petemc

In this post I have summarized most of the known problems and quirks associated with the RL. I felt this was necessary because many of the complaints have been simple user error, or lack of user knowledge.

This list was last updated on March 20th, with the added quirk that the instructions in the Driver Setup Guide for linking the keyfobs to the car are incorrect.

Please post if you have problems so that we can keep this list up-to-date.

Pete


Last Updated March 20th 2005.

Known Problems
Known Problems have been reported and confirmed by more than one user.

Known Quirks
Quirks are something that could be interpreted as a real problem, but is normal behavior (you may not like it, but it is normal)

TSB 04-028: TQI and New Model Information.

TSB 04-032: TQI of the DVD Navigation System With Voice Recognition.

TSB 05-001: Audio Unit Diagnosis.

TSB 05-005: Product Update: Front Door Speakers and Driver's MPCS Unit.

TSB 05-006: Product Update: AcuraLink Control Unit Does Not Receive Real-Time Traffic.

TSB 05-007: Product Update: PCM Software Causes Engine Shudder.

TSB 05-008: No Sound From the Audio System.

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Thanks petemc for continuingly providing the necessary update

Edit by MOD rets
.2

Rob L

I don't think this is a quirk. I think this is people just not knowing how to turn off their car which IMO is odd as I wonder how they were able to use previous cars that work the same way meaning they had an ignition switch. The switch has 3 (not including the one to start the engine) settings- off, acc, on...in that order. Not hard.

Karl_in_Chicago

Excellent post! Thanks for taking the time to summarize this with all the appropriate links. Mods - can this be stickied?

One thing on this point:
"The daytime running light warning “DRL OFF” displays until transmission is moved into a gear."

I believe releasing the parking brake also will clear the "DRL OFF" msg even if the tranny is still in gear. It is a most confusing message as it makes you think there's something wrong when it's all "working as designed". I suppose it's a good msg as confirmation when you need to sit somewhere for a while with the motor running (like for us folks in colder climates) and don't want your lights shining into somebody's house or whatnot.

AcuraRLBlue

Add to this list :

1. There is a warning bell when opening the driver's door with headlight switch at "Auto".

2. "SH-AWD" warning comes on when the car is experiencing other seemingly unrelated issues.

SoCalCarDude

Ever since the "update", I've been experiencing two problems:

1. The doors will attempt to automatically lock themselves while the car is running after it has already locked the doors the first time and the interval of the subsequent attempts are totally random.

2. The passenger sideview mirror doesn't always return to its original position after the car is removed from REVERSE.

rets

Thanks petemc's hardworking to collect them together. I'll stick this and make an necessary update in the future while consulting with him and other 2G RL'rs.

petemc

While I am sure that everyone is telling the truth on their problems (why lie?), I think it is important to determine if the reported problem is a general problem that multiple people are having before we add it to the list....something along the lines of a "seconder".

Anyone else got thoughts on how we can keep this a "clean" list in this way...maybe we need to have a "Potential Problems" list as well???

Thoughts, ideas, comments?

Pete

petemc

Yeah Rob, I kinda agree with you, but my purpose behind the quirks was to try to educate new RL owners on "normal" and "strange" behavior. I have seen many posts about dead batteries that seem to be possibly caused by this, so I just thought it would be good to warn others.

Karl, thanks for the compliment. Can you double check this when you get the chance...I just tried it but since it's nighttime the lights came on automatically which supresses the "DRL OFF" message. I know that moderator will update the post if you can confirm it....thanks.

AcuraRLBlue, I think the warning bell is a good one, can you elaborate more on when the SH-AWD warning message shows, I haven't seen that one

SoCalCarDude, do you know if these problems are also reported by other RL owners?

Great input guys, the moderator needs help in keeping this post up-to-date

Pete

aphotog

My RL has just had the Acura Update completed as well as replacement of the 2 front door handles - and I am also seeing the "random door locking" problem while underway. It seems to be just the left-side passenger's door - but it's hard to pinpoint while driving (could be the driver's door).

Shotgun

I too have experienced this "door lock" nuance but have yet to encounter the sideview mirror problem...BTW, the "Known Problems and Quirks" Thread is an excellent idea! Thanks Petemc for a superb initiative...we really appreciate your efforts and contributions to this forum...

Karl_in_Chicago

Confirmed. I started the car up (obviously in Park, duh!) with the parking brake set and waited for the "DRL Off" msg to display. I released the parking brake and the msg disappeared and the DRL's came on. This is documented some where in the War & Peace edition of the owner's manual, but I'm too lazy to go back out to the car and hunt it down for the page number. The way it's written, though, that's where they advise you to engage the brake when parked and idling to avoid casting the DRL's if it might inconvenience someone.

