ApexBlue21’

Hello all!…I just bought a 21’ TLX A-Spec SH-AWD….love the car, cuddos to Acura! The puddle lights on the mirrors worked the night I bought the car, and then the second night, after washing the car…the drivers side quit working and the passenger side is very dim. I’ve done some searching on here and apparently it’s a know problem on even older TLX’s. However, no one has posted actually how to replace the lights??

My question is, does anyone know if the entire mirror housing needs to come off the door to switch it out? The dealer said they’d replaced them but I’m not a fan of having my new car taken that much apart over a light.

I’m hoping the actual mirror glass comes off to access the bulb?

Or possibly, I’ve looked underneath and noticed that a cover piece might come off, but hard to tell….

Any instructions or tear down pictures/diagrams would be much appreciated!

Thanks!
Matt in Oregon

mapleloaf

The omly issue I ever had with my 2018 TLX ASpec was the puddle lights, and I just had the ones on my 2021 TLX Aspec replaced when purchased, as they had the car for a while. I can't tell you the exact steps but they require sat least an hour or so to replace the bulbs. According to my Service guy, he believes its a design flaw, at least on the previous gen, due to moisture getting into the housing in which the bulb sits, likely shorting the bulb. For my 2018, they surrounded the housing with some grease to prevent that. I suspect the same issue applies to the 2021. I no longer spray the mirror face directly while washing my car, to see if I can prevent this nusance. IHowever, the replacement is always done free of charge and I enjoy driving the various vehicles I get when bringing my car in to my dealer that's only 15 min away. However, I can see it might be a pain in the neck for others.

BEAR-AvHistory

Designing puddle lights is not rocket science, don't understand how they could screw that up. FWIW Three says ago replaced the factory base lights with logo versions. About a minute and a half per light.

ApexBlue21’

Thanks for the reply, okay well how did you replace them? Is there a cap that comes off the bottom? Is your TLX A 2G?

ApexBlue21’

Thanks for the reply, yeah I know it’s free of charge and all…but my dealer is 3 hours away and like I said, I don’t want my whole door panel taken apart over this. I talked with my service advisor and he even got a tech on the phone and said it was “hard to tell based on the instructions from Acura” if the had to take the mirror off LOL….. but they were going to take a look at a new one on their lot and get back to me… So if this is a know issue on a brand new car, I’m sure at some point down the road we will all be replacing these ourselves out of warranty. If anyone who’s done this wants to give a step by step, that would be great.

Edward'TLS

Is this a light bulb problem, or is this a Lighting Controller issue ?

ApexBlue21’

My guess is that it’s a bulb problem since the passenger side went out and then a day later the passenger side flickered and then burnt out.

BEAR-AvHistory

No its not a TLX or TL. The "For What Its Worth FWIW" was referring to a different make that has an easy to change design. But to answer how I did it - there is a notch in one end of the light. You pry it up the end a little with a small flat blade screwdriver then use your fingers to gently work it out. The entire unit comes out. A keyed plug, so you cant screw up the electric polarity, slides out of the light, then its reverse the process to install.

Puddle lights for many cars brands, from plain white to various logo, run from $5 to $29 a set for 2 or 4 door cars. Amazon sells them.

ApexBlue21’

This entire post I made is regarding the Puddle light in the bottom of the 2021 TLX side mirror housing, not the door panels.

BEAR-AvHistory

My Bad. Thought they were in the bottom of the door.

mapleloaf

It shocks me that they aren't sure how to replace them.

Steven Bell

iTrader: (2)

Well, I have the same issue. The light at the bottom of the side view mirror on the driver's side mirror isn't working, but the passenger side is working. Just picked up the car Saturday.

dr/owned

Well eyeballing the service info it looks like the troubleshooting is at minimum going to involve taking the door panel off to probe the power mirror control unit that feeds the mirror LED's. You could also probe the mirror end of the harness but I don't think that can happen without popping out the mirror glass and then that ends up destrroying the double side adhesive on the backside of it.

Service info here: https://unknowntransportation.com:8443/Service/TLX/

"Outside Mirror Area" has sort of an exploded diagram and some pinouts. Using the electronic wiring diagram the 28 pin connector in the panel is here:



15 TAN ILL-(LED) 16 GRY ILLUMI+


But holy hell what a wildly complex amount of wiring needed for a mirror. The LED is replaceable it looks like but again it basically involves disassembling the mirror.

ApexBlue21’

Thank you for the link, however none of them load for me??

Well my service guy finally got back to be about my question in this post. He said that the tech said, that the door panel didn’t need to be taken off….that the mirror comes apart. When I asked the service guy how does it come apart, he said he didn’t know.

Ive watched several videos on YouTube, none of a TLX, but cars with puddle lights. They all require you to pop off the mirror glass. And the mirror isn’t double sticked, it has clips and what not. So at this point the dealer can deal with it.

