Greetings,

A few days ago I had an issue where my Acura TL 04 exhibited odd behavior when I was pressing the gas, it basically stopped feeding gas to the engine, and even when I had the throttle floored, it moved at about 5mph when this happened my dash lit up like a Christmas tree. I turned off the car, turned it back on, and at this point only the Engine light was on and I was able to drive the car. Now I always take my car to the dealership, but since my extended warranty had just expired, I took the car to a mechanic my brother in law recommended and they diagnosed the issue as a bad fuel throttle sensor and charged me $500 to replace with an oil change.

I go pick up my car and I start noticing a low rattle in my engine that was never there before I took the car in. I start thinking great, fix one thing break another scenario. I took it back to the shop and they tell me it sounds like the timing belt tensioner but they can't tell for sure without opening the car up which they can't do for another week because they are fully booked. I walk out and decide to take the car to the dealership that always serviced my car without any issues for the last 8 years and they discover that the issue is actually the alternator. Another $550 out of pocket for a factory rebuilt unit...

Anyway, sorry for the long winded post, just wanted to explain what happened before I pose my question. Are the Alternator and the Fuel Throttle Sensor in the same general area? I have a feeling the mechanics that first worked on the car damaged it during their work because the issue was never there before they worked on changing the fuel throttle sensor, but I just want to confirm with any of you who know the TL engine well.

Thank you

 

I had the same issue and it was my Accelerator Pedal Positioning Sensor. If that's what you speak of, it's mounted at the firewall, on the passenger side, underneath the large aesthetic plastic cover, and then under its own small plastic cover, which is secured by two 10mm bolts.