Bought A Cheap Accord, The Sequel: Acura TSX

[JoeDirt41]

Got a few updates. After letting the car idle, I took it for a drive and once it got up to temp, it was right back to doing what it was doing before- idle bouncing rhythmically from 800 rpm down to 500 and then back up. I sat on it for a day before I went back and spent a lot more time looking at scanner data and doing some testing and inspection under the hood.

Eventually I decided to take a guess, albeit a pretty well educated guess, on the upstream wideband O2 sensor. I bought a new Denso sensor (Denso is the OE) and got it installed. I also reset the ECM and the throttle position sensor again. I let it idle and I’ve driven it a few times since replacing the sensor and I feel pretty safe saying I think I finally got the idle fixed. It’s been holding steady at around 770-780 rpm.

The old sensor looks to be original so at 273k miles, I guess it served its purpose.

I noticed that there was a small coolant drip coming from the front of the car, so I got under and found that the lower radiator hose was dripping where it connected to the radiator.

I got a new radiator hose and a better clamp and figured this was an opportune time to put my new thermostat in.

I didn’t actually see any holes or anything in the old radiator hose. It probably could’ve been reseated, but I feel better with a new one on there. The old thermostat looked to be the original so definitely glad to be swapping that out as well.

I also bought a Dr. Colorchip touch up kit. This car has a lot of rock chips, and definitely needs some touch ups. It’s gonna take a while to do the whole car but I did the mirrors so far. Here’s a before/after-

 

[JWC86]

Solid update! Wow those mirrors look so much better!

 

[rollins.]

Awesome,congratulations ! And a manual !

You may have missed it but the recent formulations of Peak Asian now contain 2-eha (that Asian coolants usually lack) :

https://www.owi.com/retail/brands/p...coolant-concentrate-for-asian-vehicles---blue
...check the label on the back for "ethylhexanoate" presence.

 

[JoeDirt41]

Solid update! Wow those mirrors look so much better!

Thanks! Yes the Dr. Colorchip kits work great. The squeegee and SealAct blending compound work really well for small chips and the small micro brushes they give you work great for larger chips without leaving blobs. A little pricey but they give you a lot of paint and the results are hard to argue with.

Awesome,congratulations ! And a manual !

You may have missed it but the recent formulations of Peak Asian now contain 2-eha (that Asian coolants usually lack) :

https://www.owi.com/retail/brands/p...coolant-concentrate-for-asian-vehicles---blue
...check the label on the back for "ethylhexanoate" presence.

Thanks! Well dang… I specifically sought out the Peak because I was under the belief it didn’t have any 2-EHA in it. Oh well, it’s in there now so that’s what it’s gonna get. I don’t think there’s any real issues with the 2-EHA stuff considering it’s probably in tens or hundreds of thousands of vehicles, I’ve just been avoiding it to stay as close to the factory formula as possible.

 

[JoeDirt41]

I replaced the VTEC solenoid gasket today. Sorry I really didn’t get a lot of pictures, but it was leaking and making a mess all over the back of the engine. Honda dealer had it in stock and actually cheaper than the Felpro/Dorman/Mahle options at the local parts store. I also bought the o-ring for the incorporated oil pressure sensor but I didn’t use it. It didn’t seem to be leaking and I didn’t want to create a leak by messing with it.

Here’s the old gasket. The hole wasn’t in the screen, that’s from me sticking a pick in it to remove it, but the splits were there. The screen was totally clean, which I was glad to see.

 

[JeffKeryk]

Glat to see you could get the VTEC gasket. On the Odysseys, you have to buy the entire unit, or you can buy fakes. Sheesh.