ALSO…the dealer ordered the parts a month ago and the ARE ON BACKORDER…haven’t heard back.

I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if Acura knowingly put faulty lights in our cars to get them OTD. Seems suspect.

dr/owned

You've got to browse via the Tech Info browser that enables the service links to work: https://unknowntransportation.com:84...nfoBrowser.zip

I've only done it on my '12 Accord but basically the mirror glass hooks on and has some double sided sticky tape on it that keeps it "locked in". To pry it off you basically have to lift from the bottom, wait for the double side adhesive to let go based on the pressure, and then it swings up releasing from the hooks. From there you have access to various screws and clips and crap that assemble the mirror. I made a how to with pictures: long ago here: https://www.driveaccord.net/threads/...r-glass.75788/. I would assume that a '21 Acura is the same procedure just with more crap in the mirror housing like motors and lights and connectors (and reading the service docs it seems like this is the case). I suggested the door panel route because it's straightforward to pop off the door panel for electrical troubleshooting and non-destructive like taking the glass out is.

But yeah, let the dealer fix it.

ApexBlue21’

Thank you all for your responses…the lights have been on back order still….going on 6 weeks. It seems that there are quite a bit of us with puddle lights that don’t work since new. Has anyone seen an Acura TSB on this yet? It seems too common not to be a know problem.

ELIN

If this has been an issue since 1G TLX, that's really sad.

Christian lebron

Just recently got mine back from the dealer. They replaced both side view mirror assemblies. They are working fine now. I sometimes wonder if it was just the light or a actual wiring issue

Edward'TLS

Is there a service bulletin for this problem ?

Christian lebron

not that I know off I went in told them the issue and they replaced.

Steven Bell

iTrader: (2)

I got good news yesterday...my Acura dealership ordered parts for my driver's side lights-they already came in and I have an appointment for it to be fixed Friday afternoon....I'll keep you posted.

Christian lebron

Nice, I believe it has to be a defect in the wiring on some of the side view mirrors. I'm sure if it was just a bulb they would replace the bulb at a much lower price vs a whole assembly

ELIN

Ask if it's a permanent fix or it'll go out again next time you wash your car/it rains.

Steven Bell

iTrader: (2)

Well, I had my puddle light on the driver's side mirror replaced yesterday at the dealership. I hope this is a permanent fix....we'll see.

Furnace

I have the same issue on my 21' Type-S after I washed the car. @Steven Bell since yours is replaced, have you tried washing the car and testing that it still works?

Steven Bell

iTrader: (2)

Not yet....I guess I should give it a try!

Camaro194

Drove two hours in the rain on the way home from picking up mine on Saturday. Both sides are still working so far.

MIKEYDRED

Take it back to dealer, it's unacceptable leds are suppose to last several years, Acura didn't seal the mirroe hosing correctly and sounds like a few people are having issues. Our MDX blew the passenger one 3 years into ownership. Dealer replaced it earlier this year free of charge, the bulb alone was quoted at $90 SMH.

jeeper31

Mine was in for services. They said they had to order new lamps and will take a few weeks. We'll see.

Steven Bell

iTrader: (2)

^^^ Mine came in in about one week!

Christian lebron

Last week got my passenger bulb replaced. Yesterday my driver side went out. Started flickering and eventually stopped working. This will be my 4 time going back for the same issue.......

caLiTLX

Something so simple, will become a PITA for Acura. My passenger side is starting to flicker but if and when it does go out, I’ll leave it alone until Acura rolls out a long term fix.

KrylonBlue

We had heavy rain yesterday and I was driving through it. Tonight my driver side puddle light was flickering and then it just stopped working completely.

2021 Type S built in August.

Guess I will let the dealer know it’s happening to me now. But I’m sure it’ll happen again.

mike03a3

On the plus side, the puddle lights seem to be the only common problem being reported. That's remarkably good for the early cars in a new generation. The early vehicles in the 3rd gen Honda Pilots had a number of issues, especially the first year (2016) ones.

CheeseyPoofs McNut

Right. I'll take a faulty puddle light over a jerky transmission like the 1G rollout had!

GhostTL09

iTrader: (1)

Once a TSB rolls out or they definitely have a repair I'm not wasting my time. Honestly having the undercarriage lights feels much more premium in my opinion anyway.

mike03a3

Guess I spoke too soon. There are a number of people who have had a noise problem with their steering racks.

ELIN

There's also quite a number of owners with serious gap issues all around the car. Most prominent ones involve the hood.

K3RMiTdot

my passenger side mirror has been fully replaced. bulb replaced on the driver which has already burnt out.

Edward'TLS

This is not unusual for most first model year of a new generation vehicle. Don't say we haven't been warned.