'99TL died while running
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'99TL died while running
Hey guys! Looking at an issue that's taken my primary car out of commission while my project car is also out of order, so in a bit of a pickle here.
I've got a 1999 Acura TL-P. Yesterday night after driving normally all day on the highway, I pulled onto an off-ramp and stopped at the light. The ABS and TCS lights came on, but no CELs. I turned at the light and a few blocks later while waiting on a u-turn, all the gauge needles turned off and the stereo lost power for a second. As I was making the u-turn, the car engine shut itself off. I coasted off to the side with my hazards and tried to restart, and all I got was a relay clicking as hard as it could. I waited a few minutes and was able to start the car back up. I made it to my destination, and on my way to my friend's house nearby my gauges went off again but the engine stayed on (although it wasn't doing very well).
We poked around a little bit and realized that my battery was ancient and sitting at too low of a voltage. When parked and revving the engine up, all electronics behaved fine, but at lower rpms (like idle) my AC would kick on and off, my headlights flickered, and the stereo would lose power over and over.
We confirmed my battery terminals were good and replaced the battery since it was 4 years old at this point. The car behaved fine the rest of the night, so I thought the issue was resolved.
Today I went for another drive and at a stop light the same TCS and ABS lights came on again. The engine stayed on, but it was struggling for sure. It didn't feel like fuel delivery issues nor any mechanical in-engine issue, definitely felt like something was up with my electronics. As the gauges came on and off, I think my transmission may have gone into safety mode or something as the shifts were really freaking weird. Didn't feel like it was slipping but it didn't feel like it usually does, not sure how to describe it. I managed to limp it home without the engine shutting off, but the gauges stayed off most of the ride, sometimes popping back up for a second.
Any thoughts on what could be happening? I haven't had a chance to troubleshoot further yet as I had to swap to my wife's car and use that for our evening.
I saw a few threads on here with somewhat similar scenarios where the issue was in the ignition switch. I'm thinking of starting there, following the repair manual to test the switch out. Any thoughts on whether this behavior sounds like an ignition switch thing?
Past that, I was thinking maybe some power or computer plug is loose, but the issues don't seem to line up with car movement, moreso just RPM.
On the note of the RPM relation, I was also thinking that potentially there's an issue with the alternator. Aside from the battery not being recharged, what are some common symptoms in our cars of that part going bad? For what it's worth, the alternator matches the wear-and-tear of the parts I know are 22-year-old OEM, so I think it may be the original one.
Oh, and I did finally get an error code today as I pulled back into the garage - P0730. I don't know if it's particularly relevant though, as from my very rudimentary understanding of how this code gets called, it seems like it might've been triggered by the engine shutting off and restarting itself during today's issues. If I'm wrong on that please don't hesitate to correct me.
I appreciate any advice that ya'll can give!
I've got a 1999 Acura TL-P. Yesterday night after driving normally all day on the highway, I pulled onto an off-ramp and stopped at the light. The ABS and TCS lights came on, but no CELs. I turned at the light and a few blocks later while waiting on a u-turn, all the gauge needles turned off and the stereo lost power for a second. As I was making the u-turn, the car engine shut itself off. I coasted off to the side with my hazards and tried to restart, and all I got was a relay clicking as hard as it could. I waited a few minutes and was able to start the car back up. I made it to my destination, and on my way to my friend's house nearby my gauges went off again but the engine stayed on (although it wasn't doing very well).
We poked around a little bit and realized that my battery was ancient and sitting at too low of a voltage. When parked and revving the engine up, all electronics behaved fine, but at lower rpms (like idle) my AC would kick on and off, my headlights flickered, and the stereo would lose power over and over.
We confirmed my battery terminals were good and replaced the battery since it was 4 years old at this point. The car behaved fine the rest of the night, so I thought the issue was resolved.
