I bought a 2009 Acura TL two weeks ago. The car has 52k miles and is Acura Certified for 12k more. I drove the car for one week with no problem. On the 8th day, as I was turning into the grocery store, the car stalled for no reason. It took me a couple of attempts to get it to crank back up. All of the dash lights stayed on.

I decided to take it to Acura since it's certified. On the way there, I felt like the car had lost its "punch" that it had in the previous week. While I was driving on a 4 lane road, the car stalled on my again. I had to coast to the redlight and restart it (again with a bit of trouble). They've had it over nearly a week and they told me they're still looking into it. What could it be? Have you ever heard of this? This is obviously a safety concern, not to mention I just bought the freakin thing!

Thanks

 

52k miles is a lot!!

without knowing any of the CEL's, its hard to tell whats going on with your vehicle.

 

Thank you for stopping by to tell me my car has a lof of miles on it and offering not much else.

 

you are very welcome.
I'm glad you could provide enough details that would allow some one to actually help.

 

I'm sorry I didn't include more information. The car is black. I hope this will help you diagnose the problem for me.

 

There could be a million things wrong.
a vacuum hose unplugged.
a sensor unplugged.
some one could have over heated the engine.
APP sensor gone bad.
etc.

without those codes, your guess is as good as any one else's.

I'm assuming the dealer you bought it from, CLEARED the codes before you bought.
as it takes about a week for any of the CEL's to pop back up again.

if its CPO'd I'd fight REAL hard to get the car fixed.

 

Thanks. It's CPO so I'm not too worried. I figure I'll keep taking it back up there until they get it fixed. Acuras have such a strong reliability record, I don't think it could be too bad.

I did call back up to the service department and they said they tightened the battery cable, that it was loose and that may have caused it????

I'll get it back next week, I guess I'll know more then.

 

the loose battery cable definitely can cause the start up issue.
I doubt its the cause of the losing power/stall problem.

the j-series motor is pretty strong and reliable.
but like stated earlier, even if a little tiny vacuum hose is disconnected it can cause stalling.

 

I'll add one more think. I had just filled up the tank the night before. I used Quick Trip gas and 93 octane. I've never had bad gas before, but could that have caused the problem?

 

You can never rule out bad gas per se. I had an older vehicle (prior to driving Acura's) that was having symptons very similar to what you are describing and it was clogged fuel lines/filter. I am far from being an expert and I am sure the expert at the dealership will figure it out long before I ever will....

I wanted to welcome you to the Acurazine board and hope that your car will get fixed soon.

 

Congrats and welcome to the board. If your problem started AFTER you filled up with gas and there had been no prior issues I would think that the gas is the problem. Perhaps an additive such as Seafoam will help. I would use some anyway as you have no idea what gas the previous owner may have used. In any event, as your car is a CPO Acura should get it straightened out for you. Just my 2 cents and hope it gets fixed quick!

 

When he said "losing punch" I couldnt tell if he meant he was in limp mode.
Limp mode prevents the car from revving past a certain RPM. Usually the vtec engagement point.

so, if he couldnt rev past vtec, the car is in limp mode.



Bad gas could also be the culprit.
"losing Punch" could also mean the ECU pulled timing because of pre-detonation. causing decreased performance.

 

Hey guys, thanks for all of the responses. I'm not sure what "limp mode" is, but when I said losing punch, the car just felt like it didn't have as much get up and go as it had the first week I owned it.

I'm supposed to get the car back this week. They are finishing up a few we-owe things right now. As soon as I get it back, I'll keep you guys updated.

 

I just got my car back. The service advisor said that my battery cable was VERY loose and he really believes that was the problem. I have driven the car about 15 miles to work with no problems (I still feel like some of the “punch” is gone, but that may be in my head). I’ll keep everyone updated on the issue. Thanks for all of the feedback.

 

Glad everything worked out for you.

let us know if there is any other issues, we can help with

 

Bro, I have a 2009 with about 45K miles on it and I've had no problems at all. Sometimes you just get a lemon! Just take it back, its CPO. Tell your salesmen to take care of biz, or your taking him to small claims court, STAT!

 

 

So far, everything is all good. I really think it was the loose battery cable. I've put over a hundred miles on it with no issues. I promise, if it does it again, they will be hearing from me!