Acura TL Maintenance and Repair

mgur

gregory28: I can't find your message # 1880 Re: blind spots in Acura TL 2004, very interested to know, please, advise
Thank you

tedescm1

Thanks for the advice…

I made an appointment with the dealer to fix the rattle. In the interim, my daughter was in the car and noticed that the rattle was coming from the Sears Garage opener.

That opener was in my other car (Avalon) for years and I never noticed the sound.
New cars can do weird things to your mind.

I cancelled the dealer appointment.

mgur

gregory28: I can't find your message # 1880 Re: blind spots in Acura TL 2004, very interested to know, please, advise
Thank you

gregory28

1. set rearview mirror in normal position from driver's position
2. lean to your left until your forehead touches the driver's side window.
3. postion driver's side mirror so that you see the tail end of the car from that position.
4. lean to your right the equal amount that you leaned to your left.
5. position your passenger sideview mirror so that you see the other tail end of the car.

Voila, blind spots eliminated!

mgur

I'll try to do it,at first I was planning to glue that aftermarket small mirror for blind spots to a driver's side mirror.
Thanks a lot.

dulnev

I got my new TL yesterday and had a 4-hour drive in it. I found that the rear headrests did obstuct too much of the view. My solution to this problem was very simple: remove the headrests alltogether!

Since I have two kids with carseats in the back, I would almost never carry adults in the back. I fashioned the small side cargo net in the trunk as pictured in the manual and it is a perfect place to store the headrests for those rare occasions that I might need them.

torontotl

I have a rattle that I believe is coming from overhead. I wonder if it is the same one that a couple of you have mentioned here earlier. I believe that it comes from the sun shade. If I hold the sun shade (the door part that covers the vanity mirror) the rattle completely stops. If I tap the sun shade, I can reproduce the rattle. Anyone else have this?

ben_1

I have a 2001 3.2TL, 58k miles.

I'm one of those people who has a "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" mindset. I think in a lot of ways it makes sense to wait until something is broken before throwing money into it. I am good about getting my oil changed at JL every 5-6k miles, and rotating tires every 15-18k. Is there anything else that I need to be doing?

For instance, JL recommends replacing the Automatic Transmission Fluid (ATF) every 30k miles. I have heard though that newer transmissions have a higher performance ATF that isn't supposed to be replaced until 100k miles. Would my 2001 TL fall into that category? I had my tranny replaced around 10k miles under warranty, so it's been about 50k miles with the current ATF. (FWIW, my transmission is covered under the extended 100k transmission warranty that Honda/Acura put out on most 99-01 models, so if it did break then maybe it wouldn't be so terrible...)

dstr2

Has any one else had this problem the low fuel warinng light comes on and the gauge is on full Empty But when you fill the the tank it only takes about 13gals. It hold's 17.09 per spec.
Also the trip computer miles to empty always seems
to be the same around 325 after a fill up.

gregory28

This is not a problem. Every car I've owned has a reserve tank of 3-4 gallons. Every car I've owned has the warning low fuel light come on prior to the reserve being used. It's always a good idea to fill up prior to running out of gas- LOL. Having the crud that accumulates at the bottom of one's tank is best left there and not pumped through one's engine.

micked

I just got the '04 TL and have a question about the sound system...it sounds kind of "flat" and bassy. I turned the bass to -2 and the treble to +3 (center and subwoofer are at "c"). Doing that it seems to sound better, but is this normal? Has anyone else had any challanges getting the sound to sound full? I never had to have such a dramatic difference in bass and treble with any other car or my home stereo.

Thanks,

Eddie G

dulnev

Either you have a problem with the system or with your hearing ;-), because TL's stereo does not by any means produce "flat" sound. Furthermore, "flat" refers to sound with little or no spatial definition and it's not something that you can improve by tweaking bass and treble. The new TL has 8 speakers and provides the BEST spatial definition I've experienced in any car. So I do suggest you get your car checked out by the dealer.