Today I went for another drive and at a stop light the same TCS and ABS lights came on again. The engine stayed on, but it was struggling for sure. It didn't feel like fuel delivery issues nor any mechanical in-engine issue, definitely felt like something was up with my electronics. As the gauges came on and off, I think my transmission may have gone into safety mode or something as the shifts were really freaking weird. Didn't feel like it was slipping but it didn't feel like it usually does, not sure how to describe it. I managed to limp it home without the engine shutting off, but the gauges stayed off most of the ride, sometimes popping back up for a second.
Any thoughts on what could be happening? I haven't had a chance to troubleshoot further yet as I had to swap to my wife's car and use that for our evening.
I saw a few threads on here with somewhat similar scenarios where the issue was in the ignition switch. I'm thinking of starting there, following the repair manual to test the switch out. Any thoughts on whether this behavior sounds like an ignition switch thing?
Past that, I was thinking maybe some power or computer plug is loose, but the issues don't seem to line up with car movement, moreso just RPM.
On the note of the RPM relation, I was also thinking that potentially there's an issue with the alternator. Aside from the battery not being recharged, what are some common symptoms in our cars of that part going bad? For what it's worth, the alternator matches the wear-and-tear of the parts I know are 22-year-old OEM, so I think it may be the original one.
Oh, and I did finally get an error code today as I pulled back into the garage - P0730. I don't know if it's particularly relevant though, as from my very rudimentary understanding of how this code gets called, it seems like it might've been triggered by the engine shutting off and restarting itself during today's issues. If I'm wrong on that please don't hesitate to correct me.
I appreciate any advice that ya'll can give!
Hey guys! Looking at an issue that's taken my primary car out of commission while my project car is also out of order, so in a bit of a pickle here.
I've got a 1999 Acura TL-P. Yesterday night after driving normally all day on the highway, I pulled onto an off-ramp and stopped at the light. The ABS and TCS lights came on, but no CELs. I turned at the light and a few blocks later while waiting on a u-turn, all the gauge needles turned off and the stereo lost power for a second. As I was making the u-turn, the car engine shut itself off. I coasted off to the side with my hazards and tried to restart, and all I got was a relay clicking as hard as it could. I waited a few minutes and was able to start the car back up. I made it to my destination, and on my way to my friend's house nearby my gauges went off again but the engine stayed on (although it wasn't doing very well).
We poked around a little bit and realized that my battery was ancient and sitting at too low of a voltage. When parked and revving the engine up, all electronics behaved fine, but at lower rpms (like idle) my AC would kick on and off, my headlights flickered, and the stereo would lose power over and over.
We confirmed my battery terminals were good and replaced the battery since it was 4 years old at this point. The car behaved fine the rest of the night, so I thought the issue was resolved.
Today I went for another drive and at a stop light the same TCS and ABS lights came on again. The engine stayed on, but it was struggling for sure. It didn't feel like fuel delivery issues nor any mechanical in-engine issue, definitely felt like something was up with my electronics. As the gauges came on and off, I think my transmission may have gone into safety mode or something as the shifts were really freaking weird. Didn't feel like it was slipping but it didn't feel like it usually does, not sure how to describe it. I managed to limp it home without the engine shutting off, but the gauges stayed off most of the ride, sometimes popping back up for a second.
Any thoughts on what could be happening? I haven't had a chance to troubleshoot further yet as I had to swap to my wife's car and use that for our evening.
I saw a few threads on here with somewhat similar scenarios where the issue was in the ignition switch. I'm thinking of starting there, following the repair manual to test the switch out. Any thoughts on whether this behavior sounds like an ignition switch thing?
Past that, I was thinking maybe some power or computer plug is loose, but the issues don't seem to line up with car movement, moreso just RPM.
On the note of the RPM relation, I was also thinking that potentially there's an issue with the alternator. Aside from the battery not being recharged, what are some common symptoms in our cars of that part going bad? For what it's worth, the alternator matches the wear-and-tear of the parts I know are 22-year-old OEM, so I think it may be the original one.
