Guys I'm glad to be here, and I'm ready to get involved on this forum. This is my first car that I have purchased on my own, and I plan on taking great care of it. Any and all suggestions are welcome, and I'm excited about my new (used) ride!

2004 Acura TL
3.2 V6
113k miles
Clean carfax
1 owner
Solid warranty

Car feels and drives like new. Exterior and interior are both damn near flawless. Right now my only plans are to slightly tint the windows, but would consider modifying the engine if you guys have any good ideas to increase power/mileage.

 

Welcome comrade

 

Congrats on the car! Make sure that the previous owner got his/her 105k service done!

 

Thanks for the advice. That would be shown on the carfax right?

 

Nice car I have the same interior, looks good just keep it clean.

 

Welcome from bb.com

I love the interior combo.

 

After being on this site for 5 minutes, it is clear that I need to do a 105k mile service. According to the carfax on this car, these were the only services done to the car since 100k miles:

Tires balanced
Oil and filter changed
Pre-delivery inspection completed
Steering/suspension checked
Spark plug(s) replaced
Throttle body cleaned/serviced
Electrical system checked


What else do I need to make sure to take care of? Thanks guys.

Also this was done at 80k miles:

Power steering hose(s)/line(s) replaced
Battery replaced

Also, all my posts should be prefaced with " I don't know anything about car parts."

 

Welcome Congrats Be careful with your credit card.

This website is a never ending want list

 

Welcome and congrats!

You need to have your timing belt replaced. I had my water pump replaced at the same time.

 

Congrats and Welcome. Cars looks clean

 

Congrats. Welcome to the Money Pit.

Car looks really clean.

 

Welcome to Daddy's Dojo.

Modifying your TL? Never heard of such a thing...

 

Haha seriously guys I'm not planning on modifying this car except for window tint. It's mainly for business so I look halfway decent in front of clients. I hope I don't catch the mod bug. So it's looking like I should be looking into a timing belt and water pump? Thanks for all the help!

 

^^^if there are no maint record available then yes TB/WP get it done, ATF 3x3 (drain and fill three times, each time you fill drive a day or two then repeat until 3x). replace your 3rd and 4th pressure switch, brake fluid flush, power steering fluid replacement, cabin air filter replace, spark plugs, air filter. That is all i can think of right now lol.

 

Thanks to 04WDPSeDaN! He helped me when I got my 105k service done. I'm just going to copy paste what he wrote..

__________________________________________________ _______________________________
Go to www.oemacuraparts.com

The T-belt part number is
14400-RCA-A01 BELT, TIMING (197YU20 VE-501) (UNITTA) $44.00

T-belt idler pully part number
14550-RCA-A01 IDLER, TIMING BELT (KOYO SEIKO)
$35.59

T-belt hydraulic tensioner part number
14520-RCA-A01 TENSIONER, TIMING BELT AUTO
$90.58

Water pump unit with gasket and part number
19200-RDM-A02 WATER PUMP (AISIN)$105.66

Also due at 105k is spark plugs with valve adjustment.
Spark plugs part number
9807B-5617W SPARK PLUG (IZFR6K-11) (NGK) $14.49 EACH (You need 6X)

I guessed without plugs, your total with tax and shipping might be anywhere between $300-350.

With plugs your looking at with tax and shipping
$400-420ish. Again, I am only guessing here but that is what you need. I would order them from that site and have your buddy do the job and you pay him the labor cost.
__________________________________________________ __________________________________________________ ____________________


and Welcome! TL is a nice car you will fall in love if you havent so

 

only certain shop willing to share the information with Carfax, some dealer will share information but not the mileage reading. So the only proof it get done is hard copy of paper work.

 

Nice car...I'm jealous
Definitely service the transmission and cross your fingers that you don't run into any problems.

 

This forum is making me feel like my Acura is doomed and prone to really screwing up. This is really discouraging.

 

Don't worry OP this is the price to pay for a great car, once this major maintenance is done, you should not have any more problems for a while. I did my TB job 7k miles ago, I am at 113k miles currently, I didnt do a valve adjustment when I went to my uncles shop. I got a huge family discount so paid close to $300 in parts and $150 in labor.
Have any problems later, search around through the forum(google is your friend) and you will see others have asked the same.

 

OP...dont worry about the tranny just take care of her with regular maintenance and you will be fine

Great pick !!! and welcome !!!

 

Nice pick up! Congrats and welcome..

 

Very neat car !!!

im getting one my self this spring.. cant wait !!

 

Grats! Just like Swoosh said, just keep up with regular maintenance and she'll treat you awesome in return.

 

congrats! Don't see many greenies at all.

 

Welcome and nice car! No worries like the others have mentioned. To know if the 105K service has been done (don't always rely on carfax for maintenance items, some places just dont report it), just call your local Acura dealer and give the VIN to see if the service has been done.

