ts_vaj

Alright everybody hello! I'm new here. I'm not really a car person so I am still learning alot bout my new car.

Today I was looking for a car and I came across this sharp black 2003 Acura 3.2TL Type-S. A business friend who owns a dealership just got it from the auto auction so he helped me out. I went with him to the auction too hehe. It had 134k on it for $6,000. It looked clean, ran smooth so I took it.

I don't know much about this car, very surprised to find out afterwards it had 260hp! I was only expecting something around 220. Totally awesome!

I was wondering how you drive this thing? I know you can just set it to D4 and drive it like an automatic but when I first drove it, I put it on D5 and I didn't know you were suppose to shift so I was driving in 2nd gear for 1 mile and thought it was broken until I figured it out.

I'm not familiar with these automatic/shifting things....is there a place I can go to see how you drive with this feature? It was pretty quick on the freeway when I had it on D5 and sorta punched it.

Sorry for such a stupid sounding question but I wanna know how to drive my car. I've just been driving a automatic honda civic for the last 7 years so this car is totally badass! HID's are sweet too! hehe! Hoping to be a regular here. Thanks!

OH! I also hear these cars a prone to tranny problems? Is that so? So far my car feels strong and shifts smooth but that Is a fear of mine, I did use to have a 2002 accord v6 and got rid of it because of the tranny slipping after a while. I have no history of this car since it was from an auction.

heyitsvu

iTrader: (1)

Welcome to the club. But easily put, the 2001-03 TLs have 5 Gears. hence D1-D5. What you did when shfting the car is that you put it to D5 and then moved it to the left, which engages the sportshifter mode. It's basically like a clutchless manual. every time you want to shift gears, you push it up once, and it'll shift into other gears. if you want to drive it normally, just leave it at the D5 and leave it rather then pulling it all the way to the left.

If you think the accord 2002 V6's tranny was bad, wait till you see this one.

The 01-03's trannies are known to have horrible transmission problems. I had that problem myself, and instead of getting a rebuilt automatic transmission, i found a CL-S with a 6 speed transmission and swapped it in.

Good luck with the car! hope you have fun with it.

Ibn Rushd

Okay, that is what your shifter looks like


Now there's two settings, manual and automatic as you said. Now if you would like to drive in fully automatic, you bring it down to the D5 on the right, but DO NOT move it to the left. If you shift it to the left, then you will go into manual mode.

Manual mode works similarly to a manual car in the sense that you need to be in specific gears. So what manual allows you to do, is shift up and shift down at your will.

Note* (this car will not let you miss shift, but it's not something you should do often. Miss shifting is when you go into a gear too low for the speed you are traveling at. for instance you should not be in 2nd gear when you are traveling at 80mph. you should be in fifth, or 4th if you are accelerating to pass someone).

Now on the left of the speedometer, you have a tachometer, the higher the tach, the higher the rev. The tachometer measures the engine speed, (the lower the more you save on gas and is better for cruising, the higher is usually better for passing).

When your engine speed reaches the higher numbers (4, 5, 6), unless you are passing someone, you want to shift up. (shift up is using the shifter and just pushing up on it and you will see the number on your dash (next to the engine heat) change from the gear you were in, to the new gear)).

Usually in daily driving, you want to keep it between 2 - 4...and when your passing, feel free to hit up to the redline!

I truly hope that helps, but someone of the people with better English probably can help you.

As for the transmission issues, yes these cars have a transmission issue, much like your Accord (in fact, it's the same transmission), but if the transmission has been changed recently, i wouldn't worry too much about it. You should be okay.

Congratulations on your new 3.2TL Type S. You'll really love it! (I myself drive a Civic and switch to my brothers TL when i go out on weekends, and i love it!)

P.S the 3.2 TL (non type S) has 220 HP, you have the sportier version of the TL! But you'll learn it as you stay on the forum!

Welcome to the forums!!!

ChrisQ1980

Welcome to the forum. Nice choice and price on that car. For normal driving just leave it in D5, if you want to have some fun in the turns, you can sport shift by moving the lever to the left and up/down shift as you please. Seeing as you have 134k it's a good possibility the transmission was already replaced.

If you don't mind me asking what auction was this? I use to work for an auto auction

Ibn Rushd

Also Note, when you want to punch it, just gauge your tachometer and use the manumatic function, and shift down (pull back on the shifter) once and check where your REVs are on the tach (the number the needle points too), usually you'll be able to gauge the revs... Also this car will automatically shift into second gear no matter what mode you are in.

From my experience; (This will help you to begin with, maybe)

1st gear: max of 50km/h (this might be different on the US versions)
2nd gear: max of 100km/h (62mph)
3rd gear: max of 134-140km/h (90mph)?
4th gear: max of 200 - 210 (120mph)
5th gear: top speed.

Again, these are just the max speeds of each gear, so at first you can use your speed to gauge which gear is best when passing or letting it loose a bit. Just remember when cruising, usually try to stay in 4th or 5th, otherwise you are wasting gas.




EDIT: I meant to add this to my prior post but i took too long...


