Jagar Rand

I'm absolutely new to the Acura brand, I'm only 20 and I just purchased an Acura TL as my first car.
Since I was fifteen I've driven a 2001 Buick Century which blew a rod at 170k. Completely my fault. I knew nothing about cars. Since then I have gained a good bit of mechanical knowledge and know to change the oil every now and then lmao

My 2006 TL is more than I could have dreamed! I love everything about it. Aesthetically it looks great however with 190k miles on it, it does look worn in the typical areas. Everything works and is in good shape. I just got the transmission fluid changed at my local Acura dealer. (Is $79 a good price on that service?)

I have a few concerns since it has so many miles, I want to iron all of them out asap. I feel like it may be time for a new timing belt, but I really have no idea how to actually diagnose whether there is a problem with it or not. I know there's someone out there with an Acura similar to mine, so if I could get any advice on things that I should probably get checked out or any other issues I need to look out for I'd much appreciate it! I've driven almost 700 miles since I bought it and seems to be in great shape, I just want to extend the life of the car as much as possible.

If you have any experience with this car, Please chime in and let me know of any concerns I should have or anything that may be valuable to my knowledge of the car.

I'm excited to join the acurazine community and I hope to learn a lot here!
Thanks in advance to anyone who has any advice!
-JSLEAZEëH

WDPanda

Spend $50 on headlight restoration by a professional that uses a uv coating.

truonghthe

you are about to replace the TB/WP dealer price tag is around $1100-$1500. Seem like you got a good deal on the ATF drain and refill, at 190k miles I would pay attention to the suspension such as LCA bushing (google for it) control arm, steering racks and shocks.

BreezyTL

iTrader: (8)

-Automatic or Manual? If automatic, pressure switches and filter could be done.
-Brakes/Rotors
-Cabin Filter
-Intake Filter
-Engine Mounts
-Spark Plugs

Jagar Rand

Thanks for the input guys! It is an automatic and I definitely want to get the timing belt done soon, maybe they can check the engine mounts then too. I have been experiencing a problem with the power steering. When I'm below 1500RPM like in a parking lot and trying to pull in and out of a spot, the wheel becomes super stiff like I'm having to manually turn the wheels. Do you think I need a new steering pump or could it just be a belt slipping or something. The level of PSF is within margin but I'm still having problems with it. As soon as I get the car rolling it seems to work just fine.

BreezyTL

iTrader: (8)

Make sure the power steering recall was completed on the car. I am not sure if it is pump related or not. If it is, I do have one from my part out. Came off a 2005, could sell to you for cheaper than new if you wanna go that route just let me know.

Ryan Williamson

Congrats on your new TL!

I am young, just like yourself, when I got my TL I fell in love with it. Here are a few things I've learned in the past year I've had my '06 TL with 140k miles.

• I try as much as I can to park having the rear of the car facing the sun. The dashboard is prone to cracking. This will prolong the life of the dash and prevent it from drying out.
• The $79 from the dealership is actually a good price, considering my dealer charged me $115 + tax to do the same thing.
• The issue with the power steering could be your power steering rack and pinion. I had the same exact problem you had. Although it's a pricey repair ($900+) it fixed the issue.
• Every 100k miles, or so, the timing belt must be changed. I would recommend doing that.

Good of luck with your car. It's really great. Reply or PM me with any questions.

NoTLoud

Congrats on your car!

I'm 22 and I just bought my 06 TL in DMM with 100k miles on it. Since our cars are at similar service intervals (100k), I can quickly go through what I've done. It basically is what everyone else has told you to do.

Timing belt & water pump - Done by dealer right before I bought the car. One of the contributing reasons I got this car. I spent a little more than the car was actually worth, but got it from a reputable dealer and timing belt is costly. So having that piece of mind allowed me to spend a little more. Car was also in great condition. Very few issues with paint and interior that I couldn't fix.

