Timmy18

An unimportant but long time update for Acurazine. I haven't popped in for a while now and feel guilty seeing as this is one of the best Acura forums and I used to be glued to this place. I mostly moved over to Temple Of Vtec, which respectfully is dead now, so I figure to come back here and see how things are going, especially in the 1G community! Last time I was on AZ I was posting about my Vigor which I regretfully never kept the thread updated with. Anyway, onto some TSX things!


Quick background: This is my first and highschool car that my mom essentially gave to me back in 2012. It's a very early 2003 build '04 5AT non-navi that we have had since 2007. The car has been trouble free besides the very common HAVC and radio light failure and the typical K series starter slow death at 112K miles followed by the alternator. Then was the knock sensor in 2021 and the A/C compressor clutch not long after. For three years I had dealt with no having A/C in North Carolina off and on between driving my Vigor which did have A/C. Finally last weekend I did the complete A/C system replacement in my driveway at home and vacuumed and charged the system with success and have since started dailying the car again. Soaking up the nostalgia of blasting the the Away From The Sun Album from 3DD on CD back in my first car, ice cold A/C blasting in the summer. If only I was still 16 back in 2012.....

The repair was way easier than I had feared, I wish I had done it sooner rather than being lazy.

The car has been flawless outside of the mentioned repairs. Now at 190,000 miles and averaging 28mpg mixed driving, the K24a2 doesn't burn oil (but is getting a bit leaky!) and the 5AT is holding up strong. The car still feels tight, though there a few annoyances developing outside of it being due for an alignment, tires and brakes soon. Two NVH issues have been killing me with the car lately and those are the front windows seem to rattle and pop in the the upper doors window channels especially over rough road surfaces. I can alleviate this by slightly cracking the windows to relieve some pressure off the channels but then there is a whisper of wind at speed. I may try greasing the channels and seeing if the noise goes away. The other annoyance is with the rear deck rattling it's absolute a$$ off with bassy songs. I have added some sound deadening with some success but I have located the noise maker to be the center seatbelt retractor. I can stop the rattling if I pull or push down on the retracting mechanism from inside the trunk. The mounting hardware is tight and it functions correctly. I may remove the rear deck and try to find some adjustment or add more deadening. I've become a bit of an audiophile (with exception) over the years and I cannot stand the NVH from speakers alone. The road and engine noise in a car I can accept, but not speakers rattling body panels!

But other than that this car is as tight as can be for it's age and rebuilt title. I plan to focus on the audio system later this year and the cosmetics. The locals have take a liking to hitting the car unfortunately and while I have been making repairs, one finally snagged my rear "dog leg" between the rear door and rear wheel, so I'll need to finally bring it to a PDR guy to fix the creases. I plan to have it paint corrected as much as can be as the mirrors, door handles have some odd permanent black markings in the clear coat, looks like wear and in the photos below you'll see the driver side fender is misaligned and miss paint matched from it's original accident with the previous owner.

Mod and maintenance from 2012 - present:

2012: took ownership from mom. Immediately had Acura do the transmission, P.S, coolant, brake fluid services.
2013: installed the Blitzsafe Aux adapter (For my Sony Walkman ), Starter died and replaced at Honda (112,000 miles).
2014: upgraded the OEM key fob to the 2007/08 TL-S Switch Blade (Via HeelToe!), replaced alternator.
2015: installed Philips Ultinon HIDs (Blue/ Purple but not bright), replaced front door speakers and rear deck speakers with Pioneer TS-A6965R and TS-A652F
2016: installed Osram CBIs (6000K) and could see EVERYTHING! Ap2 S2000 exhaust tips installed.
2017: swapped on 18x8+45 TL Aspec wheels with Continental ECS tires, Hawk HP 5.0 pads and new rotors, TL-S rear sway bar, brake fluid flush with RBF660, another transmission fluid service. The car performed it and my first track day!
2018: serpentine belt replacement and serp belt tensioner replacement
2019: installed Koni Yellow shocks with Tein H.tech springs, SPC rear control arms, installed a JL Audio MBT-RX Bluetooth to Aux adapter for the Blitzsafe Aux. Car is now completely Bluetooth/ wireless.
2020: ordered the 03-05 EuroR rear and side lip kit, 03-05 CM2 (wagon) front lip, RARE OEM period correct Aspec badge (Canadian?)
2021: installed the EuroR kit, ordered SS brake lines and bought Genesis and TL-S Brembos, Serge Bo ECU reflash!
2022: car was hit in an intersection while I had a protected green turn arrow, fought with her insurance, found matching fender at LKQ
2023: headlight ballast died, replaced ballasts and igniters, poly urethane lower control arm compliance bushings
2024: replaced A/C system, installed aftermarket fog lights and independent fog light harness, added sound deadening to rear deck, ordered Phantom Audio upgraded amp, full ceramic 35% window tint all around


Planned for 2024:
-Full Audio upgrade: Full Polk DB+ system, dash tweets, 4 door 6.5s, rear deck 6x9s + JBL stealth sub in the spare tire well powered by two JL Audio JX400/4 amps and a JX500/1 mono being fed by the Phantom Audio amp for DSP reasons IF I like it during testing.
-Front lower ball joints (Sanki 555!)
-BC Racing full coil overs - I do NOT like how the car rides or handles with the current Koni Yellow + Teins.
-TL-S front brake upgrade and RDX/MDX/Pilot rear brake upgrade
-General paint correction
-Ambient interior lighting (OEM matching blue foot well and inner door handle) wired into the lights-on circuit
-Ambient exterior lighting (cool white) mirror puddle/ welcome lights wired into the door/ dome circuit
-Much due maintenance: valve adjustment, spark plugs and coils, gaskets and seals, valve cover wrinkle paint, trans, P.S, brake fluids
-2006-2011 Si Mufflers

Once the 2024 list is completed I don't know what else I'll be planning for the car. It would technically be a complete 2004 Aspec / OEM+ build in my eyes which was exactly my goal all along. I have thought about a black interior conversion with red ambient lighting and gauges, but I do like the OEM blue aesthetic for this era of Acura. Plus my Vigor already has red ambient lighting. My tan interior is in great shape still. No seat tears, no stains, nothing but the usual creasing. And for 190,000 miles and 20 years of wear I say it's held up remarkable as all I've ever used was Maguire's leather care. I know they're mostly vinyl seats, but they look a hell of a lot better than most 3G TL's currently...

Sometime around 2016 with Cooper Zeon RS3-A tires and really nothing else!


I'm not sure who let me put AP2 tips on soo early, but this should have been illegal!


TL-S rear sway bar and Aspec wheels that I stripped and painted myself, poorly




Track DAAAY!


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First time at Tail of the Dragon (2017)


CM2 Lip arrived


Serge Bo Reflash Night with Matts 04 6MT



Knock Sensor!




Koni Yellow + Tein H.Techs + SPC rear arms


EuroR kit install finally, intake resonator delete


Matts '03 CL-S 6MT Navi Comptech


Getting ready for summer



Spent the day restoring headlights



Then a Camry said BAM




Managed to clean it up but the door and bumper needs new paint. Pulled and eventually replaced the fender. Needed an alignment bad.






Then comes the A/C fix, finally!








Got it blowing a nice 38 degrees on a 90 degree humid day in NC







And that concludes the update for now. I can't be happier with this car really. Great handling, extremely reliable and easy to work on, great engine performance and potential, comfortable and well built premium interior. I just wish it had more power or better (sportier) gearing in the auto. But I easily get 30-34mpg on the highway as it is so I can't complain much. It just looks phenomenal on the road still this day and I appreciate it more and more every time I look at it.