The Maintenance Required Indicator comes on when it is time for your regularly scheduled maintenance. Whenever this light is reset, it will come on for two seconds when you turn the key to ignition for the first 6,000 miles. Between 6,000 and 7,500 miles, the light will turn on for two seconds and then flash for ten seconds when you turn the key to ignition. And then after 7,500 miles without having the scheduled maintenance performed, the indicator will remain on as a constant reminder.
During the COVID Pandemic, my Acura CL-S has been sitting a lot more than usual without the opportunity for me to take it out for a long commute to work to get the battery properly re-charged. There was a long stretch of time where the car sat a little too long and the battery depleted completely. After I fully charged my battery with a battery tender, I tried starting up the car again and it would not start. It would crank, but it just wouldn’t turn over. After doing a quick search online, I found a common issue with many Acuras, Hondas, and other makes that use a relay called the PGM-FI relay.
I finally got my Acura CL Type-S moved (pushed) into my driveway. Now that I’m able to work on the CL in the comfort of my own driveway, I started getting to work. The hood struts unfortunately are no longer working, so the hood keeps falling down on my head. Annoyingly, every time I need to work under the hood, I have to prop it up with various 2×4’s that I have laying around the house. I figure that one of the first things I need to take care of are the hood struts (shocks) as it will make working on anything else under the hood much easier.
A little over a year ago, I picked up a 2003 Acura CL Type-S as I was looking for a new project car to work on. I honestly wasn’t even looking for a CL Type-S specifically, but I spotted this one on Craigslist with a 6-speed manual transmission. For those who are familiar with the Acura CL, and the Type-S model in particular, you will know how rare it is to find a CL-S in a manual transmission. It is estimated that there were about 2700 Acura CL Type-S cars ever produced in a 6-speed manual transmission.