As far as frequencies, personally I like the new TL's stereo at BASS +1 and Treble +2. Which car did you have before this one? Is it possible it had a terrible stereo with no bass and you simply haven't adjusted to what a good stereo should sound like yet?

cic53

I'm in my second week of driving my 04 white with parchment and loving every mile. This is one nice car with an even nicer sounding audio system-but only when the disc player would accept the DVD Audio discs I put in. Of three discs I've tried, one was rejected with message "Format" while another said "Disc". Only one disc was accepted. Anyone else having this problem?

gregory28

Are you inserting DVD Audio? or DVD Video? The latter will get spit out; as will SACD's. Regular CD'S and DTS work well too; although the DVD DTS is fussy at times for me- gets spit out at times. If you had a problem with one DVD-A I'd say it's the disc, but if it happens to 3 I'd say you have a problem. Does the Demo DVD-A work?

This sound system is outstanding! What volume level do you put it on. It's not meant to be turned ALL THE WAY UP- no sound system is. Are you playing it for your enjoyment or so passer bys can hear the stereo? Adjust it so it sounds best for you- dulnev and I have different settings and we both LOVE the system. It's the best from the factory sound system....period!

klunkman

Another trick is if you want to play the stereo at lower volumes (for instance, if you're having a conversation with your passenger), turn the center channel up to +4, and your subwoofer to the same. It'll boost the vocals and the low bass, but not most of the other instruments.

FYI - For any REM fans out there, pick up the Document DVD-A. The instrumental separation is phenomenal.

cic53

I'm inserting DVD Audio discs, not videos. The demo disc works so I thought my first disc was defective. Then I bought a couple more to try and it happened again to one of the two. Puzzling...

The selection of DVD Audios at the Best Buys, FYE and Circuit Citys are very limited...even at Amazon. Forget about Borders or Barnes and Noble which usually carry more Classical and Jazz titles. Any luck finding a source with a large selection or is DVD Audio going to be like Betamax?

mobofe

are extremely limited in what selections the studios choose to encode. most of the selections are of the classical nature which by its very nature lends itself to instrumental separation.
I frankly think this won't catch on for a long while (a few years), if ever.

nevertheless, i've found this place to have a very complete selection DVD audios out there
http://www.dvdplanet.com/main_dvdaudio.asp

saltyp

I've read other messages concerning an abundance of wind noise around the windows, but can no longer find them. At 65+ mph I get a lot of wind noise, especially from the front passenger window. The dealership agrees that it is louder than it should be; but adjusting the window, the door fit, and replacing the passenger mirror had no affect. Has anyone found a solution to this problem? Note: keeping it below 65 mph isn't a viable solution . Thanks!

n9iw

In my 2004 TL, the voice images seem to come from the left side of the dash. Do others observe this? As a two channel stereo buff, I would expect the voice images to come from the center of the dash.

micked

I had a CL before with the Bosse system. I guess it is possible to have a bad system??

Thanks,

Eddie

prelec

Before I got home with my 04 white/parch the floor mats looked dirty. I had some old generic charcoal colored ones in the garage, so I put them in. They looked ok, so I got a set of black ones from Acura($130.00). They always look clean, and look like they belong in the car. They tie in nicely with the black dash, doors, etc.

builttospill1

I have had problems with the seat memory position for the past 2 weeks. It started by working about 50% of the time and now it doesn't work at all. Has anyone had this problem and how long did it take for the dealership to fix it?

cyclist2

You are absolutely correct about the gas gage calibration. I bought my 04 TL in late October and now have almost 6000 miles. When I bring the car in for its first oil change I will ask them to recalibrate the gas tank and the temp gage. The gas tank at 1/2 is 7.3 gal fill and the warning light for me is about 12.5 gallons. The temp gage is off by at least 4 degrees to high.
I don't mind being conservative but 3 gallons off is too much. Overall the car runs great.

gregory28

I've got the Acura all-season mats and think they look great and work well too.

