2003 Acura RL dies
 

I was in a car accident at work in January and neither my wallet or keys made it to the emergency room from the accident. I ordered a new key and fob from my local Acura dealer ( Cant stand this dealership but wont blast their name on here). Insurance was paying for EVERYTHING because I was in a work vehicle. With out my knowledge, they waited till the job was done and handed me keys, the dealership decided to get me after market keys to save me $200. I even told them I didn't care about the cost as insurance was covering it. This was in in April. I have owned my car for 6 years and never had these issues.

A handful of times my car wont even start. I get in the car, turn the key and all it does is crank & crank. Wont start at all. Feels like no fuel is pumping. I take the key out and wait less than 2 minutes and boom car fires right up no issue EVERY TIME.

Yesterday this is the second time it happened 1st time I was going like 5 mph hour but yesterday I was going to my moms for Thankgiving and it happening going 80 mph on the interstate. Car just dies! I coasted over to the side of the road. Take the key out. Let it sit for less than 2 mins. Fire it up and go like there was never an issue.

The battery is a Interstate battery and less than a year old. I refuse to have this issue going into winter. That is all I need is my car to die going around a corner in snow.

Every time the car has these issues I notice the green key indicator light. I don't know if its blinking or stays on or what but I ONLY notice that light when these issues are happening.

I am convinced these keys are BUNK and before I literally SCREAM at this Acura dealership I guess I would like a few other opinions of possible other problems I am over looking.

Thanks in advance!

I have a stand alone key and stand alone fob. I do believe mine has a chip in the key. Instead of giving me an OEM key they switched it to a strattec after market key. Ever since then just issues.

Talk to the insurance company that paid for the repair about this key issue and then I would go back to the dealer before January and talk to them about the issues you are having with aftermarket keys they gave you. Most repair jobs are guaranteed for 12 months if I'm not mistaken and this is a problem. The RL keys have chips in them that are coded "specifically to the immobilizer" installed in you RL as a set and aftermarket keys could present a problem. When new the RL came with two black master keys, a gray valet key, and a red "learning" key in a blister pack that was to be used in case of a lost or damaged key. You could take the red key to an Acura dealer and they could re-code a new key that would work with the immobilizer in you car. Otherwise it would require replacing the immobilizer with a new unit and coded key set which can get pricey. The only time the green key light should blink is briefly when turning the key in the ignition and when you shut-off the car it will blink 10 times setting the secure mode. Any other time the green light blinks is either the immobilizer does not recognize the key being used or it can be caused by a faulty immobilizer itself, hope this info helps some

Thank you so much. That is what I needed to hear. I have an appointment with the Dealership on December 5th. I will be bringing them the 2 key fobs, red key, grey key, black acura key and the aftermarket key.

Glad I could be of help. However, one thing I failed to mention was "DO NOT" under any circumstances attempt to use the red learning key to start your car. It can damage the system making both your black master key and grey valet key unusable. I hope the dealer makes this situation right for you because I can imagine how frustrating and to mention dangerous this issue can be, Good luck!

Have your dealership check/replace the "MAIN RELAY SWITCH" which your symptom are pointing to this switch under to the right of the steering wheel column. I bet that it is failing ….. Hope this helps !

Main relay failure is quite common. Not an expensive part. The part below is $49 and worked for my 98 RL. Another comment said it worked for 2000 yr also.

LMAO. I made that mistake the next morning after buying it. Went out to the car in the morning to go to work. Didn't even notice I had the red key on my key chain and tried to start the thing with it. Killed it instantly and had to have it towed to the nearest Honda service center so they could reprogram everything. A mistake I wont do twice. So now I wrapped the Red Key of Death in electrical tape and stored it in my closed. Not fooling me twice. lol

Sorry I forgot about the red key warning in my first post. Is you car now running and functioning properly? That warning comes right out of the owners manual, and if you have one and haven't gone through it yet I encourage you do do so when you have time. There is a wealth of information in it that can help with issues like bulbs, fuses, maintenance cycles and how certain systems work. If you don't have one you should be able to find one on ebay and it's worth having one as a reference.

That was like 5 years ago when I did that. Trust me after I did that the next morning after purchasing it I read the manual cover to cover. I learned that red key is no joke. lol