 

I think I need to hold off on the 105k miles service, and here is why. Correct me if I am wrong. I bought an $1,800 insurance policy/warranty with the car that covers 24 months and 24,000 miles. Everything is covered. Engine. Electrical. Etc. I am covered if something happens to my timing belt over the next 24k miles, so I am going to hold off on spending all that money for now. Am I thinking about this the right way? I have included a pic of what the insurance covers as far as the engine goes. Thoughts?

 

Only have to worry about 2 things...tranny...conrtol arm bushings....other than that..looks like you are good to go

If it's one of those aftermarket warrenties..they will give you crap no matter what the issue...those things are a huge scam...mother had horror issues with those things...but who knows

But still do it...because do you want to wait..have your engine blow..and then have them tell you it's not covered? and out more than the $1000 it takes to get done?

Would deff do it soon....

 

Bluff, welcome to Acurazine. Don't get discouraged from reading here. Everyone is just trying to help keep your new ride in top shape. Just understand that you bought a car with a lot of miles on it.

Luckily, you bought a Honda/Acura, so it should last you another 113k miles, at least.

 

So I paid over a grand for my coverage, and now I should go spend a grand on parts that my coverage is supposed to handle? Well $hit. Any other opinions? Thanks guys.

 

"Welcome to the fraternity." (Morgan Freeman voice)

 

Seeing how you spent nearly $2000 on that 24,000 mile warranty it's hard to say if you should do the 105k tune up now or wait until that warranty ends...

If it were me, I wouldn't have even purchased that warranty and I'd get the 105k tuneup done asap just to get it out the way.

I have a salvaged title TL bought @ 30,000 miles. It currently has 52,000 now and I haven't had any major problems that costed $1000s in repair yet.... lol *knocks on wood*. Personally I just don't believe in those aftermarket warranties. I see TV ads for them all the time and they just look like a scam. Not sure if yours is the same or not though, but it's up to you to make the call on waiting until your warranty expires or dishing out another $1000 to get the 105k tuneup done (honestly you should have told them to do the 105k tuneup before you bought the car, or at least asked them to reduce the price to compensate for it because you're going to need to get it done soon after purchase)

 

Should have done the 105K and not gotten the warranty..but that's just me


I guess you might as well wait now..but just realize...getting those warranty companies to pay for major issues..is a major pain

 

Clearly I had no idea that a 105k mile Acura tune up even existed before I bought the car... Hell I would have never known about it if I hadn't joined this site..

 

Parts are about $400...maybe you can find a shop to only charge 3-400 in labor

 

I bought the car from a very reputable dealership in my town, and the warranty was offered by them. It's the warranty they offer for every single one of their cars. It makes me trust it a little more than if I had found this company on my own...

 

Take care of that TL and it will baby you!!!

 

good luck take good care of it i have the same year and miles just make sure you can keep up with the general maintance

 

that why you should looking into a car forum for the car you consider to buy, eg. I was looking into buying 07 Lexus IS350. I went into clublexus and start to search for recall, info, DIY, after market parts availability, service manual, reading IS vs TL, IS vs BMW, IS vs G35..etc. I find out that IS350 has valve spring recall and the warranty only good if you buy from original owner, if you buy from dealer then Lexus won't honor the extended warranty. I then found out that IS350 rear leg room is not quite roomy as the TL (which is truth). But in the trade off IS offer more performance than TL. If you did your homework earlier, it will save you alot of time and $$$. About the warranty, many dealer will want you to buy a warranty because they make $$$. it is hard for someone choose not to buy a warranty especially you had bad experience with used car, but in the end of the day you need to go home refresh your head and do allitle calculation, is it worth it? do you have that extra money laying around? When I bought my TL the dealer offer me 5 years/50k miles bumper to bumper warranty for $2000, the deductible would be $100 for each time the vehicle visit dealer. my TL is an 07 with 59k miles on the clock, it still have Acura powertrain warranty with 10 months/10k miles left (that plenty room for me), Dealer has 60 days with 3000 miles bumper to bumper warranty. The sale manager trying to get me to buy the warranty by using scare tactics, like if a sensor goes etc... I say no thanks, because with $2000 and each $100 I spend it would be much cheaper for me to bring the car to dealer and have them fix something, I am sure the repair bill will be less than $1000, beside if anything major need to be repair I am sure my credit card will be there to bail me out, I just gona have to make that payment every month and try to pay it off asap (my LAST resort), Powertrain repair is out of question for another 10 months.

 

here is a lesson on buying "Extended/Warranty", BTW make sure you get the wear and tear warranty.

http://www.carbuyingtips.com/warranty.htm

 

You should ask the dealer for a maintenance report and check the Carfax record.

You can also take a look at the timing belt to see if it has recently been replace. If you don't know what this means, you can also take the car to some shops like Firestone Complete Car Care for a diagnosis for $20. So you know whether timing belt and water pump needs to be serviced.