Acura TL Maintenance and Repair

dap2006

I have an '06 with nav also - I see no problem with the mirror. How do you like the care otherwise? Did you test drive it? I've had mine for 5 months and I'm loving it - I have pretty high standards. Hope all else is well...

camandy

I just got a '06 TL- would request any input on where to buy extended warranty and if it is worth it. My dealer offers Universal underwriters

mikefm58

Over in the Extended Warranties forum no one would recommend anything but a manufacturer backed warranty. I have no clue on Acura's warranty, but IMO I wouldn't buy it.

laurasdada

I'd recommend, especially with a brand perceived to be as reliable as Acura, to self-warranty. Take whatever amount you were going to use to buy the extended warranty and invest it in a conservative investment vehicle (CD, MM, Savings Bonds...). You are covered for 4 years/50k miles so let the money grow for that period and beyond. Then, post-warranty, if you do need repairs you've got your investment money. If no repairs necessary, you've still got YOUR investment money!

I bought a first model year Chrysler 300M (great car!) with only a 3/36k warranty. All repairs were done under warranty, from 36k to my trade at 67k miles, no repairs required. On a Chrysler! Of course, I didn't want to hold on to the M past 70k miles, either... But, I do miss the M.

hafdef2

Greetings!

I just bought a 2006 Acura TL w/ Nav Black on Black.

I asked the dealer if I could put a liquid protectant on it. He said "yes, but only Honda/Acura brand, Armor all and other brands will turn the dash white over time, as in white specs."

I am not stupid, but at the same time, for what I paid for the car, I dont want to take the risk. The dashboard is a TPO material, I work in the plastics industry and know the material is different than my Honda Civic and My Honda S2000. I have used armor all and the likes on my other cars without problems. Has anyone used over the counter products with success or failure? My neigbor uses a product called "Maguires" spelling? he says its better than Armor All doesnt leave the greasy wet look. However his dash material looks different than mine. Is the Acura Dealer spewing "sales propaganda"?

Any help would be appreciated?

milehitlc

My 05 has been making the exact same noise at 1500 - 3000 rpm. The mechanic described the noise as "fluttering". So far I have been to the dealership 3x with no fix. I will talk with him about the service bulletin on the "exhaust shield" What a relief to read about this issue with a possible fix. Please let me know if you have a successful outcome with this.....it's been driving me crazy.

upstatedoc

See my post #3198. No issues since I started using it.

hafdef2

thanks for the information

dan4125

I just bought a Verizon Razr V3c which is compatible, I followed setup and everything worked fine. The next morning I start my car and turn on phone and I get message no device found. I then drove out to dealer and asked them if I had missed something in the setup and one of the sales people came out to my car to help and when I started the car I had a connection which remained on the rest of the day. Today again I start the car and phone and no connection. When I go into the phones setup hit find me the connection is made and the connection stays all day no matter how many times I leave the car. Has anyone else had this issue.I would appreciate any input because Verizon says it is an Acura problem and Acura says they have never heard of this.

dave124

I wanted to post a follow up for anyone interested in buying an Acura TL. I checked this forum several times before I bought to see what problems I might have owning an Acura.

I have a 2005 Acura TL. I have 13K miles at this point. At approximately 8K miles, my battery had a blown cell. I called Acura's TLC roadside service. The towed my car on a flatbed and gave me a new battery. I don't blame Acura at all for this. The best car in the world could have a defective battery. At 13K miles, my windshield exploded because of a rock hitting it. The windshield costs $666.00. I claimed in on my insurance and took my car to Acura to have it replaced. Service was due on the car as well. As I dropped off my car, the service guy told me that there was a service bulletin on my tires. He told me he'd replace all 4 tires and give my car an alignment. What a deal. I wasn't even having a problem and they fixed it. This is service that I've never had with any other vehicle company.

I am very Happy with Acura and I think any potential buyers will be happy as well.

