BTW, forgot to mention.

I went for inspection yesterday and the dealer told me that my 2000 TL has a problem of warm-starting, (eg. restart after fueling, the car will shake a lot due to miss-firing) That's what he told me and it's covered under warranty.

He's ordering a new ECU for me! Ask your dealer about this as they have an official notice with all their maintainance facilities!!!

Later Guys!!

 

wait..you mean after you have driven the car? or after you have re-fueled it? My car does somewhat unstable starts as well.

 

The dealer service manager told me the problem is that whenever you drive your car until 'hot' say you drive for a while on highway. Then you turn off the car and try to start again in a short period of time, like fuel up in a gas station. The car will then have a mis-firing problem and the RPM drops low and unstable, sometimes the TCS and Check Engine lights will be on too. This happens to some of the 2000 TL and it's under warranty. He showed me the notice and it's titled "HARD START - HOT SOAP"!

Hope this helps!

 

Only the 00 models ?

 

Not sure?!! They have a list! Try calling Metro Acura or other Acura dealer, it's officially known and they've recieved official notice!

 

Hmmm.....I have "hard starts" but not to where the RPM will flucuate. It only did this three times. twice on cold starts and once after I've driven it. I would start the car. let go of the key, and the crank noise would turn into metal pinging noise, and you'll see the RPM rise to 100 RPMs..then jump again to 300...and so forth until it reaches around 900 and fully starts. that's wack! I already have an appointment to have some things inspected with the car, I will also note all the other things I've had. I'm gonna get a RSX loaner.. vrrroom vrrrroom!!!

 

hmm,

 

hmm,

well if this ECU problem IS a recall, shouldn't we getting any type of notices in the mail or something. i mean the seat belt buckle on the passenger side was defected, and it was on recall but we never recieved anything about it in the mail. I'm thinking about calling the dealership (Bariel Acura) in wexford pennsylvania.

 

That's what the service manager in Metro Acura told me, he showed me the notice too. I think you'll have to tell them you have this problem for them to fix it for you. I was there on Monday and they told me they'll call me up when the parts there!

 

I don't think is a recall. I heard about this about a year ago. When I heard about it, it was only the 00 model.

 

I have the same EXACT problem on my 1999 TL. when I start a warm engine, most of the time, the rpm's drop very low anywhere from 300 -500 rpm's and then the car stutters and shakes a lot until I either give it some gas or turn the steering wheel for some reason. I guess the power steering raises the rpms to get more power or something. Anyway, I have asked the dealer before but obviously, when you take your car in to get checked out, it runs like new. I will try again next service.

Rosh

 

I had the exact same problem... and it took them almost a year to order the ECU... well... should say it took Honda a year to deliver the ECU and I had to go visit the dealer, keep pusing them before I got it...
It is not a RECALL, the service manager I deal with showed me the document tha is supposed to be shown to only staff, it says, "THIS IS NOT A RECALL, ONLY REPLACE WHEN CUSTOMER COMPLAINS"... not exactly the same words buy closed...

 

So not all 2000 Tls have this problem?

 

Quote:

So not all 2000 Tls have this problem?

Good question...do they or don't they? Anybody?

 

damn it ray you complain WAAYYY to much about your ride, kills the anticipation of a new tl....hehe, im starting to freak out if all tls are like yours but for a change talk about some good things too yeah?

 

I had this problem the 1st spring of owning the car.
It did it maybe 3or4 times the spring of 2000.
The problem went away I have not had the problem since then.
It happen if you turned the car off after it had been driven & then you restarted after a few min. This is like a fuel stop or goiung to the store to get some milk a quick stop. HONDA is good for this stuff they know about the problem but its not a safety concern.
Also not all cars have the problem. I remember on my 90 ACCORS they had problems with the Ignitor on them but it was not a recall put out for this at least in the early stages. I here some older ACCORD now having that problem. They are 10& 12 yrs old now but I know the sound. I was lucky back then mine was under warantty. I did not have the problem at all last spring or at any other time since. I wonder sometimes do dealers fix some prblem without your knowlege when the cars are in for service when they are new.

 

Just went to the dealer and pick up my car, they've changed the ECU and Fuel Pump and Regulator, and maybe some other things. Something weird when I drove on I-95 on the way back home. The VTEC kicks in at a lower RPM, I'd say around 3500rpm, that's very weird, and I test it a couple times!!! It kicks in and stays on all the way to 5000!!!! The 4th gear pull is amazingly fast!!! I didn't try 0-60 but I'll use my friends G-tech this weekend to verify!!! Anyone had the same problem and changed the ECU??

By the way it took them just 1 week to order the parts!! I didn't get it done since I was in Orlando last week!

 

This is a service bulletin that has been out since 1/15/01. It only pertains to TLs and 01 CLs between certain vin numbers and only for certain states that sell oxygenenated gas in the winter months. It does not apply to any other years and not even to all of the cars in the range. Not every car is affected and it should only be done when a problem is present. (Ref #01-001) And, by the way, its Hot Soak, not Hot Soap

 

Hi all,
well, I don't think a new ECU will do anything to fix this problem. Think about it, if ECU is the problem then every 2000TL would have the same problem. The problem is caused by winter gas. My dealer fixed it by installing a timing fan, when my car shuts the fan will keep running for 15 mins to cool off the gas. That works great, and the problem never happened again ( i got it fixed 2 years ago, never happend again ever since).

 

Alright folks,

Got the whole story from the service manager at Acura of Bellevue (good people). He explained the whole problem to me in great detail and I cannot relay the info 100% accurately since I got lost at times, but I'll try.

The problem exists with the 2000 models in areas of the country that sell "winter fuel" in the winter months. After you drive the car and stop, the problem winter fuel in the lines will boil and separate. When you restart the car, the separated fuel will go through the engine and cause the rough idle. Only 2000 model years are affected because in that year, the US gov't told automakers that any fuel left in the lines can't be returned back to the tank for emissions reasons. I didn't ask why later models don't have the same problem..Acura must have found a workaround. Anyways, the way they fix the problem is that they replace the fuel pressure regulator "which increases the fuel pressure to reduce the potential of fuel separation". Not sure how, but this is what he told me. Because they replace the fuel pressure regulator, they have to change the ECU because the ECU is hard-coded with the old fuel pressure regulator's settings.

He also told me that even in those areas of the country that sell winter fuel, certain gas companies like Texaco and Chevron will not sell winter fuel, so stick with companies like them to avoid the problem all together. He claimed that Acura of Bellevue and Acura of Littleton, CO were the first to report the problem. He said that drivers in places like California will never see this problem because the fuel type is consistent all year round.

Whew, I hope I said it all correctly! Of course, the fix is under warranty, so I'm getting it done tomorrow. They're going to stop sending winter fuel to Seattle in a matter of weeks so I won't have to worry until fall, but might as well get it done now.

Hope this helps!

Casey

 

A follow up...

Got the fix all taken care of. As mentioned before, the instructions on my work order was "Perform hot soak bulletin. Perform repair as outlined in service bulletin #01-001". As Wayne said, the service guy told me that not all 2000s were affected, so that's why there's no official recall.
Wchan01, I don't have my VTEC kicking in at a lower RPM like you have going on. They did tell me that they had to do a highway road test to check that the ECU is working properly..something about decelerating from high to low RPM. You should probably go back and get your ECU check out, unless you don't mind the way it currently is!

 

Rosh,
Do you still have this problem with the RPMs dropping very low after starting a warm engine? I have the exact same thing happening to mine and am wondering how to fix it.