Hello there;

I just started getting to take care of this car. New to working on this car, I do all of my own work on my vehicles. Has 145,000 or so miles on her. Engine quits running usually when hot. Fan stays on when first parked. Car is here in Florida. Some times quits when driving at steady speed like on freeway. Other times when coming to a stop. Other day went to start it after it sat for two weeks and acted like battery was dead. So I put it on 10 amp charger with adaptive charger and next evening it still would not crank right away. Door panel lights came on but that's it. So I played with the light switches and radio seeing if anything came on. No luck for the first few moments then I heard a rhythmic clicking coming from the passengers' dash side. Suddenly!!! it started!!! But revved up and down from 1000 to 2000 rpm as if I WAS PUMPING THE GAS PEDAL. When in neutral or park it did this not while in drive. Any Ideas at all?

Many Thanks

 

what year is ur car? 99tl models are know to die just like that bc of the ignition switch, $50 part and a few min to change it out. 00+ models do that too but not as nearly as often, also if u have a lot of keys on the ring or something heavy on the ring will wear the ignition switch out faster.

 

thanks Rajca;

No not many keys on ring. I even tried jiggling the key and switch when running...does not kill it. Nor did jiggling it while starting help the situation.

Ok Just got back from driving around a bit. It does not want to restart after dying. Only way to get it to start is to hold the key in the crank position for five seconds or so and the revs climb to 2,500 or so. otherwise it runs for a second or so then dies again. Tried jiggling the key no effect. Noticed the green key light comes on in the instrument cluster when having trouble starting. Also the TCM light stays on a lot, as well as the service engine light of course. When it does run it still "Hunts" revving between 1,500 and 1,700 rpm. Tomorrow I am gong to disconnect the battery to try and reset the ECM.

May just have to change the switch out as you suggest anyways your are the second person to suggest it. Advance auto has one right next door. How hard is it to change?

 

their is a diy at acurazine.com under the second gen tl section (assuming u have a 99-03tl/cl) on how to replace it. have u done a tune up yet? clean egr ports, spark plugs, ...

 

Green key light means ignition switch. Your problem will keep getting worse and dangerous when it stalls without warning. Just google DIY Acura TL ignition switch. Takes about 30-45 minutes to install the switch. Had to turn a little plastic piece in the inside of mine to match where I was putting it back in. Check to see if you already had yours replaced under factory warranty-they do it once for you for free. Mine had already been done so I did it myself.