palidanx

I'm just curious who out there has an 04 tsx with lots of miles. A couple questions

a) Have you run into any specific car maintenance issues?
b) Is there anything I should be looking out for?

My car has 125,000 miles and just wondering what else other people are experiencing.

thx!

Simba91102

I've done little more than maintenence and wear and tear on my 05 (174K miles).

kbh

I'm at 168K. My car still runs well with basic maintenance, but is burning about a quart of oil every 5000 miles. No major mechanical failures so far.

gregmb

My '04 TSX now has 187K miles - it hasn't needed anything but maintenance for the last 50K miles (knock on wood . It does burn about 1/2 quart of oil or so every 5k miles, but everything else mechanical seems solid. Except for religious service and maintenance, the only "extra" repairs have been A/C compressor and new timing chain. very happy with the honda/acura reliability.

Miamicarfan

Why did you have to replace the timing chain?

gregmb

According to the dealer, I experienced a rare occurrence of a "stretched" or "fatigued" timing chain (service lights, misfiring, etc.), and it had to be replaced at around 110K miles. The replacement fixed it. I drive at higher rpm's allot to stay in the power bands, so I guess that could have contributed to the failure. No issues since then.

Simba91102

You mentioned in an earlier post that you're on top of the maintenance. The consensus here (this forum) by members that have also had to replace the chain seems to be that failure to change the oil often enough may be the most likely culprit. I'm just the messenger.

Miamicarfan

gregmb:

several questions:

1) How often did you change your oil? How many miles passed between oil changes?

2) Did your car ever run low on oil where the oil dipstick registered a level under the two hash marks on the oil dipstick?

3) When you replaced the timing chain, did you also replace the tensioner? How much was the bill for the timing chain replacement?

Miamicarfan

Simba:

How often do you change your oil?

I was under the impression that low oil levels contributed to this problem. I remember several members discussing this problem also having an oil burning problem. The possibility that a TSX which does NOT have oil usage problems can develop a stretched chain because of long oil change intervals is not one I have read about often.

I hope I am okay with changing my oil every 5000 miles. I drive about 80-85% in city and rest in highway.

cruiserchuck

I have been changing my oil every 5000 -6000 miles, and my 2004 is going strong with 170,000 miles. I have not had any oil burning or timing chain issues.

Simba91102

You may be right that the culprit is low oil levels, I may misremember (the years catch up....). I've kind of run the gambit on oil change intervals. Most recently (the last few years), I'm at around 7500 miles on my 05 for an interval (I go with the MM on the 07). That's after going with the recommended 10K mile interval for the first 50K miles or so, then going to a 5K mile interval, then settling on 7500 after having the oil tested a few times. The consensus was that 7500 miles was a safe, conservative interval (and for someone who drives all highway miles, 10K miles between changes is probably acceptable). Almost all of the miles have been highway. I still strongly advise having the oil tested a few times before arriving at a mileage interval for changing the oil and filter. And the type of miles driven is probably the biggest factor in how long an oil will remain in good shape. Even in the hottest weather it can take up to 15 minutes or so (that's driving minutes, so under load) to get the oil to operating temperature, longer in colder temps. It needs to get that hot to burn off moisture and any chemicals created during the combustion process. I think many of us change our oil and filter more often than we need to, though few actually know why. Oh, I'm at 178K miles on the 05 (no oil added between changes), 174K on the 07 (sometimes maybe a half quart at around 4K miles after a change).

Miamicarfan

cruiserchuck:

That is good to know.

A couple of questions:

1) Are you the original owner or did you buy used?

2) During the 170,000 miles, what percentage would you say has been driven on the highway and what percentage has been in the city?

3) Was your TSX purchased in the United States or in Canada? I ask because some Canadian members of this board have reported oil burning problems.

cruiserchuck

I am the original owner. About 70% of the miles have been on the highway, 30% in the city. I purchased my TSX in the United States.