Automotive

How to put 2021-Present Acura RDX into Neutral without Starting the Engine

TL:DR; Use 8mm socket, remove engine air filter housing, use same socket to turn shift lock release pawl on transmission casing.

Did you fill up your Acura RDX with diesel fuel by accident at those combination gas pumps? Well I have, because Illinois doesn’t mandate the GREEN nozzle to be diesel only and they don’t have larger nozzles on them that prevents one from inserting them into unleaded cars. BP uses green for everything, E85 uses green, so there’s no mental or physical reminder to check what you’re pumping.

When you accidentally fill an unleaded fuel engine vehicle with diesel fuel, the one thing you don’t want to do is burn more than a spoonful of diesel in your engine. The injectors will become gummed up and it will cost you $$$ to replace them. That means, if the engine is running, turn it off. You do not want to start the engine or even put the key in the ignition, because as soon as the electronics are turned on, the fuel pump starts sending fuel from the tank to the injectors to be ready for ignition.

If you manage to catch yourself early and not run the car, you can just have the diesel fuel pumped out and flush the system with fuel cleaner or high octane unleaded gasoline to burn up the minuscule amount of diesel left behind. But how do you get the car to the shop if can’t drive it. You gotta get it towed.

Typically, to get your car towed, you will need to put the car in Neutral. The new RDX (MDX, TLX… all the new Acuras) has a button shifting system where it is computer controlled instead of being physically connected to the gears. So, the car has to be running to put the gear into Neutral – and that’s exactly what you want to avoid.

You’d think there’s a way to put the car into Neutral with the electronics ON in ACC position, but no, that wasn’t in the mind of the engineers at Honda. The car MUST go through the whole self-test mode with Ignition before shifting out of Park. So what do we do if the battery is dead? or the ECU? or any of the dozens of systems that could fail before starting the engine? How does one tow the car into the shop? How does Acura move the car around the warehouse without the battery connected?

The answer is the shift lock release pawl on the gear case. It is located under the engine air filter housing. The filter housing is secured to the chassis using four 8mm hex screws. The release pawl also happens to fit a 8mm socket.

4 Steps to putting the Acura RDX into Neutral without turning on the car

  1. First unclip the two knobs on the air intake to loosen it.
  2. A long socket extension on a ratchet will make removing the four hex screws on the filter housing easier.
  3. Lift up on the whole apparatus and you should be able to see the top of the gear box.
  4. The 8mm socket on a long ratchet handle will make it easier to reach the release pawl. Turn the pawl counter clock wise (toward the front of the vehicle) about 30º. Voila, the car is in Neutral.