Good Luck!!

dave124

I haven't heard of this but you should NEVER leave anything of value in your car. Sure the car has an alarm, but it won't go off if I use grounded up spark plugs to break your side window and reach in to grab your favorite lap top. As long as I don't open your door, the alarm won't go off. And, if I do get caught, I won't spend much time in jail because there isn't room for me. :P

ezracer

TL's with parchment, camel, and ebony interiors come with a black dash. TL's with the quartz interior come with a dark gray dash.

Is the faded dash a problem with the black AND the gray dashes, or only the black ?

ps: in the future, when posting about dash problems, try to mention the dash color !!

laurasdada

Nice to read a positive service post! Which tires have the recall. I also have an '05 with the Bridgestone Turanza EL42s. Are those the recall tires?

I have the gray dash with the "chalky" appearnce. At B service, dealer cleaned it up, looks fine again.

upstatedoc

I have an 05tl w/nav and cingular razr. I have to enable bluetooth on phone every time I get into car. BT automatically disables 15 minutes after I am out of cars signal area. I think this is normal.

meateater

Reset your phone's Bluetooth feature to 'always on'. That's how I do it and HFL always recognizes my phone within a few seconds of starting the car.

jrourke

I also have an '05 with the Bridgestone Turanza EL42s. Are those the recall tires?

According ot the TSB of 1/06 it's all 2004 and certain 2005 TLs within a specific VIN range with the premature EL42 tire wear. The tires are replaced with new EL42s with a different construction code DY223i.

rkbusenitz

I'm looking at buying a 2003 TL that the radio is locked on. what does it take to unlock it? Is it a dealer only thing and do I have to pay each time the battery goes dead? Also, the SRS light is on and the maintenance required light is on. Any ideas or do I need to take it to a dealership to have it checked out before I buy? Just want to know what I might be getting into.

ezracer

Does anyone know if Acura has a TSB ( Technical Service Bulletin ) out for the faded dash problem ??

Also, is there a website that would list ALL of the TSB's for the TL other than alldata.

tpacar79

Well first things, you have a phone that is compatible with the bluetooth system in the acura TL, good thing. Motorola has car device settings and they need to be a certain way as I did have a similar problem at first and the sales person who had the same car and phone corrected it. If you do however have an 04 TL its the software and your screwed. Also, where is the phone when you start the car? Do you have it set to automatically seek it each time or manually? This might be another possibility. Hope this helps but I also have the razor and do not have any problems anymore it works quite well. Its probably something small and dumb.

tpacar79

Id only posibly recomend if you plan on owning the car for a long time after putting more miles fast because of the many electrical gadgets, if you have the navi heavne forbid itbreaks, you might as get rid of the car, its like owning another transmission, my navi pieces have been replaced and if it were out of warranty i would [non-permissible content removed] bricks.

garyanders

I have an 01 TL which just turned 50,000 miles and well taken care of. My wife was driving home the other day from work and the car would barely move from a stop. Needless to say had the car towed to the dealership and the transmission is toast. Thank goodness Acura extended the warranty to 100,000 miles so no cost to us. Just hope this new one will last longer. Love this car, otherwise.

ed31cincy

I was looking at the TSBs the other night and nothing was mentioned about dash boards. For '04 there were 68 TSBs, by the way.

newtldriver1

Hello. I purchased a 2005 TL in Oct. 2005.
I recently went to have my passenger windows tinted and the workers informed me that I have scratches in the glass which appear to be coming from the rollers.
The scratches run the full vertical length of the window, and I can actually feel how deep the scratches are by lightly running a fingernail over the scratches. (I'm holding off on getting my windows tinted until this problem is fixed.)

Has anyone else had such scratches on the inside of their windows? If so, what was the "diagnosed" problem? (Such information will better prepare me when dealing with the dealership.)

