knobster1973

Hello All,
I'm somewhat new here but have been reading most of the postings. I am a 2002 Acura TL/S owner with ~125,000 miles. The car has been great with minor fixes once in a while. The transmission has been worked on by Acura dealership during one of the routine maintenance. I do keep my car on a regular checkup and maintenance. But since it is now over 100,000 mile, I want to know what are some of the major items that you recommend focusing on.

Here's the condition of the car:
Power and acceleration is still excellent. But I am noticing that the car is alot noisier. It used to be really quiet. The rides seems more bumpy. Maybe my struts / shocks needs to be replaced. hmmm...

My question to all of you experts are:

1. What preventive maintenance do you recommend? (not the routine oil change / tire rotation and etc). I am asking about major items.

2. How much do you think some of those repairs might be? Just a guess.

I am trying to make a list of the items and then prioritze them for the fixes.

Any comments is greatly appreciated.

Regards,
Knobster

01tl4tl

Was the 105k service with timing belt-water pump spark plugs and valve adjustment done?
thats in the range of 800+

read and perform `seafoam the ol TL` and its tune up in a can.
I replaced my shocks at 80k, others have 150k and still on the originals- riding like a boat~

knobster1973

Was the 105k service with timing belt-water pump spark plugs and valve adjustment done?
thats in the range of 800+

No, that's the one that holding me back because it was going to cause so much. I've been saving up for a while and will get them completed. Hopefully this will put to rest some of the issues.


read and perform `seafoam the ol TL` and its tune up in a can.
I replaced my shocks at 80k, others have 150k and still on the originals- riding like a boat~

I'll take a look at the suggested posting for more info.

BTW, thanks for the quick response...

knobster1973

Well, just schedule my 105,000 miles maintenance. Man, this is going to hurt (my wallet). ~$1200 with the spark plugs replace.

Do any of you know if the spark plugs are easy to do yourself or do you recommend letting the shop do it? I've changed spark plugs before but not on this car. I just don't know how hard or complex it maybe.

MurdaZ

iTrader: (1)

its easy, just the rear plugs r hard...

knobster1973

I am guessing that I will have to lift up the car in order to get access to the rear spark plugs.

01tl4tl

its easy to do the plugs, and you are getting bent over on that price. Dealer charges 20+ per plug when the parts store sell them for 7 each, and it take less than 1 hour to change them all at a slow pace.
Is that dealer or private honda-acura shop? Make sure it includes valve adjustment.
The rear plugs, all you do is use a 9 inch extensiojn- a 6 and 3 inch togther will work.
There is a little bump in the firewall where your hand fits while using ratchet to remove the plugs- like they designed it or something!
The only differance from some cars is no spark plug wires- just the coil on top of each spark plug- remove the 2 bolts and pull up- handle very gently!!! and remove spark plug like normal car.
Do the seafoam treatment a few days before the service

knobster1973

Thanks! I kind of felt like that too. So, I'm going to do the spark plugs myself. I do have the tools but was not sure just how complex it will be. I live in the Dallas / Fort Worth metroplex... is their a private shop that anyone recommends for Acura TL/S? The quote is from the Acura dealership. And thanks for all the helpful information.

fsttyms1

Plugs are very simple on the tl. The hardest part is the rears ONLY because you have to lay across the engine.

knobster1973

Great, and thanks again. I've just look at the post about seafoam. My goodness, I need to do that so it will clean up my engine's internals. I understood what needed to be done for the oil and gas portion but just did not know what the part about feed a line into the booster (or something). The picture that it was referring in the post was not a good link.

knobster1973

For the spark plus, I do know that it has to be NGK Iridium IX... is that platinum or regular?

01tl4tl

the 15 page seafoam thread has all the pics you can want.
The intake manifold vacuum line is what you need and its very easy to find.
Do the can in oil right before an oil/filter change as it will fill the filter with grunge!

NSXNEXT

iTrader: (2)

Don't waste your money taking the car to Acura for the 105K service. Buy the parts online and take it to any Honda or Acura mechanic. Your wallet will thank me later.

01tl4tl

NGK Iridium IX contain IRIDIUM- the latest and trickest metal for electrodes and ground wires in spark plugs. Has been used in race cars and airplanes for decades but was too costly for public. Technology in mining now makes it obtainable by everyone.

Platinum is the old school stuff but works fine in the TL if you want them. Platinum was stock