2004 Acrua TL Low Volume/Subwoofer Dead
 

Hey guys, I just got my Acura two weeks ago and ever since I got it, I have been searching this forum looking for ideas and seeing what goes bad on these cars.

I have a 2004 Acura TL base 5 speed, only 62,000 miles on it. It was my grandmas and she took very good care of it. But for the love of sound, I cannot figure out why my speakers aren't loud.

I have disassembled my amp today and see nothing wrong, I've thought of just upgrading my amp to an aftermarket as I end up replacing everything with Memphis speakers. It used nothing but that brand. Anyways, I have low volume when at 40(high) and my subwoofer doesn't work.

Any ideas? Thanks,
Andrew!

It's very likely the AMP has gone bad. Get a used one via BlackMarket or Ebay. ~$100.

Seconding the amp

Thanks for the replies! I'm just worried I'd waste money on a used amp and not solve the problem. My subwoofer doesn't work either so I'm assuming it's time to replace my amp.

At the very worst case, just resell the amp.

So I know that a 2005 and 2006 OEM Amplifier will fit my 2004 Acura TL. But will a 2007 and 2008 fit?

your speakers could be out of phase. check that before spending money on something you don't need. assuming that the amp and subs are aftermarket

if everything is stock, unfortunately oem subs don't tend to be loud. I have the acura ILX premium and it has a full 10" sub in the back that sounds okay but nearly as good as aftermarket subs that's for sure

I've run into a similar situation, except only my two front door speakers and subwoofers sound is extremly low. did replaceing the amp work out for you?

I read 2004 -2008 have different part numbers yet work in all the years. Sounds like you have a defective amp. Especially if you have the sub level maxed out. Double check using a cd with some punch to it.

I have run into the same problem with my factory radio. Have either of you resolved your situation? My more detailed information is that the volume level seems to randomly vary between very low to extremely low that the wind outside sometimes drowns out the radio and i have no subwoofer play. The sound source does not make a difference.

Same issue/bad amp?
 

i have come across the same issue with my 2004 Acura Tl and it only has 85k miles. I talked to a guy at the dealership and it says that the amps tend to go on these TL's (along with the cracked dash and falling headliner, etc). So i went to a junk yard and tried 3different amps til i found one that worked and seemed to give me much better and louder sound for only 50 bucks. Must to my disappointment though, after a couple weeks the sound went back to being very weak. So im not sure now if i just got another bad amp or it the head unit is somehow the culprit or just bad wiring. Also when i first got the vehicle with 45k miles 3 years ago, the driver side front speaker barely put out a whisper so i bought a brand new one from the dealsrship (surprisingly only 35 bucks) and after taking out the old one, i noticed what looked like some white battery acid or corrosion where the wires plugged in to the back of the speaker. Needless to say, after plugging in the new speaker i noticed no difference but instead moved my stereo alignment from center to right side and it sounded good enough. Fast forward to present day and the sound is almost shot throught the whole stereo system which leads me back to the top of my post.

Buy a new/used one and have the capacitors changed out on it... or go all aftermarket. Good luck.

there may be a short somewhere in the the system. I use (LC8i - AudioControl) unit

I spliced into the amp harness...and keep the new unit underneath the heavy all weather front floor mat.... no knows its even there...By doing this i by-pass all the oem ...and use my smartphone for spotify, pandora, and iheartradio (could also use mp3 player) ....if i press a button to use my oem set up ...its being amplified by amp i have in the trunk....another benefit is...if i sell the car i can easily talk all of it with me...and leave oem setup untouched... you can get the unit on ebay...if you look around for it used ....for about 100 ...then you can team it up with a 5 channel amp...it will be farrrr better than oem....

i found websites like letgo, offer up, and craigslist normally have people parting out their vehicles...you can buy the whole stock system for about 100-150...if you want to go that route.... there may be a signal problem from the actual head unit....rather than the amp unit by the foot board (pardon the mis-spells above...working off my phone.....lol) My recommendation figure out what its worth to get sound back again....budget it ...look around ...if you are even a little bit tech savvy you can knock out a system like i have in about a day....

Your LC8 processor is mounted under a floor mat?

Yes ....its positioned on the angle of floor board....there are some mini peripheral wires which smooths out the edges of the imprint....its not noticeable and the mat protects it ...and actually keeps it in place so it doesn't need to be drilled into the floor or anything.

This blog totally solved my problem!

I too had the 04 bad amp...buzzing radio, tinny sounding radio, no power in the base sounds. Read this blog, and figured it was the amp. So I looked up the part number, and considered buying a new amp, but the price was approximately $500 from an online dealer. So I figured roll the dice, take a chance, and buy a used amp off of eBay.

The part number for 04-06 TL is: 39186-SEP-A01, while the part number for the 07-08 TL is: 39186-SEP-A11. I strongly believe that the 39186-SEP-A01 in our 04-06 TL is a defective part, prone to failure. So I bought the 39186-SEP-A11, which is the part for the 07-08 TL. I figure that part has been improved, with the failure prone part fixed. Even if I was wrong about that, I figure that I am getting a newer part, with presumably a bit more life left in it. I can tell you that the 39186-SEP-A11 from the 07-08 TL will fit perfectly in our 04-06 TL. So anyone our there considering replacing your amp, buy the 39186-SEP-A11 from the 07-08 TL. Stay away from the 39186-SEP-A01 from the 04-06 TL.

So I bought the 39186-SEP-A11 off of eBay, $75 delivered. In other parts of this blog, there are tutorials on fixing the bad capacitors of the existing amp, but that wasn't for me.

I installed it myself. Looking at the videos on how to remove your amp, the biggest issue was accessing that 3rd screw at the top of the amp. The video even states, that accessing the 3rd screw at the top of the amp, is the most difficult part of the job. It took a while, but it is do-able. And I am not even that handy. I originally asked my trusted mechanic to do it for me, but he declined because it was not in his area of expertise. I could have gone to a local auto radio shop, but I did not know of any that I could trust. Plus I figure that they would have charged me at least $100 labor. So, total cost to fix this buzzing radio: $75 (and my own labor).

Now I have a buzz free radio, and kicking base when I want it !!!

Does anyone have the wiring diagram for an 04 Acura TL amplifier?

cyrus

cahuxf13@gmail.com