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Hello, I warn in advance I’m not a mechanic. Just a mom with low budget to repair my college students 2000 TL w/135,000. The car has run great over the last year, but occasionally would have a hesitation while driving, as if it lost power but would then accelerate and drive fine. Twice it would not start, but after it sat a while, it would start and run fine. The issue is/was intermittent. We have taken it to three different mechanics.
Two told us they couldn’t find anything. We would have to drive it and bring it back when the problem recurred.
One shop got misfire code #1,4,and 5. He cleared code and car ran fine. he removed egr valve checked for clogged ports and reinstalled. Told us to see if it helped. He told us while it was unlikely these issues were causing the problem the following items should be corrected:
Engine has 2 broken engine mounts,
rear main seal is leaking oil.
Transmission fluid was dirty
That was a year ago
my husband recently discover the drivers side floor had a large wet spot, he assumed some fluid was leaking inside the car. We took it to mechanic who told us he thought it was water from somewhere, maybe the windshield. We can’t find any water leaks near windshield and have had no more wet carpet.
Couple weeks ago the car began running very rough, loss of power, seemed like it didn’t want to go in gear between 2nd 3rd. Check engine, tcs lights came on. My husband thought it was transmission, took it to transmission shop who told us the computer was bad, they couldn’t get reading. We would have to get it fixed before they could help us. When we went to pick it up, battery was dead. They jumped it off, car ran great for few days. Mean while
I found this wonderful site. I read threads of cars with similar issues and suggested to clean egr and ? Thing ? with brake fluid. Husband YouTubed instructions and cleaned. They were very dirty but as far as he could tell they were not clogged.
Car ran great again but soon lights came on again issue was back intermittently.
I Found thread about clearing out codes, husband did that. The car is currently running great! Since the car is running so well and we cleared codes I thought we should take it to Advance Auto store to have ECU checked. They still can’t get reading. It does connect but then gives an error reading. Just to be sure we took it to Auto Zone, they couldn’t get a reading either.
although the car is running good now, we don’t feel it’s dependable and fear a major issue is coming.
We haven’t found a mechanic who seems interested in getting to the bottom of the issue. ( probably because their time would make it too expensive for such an old car) It seems there are several master mechanics on here, IMO. Could anyone suggest out next move? Even if we need to take it to a mechanic, I would like to know what to suggest they check or at least be familiar with what the possible issues may be.
Could broken motor mounts cause this?
Could the ECU BE BAD IF EVERYTHING IS WORKING NOW?
Thank you in advance for any help or suggestions
Hello, We purchased, for our 16 year old daughter, an Acura TL with 110,000 miles two years ago. It was an one owner,(two if you count it was passed to her daughter for college). We have all Maintence records other than a few for the time it spent in Colorado for previous owners daughters graduate school.
Our daughter had two minor accidents which cause some body damage. She ran into the back of a SUV, crunching the hood a little, and a student backed into the front fender. We chose not to get the body work done for financial reasons.
The car has had some issues but because they have been intermittent, we can’t seem to find a mechanic we trust to diagnose and fix the issues. Each time we take it in we are told to bring it back when the problem presents itself.
We can’t afford to continue to pay a mechanic to “guess” I went to YouTube and internet and found this site! I’m so impressed with the knowledge and kindness expressed by the members. Although my husband doesn’t enjoy working on autos, he has had some success with a couple of recommendations I found on here.
Still have issues to correct on the car, hopefully someone will have advice on remaining issues. We have a month until the daughter comes home from school and will need her car for work.
Your car is not on the list of the heat soak 2000 vehicles.
You need to post what the problem is and understand what circumstance and/or conditions does the problem occurs?
Ie. Cold engine or hot engine, accelerating or decelerating, highway or stop n go traffic, rpm high but car is moving slow or not accelerating, etc.
Since there are no codes, then we can only go by symptoms. The more details the better the chance of a diagnosis.
The ECM apparently can run fine and still be defective according to you. Apparently the OBDII portion of the ecm is malfuntioning since you're getting an error reading. The only way to fix that is to replace the ecm with another ecm.
I would go used ecm... Less than a hundred dollars but need to be reprogram to your keys by a dealership or a locksmith if they offer that service.
Rear main seal leak... That a serious problem and not exactly a diy for most peeps. Unless your car is in mint condition then I would consider selling it or drive it until it dies. The main seal on the tranny side... Tranny has to be removed in order for this service.