I'll be taking the car back to the dealership where I purchased it to address the problem, and to hopefully have the windows replaced.

whiteevan7

My 06 TL with Turanza EL42 tires run very rough on highways making the ride somewhat harsh on any but smooth surface roads. I know this car has a taut suspension, but with a less "sporty" tire, will my ride improve? Any suggestions? Bob

petomlin

I also have an '01 TL. My transmission went at 103,063 miles. Yes, Acura still made good on their extended warranty. It was done in one day. While they were at it, replacing the tranny, I had them do the timing belt too. Should be good for another 100K.

sundance2

We have an 04 TL which came with Bridgestone Turanza's which were very poor tires, as is reported on these boards. After getting nowhere with Acura, our great dealer traded us out of them at 9,000 miles and installed the Michelin's that come standard on the NAV models. We are longtime Honda Accord V-6 owners (still have one) and have been very happy with the Michelin's that Honda puts on the Accords. We now have 24,000 miles on the TL and the Michelin tires have been just fine. They do flat spot, but not as bad as the Bridgestone's, and the ride is much better.

However, we have been unhappy with the harsh ride and larger turning circle of the TL compared to the Accord. We live in the Midwest and have hard winters and the Michelin's have perfomed just fine. The front drive and heavy weight on the front end do contribute to some plowing or pushing but we take it easy in the winter on both cars and do not have a problem.

Finally, as to the harsh ride, some of it was due to the OEM tires, but most is due to no longer offering the two models as in 2003, one with the sport suspension. Apparently from 2004 on only the S type of suspension is on the TL. Our dealer reports tires and ride comfort are his number one customer complaints.

Other than this, our 04 TL has been a good car, but the quality is not quite up to Accord levels. The features are all very nice and all work well.

alexkcha

I've just purchased a new 06 TL Auto w/nav. It has about 250 miles on it. The past couple of days, I've started to notice rattling sounds coming from the driver side door panel and from somewhere in the rear seat on the driver side. I don't hear it all the time, I usually hear the rattling sounds from the rear seat only when I go over bumps/cracks. I usually hear the rattling sounds from the driver side door panel at random moments.

It's one of those sounds that will go away if I took it in and had a service technician test drive it.

Is this something I should be concerned about, or am I just being too nit-picky? Is this something that I should just be expecting because I know that not every car is built perfectly?

I love this car, I just want to keep it in the best condition possible. My wife always makes a big deal because I always park a half a mile away from the other cars just so I won't have to worry about any dings/scratches.

Do you guys/gals hear any rattling sounds from your drive?

aaargh

My '04 occasionally rattles on the B-Pillars, rights where the side airbags are.

jimmy81

Welcome to window rattle land (only when the driver's window is cracked tho in mine). I'm sure it can be remedied, but who wants to take leave their car in the service department all day?

tedescm1

Mine also rattles....

I took it back to the dealer on numerous occasions but they were never able to find the problems....now i just play the radio loud and don't worry about it.

socalhelp

It looks like the interior tends to get marks and scratches on it easily even though it is black. Are there any recommendations to easily get rid of the marks.

Also, the leather seems to stretch out and becomes very loose (especially in back seats). Are other people having this problem?

bodble2

Yeah, I got some stretch marks on my seats --- not an uncommon problem with TL.

bodble2

You will find that random and intermittent rattles/squeaks/creaks are a characteristic of the TL. After awhile you learn to tune them out (somewhat).

jimmy81

My 3 month free trial is expiring soon. Is there any truth to the rumor that you'll get a better deal by letting the trial period expire, and then taking the 'better offer' that comes afterwards?

laurasdada

From my experience, yes. I was offered several deals after my XM trial period expired. By both email and phone, if I recall. I did not sign up, though.

dap2006

This weekend I lost my XM presets. Then I noticed my doors didn't lock when I shifted out of park (as I had them set). I tried to check and re-enter my settings but I couldn't get the "Driver 1" prompt - instead it said I couldn't customize my settings out of range of my remote. Not verbatim, but close. :sick: I tried with my wife's keys and had the same problems. I'm taking it into the dealer - anyone else run into this? :confuse:

dap2006

I guess I should have mentioned the "intermitent" part - my wife just called and told me the locks started working properly. I haven't had a chance to check the settings again...

newtldriver

Soon after I let my xm radio service expire I received a telephone solicitation offering me 3 months at $4.99 a month if I signed up for any of the xm radio plans. There is no obligation and the service can be cancelled at any time.

