I Just test drove a 2005 Acura TL. It had 59,000 miles, an automatic transmission, and drove smoothly. There was thing that irked me however. There was a yellow caution light lit up on the dash. I asked the dealer about it and he said it only came on because the car hadn't been moved for a long period of time. He also assured me his mechanic would take care of the issue and the light would be gone by the time I bought it. I've only been driving for about two years and barely know anything about cars but a caution light sounds like bad news. What do you guys think is the reason that the light was on and what should I do?

 

You 23 and only been driving for 2 years??

Word of the wise, DONT BUY THE CAR!!!!

All they will do is reset the CEL.

 

I live in New York public transportation is just as fast if not faster most of the time.

 

Don't get it. The caution light can be a harbinger of electronic gremlins.

 

what wud be the problem if that light came on neways?

 

Makes sense...

Hard to tell what the actual problem is unless you run an OBDII on it.

 

It depends which of the "caution" lights came on- the "check engine" light, the VSA light, parking brake not fully disengaged, or ??...
However, the "Check Engine Light" (CEL) may indicate that there's a problem diagnosis code that can be read by an OBDII scanner. Sometimes the CEL will come on due to innocuous issues (failure to tighten the gas cap) as well as major ones (misfires in all cylinders, emissions control out of whack)-- but someone has to pull and read the code.

General rule: if a used car has a CEL on when you're looking to buy, !!

 

Which light was it, the check engine light or a yellow triangle with an ! in the middle of it?

 

if its that yellow triangle, I've gotten that maybe twice, each time it went away after i turned the car off then on again...I would have tried that first..

 

i got that yellow (!) i didn't get it checked yet but its always on when i drive

 

doesn't the yellow triangle mean the traction control is off??

 

but the weird thing is i can't turn off VSA

 

pm me if you are in NY... and want to buy a tl... a friend of mine has an 06 in black (no navi though )

 

Yeah its the yellow triangle with the ! in the middle. So you guys are saying its no big deal?

 

It could just be "fuel low" or "low tire pressure" just go back and recheck the MID

 

That light just indicates traction control is off. It is very easy to brush against the VSA off button, to the right of the steering column.

The default is traction control on. So that is why, when you restart the car, the light goes away.

In the case of this car, if you have restarted the car and the light is still on, then there may be a problem with VSA.

If it fails to go away upon restart, don't get the car.

 

I thought that defective wheel sensors also resulted in the VSA idiot light activating, and read somewhere on this site that the wheel sensors were a fairly easy and not very expensive repair?