Hey guys just introducing myself to the forums. I have recently bought a 02 BHP TL-S for the nice price of $4500 plus taxes and title fee's. When i got to the dealership my eyes fell on the tl and i was in love lol. I always love the tl's but thought i would never own one. The owner of the dealership even took $1000 of the price since this was 5th car my family has bought from him. I am aware of all the j-series tranny issue and i made sure the tranny was in good condition. The onwer of the dealership is 20 year honda certified tech and said that i know my hondas since i bought up the tranny issue. Turns out the tranny has a lovely 30 miles on it after he rebuild it him self with all new components. The tl is in great shape on the exterior with a few scrathes here and there and the interior is tan without the navi package. The only kicker about the tl is the mileage 201,000!!!!! When i took it for the test drive the tl ran like a brand new car with 20 miles lol, the fresh tranny was so smooth and the shifts were like silk. My future plans for the car are pretty simple- Lip kit, 3000k fog hids, 10000k low beam hids, K-sport coilovers with front and rear camber kit, A nice system, black interior swap and low mileage j32a2(to replace my high mileage j32a2) with maybe a 6-speed swap. Thanks for your time guys.

 

Congrats on the car but with that kind of mileage you paid too much IMO.

 

Welcome to azine.

 

I know the mileage is up there but I found another motor locally with 95000 mile on it for $350.

 

Welcome to Acurazine! This is the place to learn all about your TL.

There's no need to worry about the engine. Properly maintained, these engines can run forever.

And, given the age of the car, a lot of those miles are likely low stress highway miles.

 

Don't do 10k low beams, its vehicular douchbaggery.

 

dang makes me sad how the values of our cars seem so low now =/ but yeah... liking your future ideas on the car but yeah imo i'd get no higher than 6k for low beams

 

The OEM bulbs are 4300K and they put the most useable light on the road. Going to higher Kelvin ratings trades visibility/performance for appearance. Several forum members have reported that even 6000K bulbs produced a significant loss in visibility.

Check out the following link before you opt for 10000K bulbs:

http://intellexual.net/hid.html

 

yea 10000k will just be purple and thats a bit on the ricey side for me. I did my tsx projector retrofit and right now i have 4300k on one side and the other side 6000k and I can tell a huge difference. The 6000k looks bad ass but visually, its like only 2/3 the output of my 4300k, i'd say 1/3 loss of output is pretty huge, and at 10000k, you will just see purple glow on the ground. Buttttt then again, coupled with HID foglights, you might be alright. Welcome buddy, dont listen to these guys, at 4500 you can either buy this car or a stupid civic/integra and you made a wise choice. A new motor is way cheaper then a b series motor. I say buy the newer motor, swap out anything you can, belts, gaskets, whatever, and set it aside until you think you're gonna blow.

 

Congrats. Lets see some pics!

 

Ive seen J32s with 35-50 k go for 500. Keep looking around. Something with near 100k is getting up there for a used motor. If there is nothing wrong with yours why replace it. Mine ran stronger with 210k on it than with 20k.

 

its a freak of the automotive world!

 

Looks like i'm gonna go with a more suitable 8000k for my lowbeams. I know i could got a civic or an integra but i already have a 96 integra project car sitting in my back yard so i'm good. This is actually my 6th honda so i kno my way around these cars. Not tryin to compare at tl to an integra but i know honda's really well.

Well here are the pics from the dealership.

 

I kno i'm not gonna have a problem with the stock motor but i would to get that motor to have on the side and freshen it up before i put it. Since the tranny isnt the redesigned one i kno about 40k to 50k miles down the line i'm gonna have a tranny problem. Thats most likely when i'll swap the motor and do the 6sp swap.

 

ahhh wish my car was black. that interior swap would suck cause of the dash. But same rules applies to this car like your other Hondas. I had a 2000 prelude before and my car has the same mods as the prelude. lowered, lip kit, honda/acura rims, and tint. Good receipe for a fresh car.

 

DAM that is one clean TL-S for 200K miles.. I bet it still runs NICE... My 2001 CL-S stills runs with the best of them and she has 170K miles, all put on by meee.... The 3rd tranny only has 70K miles on it.. I wonder how many trannies that car went through in it lifetime! I would not even go with 8000k low beams, I had 8K and sh()T gave my a headache evertime i drove long distances (strains your eyes ) So now I have 6K and ITS PERRRRFECT! Get a wood wheel on there and slam it...


Sounds to me like you are gonna spend more MNoney on parts then You did on the car!

 

Wow 8k are still to bright? Thanks for the compliments on the car. Yea looks like the mods are gonna cost more than the car.

 

If the transmission was just rebuilt with all new parts, it may very well last a long time. The one obvious thing that you wouldn't get is the new case design with the improved oil flow passages. But that failure mode was apparently never a significant one in the first place. And the oil jet recall mod also addresses that with the current case design.

And yes, even 8000K is too far up the Kelvin scale for your low beams. Some forum members that have run 6000K bulbs have been disappointed. Read the HID background link posted above for more details.

The primary function of headlights is to light up the road ahead of you. The blue and purple hues that you get with higher Kelvin bulbs won't look too good if you end up flying off the road because you didn't see something in time.

 

i got 5000k and im loving it. whiter then 4300k but not to the point where i can visibly see a loss of light, so they work for me. congratz on the ride, def look into doing something to that steering wheel.

hehe, and pm if you wanna buy a rear lip already painted for $200 plus shipping

 

Yeah I got a wooden wheel off ebay for $130 shipped while acura wanted over $400 for the same exact wheel!

 

So i cant swap out the dash like i did with my integra?

O I called the dealer to see how many times the tranny has been changed. They dealer told me only once but they couldnt tell me how many miles it had when it when in. Right now it's on its 3rd with me.

 

Wow I know thats alot of miles but you cant beat it for the price. Enjoy and youll soon fall in love with this site.

 

Thanks for the warm welcome guys.

 

:gheyhug:

 

Welcome to AZ. You'll learn a lot bout your car on here and wanna do so many mods you never thot were possible..

First off..8000K is way too blue/purple. If you're goin for just looks then go ahead but you'll have no light on the road to see those crackheads as CJITTY once put it.

Second..u say you know honda. So you know 200K means that engine is finally startin to break in Don't put your money towards that quite yet. I'd go for 6 MT swap before new engine.

Third..have fun with the new car!!

 

Wow! Very clean car inside/out for 200k mileage. Congrats and welcome to AZ!

 

I've learn so much from day one. I was wandering around here for week before i joined. Only thing i cant really find are a radio install diy and info on the black interior swap.

 

Not a bad looking car for the mileage!

so has it been wrecked front passenger side? Looks like a fresh quarter there minus the pinstripe..oh yeah IMO you should lose the pin striping all around..

I agree with the others on your headlight bulb temp. going above 5000 is pointless

Welcome to the forums!

 

When i ran the carfax on it, it came back accident free, but i am gonna remove the pinstripe when i have some time on my hands.

 

nice pic up i remember when my interior was tan.. now its black i like the black more

 

How did you go about doing the black interior swap?

 

Def worth the $4500 u paid IMO. clean car, welcome to the forums

 

Welcome to the forum. The black interior swap is expensive and it will probably take a while to collect all the pieces. Talk to Brianlin87 or Thinhthan they are two on here that I know have done it. I was going to do it, but decided for the time being my tan was fine. After I put the sixer in I'll swap my interior.

 

O ok. Ill pm them when my trail session is over. Hey rybread how do you like your tanabe catback?

 

Welcome. I too thought i would never own a tls. I got the NBP also in March for 8900 with 74000 miles. Your car looks good for the mileage.