Hello Everyone,

I've been spending a lot of time on the forum reading all the DIY guides and really liked what I saw so I decided to join. This is my first car and I just bought it used last week, so I'm a complete newb lol, and was wondering if you could give me any tips/suggestions on maintenance that I should do to the car or any mods that would help the life of the car. The DIY threads inspired me so I plan on doing all the labor on my own; I really like this car so I want to learn everything about it and know all the ins and outs of how it runs.

The car is an 03 TL Type-S with 132700 miles on it. I believe that it still has the original transmission.

Recently I changed the filter in the engine and the HEPA filters, all of them were filthy.

But here is the list I’ve come up with so far based on what I’ve read on the forum.

Plan on doing this weekend:

1. SeaFoam Treatment in the gas tank, oil, and the vac line.
2. Change the oil
3. Spark Plugs (bought Iridium IX)
4. Tranny Fluid (drain/refill x3)
5. Thinking of adding a Tranny Cooler (would you recommend this?)

Waiting for my paycheck to do the rest lol

1. Timing Belt/Water Pump (still has the original timing belt, thinking of doing the DIY, would you strongly suggest I get a pro? Personally I’d rather do all the research on my own and spend the money that would go to labor on the proper tools and quality parts)
2. Brakes/Rotors
3. Driver Side Headlight Assembly/HIDs (there’s a lot of moisture in it and the bulb died as a result, I already bought a replacement assembly. I read that you should replace the HIDs in pairs, but I’m wondering what the reason is? Also, any HIDs that you recommend?)
4. Replacing one of the break light bulbs

If you could recommend any quality products/parts for the list I created above I would really appreciate it. Also, if there is any other work that I missed on my little list I created that needs to be done based on the mileage and age of the car, please let me know.

Thank you in advance, and sorry for the long first post, like I said, I'm a complete newb with working on cars.

 

congrats on your new babay!
register with acura care and ask if all recalls are taken care of
1 800 382 2238 x5 gets a human, need cars VIN
also reg with www.owners.acura.com need VIN there too
can download an owner manual FREE

scroll thru the thread list in main section here, and special section Problems and Fixes
for answers to most questions
our diy master list link is 3rd item down the normal main list

see my easy seafoam method of gas tank only instead of vac port
oil method stays same at 1/2 can and drive 30 minutes right before change

timing belt can be done at home with skill, a helper, and a few tools- see DIY
clean egr system of intake manifold while fixing the rest of the car up

always replace bulbs in pairs so they are the same brightness and color output
brake light bulbs= replace all 4, they get the same amount of use, 1 fails the next isnt far behind,,same with turn signals,,lucky they sell them as a 2 pack- special bulbs of course ~$6 pair

headlights- reseal housing or replace from ebay,
get full aftermarket kit new waterproof ballast, ignitor/connector wire and new bulbs
5000k color suggested , no higher
www.hidextra.com a good source

 

the moisture didnt kill your bulb as much as its dripped out the wiring pass thru hole on bottem of housing and gotten inside the ballast located directly below! and fried the electronics..pics on here of the problem
One of the most common problems at our cars age is ballast/capacitor failure, you can get a full new everything for what acura wants for 1 part of the system , using the same problematic parts!

trans: blue paint on bolt heads on trans = warranty replaced unit
a 3x3 is risky with unknown history and miles
start with 1 draina drefill see how it reacts. use honda DW1
and it actually drains up to 3.4 qts = measure and refill carefully!!!
see owner book for how to ck level correctly- warm a certain amount

 

headlights low beams- if you get a pink or purple tint at startup- as seen against the garage door, thats death by age

if one light wont turn on or goes off while driving and comes back with repeated use of the headlight switch on/off,,thats time for a kit
Very exciting when BOTH low beams quit on the freeway
Note if it happens: pull signal level to activate high beams!!! (guess who didnt figure that out at the moment)
they will operate regardless of the lows-regular type bulbs and different system

 

so would you recommend I just leave it be because of the miles? I took a look and didn't see any blue paint on any of the bolts

thanks for the detailed response