Road Rage

Some tips from an old wrench on little things you can do to ensure longevity of your car:

1) Lube the axle boots every 2nd oil change: Put the car on stands or ramps, remove any grime with a cleaner soaked rag, then spray the boots with quality silicone spray (such as 3M).

2) Remove and replenish brake fluid from the master cylinder. This is not hard. Get a baster from the store. Clean it and let it dry thoroughly. Remove the master cylinder (brake fluid reservoir) and carefully remove the fluid down to about 1 inch remaining. DO NOT REMOVE ALL OF IT OR AIR CAN GET INTO SYSTEM! DO NOT GET ANY FLUID ON THE PAINT.

After you are done, replenish the fluid with Honda Brake fluid froma sealed container. Rinse the baster and allow to air dry. Keep it in a Ziploc bag between uses.

Dispose of the fluid properly.

This helps keep your fluid fresh between changes every 2 years. Brake fluid actually does move through the system slowly - do this once a month and you may not need to replace the fluid as often. Your braking capacity will stay at top form.

3) Put a boittle of RedLine Water Wetter in the system once a year - it will bolster the coolant, and add lubricants and conditioners said to improve cooling efficiency. It is compatible with Hondas.

4) Never use anything other than Honda coolant or a complete replacement with Dex-Cool. Silicates in conventional fluids with actual wear away the water pump and other parts!

5) Lube all the weatherseals with a quality silicone dressing (such as Meguiar's 39) once a year. Everything - trunk, door seals including the bottom, engine compartment. Weatherseals are expensive to replace, and damage from their failure can cause a myriad of prolems.

6) Keep the radiator and condenser free of debris. Hose down 3 times a year.

7) Replace brake fluid and bleed system every two years. Brake fluid is hydrophilic - it picks up water. As the water level increases, the temp at which the brakes can function drops - if enough eater gets in the system, it can vaporize, and water vapor can be compressed, leaving you with little or no brake function. Plus, the water can corrode things.

8) Do not use oil additives, transmission additives.

9) Occasionally do one or two panic stops (activating ABS). This will burn off deposits that can glaze onto the brake pads, and also keep the ABS modulator free from sticking - they are very expensive.

10) Give your car time to warmup before you nail it. Do not go by water temp - oil temp is a better indicator of thermal equilibrium in the engine and drivetrain. Cars today are made of many disimilar metals, which expand at different rates. The engineers figure this into their designs, but longevity is increased if you allow homeostasis (fancy name for all warmed up) to occur before you drive the car hard.

Turboara

thanks for the tips!

Wash n Wax

I noticed that my TL-S is the fastest warming up vehicle (according to temperature gauge) of any vehicle I've owned. Thanks for the advice. That explains it a little better. I had been wanting to post a question about why my car seems to warm up so fast!

bricot

The actual boots themselves?

Nice tips, I will be printing this out and keeping it file, thanks for taking the time to type it out.

1000bpm

Thanks for the tips Roadrage. As usual very useful stuff.

bioyuki

Wow, just had a flashback to Biology class... :o

Great Post!

daverman

Excellent tips! Thanks a bunch!

PeterUbers

iTrader: (1)

Great tips!

I always wondered why cars' I've owned/driven started to make noises while cruising and especially turning (knocking noises) .. each time I took it into a Midas, they said sand/salt had corroded my axle bearings and what not. Now I know how to clean 'em out. I'm printing this out as well. Thanks again,

Pete

P.S. Where exactly are the boots?

SoundSpeed

Thanks Road Rage, excellent post.

pianoman41

Each one of your half-shafts is enclosed in a boot. If you jack up the car (preferably drive up a set of ramps) you'll see them very clearly--they go from the transaxle out to each front wheel and have a tapering "accordion" look to them. Just remember that although silicone will protect rubber from premature dryrot, too much will attract dirt which is not a good thing. Use thoroughly but sparingly.

tdoh

Excellent tips! Here's my opinion on some of them:

#2--Why perform this step when it's more or less thoroughly done in #7? Doing #2 doesn't really serve any ideal practical purpose; if you're not going to remove all the brake fluid from the MC (leaving 1 inch), then putting in new brake fluid isn't really gonna prolong/improve brake performance drastically. I would imagine that by leaving some old brake fluid in the MC there's probably almost as much brake fluid remaining in the system than what you took out, so mixing new brake fluid with that much old brake fluid doesn't really do much good. I'd say cross out #2 and do #7 instead.