I think everyone has the seat memory problem. It sounds like Acura is working on a fix. Very minor problem in my opinion.

zavp1

For any car doctors out there......I have 2002 TL-S with about 38K miles. I used to get about 29-32 miles per gallon in my usual driving.
  I recently went to have the timing-belt tensioner replaced(factory recall) at the dealer. Since then, I have been getting 26 mpg on pure highway driving and 19-20 mpg on pure city driving. I am very meticulous with keeping track of this stuff. I track mileage on every tank of gas by reseting the mileage counter. I repeated it a few times afterwards using different gas stations and still the same results......almost a 8 miles per gallon drop!
  I took it back to the dealer who hooked it up to his "computer" and said there was nothing wrong with it. He fed me some BS like "it's probably the changes in the weather." Of course, I have had the car for 2 years now and have been through the same weather changes, but never any drop in mileage like this.
  I was wondering if any car experts out there could give me some advice on what it could be causing this change. Thanks.

jpiatchek

Have about 2000 miles on my 6speed with summer tires and have experienced no squealing as of yet. Sorry to hear you want to the Turanza EL42's. General opinion is that they are horrible tires. Check out the reviews at Tire Rack.

bodble2

Since day one, I've been getting 19 - 21 mpg pure city, and up to about 31 mpg pure highway. But I'm on Imperial gallon which is 20% more than US gallon. So after conversion, your mileage is actually better than mine.

mrtech

This is the 2nd time that I had to crank the engine more than 3 seconds for it to start. It normally starts up right up. When it doesn't then it takes 3 to 4 seconds of cranking for the engine to idle. Has anyone experience this?

qbrozen

I would try disconnecting the battery for a while and let the ECU reset itself. This works on other cars, not sure about the TL specifically. I also wonder if it should go through the idle-learn process like our Pilot does. This could be the issue if the dealer disconnected the battery to change your timing belt, then you drove it right out of there. Without the idle-learn procedure, the gas mileage suffers greatly. Check out your owner's manual for your TL. Its in the Pilot manual.

dstr2

Was the dealer able to re calibrate your tank?
I have to get this fixed it's driving me nuts!
I have also had ???????? about the temp guage accuracy. Also when you fill up what does your
trip miles to empty indicate? Mine always seems to be around 325 but the last time I reset it just before fill up and it indicated 270 doesn't make any sense.

cyclist2

I don't plan to see the dealer until oil change time. Maybe in 3 weeks. The oil % indicator will get me to about 7500 to 8000 miles before a change and that is when I will bring all this calibration stuff up. I haven't paid attention to " miles before fill-up" but will let you know. This stuff is minor but it bugs me too. Other owners must be having this problem. Stay tuned.

marquis2

One disc you have to get, if you're into pop music, is Toy Matinee's self titled album. It's a must have classic for everyone's collection, in any format (IMO, of course :-). I had the DTS version of the disc laying around for a couple of years and finally got the chance to hear it for the first time when test driving the TL. Wow!. I can't wait to get my hands on the DVD-Audio version of the disc to comapre it with the DTS one.

drdarell1

This should not happen, there is something wrong. When driving at a specific speed do you notice that your RPM's are higher than they used to be? This is just a guess, but there used to be a temp. sensor that kept the car from going into 5th until the engine was fully warmed up. If this sensor is damaged, or your engine is not warming up (thermostat stuck open) then you run at a higher RPM and burn more gas. Let us know what happens.

frqwntbyr

Picked up my TL yesterday. Evidently many gas readings are off; should have taken more than 5 gal to fill half a tank today. Mine was a Nov delivery. As for audio, the selection isn't bad, and getting better, but you do have to shop multiple sources. If you are too old to quit your job, try Fleetwood Mac's Rumors DVD-A (Warner). Question: please help me understand which should in theory sound better in the TL: the 5.1 DTS or the DVD-A? I've listened to both and have yet to come to a conclusion (both are breathtaking). If anyone has insight, please provide. I've yet to buy a Super Audio CD. Are they multi-channel, or just tricked up stereo. If the later, are they any "warmer" than the traditional CD? And if anyone has non-nav, does your audio/HVAC readout plate have a thin plastic film on it? If it is intended to stay in place, I suppose it is for anti-glare, anti-scratch, etc. If I could remove it, I'd love to...mine has a few annoying bubbles or puckers on the top and bottom edge. Before I rip it off, I'd like to know I won't make it worse.

exb0

Technically speaking DVD-A is double the resolution of DTS, but most “normal” people won’t hear the difference.

