Jamison

I bought an Acura TL 2005 with 165,000 miles. I’ve learned the car was maintained but it needs new control arms. Has anyone ever made their car last until 200000 or over? Also I was told not to flush the teams because it could leave things worse. Does that mean to just replace the filter and add new fluid. I wanna make this car last because I really love it and I can’t afford a newer one.

ifeliciano

We got an 04 TL with 217K miles on it, from my B-I-L. She still drives fine, but I'm not taking her on a cross country trip any time soon. The rear main seal needs replacing (got a small leak), and the tranny might be near its end, but it gets my son to school and around town. If I can find a JDM tranny, locally, for a good price I will replace it.
The lower control arm compliance bushings need to be replaced and so are the front and rear engine mounts. One of these days i'll get to that..

horseshoez

iTrader: (2)

There are a LOT of these cars which have seen north of 200,000 miles, and many which are out beyond 300,000 miles. Assuming your car has an automatic transmission, you will probably need to replace it at some point, but I would just budget for a new tranny down the road.

As for flushing the transmission, never-EVER flush a Honda transmission, instead you want to perform a 3x3 fluid replacement (the filter is not accessable).

horseshoez

iTrader: (2)

Assuming you do the control arms and engine mounts, why wouldn't you take the car on a cross country trip? Personally I wouldn't have any worries about a long trip in a well maintained 3G TL, regardless of the mileage.

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

presumably, if that was the only thing wrong with the car, it will last way over 500,000 miles

horseshoez

iTrader: (2)

The only problem I see with half-million miles is the availability of some key parts.

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

well, here's to hoping that my car may never need those parts that will become unavailable over the next few years.




I did score an extra drivers side control arm, after an insurance claim...
opened my trunk to see a new control arm that they ended up not using!

my bad, maybe not the control arm, but the fork.

rockstar143

iTrader: (6)

pickle fork?

The short answer to OP's question is yes.
Do the maintenance and enjoy relatively trouble-free car for a long time.
Good luck doing that in a Chrysler product.

Jamison

I am low income and got lucky getting thus car which I did put money into so I appreciate the replies. I am trying to baby it much as I can.

rockstar143

iTrader: (6)

Low income but not low class.
You can make money, you can't make class.
I'd say you're doin alright.

Jamison

Thank you

ifeliciano

If it was my only car, sure, I'll take it on a long trip. As is, i'm not certain how well maintained the car was. I dont think City Garage was a good place for maintaining an Acura.

horseshoez

iTrader: (2)

Why not; if City Garage is familiar with Hondas, they should be perfectly competent to work on an Acura, especially a 3G TL which is essentially a tarted up 7G Accord.

Jamison

Well now they are dating the control arms are fine. They said it’s basically the ball joints and bushings. So having those done with labor and allignent the Guy says it would be 790. Just tough with coming up with dough with no help. I may just have to do one side at a time but don’t know if that’s a bad idea cause each time I’ll have todo allignment. In Michigan lots of damn pot holes that screw up the suspension.

rockstar143

iTrader: (6)

do not do one side at a time.

Jason Cote

Hey Jamison, I bought my TL 3.5 years ago with 172K miles. Today, it has 246K miles. I got new spark plugs/coils at 200K, for it's normal major scheduled service. Beyond that, I have replaced the battery, rear pads/rotors twice, clutch master cylinder. And that's it! It's the most reliable car i've ever owned and I would drive it across country without thinking twice. It now acts as a second vehicle for me and I want to see how far I can drive thing thing before it gets too expensive to fix.

My advice: change oil/filter every 3-5K miles, change air filter when necessary.....and enjoy the car. It will reward you.

horseshoez

iTrader: (2)

Why would you recommend such frequent oil changes? For the J-Series motors you can use the factory recommendation of an oil change every 7,500 miles using conventional oil, and the engine will still easily outlast the rest of the car. Personally I recommend using a full synthetic 0W-20 and change it every 10,000 miles.

Jackass

There is nothing "wrong" with 3-5K miles other than a tad wasteful...it will cause no harm other than to his wallet. I go by the MID and use what ever oil the dealer puts in there....because it is free.

horseshoez

iTrader: (2)

Hmmm, wastes resources, wastes money, and yet provides exactly zero benefit.

thoiboi

But i read it on the internet!

LoveMyTL-S

I just want to welcome Jamison to Acurazine. It's a great forum. Enjoy it!