I am looking at purchasing a CPO 2008 TL-S (automatic, 48K miles) and wanted to draw on everyone's knowledge of this car. The previous owner brought the car to the same dealer I am possibly buying from and they were able to give me all the service records. At about 14K miles, the RF strut had to be replaced...weird, but whatever. More recently (~42K miles), the owner complained about hesitation while accelerating (actually sluggish acceleration were the exact words) on the highway.

So 2 questions; 1. Should I get worried about this last complaint? There was nothing else in the records that caused concern. And 2. Are there any common problem areas I should focus on while inspecting it before I purchase it? I noticed the steering feels heavy, but also understand that's usual with a type-S.

Thanks!
Steve

 

Well the good thing with this car is that it was bought, maintained, and returned to the same dealer so you know there is no BS with this car. Im sure carfax is clean and stuff as well and probably all original paint with no accidents or anything.

As for the hesitation its hard to say. Did the dealer say anything was done to fix the problem or did they send the car back saying nothing was found wrong? If you search hesitation its actually a VERY common thing among the 3rd gen TL's. Only problem is there isnt one single fix and can be many possibilities. Im actually trying to figure out why my 08 Type S 6mt has a weird surge during normal acceleration as we speak. It has 45K miles. APP (accelerator position sensor) seems to be one thats looked into a lot. The steering being heavy is normal thats just how it is on this car. you will eventually get used to it but yeah going from one car to the Type S you'll be like holy crap im getting a work out just turning the car.

So to sum it up as for the hesitation was anything actually done by the dealership or could the car still have the problem? Let us know what happens.

james

 

Thanks James...I read your other thread about your current issue. I am not too sure if they are the same as you have surging and the paperwork I saw says hesitation for the TLS I'm looking at.

Yeah, the Carfax was pretty useless. Only showed when it was registered.

The paperwork from the service dept. says nothing about a fix for the sluggish acceleration...not even "No problem found." I am waiting for a phone call back from the sales person right now so I can ask him what happened with this complaint.

I was wondering if the PO just used some cheap gas and it caused the knock sensor to retard the timing too much.

The previous owner took care of the brakes (new pads, resurfaced rotors) just recently and they still look good. The oil was clean...engine quiet. Acceleration out of the parking lot was good. This was all before the car went through recon.

I am also waiting to hear if they accept my offer of $25K (including all their stupid fees). They said they wanted their mechanic & recon guys to look at it first.

 

First off DO NOT rely on the salesman. Call the dealers service department and tell them to pull up the service history on that car. They will ask for the last 8 digits of the VIN. He will tell you what it says and you can do that right away with no waiting on a salesman.
Also, even though you say carfax was useless, actually that's a good thing because obviously it had no reported accidents on it.
Take the car on a test drive let us know how it is

James

 

I wasn't exactly relying on the salesman for the repair info...he just got it for me. I did call the service dept (good idea) and they said that no work was actually done, which normally means that after the service rep asked more questions (such as "did you use any regular gasoline?") no further work was deemed necessary. He also mentioned that if it's a real problem it won't just go away. The times they have seen the sluggish acceleration it got worse and worse. He also told me that if a certain diag code is thrown, there is an ECU software update that will fix it.

So at this point, if they accept my offer, I will take the car and be very watchful about the acceleration. The car did great during the test drive I did last weekend.

Steve

 

tls steering are heavy.. im sure its made like that for torque steer. u will get use to it. if its from that dealer.. I take it from acura.. they should have it certified. or u can ask to have it certified for 100k drive train warranty.. hope this helps.. btw i love my tl-s

 

So I purchased the car...I was going to pick it up today, but the salesperson called me last night to tell me the check engine light came on. It indicated a lean condition. The techs are looking at it today to figure out the exact problem and take care of it.

The car is a certified pre-owned with ~18 months/17,000 miles left on the warranty.

Should I be concerned about this car? I suppose the sluggishness I referred to earlier and the lean condition could both be related to bad gas...or something more serious.

 

my tls (08 tl-s manual) has a problem about tighten the gas cap.. and i was doing resurch but idk what it is some are saying pcv, filler neck,sum are saying a sensor, waiting to read the tsb but no1 can get me a copy of it.. just info on a problem of my car, other then that i love my tl-s

 

Sorry to hear what happened. I went to look at two 08 TL-S this weekend and there are certain things you should check out. On the navigation screen, press "ok" and look in the top right hand corner and see if there is an envelope. This means there are stored error messages in the car.

Or you can press the "info" button and go into "all messages" and see what messages are stored and when the the problem occurred. One I looked at this pass weekend had a VSA, Air bag, and two other messages stored about 8 months ago. From the carfax it was in a "slight accident" at that time, but after seeing the codes I did not buy the car.

Just keep us posted on what the dealer says. This forum has a wealth of knowledge about our cars!

 

I had this same issue with my 07 TL-S and it took the dealer 3 times to get it right. There was no DIY posted for this but it is covered under our bumper to bumper warranty. I actually pulled up Azine at the Acura dealer the 2nd time I had to go back and the "master acura tech" called Acura and they was able to point him to the TSB for this issues.

Easy fix, from what the tech at Acura told me.

 

I just spoke with the dealer. It sounds like it's a valve adjustment that was needed. This is what the tech thought before he even read the code so it sounds common enough. Before I take the car, the tech wants to keep it for a day to verify this fixes the problem.

They also told me the software update described in the TSB was already done.

So I should be getting the car on Wednesday.

 

After thinking about this more, I am wondering why the engine needs a valve adjustment after 45,000 miles. Is this unheard of? The dealer is claiming it's not that uncommon for Type-S's. What do you guys think???

 

valve adjustment is usually done around 105k for the tl ... never heard of it sooner, i know on my bike i had to get it done right after the break in period, so i suppose happening sooner shouldnt really be an issue