday. Really easy diy fix if you're familiar with soldering.

I'm getting a random CEL for emissions system P0469 that comes and goes. I'll go a couple days without it after clearing it so I don't know if it's an actual problem or not.

This morning when I put my car in park I got a airbag system failure code. I've read that blowing out the seatbelt buckle may fix this so I'll try it tonight.

Front engine mounts go bad due to oil and other grime eating the rubber away. Pretty sure mine was original when I replaced it last weekend. 212k miles and the part that bolts to the engine just fell off.

The 12v port next to the shifter doesn't latch. There is a TSB for this so you can get the replacement part for cheaper if you wish to fix it.

That's all the problems I've experienced with mine since I got it a month ago.