My buddy is thinking of getting a used '99 TL....can you all let me know what the common problems are? It will have about 130K miles on it.

 

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Definitely use the search function. There is a ton of excellent information stored in the old threads.

Here's a thread that I started back in May before I bought a high mileage 1999 TL:

https://acurazine.com/forums/showthread.php?t=136685

I asked basically the same question and I received a lot of excellent advice.

Your friend will want to check if the car is still running its original transmission. The second generation TLs are prone to transmission failures. The 1999 TL happens to use a 4 speed tranny that appears to be more reliable than the 5 speed variant used in the 2000-2003 TLs. But I think that it's still more likely to fail than the average automatic transmission. A replacement transmission can run $3,000 to $4,000.

My 1999 TL's original transmission failed at about 173,000 miles. The previous owner had a new/rebuilt tranmission installed at an Acura dealership and it has a two year, unlimited milage warranty on it. I bought the car with 175,000 miles and I love the car.

It's probably not a bad idea to run a CarFax report on it. If you search these forums for "CarFax" you can find threads where people will run a report for free if you provide the VIN number. Otherwise they run about $20.

Other questions to ask are if the car has ever been in an accident or if it's had significant mechanical problems.

With a high mileage car it's also nice if you can get the service records for the car. The previous owner of my TL always had the car serviced at an Acura dealership and he was able to get me a detailed printout of the car's service history.

And it helps if you can buy from the original owner since they will know the complete history of the car.

Bob