hawkeyelisa

My car is in the shop right now (for the second time) for this very same issue. Mechanic says they can't hear it--hard to believe, since it is driving me crazy.
It always happens between 2400-2600 rpm. I'll mention the exhaust shield, hopefully that is it.

al57

my wife received a bill and extended the service for $12/month..if you let xm expire and can get a better price thru solicitation,is there an additional charge for re-activation??

newtldriver

I'm not sure if there is usually an activation fee or not. I let mine expire, and when they contacted me about signing up for the service with a reduced rate for the first 3 months, I told them I would if I didn't have to pay an activation fee, and they agreed.
I'm sure you and/or your wife can do the same.

ezracer

What websites list the tsb's for the TL ??

tedescm1

I told them i would not pay more than 9.99 per month and they agreed to that...

PS: doe anyone have a good product to use on the a fading 04 tl dashboard?

ed31cincy

Try this link, it will take you to the NHTSA search.
link title

ricko

Trustonlyonce, I have been to BBB hearing and the Acura rep there said that the vibration was due to the torque converter in trans locking up. Acura had strung me along so as not to have to replace the car for free per our lemon law,3X for repair in first 12 months so if I wanted to GO to a new car I had to pay mileage which came to 5000.00. They sold us a defective car, are unwilling to replace it and will not fix it and no one in government cares either. We either live with it or sell it but you would think they would have to at least fix this junk. Good Luck, I hope they get enough complaints so they have to at least fix those of us who got the LEMONS.

vlgirl

I wish my Acura dealer would step up to the plate as your has. I have barely 15K miles on my tires. I do mostly freeway driving back and forth to work. I take my car in for it's scheduled servicing and no one looks at my tires. Not until one went flat and I took it to a local tire store and was told my tires having irregular wear on all four tires. Acura is telling me it is because this is a performance car and this is how performance tires wear. I have never heard of such crap in my life. Bridgestone has had problems with these tires in all of my research and Acura knows this and still keeps putting these tires on their TL's. They say that the Bridgestone EL42 meets their guidelines. This is my third Acura and after having this problem and the dealer accepting NO responsibility, I believe I am done owning any other Acura in the future as much as I love the car. Dealers just don't stand behind their cars anymore. Shouldn't have to replace my tires after a year with normal driving. Very Discouraged.

jrourke

It may not apply to you, but there is a an Acura service bulletin 05-050 for premature tire wear. It's dated 2/1/2006 and applies to 2005s within a certain VIN range. They are replacing the tires with EL42s again, but with a different construction code. If the dealer isn't helping have you tried contacting Acura?

riseofthebird

Vibration in Canada_2005 TL
My 05 TL has a vibration prevelant in the 1500-1800 rpm range, only when in auto 5th gear, goes away with a lower gear. It's more of a Harmonic vibration, goes up the back of my neck and just drones. If I have people in the car and we're doing normally city driving, the extra weight causes the drone to increase alot to the point passengers ask what's that noise? I've been to the dealer here in Calgary, normally they're great, but service guy says only the 04s have it (well my 05 has it to) but that it's normal. It's my third TL, definately the best of the bunch but this is getting beyond ordinary. I drove a friends 06 and absolutely NO vibration. The 06 is vibration free and doesn't drone and feels silkier and more responsive than my 05. It's like they're two different cars? Does anyone know what the "build" difference is between 05 and 06 so that the 06 has no harmonic vibration from the tranny in 5th on an auto? I'd pay for someone else to fix it if could be fixed, seriously! :mad:

hawkeyelisa

It took some convincing, but I talked the mechanic into investigating the heat shield. Sure enough, he found a service newsletter (March 2006) explaining that it is the intermediate shaft bearing heat shield that is causing the noise. They adjusted it and the rattle is gone. The funny thing is they gave me another TL as a loaner and I heard the same noise in it!
The real question is, why did I have to trouble shoot my own vehicle??

bhelsdon

What kind of sound was it making? Did it sound like loose change under the cup holder area? Which heat shield was causing the noise?