Super Audio CD comes in both flavors stereo and multi-channel, but don’t waste your money, TL doesn’t play SACD.

raher

Diana Krall has two albums that are DVD-A and both sound superb. There is an SACD hybrid
(that is what it is called on the CD ) that will play in the TL system. Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd. It sounds great also. There is a website listed in an earlier post that has the most DVD-A that I have seen. I ordered four last night.
I have 650 miles on my new TL and the car has exceeded my expectations in every respect other than tires. I canned the EL's and put on Bridgestone LSZ's. Major improvement.

frqwntbyr

Thanks for the audio info. I saw the hybrid's at BB's yesterday and wondered. The TL has the sound system I've been looking for after 25 years of low-end aftermarket hatchet jobs. It won't overpower you, but it doesn't have to in order to reach that spot in your brain or your soul that only physics and chemistry can explain.

mhewitt

When I first set up my audio I futzed with the bass treble, fade etc. and nothing sounded right. Then my sales person told me to set everything at C and that worked--even the bass is strong enough.Right now there are many more SACD titles than DVD-A--and at least one classical label, maybe DG,-- has switched to SACD from their announced use of DVD-A. NOBODY has many titles because there aren't many. But Amazon does allow you to search by the DVD-A format. And forget the SACD compatables--they sound no better than a regular CD and cost several dollars more per disk.

baby_igor

frqwntbyr

with that kind a eloquence on the TL audio system, I have to get one for no other reason than that.

Merry Christmas

gbriank

are you experiencing problems with flatspotting on your LS-Zs? I been reading another board where folks with the LS-Z are experiencing flatspotting....some think that it is related to the nylon something or other in the tire.

raher

I haven't noticed any flatspotting but then my car is garaged every night. Temperatures where I live ( Seattle ) range from mid 30's to low 50's I have 300 miles on the LSZ's, both highway at speed 60-80 mph and in town 35mph driving. I bought the tires because they were the highest rated all weather tire on the tirerack.com web site. The ratings are from people who own the tires. They received ratings of 9 out of 10 in every catagory.
I am extremely pleased with the performance of these tires and have driven them hard in the rain. I can imagine that if your car were parked outside at night the tires may need some time in the morning to warm up but I haven't experienced that yet. They are very quiet.

frqwntbyr

I saw this link above or in another post; best prices I've seen yet on DVD-A...and it will let you order future releases in advance. Enjoy!

http://www.dvdplanet.com/browse_subcategory.asp?categoryid=305

aciampi

Today when driving home I had my address programed in the nav to get me home and I decided to take a different road then recomended to see how quickly it recalculates. It started to flash "Recalculating" but it never did. I then changed the route from easy to direct to see if that would help in any way. But then it went back to the map screen and showed the scale recalculation bar up top and again never did. In order to get everything working again I had to shut the car down and then restart it. Has anyone else expierenced this problem? I am planning on going back to the dealer next week but wanted to see if I could get any information ahead of time.
Thanks

uscgmoose

We picked up our 2004 TL in early November and have had a love/hate relationship with it. My wife and I looked at cars for 2 years before deciding to get the Green w/ Camel TL auto w/ NAVI. Basically I love this car and strongly believe you won't find a better car (on paper) for the money BUT we've had non-stop problems with the car.

Here are the list of the problems we've had so far:
1. Check engine light kept coming on whenever I let the car get over 4500 rpm in manual-matic mode. After 4 trips to the dealer and about a week in the half in the shop they finally figured out that it was a faulty crankshaft position sensor.
2. Seat memory keeps "forgetting" the settings. This is only annoying but we saved for a long time to get a car with these kinds of luxury features and this is really disappointing.
3. Trunk release randomly stopped working for about 15 minutes and then started working again. This actually happened one of the times we had it in for service and the dealer basically said "don't know why it's doing that but there's nothing we can do about it". Luckily this hasn't happened since.
4. The car idles like (IMO) a woodchipper. There is a very noticeable vibration from the engine when you're sitting at a stop light. Sometimes it's better than others but I just don't believe the engine is running right. My mother-in-laws 99 Hyundi idles smoother. The dealer says it's running fine. Anybody else think their car idles rough (even just a little rough since this is kinda subjective)?

