Sorry in advance for the long story but maybe somebody can help me figure out WTF is going on here.

I noticed my '05 TL was starting and idling rough, especially on cold mornings, so I took it to Acura of Concord. They agreed about the issue but seemed to have a hard time fixing it - took a couple of days, and the service advisor called and asked me questions sounding puzzled.

"What kind of gas do you put in the car?" "Supreme, always"
"Where do you buy gas?" "Chevron, 99% of the time"
(I'm not kidding) -> "Which station?" "The one closest to my house, 95% of the time."
"Uh, okay, we'll get back to you."

WTF?

So a while later he called and said they were going to reset the ECU and set it to re-learn idle. OK, that's fine I said, as long as it runs better.

So I pick up my car and it's running fine.

Fast forward a few weeks. My husband very seldom drives my car. He puts his key (Driver 2) in the ignition, and the car runs like crap! What the hell! So I say wait a minute. We put my key (my very groovy switchblade Driver 1) in the ignition and it runs fine.

What the freakin' hell is going on. Can any one figure this out?

 

Try changing the climate control after using your husband's fob to start the car- maybe the A/C compressor is running on his settings but not on yours?
If that's the case, the idle speed for A/C on must be adjusted. Adjust the mirrors and audio system just to see if engine runs differently as a result of changes, too.
Otherwise, maybe something weird with the ID chip in your husband's actual key, and likely in the valet key??
Let us know!

 

Well the key does nothing but start the vehicles engine! Other than the vehicles memory settings, memory 1 key and 2 are the same and the vehicle doesnt recognize anything else differently. Like said above it could be the difference in A/c settings and other opted settings that can make the cars engine run differently. As for the ID chip if something was programmed wrong the car probably wouldnt start at all.

 

I think the Climate Control running on a cold engine is a good assumption.

I recall one of the first informative threads I read on this forum was the TL's ULEV system works very hard on cold starts to reduce emissions (cold engines need a lot of fuel in the mix).

Don't know about the rest, but my car chugs pretty rough during cold starts until warm and if the A/C compressor is running, it gets pretty bogged.