As to the note about turning off the ignition switch and it being like all other cars (Rob L) . . . well, yes and no. Sure there's multiple detent positions to traverse just like most other ignition switches but I've never had any that required me to also depress the switch while twisting it. It's a quick learn for the RL owner but the more casual driver (valet, for example) is easily going to fall into this trap. Of course valets probably aren't reading this forum. That's why it's a good idea to mention it to whoever takes your car so you don't leave your dinner to find a car with a dead battery.

AcuraRLBlue

I found a warning message in my RL the day after taking delivery warning that I needed my SH-AWD system checked. The dealer and Acura CS's explainations were similar. They denied that there was anything wrong with the AWD system in my car. According to them, the warning came on most likely because of other events, such as misfiring or low gasline level.
Another RL'er, twentworth22, also reported a similar warning in his RL.

2005BlackRL

I am also experiencing the (somewhat spooky) phantom locking of doors after the recent software update. No other problems, just the door locking.

Rob L

Yeah I 3rd, 4th, whatever the waring chime for the auto headlights. It is a silly quirk.

How about the brakes squeaking so much during start-up in the cold/wet (or as I have read humid) weather. Not a problem but again, another quirk.

Karl_in_Chicago

No brake squeak here. Just a data point.

petemc

Guys,

Just so you know, the moderator has agreed to help look after this thread and keep the initial post updated, but he is a bit busy, so bear with him until he gets some time.

Cheers

Pete

AcuraRLBlue

Does anyone else have a problem with the front seat headrests not staying locked in a vertical position? My don't lock once elevated from the lowest position.

On the other hand, the rattle from the plastic trim by the windshield is gone today. The temperature is a bit warmer today, and the plastic is firm and dosn't pop when I pressed on it. It was popping in the last few days as I was searching for the source of a rattle coming from the passenger's side.

Rob L

I doubt it. I let my buddy drive the car a couple weeks ago and he had no problems understanding how the simple ignition switch works. In fact, 3 other people have driven my RL and not one has had a problem with the switch.

I honestly have no clue how anyone can have a problem with the switch in the car but apparently some do....


Oh and I noticed the NAV screen starting up dim "quirk"....that is simply the way the technology works when it is cold and is hardly a quirk.

petemc

Rob,

It is going to be really tough to get everyone to agree on what is a quirk, and what could be considered as just-the-way-things-work-so-get-used-to-it.

My quirkiness test was to ask the question "Could someone interpret this behavior as a real problem?". If the answer was yes, then I thought it best to include the behavior in the list. The value of the list is that people can check out if they have something to worry about, or just normal behavior.

In the case of the dim screen at startup, someone could interpret this as a real problem. And, I disagree that this is the way the technology works, LCD screens do not always start off dim on power up. Under these arguments, it should make the list.

On the ignition switch, even Acura sent mail, so that's got to highlight it as a real oddity that people should watch out for. For what it's worth, I agree with you, I cannot fathom how it is an issue, but obviously it is.

Pete

sfintel

The dim screen is not a quirk. LCDs have no lumenence (brightness) of their own. The LCD is a series of electronically controlled shutters that either pass light (bright) or prevent light from passing (dark). In other words, without some light source, you could not see an LCD in the dark. On the RL (and all modern laptops) there is a flourescent bulb that provides that light. As those of you in cold climates know, a flourescent bulb won't reach its full light output when physically cold. I live in Houston so I can't see firsthand how dim it is on a 0 degree morning, the RL's bulb seems to warm itself quickly enough.

rets

I always tell ppl they could move their computer LCD monitor to outdoors if they don't think it's normal...







BTW, I'll try to update the 1st post these days.

mungoac

The dim screen isn't strictly temperature-related, though. Last week it stayed dim for a half hour after cold start. Several hours later, with same ambient temp, it reached operational brightness in a couple of minutes.

sfintel

I don't mean to insult your intelligence, but is the light switch on 'Auto' and were the lights on? Did you pick different day/night colors for the Nav so you could easily tell the difference?

mungoac

The suggestion is good. The light was on auto but the two situations were during daylight hours. No settings were changed. The problem has not recurred, however. Thanks for the suggestion.

Precision Crafted

The warning sound still occurs with an Auto feature??? I thought that would go way. With my TL I hate that sound but that is the only way the auto off feature works.

Do your lights shut off if you leave the light switch in the parking or headlight settings?

soapkng

I'm 'happy' to see that I'm not the only one experiencing the random door locking. Has anyone had a dealer actually fix this problem yet? This is the key question....

Gator5000e

In addition, I think that after the update, a new quirk is that the XM Radio information, artist, song title, and on the baseball and basketball stations, the game information, is taking a long time to update. On my home XM unit, the info changes almost immediately, but it can take a minute or longer in the car.

