kev87a

Hi All,

Just recently took my 2012 fwd tl tech package for maintenance and b1 service. My car is at 91000kms and i live in the Toronto region.

They recommended i do the following and i wanted to know if it is the right timing to do so. They do seem to be bsing me on some of the areas.

Brake fluid: i dont recall ever changing it. I checked the fluid and its a light to mid brownish colour. 150 charge. Attached picture of the fluid.

Transmission fluid: This is where i really think they are bsing me because i just changed the fluid 2 years ago maybe 20-30 thousand kms ago. They did a flush because i felt the torque convertor was an issue with rough shifts. When i did do the change it did seem to alleviate that issue. Attached picture of the fluid.

Timing belt, water pump, serpetine belt, tensioner: Would charge me 1500 for it. Seems quite high. I have a mechanic i can bring it to. Should i do it now?

Thanks for your input.

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

Brake fluid is hygroscopic...which means it absorbs water from the atmosphere...the owners manual states that the OEM fluid is good for 3 years...then change it yearly after that.
transmission fluid; if you JUST did a transmission re-haul...there is no need to do it again..

bring it to your mechanic to do the timing belt and water pump and tensioners.

dopeboy1

The brake fluid makes sense to do. The tranny fluid im not sure, you should look up what the recommended change interval is and act accordingly. The timing belt/water pump I know is every 105,000 miles. Or if you want to be safe every 8 years (not written anywhere but seems like a good idea especially if you live somewhere that sees extreme hot and extreme cold).

Teddybear

Brake fluid - i flush every 1.5 years because i drive a lot, and i like the pedal feel with clean fluid.
Tranny fluid - my AWD is every 50k km. the first change was a longer interval though.
Timing belt - i did this at 150k km. Make sure you also do the water pump, tensioner, thermostat with this job. I would also recommend looking into the oil pump seal. Mine started to leak a year after, which sucks cause my mech is gonna have to remove the timing belt to get to the stupid $10 seal....

andysinnh

I'd definitely do the brake fluid - did it on the wife's '12 TL SH-AWD at 46k miles - wasn't 3 years (more like 5), so it was pretty dark.

I'd also do a drain/fill on the tranny fluid. I've done fluid changes twice on the TL. First was when it had some shifting "stumbles" at about 30 k and the fluid change solved that. Then about 10k miles later I had the TSB done for the ATF filter "gurgle" and a fluid change was done then, and you could feel the improvement in shifting even after 10k miles. Personally I'd do an ATF drain/fill every 3rd oil change (assuming 7-8K intervals) just as peace of mind.

It feels early for the timing belt/tensioner/water pump - no real need to rush that one since it's pretty pricy

Also make sure you do the rear diff regularly and the front xfer case if it hasn't been done.

andy

Anicra

PDF https://di-uploads-pod4.s3.amazonaws...12-2014-TL.pdf

norwalktl

This is really useful--thank you.

dopeboy1

Now for someone like myself who doesn't put much mileage on their vehicle, im talking maybe 7,500km a year, does anyone care to speculate on how long certain fluids should go before being changed?

Specifically transmission, transfer case and rear diff fluid? For instance the only fluid I haven't had changed since buying my car is the transfer case fluid which was last changed 19,000km ago but that was in November of 2015.

It says 30,000-60,000 miles but that could take me many more years.

kev87a

Thank you so much for the chart that is incredibly useful. And thanks to the other posts.

ebayking9

I concur with the advice to flush the brake fluid. When I had it done in my '07 TSX, the brake feel change, made it feel like a different car. Highly recommended.

dregsfan

Yes brake fluid should be flushed every 3 years, as stated in the maintenance list posted above.

losiglow

iTrader: (1)

Make sure if you have the brake fluid flushed by a shop, that they actually FLUSH it, not just suck out the fluid in the reservoir and refill. Doing that doesn't replace the fluid in the lines. And I would recommend using DOT4 instead of DOT3. It's not much more expensive and has a higher boiling point. DOT 5.1 is even better but quite a bit more expensive and really not necessary on these cars.

losiglow

iTrader: (1)

Oh, and on the transmission fluid - yours looks good. They're definitely BSing you based on how it looks. However, I personally change mine around 15K miles or so. Sometimes sooner. I think doing a drain and refill of the fluid is good cheap insurance on these cars. If you do it yourself, with Honda DW-1, it's only about 3.5-3.75 quarts which even at dealer prices is no more than $10 a quart. You can often get it much cheaper. My dealer sells a case for $72 for a case bringing it to only $6 a quart. Either way, a small price to keep things running smooth.

hadokenuh

I change the brake fluid every 3 years, trans fluid every 30K miles. In the States, most indy charge around $600 for a complete timing belt job (water pump, tensioners, accessory belt, etc). Dealer price for it is around 1K to 1.2K.

kev87a

I did a double check on the Acura Report and they mentioned the Timing Belt was Glazing excessively.
Took it to my mechanic today and they said usually the dealerships identify when to replace the timing belt per mileage and maintenance minders.
Is the timing belt easily accessible for mechanics to look at it?

Also had the brake fluid flushed and changed, thanks.

Kinuto