The 2005 TL appears to have a design flaw with the door handle cover coming off and getting lost. If you are under warranty (which I doubt at this point) you can try to get them to fix it under “goodwill”, however, for me it is worth the $12 to get it sent to you online from here:
Door Cover defect service bulletin:
Seems like for $2k its not a bad piece of machinery. Wonder about the reliability of it though.
Ever since Ike came rumbling through the Gulf, Charlotte has been stuggling with gas. It all started about two days before Ike’s landfall in TX when gas prices soared from $3.79/gallon to over $5.00/gallon at some stations. Panic ensued and the gas supply has been hit hard ever since.
The Governor and the Mayor have been promising a “large supply of gas” on Thursday, then Friday, and now promising its arrival by the end of the weekend. Well that gas delivery hasnt been made yet and I spent the last remaining “comfortable” amount of fuel left in my car in search of more gas. After checking with seven stations in the area, expending more than 18 miles of fuel, I couldnt find a single gas station that was selling.
Not really sure what to do at this point.
The factory sound system of most Honda cars is absolutely horrible. Along with replacing the speakers it would be nice to add a subwoofer, however, space inside the small cabin is limited. Putting a sub in the trunk may be popular with folks looking to try and impress those around them but I want good sound in the cabin.
I found the following product from JL Audio called a stealth box that is custom made for a lot of vehicles including the Del Sol. The enclosure simply replaces the back cabin interior panel with two down-firing 8″ subs.
http://mobile.jlaudio.com/products_stealthbox_detail.php?fit_id=1403
The Saturn Sky electric conversion car. Car $27K + Conversion $25K = ~$50K
Order one today: http://www.ampmotorworks.com/html/order.shtml
After a bit of trouble in the beginning with the IACV which has since been replaced, I finished off a tank of gas clocking in at 37.1MPG on the Del Sol. The little 1.6L engine has a bit of trouble keeping up with my previous driving style, thus instead of 5th I use 4th gear way more than I should. For the last couple of weeks I have been making a concerted effort to use 5th gear and take a slower approach to work and back. This had made for an uneventful (aka safer), yet more economical driving experience. I may get in the habbit of this from now on 
Im guessing I can push the boundary still by leaving the roof on the car during my commutes, but I am still too attached to feeling the wind and glancing at the sky. Maybe this winter I will best my record.
My Honda Del Sol was having slight issues with its brakes and I noticed that the rotors were pretty thin in the front. When replacing brake pads or the rotor, both should be serviced at the same time. For example, if the pads are worn out you should have the rotor either machined or replaced, such that the grooves left behind from the old pads dont shorten the life of the new pads.
Here is how I changed them:
VW is planning on making a production car in 2010 based on a prototype car called the “One-Liter”. The prototype features an 8hp diesel engine, aerodynamic carbon fiber body, weighing in at around 600lbps, and getting 232MPG.
Like all Honda’s I have owned, the Del Sol is yet another example of the thoughtless engineering of Factory Honda Car Audio. It has been identified that the Del Sol uses a total of four 6.5″ speakers, one in each door and two in the rear. The speakers in the back are very shallow and only allows for about 2.5″ inches in depth.
I have started looking at the following speakers for the doors:
On my way home one day, my Del Sol produced a “check engine” light on the dash and the car became near impossible to shift without stalling (the engine idled way too low). Upon arriving home, I checked the codes using the field service indicator mode. Not a huge surprise to find a code 14 – Idle Air Control problem. Here is what I did to fix.