Oh, and I did finally get an error code today as I pulled back into the garage - P0730. I don't know if it's particularly relevant though, as from my very rudimentary understanding of how this code gets called, it seems like it might've been triggered by the engine shutting off and restarting itself during today's issues. If I'm wrong on that please don't hesitate to correct me.
I appreciate any advice that ya'll can give!
I've got a 1999 Acura TL-P. Yesterday night after driving normally all day on the highway, I pulled onto an off-ramp and stopped at the light. The ABS and TCS lights came on, but no CELs. I turned at the light and a few blocks later while waiting on a u-turn, all the gauge needles turned off and the stereo lost power for a second. As I was making the u-turn, the car engine shut itself off. I coasted off to the side with my hazards and tried to restart, and all I got was a relay clicking as hard as it could. I waited a few minutes and was able to start the car back up. I made it to my destination, and on my way to my friend's house nearby my gauges went off again but the engine stayed on (although it wasn't doing very well).
We poked around a little bit and realized that my battery was ancient and sitting at too low of a voltage. When parked and revving the engine up, all electronics behaved fine, but at lower rpms (like idle) my AC would kick on and off, my headlights flickered, and the stereo would lose power over and over.
We confirmed my battery terminals were good and replaced the battery since it was 4 years old at this point. The car behaved fine the rest of the night, so I thought the issue was resolved.
Today I went for another drive and at a stop light the same TCS and ABS lights came on again. The engine stayed on, but it was struggling for sure. It didn't feel like fuel delivery issues nor any mechanical in-engine issue, definitely felt like something was up with my electronics. As the gauges came on and off, I think my transmission may have gone into safety mode or something as the shifts were really freaking weird. Didn't feel like it was slipping but it didn't feel like it usually does, not sure how to describe it. I managed to limp it home without the engine shutting off, but the gauges stayed off most of the ride, sometimes popping back up for a second.
Any thoughts on what could be happening? I haven't had a chance to troubleshoot further yet as I had to swap to my wife's car and use that for our evening.
I saw a few threads on here with somewhat similar scenarios where the issue was in the ignition switch. I'm thinking of starting there, following the repair manual to test the switch out. Any thoughts on whether this behavior sounds like an ignition switch thing?
Past that, I was thinking maybe some power or computer plug is loose, but the issues don't seem to line up with car movement, moreso just RPM.
On the note of the RPM relation, I was also thinking that potentially there's an issue with the alternator. Aside from the battery not being recharged, what are some common symptoms in our cars of that part going bad? For what it's worth, the alternator matches the wear-and-tear of the parts I know are 22-year-old OEM, so I think it may be the original one.
Oh, and I did finally get an error code today as I pulled back into the garage - P0730. I don't know if it's particularly relevant though, as from my very rudimentary understanding of how this code gets called, it seems like it might've been triggered by the engine shutting off and restarting itself during today's issues. If I'm wrong on that please don't hesitate to correct me.
I appreciate any advice that ya'll can give!
possibly open up the main relay and look for any cracking on the solder points. they can heat up lose connection, then cool and work again.
My only experience with a ignition switch fault, was an old 97 prelude with high miles that used to shutoff completely when coming to a stop. If I jiggled the key a lot it would usually restart. but ultimately I sold it before fixing.
good luck
Last edited by 619rcr; Jul 18, 2021 at 07:50 AM.
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It was indeed the alternator! Noticed I wasn't getting charging voltage at the battery when the car was running, and confirmed that all voltage drops and continuity were present. Really upset that we didn't think of this the other night when we first looked at the issue. Maybe the auto parts store still has my battery and will let me return the new one?
I recall reading on here some other guy's experience changing the alternator and all the frustration he faced. At the time I laughed, but now I know that it is every bit as annoying to get in there as he said it was.
I recall reading on here some other guy's experience changing the alternator and all the frustration he faced. At the time I laughed, but now I know that it is every bit as annoying to get in there as he said it was.
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