Chris M. Dickman

I just recently purchased a 2000 TL 3.2l v6 with 180,000 miles and the thing runs
great which is surprising considering the guy i bought it from had it parked for
6 years!!! To my surprise everything is good Air Filter New, Belts Good,
Cabin Filter New, Oil New, Oil Filter New, Front Brakes Good, Back Breaks
Good. The Battery was the only thing needed to be replaced which I did, the
engine purrs like I wouldn't even believe how ever the one and only problem
I've found is in when the engine is cold it wont start it will crank when you
turn the key the first few times trying for what i would say is a long time (like
around 30 seconds) it wont even attempt to turn over then after a few mins
of doing that it will turn over and you here a pudder putter and immediately
dies, this
continues FOR probably another 10 mins or so each time progressing just a tiny
bit more till eventually it will start up. Once it starts up its good to go, the
first min sounds a little ROUGH like it might die but it doesn't' and after a min its
back to purring again and the rest of the day as long as
I drive somewhat consistently it will start up first time (it does however seem
like it takes maybe 5-10 seconds longer while cranking to start than your
average vehicle.....but it starts and is good to go, my friend suggested the
problem may be the fuel filter. Which i guess makes sense 6 years of sitting
put a lot of crap in the tank maybe and maybe it settles over night or when
sitting for long periods of time ? I really don't know, i'm no mechanic by far at
best an amaetuer you tube home mechanic, I can do basic stuff and I would
love to be able to fix this problem myself with out paying $xxxx at a shop so if
anyone has any idea at all what this issue may possibly be and/or how to fix it PLEASE reach
out to me ..... I believe were going to try to replace fuel filter, which
after reading the service manual found out that its located inside the fuel
tank so it may be a bit harder to get to so i would hate to do that if its not
necessary although with 180,000 miles and no clue if its ever been replaced
it might be time regardless I guess....any help would be great thanks!

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

perhaps the IACV? (Idle air control valve)

zeta

iTrader: (1)

Maybe the fuel pump relay? #10 on the link below:

https://www.acuraoemparts.com/v-2000...nit-cabin-room


https://acurazine.com/forums/2g-cl-p...roblem-495108/

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

ahh, that's more likely!

Chris M. Dickman

This definitely sounds like it could be the issue! They have my same year/make/model at the local junkyard so tomorrow i'll head out there and hopefully snag a relay from that car and put in mine and see if it does the trick, (off course realizing the one i grab from junk car could be not working also) whatever happens i will off course update my post accordingly

thank you so much for taking the time to read and reply to my posting, i love this car and really really want to diagnose this problem and get it fixed so thank you so much for the help!!!!!!!!!!!

Mperez47

Hello, yes I did figure out the issue. 99% of the time fuel pumps will fail catastrophically and the car just wont start, but sometimes they will fail slowly, and that's exactly what happened to me. My Acura TL would have a hard time starting every morning, I would put the key in and turn the power on to prime the fuel pump and even doing that after a while just wasnt cutting it. If I let the car sit for any time over an hour, it just wouldnt start and it would take me forever to get it to start, and even when it did start it would struggle super hard for about 10 seconds and then it would ok. I could feel it cutting out while accelerating as well. I wound up buying a perfomance fuel pump from autozone and installed it myself in my garage. After installing the new fuel pump, all of my starting and driving issues were immediately fixed and never had any issues after that. I tried replying to you, Chris, but it said your message space was full. So I posted this here instead. I hope this helps. I would bet money on the fuel pump.

Mperez47

Everyone online told me it was a different issue a couple years ago when my 2005 Acura TL was having it's starting issues. But I just had a feeling it was the fuel pump just from how the car would try and start but couldnt. Then would start but would be struggling super hard for about 10 seconds to get up to idle rpms, it would be barely running at like 200 rpms and would take almost 10 seconds of me giving it little taps of gas to get up to idle. I could feel power surges when accelerating from a stop. Putting the key in the ignition and turning the key to ON and letting the fuel pump prime for a couple seconds until I heard it stop, then trying to turn the motor over helped for alittle while. But after another month of that, it got so bad that I couldnt start my car one day. That's when I said screw this and bought a perfomance pump from autozone and got my car into my garage and was able to install the pump my self via the access panel that was in the trunk of the car. Gave me direct access to the fuel pump inside the gas tank, without dropping the tank. Definitely hard to breath though when you're inside the trunk of your car and it filling with gas fumes lol

Mperez47

Did you figure out the issue? Also, I'm pretty sure the setup is the same with your 2000 and my 2005. With mine, the fuel filter is located inside the fuel pump, and obviously in the fuel tank. The fuel filter was NOT replaceable. And was not intended to be replaced. I saw someone people at the time saying they thought you could and others werent sure. But after pulling the old pump out myself and putting in the new, the filter cant be replaced. Just have to put in a whole new pump, which I think is your actual issue.