Eggson

Hello all. I have a 99 3.2tl with close to 177k miles on it. We bought it 3 years ago and have had very few issues, so far.

I recently moved from Portland, OR to Edmonton, Alberta, and so far I don't think the car likes the cold. A few weeks ago, during the first extended cold snap the tcs light and CEL came on when starting the car cold. Trying to put the car into gear was difficult, it felt like the gear box was filled with molasses. I let it warm up for a good while, eventually it seemed to want to work so drove it to a service station to look at the tranny fluid. (This is the original transmission, never replaced as far as I know.) The mechanic said fluid was fine, that it was just the cold and reset the CEL/TCS lights and it drove fine.

I don't drive very often, so didn't notice anything for another week. Went to start in the very cold (~25f/-7c) and both lights were on again. I did a quick search on my phone at that point and found a temporary fix: let it warm up, turn it off and then back on and the tcs light should go off. That seemed to work, CEL is still on, but drives fine, engine sounds good, no issues with transmission. I scheduled to take it in and finally got it out to the mechanic. It seems like the colder it is outside, the longer it has to warm up before I can do the temporary fix.

So the mechanic ran the diagnostics and it came back with two codes:
P1607 PCM(ECM) Internal Fault 'A';
P0420 Catalyst System Efficiency Below Threshold (bank 1).

He said there was no issue with the tcs light when he drove it, (of course) but also that it sat inside his shop all day. He reset the codes and said if the lights came back on then they'd have to probably replace the ECM! His quote was for $1100CD, but that i might be able to find it for ~$300 used online.

The mechanic was adamant that it was the ECM malfunctioning (even though he said in his 15+years of servicing acuras that he'd never had to replace one...)

I went out to the car, sitting in the -10c weather for the last 4 hours and guess what lights came on? TCS and CEL, of course. I went back in and he said it was definitely the cold weather messing with the ECM.

So am I screwed?

I had been planning on installing an engine block heater, so just had him do that, too. Do you think this will make a difference in the long run?

Many thanks on any advice.

(If this is going to be a major cost, I'm thinking I should just drive it back to the states and sell it instead of deal with this hassle any longer.)

01tl4tl

what about the egr port being clogged??..99s had the recall to clean and install a smooth sleeve in the port, but it still clogs and needs a DIY cleaning about every 75kmiles
Not something the average tech would think about

you are not doing the car any favors letting it sit to warm up!!

have you tested the battery and alternator?--extreme cold may have put the hurt on the battery--causing false codes and while you sit at idle its not making any real juice,,with electrical running in the car--heater-seats- lights etc..that will drag the battery down with no way to recharge until you get moving and over 1500 rpm- even then it may take 30 minutes to fully recharge in those conditions

peabodyn

I had a similar problem. The CEL and TCS light came on after I started the car - cold. Ran poorly. I bought a new battery a week prior as the old battery was almost 6 years old. I changed the battery and the issue went away. Coincidence? I don't know.