New owner: 2006 TL maintenance questions
 

So PIcked up a 2006 Acura TL 6 speed MT. It is the Sport/summer package model i believe.
The car has 82k miles on it. 70% highway, 30% city I was told by the one and only previous owner. New Toyo $+ all season tires were installed less than 5000 miles ago.

I had the car inspected at the dealership before purchase and they recommended the following big items:

1. 7yr/105kmile Timing belt service (based on the car usage, how urgent is this? since the engine is interference)
2. Front rotors and brake pads for front and rear

Based on the research I have done,

This is the list of parts I have made for doing the timing belt, all OEM parts only.

Timing belt
Drive idle pulley
Tb tensioner
TB adjustor
Thermostat
Water pump
Serpentine belt
Spark plugs NGK

What is the best place to buy OEM parts to do this job?

Only extra part while doing this job is the crank pulley (ralco or XLR8). Figured am already in there, might as well throw it on.



Since I need new rotors up front and pads all around form the initial research I have done, it is a Brembo set on my TL right?
Was looking at Stoptech drilled and slotted rotors with Hawk HPS pads. Maybe EBC rotors might be better? I live in the Pacific NW, so performance under cold and wet weather is important.

And the following regular maintenance stuff.

1. Brake fluid flush. Gonna use Amsoil DOT3
2. clutch fluid flush. (what to use here?)
3. manual transmission fluid flush (Honda MTF or Amsoil ?)
4. engine oil and filter (Amsoil filter with Amsoil 0W20 signature)
5. engine air and cabin filters (WIX or FRAM ?)
6. Need to get tires rotated and balanced

The not too urgent but desirable mods are the following

1. Stiffer lowering springs and struts. Aspec or H&R springs with Koni or kyb struts? Where to buy these from?
2. probably a used J-pipe and catback system.

Appreciate any help you guys can give me.

the car will alert you when you need the timing belt service done. it is indicated by a 4 on your MID located on the right side of your dash.

my 2006 6MT TL has only 70k miles on it, and I DONT plan on changing the timing belt until 105k miles or when the MID displays a 4.

clutch fluid uses DOT3 brake fluid.
manual transmission fluid; our go to is the GM Syncromesh modified friction fluid, it is now called A/C Delco syncromesh modified friction. this cures the third gear grind.
the engine oil and filter you picked out is fine. basically any oil and oil filter is fine as long as you change the fluid regularly, according to the MID. the MID will tell you when its time to change the oil

Id wait on the timing belt. you have a decent amount of time before the recommended maintenance so I would wait for that. I drove mine like 5k over that and had no problems (although I wouldnt recommend doing that...)

Yes, you have the Brembos in the front.

oemacuraparts.com is a pretty good site to get stuff from.

Always good to do the regular maintenance stuff as you mentioned.

Def go with the GM synchromesh transmission flud :thumbsup:

I would wait on the TB job.

Thanks for the input.

Ok will check the MID for indications on the Timing belt. It did help me knock a few hundred off the purchase price of the car thanks to a very graceful seller.

I did a bunch of reading on the GM synchromesh.

Interestingly I was looking through the records of the car and it had been taken in no less than 3 times in the first 25k miles of the car!
Once at just 10 miles complaining of grinding in 3rd. Dealer serviced it

THen again at around 7k miles. Dealer rebuilt the transmission.

A third time at 18k miles. They changed out the 3rd gear

A final fourth time at 24k iles and they changed out the 3rd gear synchros. Seller said he had no problems since then but was a PITA the first year or so he had it.

The records doesn't say what sort of MTF was being used. Probably Honda MTF i imagine.

I have read some folks say GM synchromesh FM is garbage on here, some swearing my Honda MTF and others by Redline.

Any opinions on the brake rotors and pads for the Pac NW?

Oh, keeping with the manual transmission. The owner did put a short shifter on it. Is this the reason why the shifter feels rather stiff?

because; we dont know the exact problem to the third gear grind, we are only guessing and are using anecdotal evidence to support our claims.
third gear grind is evident in almost all Honda Manual Transmissions, from 3rd and 4th gen TL's to civics to preludes to S2k's.
they have been using GM syncromesh for years! over 10.
again, we dont know if it's the gear set, the fluid, or something else in play.
all we know is that the "syncromesh modified friction" part of the GM stuff is works better than the Honda fluid.

when I first got my car used in 2010, third gear would grind.
I swapped to GM fluid and it never did the grinding ever again. I change my fluid every 30k with GM stuff

also, ANY brake pad and brake rotor combo will stop your car.
the ones you have picked out is fine.
while you might want to buy the very best parts for your car, this isnt a porsche. Ive been installing autozone durlast cmax gold pads and rotors in my friends TL's and RL's and no one can tell a difference.
I also installed the durlast cmax gold pads on my '12 Kia sportage and it does fine.
anything you choose will be fine.