Like I said, I love the car, the XM radio, DVD Audio, power, and styling. I don't like the engine feel. I don't know if I should hope that there's something wrong or not. One thing I have realized is that Acura Dealer service centers don't employ any mechanics. If the computer they plug into the dash doesn't tell them there is something wrong, they can't find the problem. I've been to the dealer for problems 5 times in less than 2 months and 2000 miles and I still think the only time they actually popped the hood was to install the new crankshaft sensor.

Anybody offer any advice or similar experiences? I don't get the vibration at speed that others complain about so I guess I've got one good thing going for me. I mainly want to know if anyone else thinks their TL idles rough (or is it "normal" like the dealer says).

dulnev

Yes, perception of how quiet the idling is can be subjective to a certain degree. It depends on what car you had before.

I can tell you that my 1998 Accord was so quiet/free of engine vibrations at stops, that I would sometimes try to start the engine, even though it was running. But as I started getting more powerful cars: 2000 TL, 2003 TL-S and 2004 TL, the engine wasn't as quiet/vibration-free. The 2000 TL was just marginally worse than Accord in this respect, but the 2003 TL-S was a LOT worse. But it was still nothing annoying, I just knew that the engine was on and there was a slight vibration coming from it.

The 2004 TL improved on the 2003 TL-S and I can't say that I've noticed any vibrations or noise at stops. This doesn't mean they don't exist (I'll try listening to them next time I'm in the car), but what it probably means is that they are better or no worse than my previous car.

If your car is having some annoying vibrations at the stops, I would definitelly get it checked out. Especially given your other problems. I would also try to take it to a different dealer (if you have this option). Sounds like your car might've been among the first 10 off the assembly line and you may have yourself a lemon.

bodble2

The seat memory problem is supposed to be a known issue, so Acura should have a fix for it soon, if not already.

Regarding the rough idling, I'm just wondering if you usually leave the HVAC in full auto mode all the time. If so, maybe it's the compressor kicking in and out. Part of the reason I manually turn off the AC when not needed is that I feel the engine idles smoother that way.

mrtech

no rough idle here. I find myself setting the temp manually. I did not notice any rough idling when I hit the front defog which kicks the AC. There were 2 separate incidents that I had to start the car twice, 3 times to get it running. I had to crank it for 4 seconds and slightly press on the gas. Have not been able to replicate the problem.

The car runs at surprisingly low RPMs.

uscgmoose

Just to clarify. I don't think the rough idle on my TL is related to the AC. It's a constant rythem like a drummer is in the back seat playing a tune on the back of the drivers seat. Heavy hit on the sixth beat. Not extremely noticable that somebody would sit down and immediatley say "that's messed up" but enought that I think something's wrong. I don't now how exactly to describe it but it feels like every sixth beat is harder and out of sequence as I feel the car idle.

I'd love to hear if anyone else notices the same thing.

exb0

Is there a fix for the memory problem yet? Both of my controllers have lost their memory. Also, I have a minor rattle in the center dash when I drive over bumps. However, I am going to have to learn how to live with this rattle because I don’t want the dealer to open the dash and break something else.

I should have never bought the first model year car, even from Acura.

BTW, had a big rattle that turned out to be the visor mirror cover rattling against the light on top of it.

chuckvair

My 04 TL (4,000 miles) has developed a rattle in the steering wheel when on rough pavement. Has anyone else experienced this? The rattle is definitely originating from within the steering wheel. Also, my oil life indicates 60% with 4,000 miles. At this rate, I might hit 10,000 miles before the indicator says to change the oil. This seems to be an excessive interval, especially during break-in. What is everyone else doing?