Is anyone else having this problem? I saw some mention of it in the Acura Update thread but thoght I would add it here as well.

Shotgun

Yes, I've noticed that the XM information update takes substatially longer than it did prior to the update. Acura/XM should be notified of this anomaly -

medrxman

I just had the update done and have the same problem with the door automatically recycling again. Called the dealer and of course they were not aware of this. This is what I did today and so far it seemed to work.

Go to page 95 in the owner's manual and change the auto door lock feature to lock with " shift from park". Drive a little while on the freeway then pull over to a shoulder and reset it back to "lock with vhe speed".

After doing this, it has not happened again today (the attempt to auto lock)

Hopefully this acts as a reset for the actuaters. The update did require replacing something in the door handle(s).

P.S.

Will have to observe the side mirror tomorrow also.

Good luck (to both of us)

Precision Crafted

Question:

Other then the Keyless Access thing, wouldn't the auto door lock feature work the as in the TL?

Gator5000e

I called Acura regarding the door lock issue and the XM info delay issue. The CS rep had heard from one owner before me about the re-locking issue. He had not heard anyone complain about the XMM info refresh issue. He said he would report the XM issue but if anyone else is having this problem, please call Acura customer service to let them know about it so they can investigate. It does not take too long. If enough complain, maybe a fix can be administered. Thanks.

medrxman

DID NOT WORK...DOORS STILL TRY TO LOCK AGAIN..Hopefully enough people will call CS and complain and get the issue resolved.

medrxman

Noticed passanger side mirror tonight, not returning to memorized position.

petemc

Guys,

The main stickie has been updated. I think all of the information is correct.

A couple of the reported problems didn't seem to be confirmed elsewhere (AcuraRLBlue's SH-AWD message for example). If anyone else can report they are seeing the same thing, please confirm this so we can post it as a known problem.

Cheers

Pete

427

Regarding the Nav brightness issue, some people may not be completely reading the symptoms I've experienced. On startup (even in cold weather), the screen is bright .. No problemz what so ever. The trouble in nav brightness occurs when I exit the garage (unheated) and the ambient light changes (brighter, direct sunlight) ... Then the nav immediately goes very dark and may take upwardz of 15 mins to return to "normal".

Another nav brightness quirk I never mentioned before is as follows:
When semi-dark outside and the headlights in the AUTO mode, the nav will initially display perfectly clear (night mode) right from the beginning. During my commute to work (about 45 mins) the sunlight was getting brighter & brighter ... But the nav was getting darker & darker. Just before it got to the point when the headlights automatically turned off, the nav was so dark I could barely make out any roads or text.

I've been told the nav screen should adjust to ambient lighting conditions ... It doesn't appear to function correctly for me. My dealer has compared my RL to two others at the dealership ... The nav screen brightness has been similar, so according to them, itz "normal". I guess I may just need to live with it ...

AcuraRLBlue

twentworth22 also reported the same problem wit the SH-AWD message. My dealership (Acura of Boston) also said that 3 out of 20 RL's it had sold had the same occurred to them.

petemc

AcuraRLBlue,

Didn't mean to doubt your problem, I guess that you have shown multiple owners with the same issue, I will work with the moderator to get it added to the known problems list.
Did your dealer have any other comments on it?

Pete

AcuraRLBlue

No problem with me whatever the forum wants to do with it. I actually worry that the warning came on due to a real problem with the SH-AWD system (for example, the system did not have the proper level of oil, an issue which occurred in the early introduction of the cars). My dealer and Acura CS of course explained that it was from some unrelated issues which triggered the SH-AWD warning.

If this proved to be only affecting a few early owners, then it could likely be the result of some software undate that Acura did to prevent this warning from coming up, or that my car did have a problem with the SH-AWD.

I do believe it is likely that some warning messages in this car could be triggered due to something seemingly unrelated. I was running low on gas yesterday and the low gas warning came up. At the same time, the adaptive front lighting warning also came up even thought it was working fine.

AcuraRLBlue

Sorry that I forgot to address your question. The other comment the dealer mentioned was that before the 05 RL was designed in such a way as to be albe to show the warnings to the owners, other cars did have warning messages (that are unrelated to the real problems a car had) that only the mechanics could see with their shop diagnostic computers. At that time, my dealer had sold 20 RL's and 3 of them (including mine) had this warning came up.

I don't know exactly what to take from this. May be some auto mechanics on this forum could comment on this.

Perlowin

I recently had the recall work done, and now I get the random door locks, mirror not returning to normal position after reverse, and... once in a while when I press the window up/down they stop and dont' go all the way up or down (yes I press/pull the button far enough).

Anyone else using their windows after having the recall work done?