So here's the deal. I have a 99 TL and I'm starting to have a bunch of problems with it.

1. Needs new cat.
2. Drvier outside vent does not blow anymore.
3. Driver heated seat inop.
4. Printed circuit board is cracked causing ABS light to stay on.
5. Fuel gauge always reads full or empty, no matter how much gas is in the car.
6. Evap leak near the carbon cannister.

What do you guys think I should do, trade it in for something new, or fix everything little by little? I'm not all that car savvy, so I won't be doing much DIY's. I'll own the car in August so I'll have an extra $300 a month.

Give me some input.

 

Id just fix it yourself. Most of that stuff can be replaced yourself for very little money 1 at a time.

 

keep it. there is no more valuable car than the one you OWN. seems like none of those affect the cars operability except for the cat. do that first

 

The car drives like a dream still. It's actually in the shop right now for the cat. It's aftermarket and has a lifetime warranty. But it's been replaced a couple of times now and I'm getting bored with taking it in for cat problems. Everytime my CEL comes on, it's the same shit.

 

It may not be your cat. Ive seen a few have codes where they thought it was the cat and it was the 02 giving the wrong reading.

Also maybe its time to look into a better cat, like the RT cat?

 

check the 02 sensors.

 

Just had the o2's replaced about a year ago along with the cat. It's a Magnaflow cat. The muffler shop wants to replace it with an AP cat this time around. Never heard of AP before. They say they have good luck with them. If this doesn't work, I'll be buying an RT.

 

Ok, so after crying like a lil bitch about my car, I've got a lot of shit fixed.

1. Cat- done. Got the muffler shop to replace with factory cat for free!
2. Vent- done. pulled the dash apart and fixed it myself.
3. Printed circuit board- done. Kind of a PITA. Cost me about $365 total. That was for the board and the programming. I replaced it myself. Would've cost me $365 just for the board, but since I work for a dealer, I got a very nice discount. By doing it myself, I saved another $156 in labor.
4. Heated seat- bought the new heat element/pad but yet to have it installed. One of my techs said he would replace it for $60.
Now all I have to do is get the evap leak checked out and get the fuel gauge replaced.

 

Awesome news.

 

The fuel gauge should be pretty easy if it's just the guage, not something else in the cluster. Do a search you can just order the guage inserts...Taking out the dash and getting the cluster out is a 30 min job.

 

Sounds like the sender to me... not the gauge itself. Wow, ive been reading alot about happened on our TLs recently, i hope this isnt a common problem like our trannies. My last two cars both had the same shit, and it cost me over $200 to fix each time! And this those were cheap ass GM cars, i can immagine that costing even more on a TL.

 

since you work at the dealer how much did you pick up the heated seat for. mines bad too.

 

how did you fix the vent? the two middle ones arent blowing on my car

 

I think it cost me about $70.

 

If I closed the vent it wouldn't open again. So when I had the dash apart I saw a tab that was no longer attached to the slider that opens and closes the vent from the roller. I just put them back together.

 

Sounds like you know whats wrong, thats the hardest part, just fix it.

 

your blend air doors are stuck closed

 

good to know.. i'll take a look at it once it stops raining lol

 

Great news

 

wtf is right!!