#3--Is this step permissible given what is said in #4?
FWIW--I can see how Redline WW can be of some use but given what you said in #8, why would a engine and tranny not need additives while a radiator would, rhetorically speaking?

#10--I agree here, but it would be kinda hard to determine what the oil temp is on a TL-S unless you add an after-market oil temp gauge.

Please, don't take this personally or anything, but as constructive, but somewhat humorous, criticism.

Tony

Road Rage

No offense? None taken! I never take feedback personally, esp. now that my skin is as thick as a batllefship's waterline ever since I got involved in the Great Amsoil Debate's imbroglio (hey, look that one up - I am nothing if not vocabularially enhanced!).

Let me explain the rationality behind the brake fluid replenishment vs. bi-annual replacement. First, they are not paradoxical. Replenishment monthly will ensure that the fluid performs best, by removing the water. Since the fluid does move through the system slowly, what comes up to the high point (the master cylinfder reservoir) can be drained off, and the fluid that replaces it is primo.

However, it is still a good idea to have an fluid replacement every two years. Why? Because there may be dirt and solids from normal braking action and blowby of seals which will sink to the low point of the system, generally the rear brake calipers. Forocing the fluid out through the bleed holes will ensure that any debris and contaminated fluid that does not get replaced by the monthly replenishments DOES. Make sense now?

Re: why would one need an additive in the radiator vs. the engine/tranny? Because it works for one reason. No engine additive I have ever seen could meet its burden of proof vs. performance claims. For trannies same thing. Axle friction modifiers (not applicable to our transaxles) are made by GM and Ford, but are considered part of normal fluid replacement so they are not added regularly.

Coolant builds up acids, etc,, and Water Wetter 's components buffer the system against corrosive effects until the replacement at two years or 30k miles. As to its other claims, who knows - but it is cheap, compaitble with the formula Honda uses, and will do not harm. The silicones in it will act as anti-forming agents, prveenting water pump cavitation effects (kind of like Digel with Simethicone does in your stomach).

rockinTLS

Rage,

Great post. Lot's of stuff I never though of doing. I copied and stored the info for later reference.

I noticed in the manual that Acura does not recommend DOT 5(?) brake fluid. Any idea why? From what I understand, most of the DOT 5 stuff is silicone and would not have the water absorption issue.

Road Rage

DOT 5 has been, for all intents and purposes, a bust in automobile applications.

A few reasons:

1) It is not hydrophilic - water can and will accumulate in the system, and can high point or low point, and it is possible for a complete loss of braking to occur if it vaporizes.


2) Most cars seals do not make a 100% seal with this stuff - it squeezes by, resulting in a very soft pedal

3) It is not compatible with glycol based DOT 3 and DOT 4. Mixing is potentially hazardous, and given that many people and techs are idiots (or the owner would not advise them that DOT 5 is in use) can result in potentially dangerous situations in a litigious society.

4) Because of #3, you have to flush the system with rubbing alcohol to get every last drop of glycol out, then allow the system to dry out, then run through a ton of glycol. It is almost impossible to get every last iota out, leading to worries.

The only real benefit is that of you spill it on your paint, it won't hurt it.

BTW, when I restored my 454 Corvette to concours quality, I added stainless steel brakes and DOT5 fluid. It was awful. I had to spend 5 hours. flushing and bleeding the system to get it all out.

rockinTLS

Interesting & good to know. Thanks.

I ran DOT5 once in a sandrail I used to own. At the time DOT5 was the hot item. Didn't own the rail long enough to notice any issues but it was nice not to worry about the paint since most of the lines were above the painted frame. I hope the next guy didn't have any issues. I did tell him the DOT5 was in there.

I forgot to mention that this is the first I'd heard of all the rinsing, flushing, etc. I'd swear that the DOT5 I had said it was compatable with the DOT3/4 stuff. Anyway, too late now. I know better next time. Don't use it!

ucla107

hmmmm... thatz a lot of work