Xpditor

When my TL came back from the tinters, the third brake light in the back window has about a 1/2" gap between the rubber skirt around the rear 3 sides and the window glass. Serial No. 42xxx.

I called the tint shop and complained. They were good. They told me to take the car to the dealer and have it fixed and send them the bill.

With great trepidation, I took my new TL into the service department for the first time (like taking your kid for the first day of kindergarden).

The service writer and I examined 3 other new TLs and ALL had a gap between the rubber and the window, although not as large as mine. Most were about 1/8".

Have you looked at yours? Do you have a gap? Has your car been tinted.
Take the poll and let's get to the bottom of this.

Xpditor

Wasn't there a thread on this before? I'll do a search.

rets

http://www.acura-tl.com/forums/showt...758#post804758

Xpditor

BTW, you can't see it from the outside as the black dot matrix obscures the view. You have to look from the inside back seat or feel it with your fingers.

Xpditor

Here are the pictures of the gap in the drooping Brake Light:

http://www.snapfish.com/share/p=2552...150/l=27490962


XP

rets

Let's make ppl easier to see...

TLGator

No offense, I realize this is important, but if you have to feel around with your fingers it can't be that bad of a problem, can it?

Xpditor

It's not life threatening but the car has less than 500 miles on it. At night, when you apply the brakes, red light fills the rear seat area reflecting off the tint and makes it nearly impossible to see out the back window.

It's very inconvenient and appears to be a design flaw. The light housing is cantilevered out from the headliner where it is attached with two plastic pins. Wear, through movement (removal & replacement), loosens the grip of the plastic pins allowing the housing to droop. Presumably, time and vibration will do the same.

rets

TLGator, as you may know XP said he encountered with other 04TLers and his dealer, who all said it's normal. I said NO... XP just tries to figure out if this is the very common issue for many of 04TLers. Then, maybe some of guys know how to fix it...
:o

GSD98

But the car has a nice motor which gets about 15-17 mpg.

I'm going to take a loss on mine and dump it as soon as possible. The build quality on my Ford Lightning is far superior to the 04 TL. The windows don't rattle, the headliner hasn't dropped, the tires don't vibrate, the interior doesn't squeak, rattle and roll and the gas mileage is almost as good(it's a truck and it weighs almost twice as much)Did I mention it's a FORD? The 04 Acura is not a world class luxury car as some here have emphatically stated. There isn't an even seam on the car. Don't touch the aluminum trim. You will dent it. My brake light also sits at an angle off the window. It was actually one of the first things I noticed about the car. I should have followed my gut feeling and walked away from this car.

As you can see, people(TL Gator) are already basically telling you to ignore the problems you have observed on your own vehicle. This is a fun place to post questions regarding problems about your car. A lot of people that post here work for Acura marketing. That is the only thing that can explain their blind devotion to the product. But there are no excuses for their anger and disdain for those who dare question the sanctity of the Church of TL. If you like getting beat up on this is a great place. People are just waiting to jump on you here. I'm not saying you've been flamed yet. But the night is young.

The TL is a nowhere near world class luxury car with some real serious design flaws. It just awes me that people continue to make excuses for this car's faults. Sometimes guys have a hard time admitting they made a mistake when purchasing a high ticket item.

BeeeJay? You usually have something incredibly inane to say in response to any criticism of your beloved little car.

rets

GSD98,

I don't think many of ppl here working for Acura marketing, neither some ppl do on purpose ignore what other 04TLers have complained. Perhaps, you could point out names and ppl could judge on those.

04TL does have some flaw and defects, part of them have been addressed and fixed by Acura, some of them are still pending or ignored. (many bimmers' owners do complain the same things, too...) But I just cannot figure out why 04TL's sale numbers keep growing up. This could mean there are many of 04TLs are quite good without any problems/issues YET. Or, this indicates only ppl with defective 04TLs would come here to post... Or, ppl who come here to look for MOD... we don't know... Remember, there are less 5% of 04TLers actively posting over here. Ppl here intend to talk everything about 04TL, but we all know we just cannot talk it all.

If 04TL is really so bad, Acura has done the wonderful and remarkable accomplishment to fool all in states.

No one tries to tell you to snub any doubtful issues in this forum, but attempts to help. Without the thorough explanation and well-defined problematical issues, most of ppl just cannot reply, it's reasonable to see the follow-up posts to make those problems completely and clearly. Under the regulation of this fourm we've all agreed, everyone has the right to post what they want to say, meanwhile, other ppl have right to reply whatever they like to post, positive or negative.

You may be the 5th guys I've heard going to sell your 04TL. If you successfully get rid of it, you would be the only 3rd guy I know ALREADY retracting out of 04TL ownership. I'm sorry to hear your story, and unfortunately Acura Headquarters wouldn't give you any positive feedback or solutions. You should do whatever is the best for you.

I don't suggest ppl to ignore issues. Ppl should complain to dealers or post the issues here, maybe, solutions are just inch away. (whining is another issue though)

If you strongly believe what you said, please don't get 1st-yr model again, whatever their VINs range are, at least the vehicles from Acura...

0.02
:o

betty

will the dealer fix this under warranty?

Oswald Vater

I have tint AND the gap, however I don't think it's any big deal. If you are having a problem with brake light bleed-thru (I have a little but nothing worth griping about), try using some double-sided tape in between the rubber and window. FWIW, has anyone had the dealer fix theirs and, if so, what did they do.

rets

Once again, if you're stilling waiting for dealers' fix, you may like to try this DIY.

http://www.acura-tl.com/forums/showp...9&postcount=81

Or remove it by yourself prior to your tint guy screwing up your rubber...

ducnine

I solved my drooping cover problem. Just pop the high mount cover. One thing that I neglected to mention in a previous post (cause I did not realize it) is that there are 2 small metal clips that probably did not come out of the high mount light itself. You will notice 2 small slots in the high mount.

Take a pair of needle nose pliers and fish the clips out. You will notice, on the cover that you took off, there are two posts. Take the metal clips and push them down onto it. (These clips are not shown in the service manual picture that is shown elseware in this thread)

All I did then was to line up all the clips onto the high mount and the body holes and push the cover back on. The infamous drooping cover should be fixed. You should be able to get the clips from the dealer (hopefully for pretty cheap) in case they were broken or not there in the first place.. I popped the cover off twice and put it back on and both times they went on without a gap when I used the metal clips.

Hopefully this will solve everyones problem with the drooping cover.

TLGator

xp, rets - I misspoke. What I meant was, if you don't notice this except by feeling around, it can't be much of a problem. I certainly agree that if you notice this VISUALLY then it's not right. And for a lot of you it's clearly not right. I just won't even look. I just won't.

rets

Mine is pretty tight...

Xpditor

You're right. It is tight. I wish mine were like that.

I have to try rets' fix tomorrow. And Ducnine.

madaley

I just checked mine, no tint, no gap! snug as a bug in a rug

Vffr1

Okay, I did not understand at first which gap your where speaking of... I placed a vote for "tint no gap" after viewing the attached photo, I looked at my car and I had the gap.

I pressed upwared on the light, moved me thumb around the black rubber and there is now little to no gap.

Mike Smeezy