AJT

Quick background,

Just bought an 05 TL (automatic) last weekend. ~83k miles at the time. Picked it up in Houston, TX and drove it back home (near Little Rock, AR). Nearing the end of the drive home, we were on the highway, doing about 75 with the cruise on, when alll of a sudden the cruise kicked off and simultaneously the CEL, VSA light and triangle with an exclamation point light (sorry, dont' have the manual in front of me) went on. Thecar still had power fine, but wouldn't go back into cruise.

We exited at the next available exit, and after stopping at the off ramp to turn, the car had very little power, wouldn't really accellerate past ~20mph as if it were being limited. We pulled into a gas station, filled up, looked around a bit but couldn't find anything.

When I turned the car back on, the car was back to normal other than the CEL staying on. It drove fine the rest of the way home, cruise worked, etc. I did some reading online that night about the APP sensor and it seemed to fit. The next day I started the car and the CEL was off, but took it to Autozone and got the code read. It was P0122 'TPS Sensor' which I though confirmed my suspicion. The guy cleared the code for me. I ordered the APP sensor and it showed up on Thursday.

I installed the new APP sensor yesterday, although I hadn't had the problem again since last Saturday on the drive home with the car and had put around 700 miles on it since then.

On the way into the office this morning, was cruising on the highway around 60 mph when the exact same thing happened. Cruise control kicked off, the three lights went on. The car still had power fine on the highway. I found a side road just down the way and slowed down and turned on to it. Sure enough, it felt like I was speed limited to around ~20 mph. I pulled over, shut the car off, turned it back on, and the CEL was still on but everything else was fine. Made it the rest of the trip in to work with no issues.

I had the code scanned again, it came out P0122 (same as last time). The CEL had gone out, but the code was stored. The guy cleared the code for me.

On the drive home, it did it again. All three times it's been while the cruise control was set (though in fairness, probably 90% of the miles I've put on the car have been with the cruise set as I have a lengthy commute to and from work). This time, I played with it a bit to see what else I could learn. It maintained power on the highway, but I laid into the gas a bit and it wouldn't downshift. I pulled off to a side road and put it in the 'manual' mode, and it was in '2' and wouldn't allow me to up or downshift from there. I pulled off the road and it remained in '2'. I put it in reverse and reverse worked fine. Put in park, then back in drive, and it still seemed limited in power (may be that it's trying to start in 2nd gear). Turn the car off and back on, and it's like nothing happened, other than the CEL remains on.

Any and all suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

YeuEmMaiMai

ur trans is toast. does the D5 light blink? Scanner might pull a "AT internal malfunction" code

also the Triangle with the ! is the system indicating that VSA has been disabled, are you sure the other light wasn't something else?

If you get any of these codes you are sol man

P1656 Automatic Transaxle
P1660 A/T FI Data Line Failure
P1676 FPTDR Signal Line Failure
P1678 FPTDR Signal Line Failure
P1681 A/T FI Signal A Low Input
P1682 A/T FI Signal A High Input
P1686 A/T FI Signal B Low Input
P1687 A/T FI Signal B High Input
P1705 Automatic Transaxle
P1706 Automatic Transaxle
P1709 Automatic Transaxle
P1710 Automatic Transaxle
P1713 Automatic Transaxle
P1738 Automatic Transaxle
P1739 Automatic Transaxle
P1740 Automatic Transaxle
P1753 Automatic Transaxle
P1758 Automatic Transaxle
P1768 Automatic Transaxle
P1773 Automatic Transaxle
P1778 Automatic Transaxle
P1786 Automatic Transaxle
P1790 Automatic Transaxle
P1791 Automatic Transaxle
P1792 Automatic Transaxle
P1794 Automatic Transaxle

Time to take the car to your local acura dealer

YeuEmMaiMai

oh and of the car stays in 2nd that means trans is in limp home mode..........

my 02 CLS (same trans) tossed out a P1709 @ 71K and it was game over........

AJT

The three lights are the '!' inside the triangle, a light that says 'VSA' and the CEL. It happened twice this morning. Taking it to the Honda dealer as the closest Acura dealer to my work is ~1h away.

The only code indicated is the P0122. I really think it's sensor related, as the car otherwise drives perfectly. Guess I'll find out soon.

AJT

Err, and no, the D5 light doesn't blink.

YeuEmMaiMai

Honda can work on the car (they don't like to but they can) and they can get the codes. Not all codes are accessable by hand held scanners.

limited to 2nd and the VSA light on are classic symptoms of trans failure not all trans failures will cause the D5 light to blink......

If it is the P0122 get a TB from the JY and install it

car-part.com is a good place to start

search for my area yeilded $200 or less for the part 2004-07 parts will work (Non TL-S)

AJT

So I gave up and took it to Honda. Turns out there was a dead cell in the battery that was causing voltage irregularities and hence the issue. New battery, no more problems. Me being new to the car, I didn't know what to expect as far as how quickly the starter spins, etc. Never really noticed any lights dimming or anything, but there you go.

YeuEmMaiMai

car typically starts on the first crank and under 2 seconds. It is unusual to get only that code for a battery problem, you should have gotten misfires and other sensor related codes