Your car is not on the list of the heat soak 2000 vehicles.
You need to post what the problem is and understand what circumstance and/or conditions does the problem occurs?
Ie. Cold engine or hot engine, accelerating or decelerating, highway or stop n go traffic, rpm high but car is moving slow or not accelerating, etc.
Since there are no codes, then we can only go by symptoms. The more details the better the chance of a diagnosis.
The ECM apparently can run fine and still be defective according to you. Apparently the OBDII portion of the ecm is malfuntioning since you're getting an error reading. The only way to fix that is to replace the ecm with another ecm.
I would go used ecm... Less than a hundred dollars but need to be reprogram to your keys by a dealership or a locksmith if they offer that service.
Rear main seal leak... That a serious problem and not exactly a diy for most peeps. Unless your car is in mint condition then I would consider selling it or drive it until it dies. The main seal on the tranny side... Tranny has to be removed in order for this service.
The loss of power, hesitation is always while accelerating. It has happened cold and hot engine. Few times with cold engine, the car shook very badly but then ran fine. This happen a while back.
More recently the hesitation has happen more frequently and seemed much worse which is why my husband thought it was the transmission. Once the rpms went up but very briefly, (2-3 seconds) seemed as if it wouldn’t go into gear, then ran fine.? Mostly it just seems as if it loses power briefly then runs fine. This also is very intermittent, which is why mechanics we have taken it too tells us they can’t help. We have even left it for them to drive over night. ?
My husbands drive to work is less than 5-6 miles, when my daughter drove it her daily drive was 2 miles to school, but she also drove it much more than to School. Typical teenager running around but mostly in town.
It is mostly stop and go traffic. Very little highway driving.
The shop who mentioned the seal leaking a year ago. We have never had to put oil in the car between oil changes. This may be the decision maker for us. I thought this car would see her thru college or at least first car for next daughter,�� so frustrating to see others getting 260,000-350,000 miles and still going strong. I thought buying a one owner( who I personally knew and meticulously maintained the car was a sure thing.) luck of the draw I guess.
I found some notes of other Codes we have gotten in the past in addition to the ones mentioned earlier. I’m searching for a glimmer of hope.
P0301
P0304
P0300
P1399
considering the issues, what do you think the value of the car would be if we sold it? I would want to be honest with the buyer. We did have an after market stereo and speakers professional installed. I understand that decreases value too ��
It is obvious you are extremely knowledgeable and kind to give your advice to clueless people like me. Reading the threads you have helped so many. Your kindness is very much appreciated.
Since it could literally be anything l would recommend that you start with what you do know. Your ECM is defective, that is as good a place to start as any if not better than most.
I would start with a 2001 ECM to ensure you don't get a defective early 2000 ECM. Get a ECM that is the same as your car's model... TL, navigation/non-navigation, 49 state vehicle non-emissions/emissions... What ever your car is?
Bring the used 2001 ECM and have all your keys program to the new ECM as noted before... $100-$300 plus $100 or less for used ecm.
Book time to remove and replace ECM is .5 hours. That doesn't include programing time. What that means is you can go to a junk yard and remove it yourself. The ECM is located to the right of the gas pedal on the floor under the center console... 2 10mm bolts and 4 unplugable wire harness connectors. Don't try and install the ECM yourself... The car will not drive without the coded key. If possible you should try and find a newly totaled TL with the key still in the car. If you do then you're go to go... Plug n play... Dingdingding. Be sure to disconnect the battery before installing the ECM for one hour.
BTW, check the battery grounds. Just follow the negative cables to the body. Make sure it's sound and not loose or corroded.
You should replace 100% of the auto trans fluid (ATF) via drain n fill only. You may use Valvoline Max life full synthetic ATF in lew of Honda ATF. You should also replace the external trans filter but not a deal breaker to cut cost for now.
Try driving the car in D4 in city driving and shift into D5 for highways. Simply push or pull on the shifter one notch from 5-4 and 4-5. No need to push on the release knob when shifting between the 4/5 or 5/4 gears. Just push or pull one click. Let us know if the car drives better in D4 than usual in D5?
TL ATF capacity is 7.5 quarts. Be sure to follow owners manual when checking ATF level.
04-15-2018, 03:44 PM
