Project: TL Type S

[D_Eclipse9916]

Both Wix and Puralators fared very well in oil filter comparisons. I would not blink to have them in any of my vehicles.

[WRXtranceformed]

Good to know, let me know if you turn anything up Scotty!

I already need new tires after 22k miles I can hold out until my next oil change, which will put it at right around 30k miles. This is apparently pretty normal for TLs, Pilots, and a couple other Honda models (oddly for some reason the new Civics don't have this issue). I talked to my buddy about changing the toe to help the wearing from occurring prematurely on the inner part of the tires like they have been showing, but he said they've actually been wearing pretty evenly and similar to his brother's TL. I don't drive aggressively really at all, so maybe I'll try another tire with a longer treadwear that maybe will last a little longer.

Looked through my service record print out and here are the mileage intervals vs. oil type and weight. Oldest to newest:

5148 miles - Amsoil 100% synthetic 5w30 (PureOne filter)
6482 miles - Amsoil Synthetic 5w20 XL (Bosch filter)
6948 miles - Amsoil Synthetic 5w20 XL (PureOne filter)

I'm curious to see where the 0w20 compares to those. The car feels very strong and easier to rev to VTAKKK, but it usually feels a lot better after oil changes. Having also just replaced the air filter that may have something to do with it as well.

Motor mounts are still in good shape (a concern with some TL owners) and the alternator is in good shape. I was actually stranded in NoVA a few days longer than expected over winter break because my battery died and it wouldn't hold a charge. This is the SECOND time this has happened with an OEM Acura battery, in almost exactly the same time period (happened after 1 year, then again at year 2). The CCA's on the stock batteries are awful, even the low end battery at AAP is better so I just popped that in and have the old battery on my garage floor waiting for when I can return it for warranty purposes.

[.RJ]

0w20 probably doesnt change anything, unless you do a lot of driving in really cold temps.

[HAULN-SS]

That sux0rs. I have 75000 on my stock hankooks on my malibu. They are just now starting to show a bit of wear on2 tires on the inside, but thats mostly my fault for waiting too long to rotate them one time. Probably get another few thousand out of them before they should be changed

[WRXtranceformed]

0w20 probably doesnt change anything, unless you do a lot of driving in really cold temps.

I don't really. According to Amsoil, this 20 weight has slightly better wear characteristics and produces better gas mileage. Time will tell about the second part.

The 0w20 is one of a few of their standard oils that is rated to last up to 25,000 miles when used in conjunction with the EA oil filter, the XL series is not. Since it's thinner than the 5w30, I'm hoping that I'll pull an mpg or two and maybe another 1000 miles out of the interval.

[WRXtranceformed]

That sux0rs. I have 75000 on my stock hankooks on my malibu. They are just now starting to show a bit of wear on2 tires on the inside, but thats mostly my fault for waiting too long to rotate them one time. Probably get another few thousand out of them before they should be changed

I rotate mine every oil change

[.RJ]

0w20 probably doesnt change anything, unless you do a lot of driving in really cold temps.

I don't really. According to Amsoil, this 20 weight has slightly better wear characteristics and produces better gas mileage. Time will tell about the second part.

I thought you meant 5w20 vs. 0w20,

[WRXtranceformed]

0w20 probably doesnt change anything, unless you do a lot of driving in really cold temps.

I don't really. According to Amsoil, this 20 weight has slightly better wear characteristics and produces better gas mileage. Time will tell about the second part.

I thought you meant 5w20 vs. 0w20,

I did, that particular 5w20 (designed for cars with higher mileage intervals from the factory) vs. 0w20. I should have clarified "this version of the 20 weight"

[WRXtranceformed]

Here are the two I'm talking about

5w20 XL

0w20

[ViPER1313]

already need new tires after 22k miles I can hold out until my next oil change, which will put it at right around 30k miles.

I really recommend these (if you are not looking for a particularly sport-oriented tire) - they ride incredibly well and are wearing great on the Pontiac after 10k miles http://www.tirerack.com/tires/Sizes.jsp?...l=AVID+TRZ

EDIT: Nevermind, they don't make those in a size that will fit your car. I feel sorry for you having to pay for that car's tires every 22k miles...... expensive sizes.

[WRXtranceformed]

Thanks for looking out Adam. Yeah some of the cheapest / best tires I've found are the Falken Ziex 912s I've been using. The only consolation is that my buddy Trevor had 19" custom Volks on his TL-S and he was burning through some expensive Nittos in like 10k miles... haha

I think they usually end up running just under $400 shipped.

[WRXtranceformed]

AWESOME.

So I was on Discount Tire Direct's website today looking at other tire models, and checking out how much the Ziex 912s still cost. I noticed that the 912s have a 40,000 mile warranty. I completely forgot about that, I knew there was another specific reason why I chose them over the 512s.

So I call DTD and they say that yeah, when I'm ready to order I just need to have the service tech note the tread depth, the DOT # of the tires and the mileage of the car through my service history (really glad I've been servicing it at a shop now ) and they actually give you a prorated CREDIT for the amount of miles the tires lasted vs. the warranty amount. He said for example if they were done at 30,000 miles which sounds pretty realistic based on what I was told today, I would receive a 25% credit on the new tires and Falken would reimburse DTD. That's almost a $100 credit!!

I'll believe it when it happens, but you know I'll be cashing in on that if I can! Woot. Good info for you guys who are considering ordering tires in the future.