Transmission Pressure Switches (3rd and 4th gear) - Did these within the first month. Shifting wasn't terribly sloppy, but there was a noticeable slop. These helped clean up that slop.

Transmission Fluid 3x3 - Good that you had the dealer do a replacement. Not sure if they did a 3x3, but it's a start. This one is super easy to do yourself. I used Honda DW-1 fluid. There are other fluids, like Redline D4, but I just stuck with the Honda.

After these 2, the shifting happens when it is supposed too. Many shifts are unnoticeable, but I still have the occasional "harsh" shift that I will feel. Usually at higher RPMs or when the car is cold. Still, much better than before.

Spark plugs - At about 101k miles. Went with the OEM NGK Iridium plugs. I wouldn't recommend running anything else. Easy enough to do, rear 3 are a little tricky. I just removed the strut bar for better access.

Rear pads and rotors - Replaced these because one of the rear rotors was scored. Likely a rock got lodged in the pads at one point. Was causing a squealing noise at low (parking lot) speeds. Annoyed me so I replaced.

Drive By Wire - I tightened this. Accelerator Position Sensor is an issue with these cars. Look into tightening the DBW if you are having any lag between hitting the accelerator and actually accelerating.

Next steps for me:

- Car is bouncing around like crazy on the highway. Rear struts are making a good amount of noise. I will just replace all 4 corners with coilovers here when the weather gets warm. I want to stiffen things up a little because I don't feel the car handles well around corners.

- Check your front lower control arm compliance bushings. Mine are shot at 105k miles. Chances are if yours haven't been replaced, they are surely bad. This could lead to some major issues, but if the tears are minor, it is not a HUGE deal. Just something that SHOULD be replaced. I need to have mine done, but lack proper tools to do it myself. My goals is to have them done when I take the car for an alignment after I put the coilovers on since replacing the bushings require an alignment regardless. You are looking at somewhere around $300-500 or so to have this done, I believe.

- See how the car is handling after the two prior items. Potentially get a rear sway bar.

- Replace items if they break.


So far, the car has been good to me, except for the first 10 days. I had to replace the battery and one of the O2 sensors. Owned for 3 months now and those are the only 2 items that went bad. Not awful for a 10 year old car. Once I pay the car off, I will assess and either keep as my daily or dump it for something else and lose like $2k.

Ryan Williamson

Did you just ask the dealership to change your pressure switches? If not, how did you go about doing so?

NoTLoud

I do all the work that I can on my car. If you have a 19mm socket (lug nuts), 22mm wrench or deep socket, jack, and jack stands, you can do the job by yourself in 30min to an hour depending on your experience. There's a huge thread with pictures on how to replace the switches up on the forum.

Switches + crush washers ran me about $100. I would suggest only using OEM for this part and doing it at least every 50k miles. $100 even every 30k miles (my planned interval) is far cheaper than a $3k tranny rebuild. My biggest tip with this one would to be one switch at a time to avoid any confusion between the switches.

Hope that helps!

RandyMarshRules

So I assume these are located outside the transmission? Just curious since I have almost 130K on my TL and sounds like good preventive maintenance.

NoTLoud

Yes!

I went and grabbed a quote from myself off this thread:https://acurazine.com/forums/third-g...2006-a-729149/

"28610-RKE-004 and 28600-RKE-004 switches. There seems to be 3 different part numbers out there that will fit the 3G TL's. The P7Z and P7W ones listed by OP back in 2009 seem to be outdated. However, I cannot get the gaskets off of Amazon for any kinda of reasonable price. I went to HeelToe Auto's site and went to their OEM parts page and found the same switches for an average of $43 a piece and only $2.37 for each gasket plus about $7 in shipping."

I would consider getting them off OEMAcuraParts.com if you want them a little quicker. HeelToe sources them after you order, so they don't have them on hand. There are several of the OEM parts sites that will ship them directly. I am about to place an order for the transmission filter and APP sensor from the OEMAcuraParts website.