Hello I'm new to this forum and a 1st time Acura owner. I just had a 1999 Acura TL 3.2 given to me from a co-worker. The car is black with black leather & has 204,000 miles but the engine has been changed and has roughly 140,000-160,000 miles. It runs smooth & has lots of power but the tranny shifts hard from 1st to 2nd (more so when its cold) not so bad when its warmed up. My question is can I add transmission additives like Lucus treatment in an acura or do I have to have special fluids from honda? Also the headlights are not real bright. They work but just not that bright at all. Its kinda funny too because these cars have HID lights and all the cars i seen on the road with these kind of headlights were always so bright and vibrant. Anyway Is this a car worth keeping or should I sell it off since I have no money into it before it starts nickle and diming me to death? Thanks for any & all advise

 

Usually that the trans shift harsh from 1st to 2nd is a good indication that you might need an ATF change BUT It can also mean your engine mounts are shot... check the ATF condition first and change ATF accordingly. Don't Add un-necessary additives your trans SHOULD shift smoothly to begin with.

The HIDs can also worn out they don't like to BURN like normal halogen bulbs so don't expect them to die but lose a lot of brightness in their aging.. Replace with D2C bulbs: http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_trks...at=0&_from=R40
Stock Color is 4300K you might as well change it to Ultra White = 5000 or add some fancy color 8K.. Going way way high in the scale start to lose performance so don't go anywhere north of 8K which is Polar White not blue...

99 TLs had a 4 speed which is known to be far more reliable than our 5 Speedo if you like the car keep it, if it was well maintained it should be a worry free car with the usual money spend on regular maintenance nothing fancy..




Hope that Helps and Welcome to Acurazine.

 

Welcome Tootm !!!
As Skirmich previously suggested....check the tranny fluid level and condition. Try a drain & fill using Honda DW1. Inspect all of the mounts. It's possible that the shift solenoids are gunked up and could benefit from cleaning their screens. Read up the past threads on this subject for more info.

Are headlamp's outer lenses clouded ? If so, try cleaning and polishing them to clear. If this doesn't help the lamp's brightness....replacing the HID bulbs may help. Do the lights dim more at idle ? Could be the electrical charging system needs load tested.

 

I would say changing out the ATF doing a 1x3 and cleaning the headlight lens is easy and inexpensive. If you need to replace the bulbs total should still be under a hundred. At 200,000 miles you might want to spend a few bucks cleaning stuff up in the engine and such to keep it running smooth.


A timing belt might be needed also that's not cheap unless you do it yourself.

 

Thanks for all the advice so far. I'll look into the trannd and engine mounts as soon as I can and post what I find out. As far as the headlights the lens' are crystal clear. I will look into to 8k ones as I think they are just old. My radio stopped working too and it really sounds good with the sub so I'll have to look for a factory replacement. Anyone on here selling one? Lol
Thanks again for the advice!

 

The best replacement for the HID lamps is 5K........8K is a bit too much and won't be as bright white as the 5K.

 

Oh ok thanks. I don't know a thing about HID lights. Just figured the higher the number the brighter the light.

 

Have another question, I got the car and other then the Acura name across the back trunk lid there are no other badges. How do I know if its a s-type or anything? I has a sunroof but no driving/ fog lights. The alloy rims are the ones that look like the ones sold on the s-type cars that are sold on ebay. Are there any options that tell the them apart? I will post pics of the car as soon as I figure out how if that helps...

 

Type S only came out for 2002 and 2003 with the new front end for that year.

 

Yeah, as ErickUa5 said.....your '99 is the basic model, not an "S".
Many owners attempt to upgrade their TL's with the "S" model's parts, such as the rims and badges.

 

Kelvin Scale just denote Color but intensity of brightness is usually bigger in the lower end of the scale.. Lm is the scale of brightness meaning that the higher the number the more light is present in the road.


3200KV = Yellow Light = +3700Lm (Brightest HID Light but Yellow color sucks unless you are into JDM stuff or live in Alaska type of city/town with loads of snow)
4300KV = Amber Light = +3400Lm (Stock Bulb)
5000KV = Ultra White = +3300Lm
6000KV = North White = +3200Lm
8000KV = Polar White = +3000-2900Lm (Best trade-off of Color and Brightness)
10,000KV = Light blue = 1900Lm (Closing in to Halogen Bulb brightness)
12,000KV = Ultra Blue = 1500Lm (Same as High Beam halogen Bulb)




The thing with 8K is that some people are more sensitive to color perception and 8K can blend in dark roads giving the feeling of low brightness when in fact is still bright as hell.. Just some people cant see right with it BUT Bulbs are cheap try them and if you don't like it or you "THINK" it doesn't bright up as much then go back to 5K.. Anyway since your bulbs are toasted you might think ANY HID bulb right now its a beacon of light haha.


Hope it helps.

 

Haha Thanks Skirmich, you know your lights! Very informative

 

^ Had to test them all now they are cheap.. When my Car was brand new a set of bulbs could go as high as 500 bucks for a pair of stockers... Right now I have literally over 15 sets of different Kv ratings..

 

Ok I ordered a set of 5 & 8K hid's I haven't even looked @ how hard they are going to be to install seen some horror storys bout them bein a nightmare to install...I also ordred the LED interior light conversion kit. Look much brighter then stock!
As far as the radio issue I have decided to just install an aftermarket single din. I would like to keep the stock sub though and was reading thru all the posts bout goin through the factory eq I'm pretty savy with electrical but I don't know where the schematics ppl keep saying to refer to on this forum. Can anyone who has done it already just tell me what color wire they tapped into to get it to work. Without run in new wire clear to the trunk. Any help will be appreciated its boring driving with no radio!!
Thanks!!