I hope that helps you with an idea on how to use the manual function in your car!

ts_vaj

Damn! I wasn't sure how my question was going to be recieved.....totally awesome! Thanks for explaining everything so well guys! I'll play around with it with what u guys said, I still gotta figure out this thing. Yeah I drove the car home from work today...had to run some errands....man it feels good driving it, having GPS was nice hehe...HID's look cool as ever.... As long as the car stays this strong I think I will love this car! I loved my accord until the tranny slipped.

It's black so it also looked pretty good next to my dad's black '05 E500 too

The Owner's manual was missing so I had to ask questions.....Hey one more, What type of gas does it take?? Premium? When I drove out of the dealer it was on Empty so I went to the pump and put in about $10 of 87 Regular without even thinking about it.

Oh the auction was Minneapolis Auto Auction here in Minnesota. My Dealer friend bought it but he let me have it for that price.

Thanks alot everyone....I'll be checking in here pretty often from now on hehe. Need to change my Gold grill to chrome or black one of these days....

fsttyms1

Actually your max speeds of each gear are a little wrong (canadian and us versions have the same ratios)
3rd will redline close to 110, 4th is 155+ IF your speed limiter kicks in, 5th you slow down. (car doesnt have enough power to sustain top speed in it)

Jimmay

Your TL-S takes premium gas. It can run on regular but it is best for performance and efficiency. The TL-S is a great car. Have fun!

2000DEP

Welcome to the forum...
You will definitely have fun in your new TLS and in A-ZINE

erick3

sweeet! welcome man!

DFoster0

welcome, what r plans for the car

RalphiieP

iTrader: (1)

I have a question whats the differences between the type s and a none one.

6MTUA5

iTrader: (2)

Welcome

ts_vaj

Not much. I like the car how it looks.

If it stays reliable, I will do a few things as soon as I can afford them but the only plans for now are:

1. Window Tint...maybe 30%-35% since I'm a wuss and that's the legal limit up here lol.

2. Also the gold grill really bugs me because everything else that isn't black is chrome...I would like for it to be chrome but I think it would be even easier to just paint the grill black (and leave the Acura "A" in the center gold)...but I dunno how a black grill would look. Know any places that sell affordable grills?

iforyou

iTrader: (1)

- Type S has 260hp/232lbft, normal has 225hp/216lbft
- Type S has wider tires (10mm) and larger rims (1")
- Type S has stiffer suspension setup
- Type S has perforated seats


I'm sure there are more, but that's all I can remember for now.

kadabra

[QUOTE=Brown Chaos]

While on the subject of newbie owners, lol, what is that little hole on the right side of the shifter casing? I thought I was missing a cover or something when I got my car but this looks to be the same...unless you're missing it too, lol.

heyitsvu

iTrader: (1)

its a shift gate lock out. if your batter is dead or your car is screwed up for instance. you use your key and push it into that hole, that unlocks the shifter so you can put it into lets say neutral for example to get it towed =]

heyitsvu

iTrader: (1)

And to answer this, it really varies. Some cars take 87 and have better efficiency then a car taking 89 or even 91, you just gotta test the methods on your car yourself. not all cars are built equal, despite the fact that they might look identical exterior wise.

kadabra

Thank you! I figured I was missing a cover, lol, glad to see it has more of a function than just trapping dust.

totaledTL

Mine has a cover over that hole. Page 188 of the OM describes removing it to access the shift lock release.

caligirl2k

Hey ts_vaj
Welcome to the forum I told you your question would get answered fast over here.

kadabra

Well, I'm sure sourcing one of those will be more trouble than it's worth. At least if someone asks I can explain its function.

heyitsvu

iTrader: (1)

Thats what i originally said about my prelude tool

Ibn Rushd

Yeah, you're correct. I got it confused with the RL. My wrong on that one.

Although I didn't realize about 4th being able to do that and fifth slowing you down.




Also I had no idea about the whole beside my shifter either, and to be honest...I don't think i ever noticed it!

ts_vaj

Hey another dumb question.....

Up here we have 92 Octane premium...no 91...

What's the difference? lol....I filled up on the 92 premium....around $50 full tank.

How does the TL run on this?

RalphiieP

iTrader: (1)

anything else

Trackruner228

iTrader: (1)

Welcome.

heyitsvu

iTrader: (1)

anything 91 octane or higher is good.

I dont exactly understand the full concept of octane ratings, but basically, the higher the octane, the more compression the gasoline can handle. Our engines have a high compression ratio, which demands a higher octane fuel in order for it to operate normally. if you use a lower compression gas (87 for example), it combusts quicker, which leads to knocking, which is bad for the engine. Hence, the sticker on the gast door says premium fuel only .

ts_vaj

TYPE-S SHIFT KNOB! LOL

iforyou

iTrader: (1)

lol, yea, good call!

Blaze.45

Whoa wait, help me with this.

My car is actually better off in 4th gear when racing in the top end? Is that why a damn '05 WRX Wagon pulled away when we hit 110mph'ish (in 5th)? Should I have stayed in 4th!?

What is the general setting of our speed limiter anyway? At that 110mph'ish point, it felt like some sort of govenor kicking in... and I was in 5th (switched over to Automatic after 100mph to keep more attention on the road.

-Chris