CasperNYC

Hi all, I have a 2003 Acura TL Type S that (while technically my dad's) is sitting on my parking pad gathering dust. The reason it's sitting there is because months ago, I was coming home from work which was about an hour drive. I was going about 80ish mph (flow of traffic, popo please don't yell at me) and the engine cut out. Once I noticed it, I started to get over to the shoulder while coasting as my gas pedal had no function. it wasn't until the car got to about 20mph that the car recognized a stall.

here's potential issues.
first things first, its got 200k miles. If I am to fix this, it will become a project car as I love this car honestly, it was a sporty sedan and I grew up with it.
2nd. Transmission has been on life support for about 5-7 years, trans got replaced once already about 5 years into owning the car and that was off pre ownership. A buddy of my dad's suggested Lucas Transmission Oil Fix, and honestly that's kept it going for so long.
3rd and the possible culprit: When I had it towed and brought to a shop that I trusted, they originally couldn't find anything but after the 2nd time this happened, they said it was a fuse that went bad cause by something and I should take it to a car electrician. btw the electrician who was a nice old man couldn't find the issue.

So now I ask AcuraZine community. I would Love a project car just to mess with and if it's a fix that I could possibly do id wanna give it a shot, otherwise its prob gonna go up for sale as the engine and interior are somewhat solid. (btw suggestions on that would be lovely too)

zeta

iTrader: (1)

Can you clarify the above?
Did the engine completely 'cut out' and stay off until you brought the car to a stop?
You'd know (& remember) because these cars a very hard to steer when you lose the power steering function.

IMHO, it would be better to 'cut your loss' because even if you found & resolved the 'electrical' issue to remedy the highway 'stall', you'd then have to contend with the baked transmission. The only long term 'fix' for these glass auto transmissions is to swap in an 06-07 V6 Accord BAYA (non-hybrid) automatic.

CasperNYC

So, yeah I was going in the left lane about 80ish mph and the I stepped on the pedal to move to the right lane and got no response. the car had lights and acted like it was still working despite having no function in the gas pedal. once I got to the shoulder, I started to brake and once I hit 20 all the lights came on like I stalled.

I also agree Id cut my losses, its sitting there for months but my daily driver of a 2015 Mitsubishi Outlander Sport had its transmission die (papa bless dealership warranty) and that's getting handled but warranty companies love to take their sweet time... its been 5-6 weeks and ive been bumming my gfs car.

figured, hey maybe its a fuel relay I can just swap out.

zeta

iTrader: (1)

^
Well, if the car has any DTC's that can point you in a direction, that could help?
When the fuel relay on my CL-S6, crapped the bed, luckily it did it in my garage & not on the highway.
When the fuel relay died on my automatic CL-S, similar situation, though the car was parked in my yard and would not restart after sitting in the blazing FL sun.
If there are no codes, you can try the 'parts cannon' approach & start with the fuel relay, especially if it has never been replaced before.
Just make sure it is an OEM one if you don't try to 'reflow' the solder after taking it apart.
Good Luck.

agd900

I'd check the ignition switch. Go out and start the car and barely turn the key to off to see how much it takes to the turn the car off. If it takes barely any turn then your ignition switch is worn.

CasperNYC

no codes what so ever, and the weirdest thing is like no stall evidence until I went below a speed. I could have kept coasting and probably would have just broke down if I didn’t notice the gas pedal had no response. A silent death if you will.

CasperNYC

I mean it’s worth a try but I don’t think it’s the ignition since the car was on and running.

Jon M

On these cars sometimes as the ignition switch gets loose and vibration basically turns the switch to off. I had stalling problems and it turned out to be microcracks in the fuel filter. Went through 2 other OEM filters before replacing it again with a Dorman filter which then worked great. My stalling showed up on the freeway when the car was going uphill. It took several tows and the car started each time I got home. The fuel pressure was low but dropped a lot going uphill, the fuel pump was working but the fuel going through the filter went through the microcracks and back into the tank.