Hello everyone. Recently signed up, but I'm a longtime lurker. I need some advice:

My 2022 TLX A-Spec 2.0 (28,000 miles), for the past 6 mos or so, has been giving me inconsistent, but persistent weak starts. It always fires up no problem first start of the day in the morning, but only does this weak start after I've driven the car once or twice and it rests for 1-4 hours, then I restart it again (days when I'm in the office and I go to lunch, or at the end of the work day when I go home). When I press the brake and hit the start button, it struggles to turn over for 4-7 seconds, before it finally does... weakly. To this point it has always started (never left me stranded). I'm not a mechanic, but to me, it sounds like an engine that is not getting fuel? Like it needs a choke? IDK. See video attached (turn up audio). This is the best video I've been able to get of it, but it's done the weak start attempt for much longer than the few seconds here.

I brought it to Acura dealer 1 and they said it failed the battery test, so they replaced battery. Did not help, so I brought it back the next weekend. They then told me it's a faulty fuel pump, cannot be driven, and the part would take 10 business days to come in plus 2-3 more for the repair. Desperate for a second opinion and unable to be without a car for that long, I had it moved to Acura dealership 2 on a flatbed truck. Acura dealership 2 (significantly more reputable than Acura dealership 1) had it for several days and could not find anything wrong with it -- no codes, no issues -- said the fuel pump was fine. I spoke with mechanic and service manager and we thought maybe it was the brand of fuel I was using (Costco/Kirkland always 93 octane). So I tried rotating fuel brands (Exxon, Shell, Chevron -- again always premium) and it's not helping. It's still doing the sporadic weak starts, and I feel like it's idling a bit more rough at stop lights before the engine warms up now.

I'm bringing it back to the dealership for a week in Nov for them to look at it again. Does anyone have any experience with something similar, or advice of what to tell them to look at? I'm not a mechanic, but they were very certain last time nothing was wrong with the car. HELP!

 

Once running is the engine responsive and powerful? That is a strange problem, the battery did sound like a likely culprit. My only suggestions are to remove the spark plugs and look at the electrodes for any excessive carbon contamination which can affect arc'ing.

 

Thanks for the reply, I’ll write down your recommendation to discuss with service guy.

And yeah, once it fires up engine is fine as far as I can tell.

 

When was the last time you changed the air filter. The engine speed on the starter would not be consistent with a week battery nor weak starter. Also which fuel pump was the dealership going to change. The pre-pump in the tank or the DI pump on the engine.

 

I changed the air filter in January of this year -- my first appointment at Acura dealer 1 for the weak starts was in early March of this year. Do you think it's related to the air filter?

I don't remember them indicating which pump they thought was faulty.