My car stalled on me!!! This all started for me 3 months ago. I changed my battery myself. Afterward, it stalled on me while I was out driving at a red light. After finding a safe place, I put the car in park and stepped on the gas few time. I was able to get the car to stall again. I figure I didn’t get the cable tight enough, so I reinstalled the battery again. Also, I brought the car into Acura dealer for an inspection. They said no code was reported. They said because I unplug the battery cable to reinstall the battery, the code could have been rested. They think it could be that the ECU rebooted after disconnecting the battery terminal and the car need to recalibrate itself. I brought their story and the car ran fine for 2 month.

It stalled on me 2 week ago while I was slowing down to make a right turn. I lost power steering and brake while driving and then the engine shut off. It was kind of scary; I had hard time getting the car under control before hitting the sidewalk median. I have 02 TL-S with 94k. Dealer looked at it; they think it is the ECU from obtained diagnostic code. P1739 – Problem in 3rd Clutch Pressure switch circuit. They changed my ECU and the car stalled again while I was slowing down at a red light after few days. I notice whole bunch of lights came on the dash. I brought the car back to the dealer; this time there is no code again. They have the car for almost a week. They said they hooked it up to diagnostic equipment and drove it for 200 miles and still can’t reproduce the problem. They took apart my car to check the ignition switch already and it looked fine. Any suggestions? Please help!

 

Well if the dealer cant find any codes or get it to duplicate?? It could be a dirty Throttle, or IAC thats failing or dirty but not throwing a code. It could also be the trans causing it.

Also make sure that ALL the battery cables are making good connection and that the ground cables are still attached as well

 

Also, you can't visually tell if the ignition switch is fine. And the problems can be intermittent so it can pass an electrical test but fail at other times.

I had stalling on startup and stalling while driving problems with my 1999 TL and that turned out to be due to a bad ignition switch. There was a recall on the 1999 TL's ignition switch but I'm not sure if that applied to the 2002 TL.

My car did not throw a code but I wonder if stalling due to and ignition switch problem might cause the car to throw a code.

In any case I wouldn't rule out the ignition switch. It's around a $50 part if you want to try changing it yourself.

Also, since the dealer was wrong about the ECU, you might at least want to keep the good unit that they removed from your car.

And if it is due to a transmission problem, that should be covered under warranty unless you have a salvage title.

Good luck!

Bob

 

Dealer got the ECU changed under warranty. I got the transmission changed around 70K under warranty too. Dealer said they did all kind of test on my car already. If they can't find anything today, they want to give it back to me. If I don’t find out what's going on with the car, I might want to trade it in. I am afraid of getting it stalled on me while on the highway. So far out of the 4 time it stalled on it, it was either when I was stopped or while I am stepping on the brakes. Thanks for the suggestions so far. I will consider the ICAV and dirty Throttle.

 

Well I would definitely replace the ignition switch before deciding to trade the car in. It's a cheap part and it would rule that out. At worst you'll have a spare.

And there is a DIY for cleaning the IACV somewhere on this forum.

It's pretty sad that the dealer wants to return the car to you without identifying the problem.

Bob

 

I would also have to say that its the ignition switch. My car did the same thing and I ignored it until one day my car wouldnt start at all. Then I replaced it for about $45 and havent had that problem ever since.

 

2ndgentl

What year is your TL? Is it a 02? I only read about the ignition switch issue with the 99 TLs. Dealer did check my ignition switch and they said it was fine.

 

The problem with the dealer checking the ignition switch is that it can have intermittent problems. It may perform beautifully when they check it and not function properly the next day. That's the type of unpredictable behavior I was seeing with my TL. Electrical problems like that can be a nightmare to track down.

And ignition switch issues are not limited to the 1999 TL. The exact same ignition switch part number, 35130-S84-A01, is used in all of the 1999-2003 TLs. They may have improved it as part of the recall but they can still fail. My TL is on its third ignition switch. The second one, which was replaced under the recall, failed about a year ago.

If you decide to change it yourself, see this thread for some DIY info:

https://acurazine.com/forums/showthread.php?t=164704

 

My car is a 1999.

 

I got my car back today. Dealer didn’t find what is wrong. This is what they did to my car while they had it. They removed the steering column covers and inspected the ignition switch. They found no burn marks and think it is working fine. They cleaned the throttle body and perform idle learn procedure. Is it common to clean IACV modle while they do that? Also, they road test it with a diagnostic computer attached for 200 miles. They told me to bring the car back if it stalls again. I added a bottle of Lucas fuel treatment earlier. I will drive it like this to see if it stalls again. If it stalls, I will replace IACV module and then ignition switch.

 

Goog luck with your TL. Hopefully they fixed it.

For what it's worth, my failing ignition switch looked perfect visually. There were no burn marks or anything else that might indicate a problem.

Do you happen to have another Honda or Acura key on your keyring with the immobilizer feature? If so, be aware that two of these keys on the same ring can interfere with each other. The TL owner's manual includes a caution about that.

And the keys themselves can fail. If you have a spare, you might want to try that one to see if the key could be the problem.

 

No.. I only have an Acura key on this keyring. I do have a new spare key. I will use that one from now on to see what happens. Thanks for your info and support. I will keep everyone updated as i find more info.

 

You're very welcome. I can relate to the frustration when you can't track down the cause for a stalling problem. When it happened to my car I started to lose confidence in it.

BTW, "goog luck" is just like "good luck" but misspelled.