Hi Everybody,

I'm looking for some help. I have a 2003 TL-S with 120k miles. The problem I'm having is that a couple hundred feet after driving the VSA light will come on and cause a low power issue. In drive it doesn't want to go over 2500 rpm, in neutral or park it will go up to 5000rpm, then begin to loose rpm, if you floor it it will begin to bog and misfire, which if you do it long enough will bring up a misfire code. I have tried a few things, TPS, taking off the VSA throttle body assembly. It seems to be running perfectly smoothly until you hit a certain rpm, then bogs. If you start the car (VSA lights are off) and begin to rev the car, it will still cut power and not spool up like it should. This will also bring the VSA light on even though I haven't moved. If you go back to idle or light throttle it runs and purrs just fine. I'm now contemplating a MAP or possibly a plugged CAT. But to me that should be throwing a check engine light without causing a VSA issue. We have had some snow here lately and the ABS seems to be working just fine and lights have not been on for that so I do not believe it is a wheel speed sensor or their should be ABS issues correct?? I'd appreciate your thoughts.

Snowy in Western NY,

Steve A

 

I just had a very similar problem on my TL as what you describe. Turned out to be fuel starvation from a failing fuel pump. I didn't have the correct Honda adapter to hook up my fuel pressure tester, but my daily driver is a CL of the same year. I swapped fuel pumps to test and that turned out to be the issue. You can buy the adapter for about $80 online but you'll need a gauge as well. I have a cheap $25 tester kit from Harbor Freight, but you still need the Honda adapter to hook it up. A new fuel pump is about $100 from Rock Auto. It sucks to start throwing parts at the problem without knowing exactly what it is. It can get expensive.

Did it just start doing this out of the blue or were/are there other symptoms? Has it been taking a long time to start, and then seems to JUST be able to start? Any intermittent sluggishness while driving that you thought was odd? Anything else that might be attributed to fuel starvation?

 

GRWeldon, Thanks for your response. I don't have any real history on the car. I bought it super cheap because of the issue. The previous owners were told a transmission problem. I did a 3-3-3 flush and it shifts fine as far as I can tell. It just has no power. I was thinking a possible fuel issue. When you first turn the key you can hear the pump come on, build pressure and shut off, which tells me it's working but doesn't mean it has enough flow ( but builds enough pressure to shut pump off.) It starts and runs nice until 4k rpm. Did your pump failure bring up the VSA lights? Thanks, Steve

 

Hey everyone,
Here's an update on the car. The power loss was due to a plugged Catalytic Converter. Once a new Cat was installed the power came back instantly. The VSA light persisted. A mechanic friend of mine brought his much better scanner than my cheap bluetooth OBD scanner. We were able to diagnose that all the sensors were giving the proper information to the ABS/VSA Module. The scanner said to replace the VSA module (I still questioned because ABS was working properly and VSA would work before you hit 15+ MPH). Either way and $40 Ebay find / swap and all lights are off and everything is working great. Thanks for the suggestions above. I did get familiar with my fuel pump and gas tank but that all was good. So glad I found that out with a few removed bolts and not a dropped gas tank I will share the listing here on Acurazine as the car will be up for sale!