My girlfriend and I headed up to Orlando this weekend to spend some time as Disney as we do a few times a year. Completely uneventful until we were pulling out of the parking lot at Epcot to head home. I got to the end of the parking lot row and felt a moderate "jerk" -- when I looked at the gauge cluster it was completely dead. Tach at 0, odo and trip meters off, fuel and coolant temperature gauges all the way down. Gotta be a fuse... so I baby it to an Exxon. Noticing that it starts out in second and upshifts only once and won't go any higher than third gear gave me bigtime cause for concern until I remembered that the VSS is also electronic and this is obviously a failsafe.

At any rate, the 7.5A fuse for the gauge cluster circuit had blown. I HATE electrical problems so I shut the car off and popped in a spare 7.5A fuse... fired it back up and began to drive off. I didn't even make it out of the Exxon parking lot and it happened again.

Yadda yadda yadda.. called Roadside Assistance and they had a flatbed out to me in 40 minutes (not bad at all for late Sunday afternoon) and towed it to Fountain Acura. They were about to close when I got there (service was closed the whole day anyway) so I dropped the car off and took a taxi (FROM HELL) to Enterprise near the Orlando airport where I picked up a Ford Windstar (driving dynamics on par with the finest European marques). Honestly, I was glad to have a functioning car.

I stayed overnight in Orlando and headed back home yesterday (Monday) afternoon. The service advisor from Fountain called to let me know the tech checked the car out and found nothing wrong -- so I asked to speak with him. He said he popped a new 7.5A fuse in and drove it for 8 miles without any glitches whatsoever. He did mention that he has seen an electronic control unit on the back of the gauge cluster go bad, but the problem has never manifested itself in this way. He agreed to order a new one and have it installed by 2:00 tomorrow afternoon, so I'm heading back up to get it.

Acura Roadside and Fountain Acura have been very nice about the whole incident, but I'm a little weary as this is the first time any car has left me functionally stranded (didn't want to drive 250 miles home in 3rd gear with no idea of the fuel level). Hoping it will get me home ok tomorrow.

If anyone sees an ABP TL-S on the side of the Southbound Turnpike between Ft. Lauderdale and Orlando, stop and give me a ride. I'm 6'8" but I promise I don't bite.

 

Dang you're 6'8''. You might want to hunch or sit down as people will be intimidated by your imposing stature and sheer size that they'll just pass by HAHHH. But anyway, goodluck with your car.

 

6'8?!?! So what team do you play for?

 

Is that 6'8" with the afro? (from the movie "Fletch") maybe to old school for you young punks (lol)

 

6'8" WITHOUT an afro, thank you.

Anycrap, I just got back and everything seems to be working fine. While my rental Windstar wasn't total crap, it sure feels a lot better to be back in my TL.