Greetings 3G mod lovers!

While I love the modest daily performance of the TL, my 3G is closer to it's twilight years at 170k miles and I'm becoming most concerned with part longevity and any bits of fuel efficiency that doesn't compromise longevity. I'm only just getting into the car maintenance side of things as it is, and treating this car like the fine lady she is as much as I can. Within that context, this forum is unsurprisingly angled more towards the performance side, and so I am having trouble finding any possible modifications or approaches with pursue longevity and potential fuel efficiency. I have learned this morning after some 4 hours of research, how important switching away from the OEM Z1 ATF is, among other transmission related topics, and am wondering what I am missing that can be done for this TL. This may be the performance parts and modification board, but within the modification side, I thought it might be worth asking. If not, please transport this post elsewhere!

 

The car is designed for maximum longevity....
maintenance is a big key part of longevity. if a part breaks, it needs to be replaced ASAP, or the problems may continue to compound and eventually be a time consuming money sink.

That's it! Maintain the car and she'll give you another 10 years or more of lovely driving

 

As per the fuel efficiency modifications.... Anything that helps the car breathe or exhale will net mpg. The engine is a big air pump. Air in air out.

 

Much appreciate both concepts there. I'm certainly curious on the air management side. On maintenance, do we have a good master list of maintenance processes other than just the factory suggestions? Given the whole Z1 vs F type ATF, I'm kinda wanting to avoid just OEM suggestions, and I can't seem to actually find that here in the forums, which I swear used to be sitting in the Garage or something.

 

 

Awesome, thanks Definitely a little bit of an update over the mega ATF thread.

 

I can't answer the transmission queries because I have a manual transmission in my TL. Which uses a different kind of fluid..

Freeing up the bottle necks in the intake tract and exhaust tract, you'll free up a tiny bit of fuel economy.
OEMs like to use crush bends in their exhaust systems.. It's exactly what it sounds like...crush the pipe to bend them to fit/size.
This causes a little bit of exhaust flow impedance. By replacing these parts with a mandrel bent pipe, you'll increase flow

 

I don't recall if the 3G has an ATF filter or cooler. If not, adding a filter and cooler may be a good idea. I'm not sure exactly what would be involved there however. If there's not a cooler (and thus a line that the ATF is flowing through) it may not be a possibility. Either way, with the history of the 3G automatic transmission, I'd recommend changing the ATF frequently - 15K - 20K miles? And use the Honda/Acura DW1.

 

DW 1 has replaced OEM ATF Z1 and it's fine for use.

 

While this used to be true in the era of carbureted engines, it is no longer the case with modern fuel injected engines. On the intake side, it makes absolutely zero difference whether you have a clean and new OEM style air intake, a very dirty and highly restrictive OEM intake, or no intake at all. Why? Because the engine management systems weigh the intake charge downstream of the throttle body and sets the fuel injectors accordingly. No amount of changes to the intake will affect the air to fuel ratio.

On the exhaust side, it is highly unlikely any changes will improve fuel economy, however, there are plenty of changes which can hurt it. The issue here is the trade off between high power flow versus steady-state flow. By increasing the engines exhaust diameter and/or reducing the internal restrictions, you do potentially open up a little bit of power up near redline, however, those very same changes reduce the velocity of the exhaust gasses when tooling down the highway at a steady speed to the point where effective cylinder scavenging is compromised.

 

maybe I should have went in a different direction and suggested loosing weight!
now, that has a profound effect on fuel economy! right? lol

edit* not the person, but the car to drop weight.

 

Ahhh, yes, dropping weight is good for pretty much all performance metrics.

 

Danke for the input all.

Yeah, the notion of weight savings has been coming to mind Horseshoez, and I'm wondering if there's anything I can pull out that won't make it look ridiculous or mess with functionality and comfort too much.