[WRXtranceformed]

Haha, I just ordered a new set of Ziex 912s for $202.50. DTD gave me a 50% credit since the old tires were done right around half life of what they should have been. I have all of the documentation for them, but he didn't even ask me to send it over. He said sometimes they ask for the customer to pay the shipping costs for warrantied tires, but they're just going to take care of it. SWEET!

I'm picking up a pair of ZKW-R lenses for the bi-Xenons off Ebay. Pretty excited to see the diffference they will make in the quality of the light that comes through my headlights. That's been a minor complaint of mine with this car.

[WRXtranceformed]

Got the headlights and fog light bulbs swapped out today. I forgot how good of a job we did on them haha. I have to wait until this weekend or after to do the ZKW lenses and the beefy rear sway bar, so we've gotta take the entire bumper off again (we had to do it twice today because one of the headlight harness clips broke on the inside and we didn't figure it out until we'd reinstalled everything).

Car is dirty and these are poop crackberry pics, but here you go:

[ScottyB]

looks mean!

[WRXtranceformed]

Thanks Scotty

ZKW-Rs came in today, one is slightly chipped and scratched so I'll have to send it back. These aren't pics that I took but they show the difference between teh stock Fresnel lens and the ZKW replicas (OEM on left, ZKW-R on right)




That pic doesn't show the difference much, but the stock lenses are more opaque than the ZKWs and replicas. Output should be better and the cut off line is razor sharp with the new lenses, whereas with mine it is really fuzzy and sloppy. They will also have the "flicker effect" that newer bimmers headlights have when they go over bumps. I would have gotten the real ZKWs but they're like a couple hundred bucks! wtf! Unfortunately, I have to take the bumper off and these headlights apart again to install the new lenses, so I'll probably wait until I'm ready to upgrade the bulbs to Phillips bulbs before I do them.

Videos of what it will eventually look like:
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Flicker effect:
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-54243535542399202#">http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-54243535542399202#</a><!-- m -->

[WRXtranceformed]

The lens replicas were kind of a debacle. Multiple ones were shipped to me damaged, I finally got in touch with Matt @ TRS (the owner) and he apologized profusely and personally went down to their warehouse to ship out a good one. So they're sitting on my kitchen table waiting for when I have time to take my headlights apart again. I also picked up a new Progress rear sway bar from my buddy who just sold his Type-S on the cheap. That's also for when I've got some time to throw it on, but that should make a huge difference in the already very capable handling of the car.

I just broke 81,000 miles a few days ago. Wow, I really do spend a lot of my time in the car. Even despite the wear and tear I put this thing through on a daily basis, it has performed admirably and the engine feels like it's just getting broken in. This is my first Honda, we always grew up with Toyotas (of which I've owned / driven 3, well 4 if you count the IS) and so far I am impressed. I have followed the story of some TL guys who are already pushing the 120k+ mark and the cars seem to be solidly built and dependable with all of the preventative maintenance. With my luck, it will explode tomorrow, but so far so good!

With that being said, recently I threw a P0174 CEL and I noticed a low gurgling / rattling sound that sounded like it was coming from the front passenger side only at low speeds. P0174 is a lean code. Shit, my first thought was that I was detonating. It did not make the noise at idle while revving though and the CEL went away the next day. Took it to my buddy at the shop, and it turns out that there is a TSB ECU reflash that was out for this model year of the Type-S for this problem. Sweet. He couldn't figure out what the gurgle was coming from, but his guess was that it may have been one of the driver's side non-torsional motor mounts had gone bad. He couldn't verify without ripping a bunch of shit off, and I didn't care that much since after inspection it didn't seem to be anything critical, so he tightened up a bunch of subframe bolts and pretty much everything else he could lay hands on and it seems to have all but gone away. I may have him take a look at the mount during my 100k timing belt service, but it's not a huge deal.

Will be changing back to the Amsoil 5w30 since the weather is starting to warm up, and since I've got my oils dialed in for each season I may start experimenting with higher end filters to really extend my intervals out as much as possible. I'm hoping my car ADD is gone after that last trip to the dealership and the test-drive of the MDX. I really do like this car, it has everything I need for a mobile office, and it's comfortable, sporty, safe and still makes me turn my head back to look at it every time I park it. Am I getting old and getting ready to settle down?? Is some girl going to come along and conjure up the same feelings now??? Ugh, before you know it I'm going to have two screaming obnoxious kids with mini MM shirts on :lol:

[WRXtranceformed]

Just broke the 90,000 mile mark. I drive a lot for work obviously. Car has held up admirably. Getting ready for the timing belt here in another 15k miles (probably could push it to 120k but better safe than sorry). Just put in an order for Amsoil Universal ATF (guys on the TL forums have used this successfully, it's a Z1 fluid like Honda's but has much better characteristics) and some more oil. As soon as the warranty runs out at 100k I'm going to go ahead and finish off the exhaust and I still need to install this sway bar.

My friend who just bought a G37S (and used to have the same car as me) mentioned that he wished he hadn't sold his TL-S. That surprised me because the G37S is an awesome car.

[ScottyB]

yeah you definitely put the miles on! hows the interior (leather, steering wheel, buttons etc) holding up? sounds like the mechanicals are doing great.

[WRXtranceformed]

Other than the abuse that I've put on the cosmetic parts of the car myself (like the tears in the back of the driver seat and door card) all of the parts and pieces are holding up pretty well knock on wood. The leather seats in these cars are known to get gnarly pretty quick and my driver's side seat is definitely already showing signs of age, but it's really more the vinyl pieces next to the leather and not the leather itself. Thank God this is a pretty timeless looking and comfortable car or else I would have wanted to dump it a lot more than I have already!!