THXT01A

Hi everyone,
I have a 2000 Acura TL with 123,000 miles on it. I nursed this puppy from the start, having mostly highway miles on it and getting the oil changed religiously.

I had trouble getting the car started recently and brought it to a local Honda dealership, only to find out that it needed $6,000 to be repaired. They also made it sound that it was dangerous to drive without the repairs. I'm not very knowledgeable with cars and I don't want to be duped for needless repairs (especially when the car is only worth $4500), but also don't want the car to go dead on me while I'm doing 80 mph on the highway.

Here's the course of events that occurred before I brought it to the dealership.
1) I brought the car to Firestone to get the oil changed. When I took the car home the "check engine" light was on. I took it back to the Firestone who said that the mechanic noted the check engine light before he changed the oil. I sincerely doubt that was the case since I would have noticed it but who knows. They ran the diagnostic tool on the car and said the transmission error code came up and then they reset the CEL.

2) About a week later after having not driven the car, the battery dies. I jump the battery and the car is ok for another 3-4 days. The CEL comes back on.

3) About 3-4 days later the car is idling roughly. After some driving throughout the day the car fails to start on my way home. After three tries where the engine turns over, does a "clunk clunk clunk" then dies, I have it towed to the Honda dealership, where I'm able to start it normally some 30 minutes later.

4) The dealership says that the following codes show up in the diagnostic tool: P1607 (PCM internal failure), P0700 (AT System malfunction), and P1768 (Fuel pressure regulator). They quoted about $6,000 to repair. They said that the car likely wouldn’t start because of the bad fuel pressure regulator. They also said that once they see the PCM internal failure code usually the computer dies within 6 months and strongly hinted that it is dangerous to drive since I'd lose all power to the car and you don't want to be on a high speed road when that happens.

One sidenote-- I haven't had any issues with the tranny at all (no problems shifting, smooth engine performance except for recently when idling), so I'm surprised that code popped up. Also, my brake light has been going on and off at intermittent times while driving lately.

Does anyone know what the parts/labor would be to fix each problem with the car? Also-- is driving the car with these issues as dangerous as the repair rep led me to believe, or was he just trying to get me to dump a ton of cash into it?

I was wondering if I get the fuel regulator and PCM fixed If I could get more use out of the car without spending $6k to do so, or would I just be throwing good money into a bad situation that would better be spent on a different car. I'm sure anyone else I bring it to will just read me the same diagnostic errors, so I'm really hoping someone here could be my "second opinion". 120k miles seems light for this kind of car-- I've read of guys running this up to 200k and above.

Any help is greatly appreciated!

John