JMK

I have an 04 TL 6MT with about 65k. While driving down the freeway, my engine just cuts off without little or no warning. Sometimes the whole car will jerk a little and the console lights will flicker right before it dies. I have been extremely lucky since each time this has happened I've had a clear path to the shoulder. After letting the car rest for about 10 minutes I was able to restart it and drive it about 20 minutes before it dies again, just long enough to get it to a dealer. The first time it happened there were no error codes. The 2nd and 3rd time it happened the check-engine light came on and the error code indicated an ECU failure. The 4th time it happened, there was no error code. The 5th time it happened (right now), the check engine light came on. The dealer hasn't contacted me yet so I'm not sure what the error code is this time.

I've had this problem for about 2 months now. Within that time period I've taken my car in on 5 separate occasions, once to a Honda/Acura mechanic and 4 more times to 2 different Acura dealers. Each time, I thought the problem was fixed, but after about 2 weeks it would eventually come back. Usually, the problem returned when I was driving the car continuously for more than an hour. Shorter trips didn't seem to be a problem. However, the dealer that's currently servicing my car told me that the car once died on them while driving around the block.

Normally, I would've taken the car to the same dealer each time, but my choices were somewhat limited since my car broke down at inconvenient locations. To make a long story short... during this time they replaced my battery, reprogrammed the ECU, then completely replaced the ECU (luckily the ECU is under warranty to 80,000 miles), then diagnosed the problem as a bad pickup sensor. The problem came back again on Sunday so I just brought it in to the same dealer for the 3rd time.

The current dealer has been very helpful (no service charge + free loaner), so I'm lucky in that respect. Even though my car still isn't fixed, their good customer service goes a long way with me. My only real concern is that this is a serious safety issue and if the problem is misdiagnosed again my engine could just cut off while I'm on the freeway in heavy traffic. I've been paranoid about this whole thing so I've gotten used to driving in the slow lane so I can have easy access to the shoulder. But I'm not gonna drive in the slow lane forever. They're planning to keep my car for awhile this time to make sure they fix the problem. I guess all I can do now is wait.

csmeance

It could be the charging system for the battery, have them check that, it takes about 10 minutes to do. Also I would have them check the fuel pump, it may just die randomly and cut out. Also there is a TSB for the 05 tl with bad fuse boxes, maybe you have the same problem.

TSXnOPKS

Based on your symptoms of dash lights cutting out I would disregard speculation of problems at the sensor level. IMO, various bad engine sensors would be unrelated to a vehicle being able to maintain backlighting. Is it just the dash? What about exterior lights or door lights? Do they also cut out?

I recently experienced this problem with my Accord when a negative battery cable that appeared "tight" failed to make good contact with the post. Just like a vehicle will run when the positive + cable is pulled from the battery, the opposite is true for the negative - cable. It will just suddenly cut out/die and slightest vibration would restore contact. All connection points were tightened and the lights no longer had a slight flicker effect.

I would retrace the main cable down to the termination point in the junction box. Honda's also have a MAIN fuse (80 amp I think), and if this fuse is loose/bad contact it would cause intermittent symptoms. Good luck with this extremely frustrating problem.

JMK

My description of the console lights flickering wasn't entirely accurate. What I meant to say was that some of the warning lights on the console would flicker: VSA, oil light, check engine light. Normally when my car dies my immediate concern is to get to the side of the road before I lose momentum so I can't say for sure whether or not any other lights were flickering. It's interesting that you both mention the fuse box though. When I talked to the dealer today he said the technician kicked the fuse box while driving and the car died on him. This sounds suspiciously similar to the 05 TL TSB that was mentioned above. What's frustrating is that I checked the recall information for the 04 TL and this was not listed. He also said they think the problem is caused by a bad relay so they will be replacing a few relays and testing it again. Now this sounds suspiciously similar to another 05 TL recall for the fuel pump relay. I guess I should've paid more attention to the 05 recalls. Actually, I can't say for certain that it's the exact same problem so I don't want to jump to conclusions. In any case, kicking the fuse box and having the car die is pretty definitive evidence of the cause of the problem. I'm going to pick up the car as soon as they're done testing it with the new relays so I'll know soon enough. But at this point I need about 1 month of problem-free driving before I'm convinced the problem is fixed for good.