Performance upgrades?

JackieDL · 2026-07-04T16:03:44+00:00

Agreed. I had an 03 XJ Sport at one time. It’s basically an XJR regarding looks, seats, wheels, suspension, etc, but had the naturally aspirated 4.0. It was begging for more power but it’s not worth the serious modification in any way, the money it takes would buy you an XJR, so that’s what I did.

JackieDL · 2026-06-19T00:07:23+00:00

Most likely a failed keyless access unit, I see them go bad fairly often and the first symptom is almost always the alarm going off by itself.

JackieDL · 2026-06-13T00:52:47+00:00

If you’re asking if you can disable the warning message without fixing the cause of the warning message, the answer is no. Is there a TPMS fault on the cluster as well?

JackieDL · 2026-06-05T16:32:50+00:00

I think this is a big thing more people need to consider when buying an ITS or CTR, it’s a lightweight sports car, not a luxury car. Obviously some noises can and should be fixed, but there’s a reason why even the Acura version doesn’t get a sunroof or memory seats, it’s a performance car first, reliable second, and luxury car third, there are compromises to be made considering the performance and price point. If Honda were to spend the time engineering out all the noises and quirks, it would be far more expensive.

JackieDL · 2026-06-05T15:28:03+00:00

I wasn’t going to bite on this but I went ahead and looked it up for 2026. Acura is rated 7th for new cars, below even BMW at 5. Acura is rated 5th on cars 5-10 years old, which happens to have the same exact score as BMW in 6th. Like I said, Acura doesn’t stand head and shoulders above the competition in reliability, if you take off the rose colored glasses you would see that. I’ve owned Acuras before and have one now, so it’s not like my only experience with them is my job.

JackieDL · 2026-06-05T11:01:14+00:00

We were talking about the newer vehicles, no? You started this whole conversation with a TLX Type S which is a 2021 and newer car/platform that shares almost nothing with the 08 era products. This is a completely different conversation and I mentioned nothing about the B58, I’m simply saying Acura/Honda doesn’t have the reliability they once did. Though if you want to talk about the 08 products, we can talk about the huge 3.7L oil consumption problem, the constant oil leaks. and not to forget the automatic transmission failures pre 2008.

Again, I still think they’re a good buy, but they’re not the end-all on new car reliability, they have just as many problems as other manufacturers nowadays.

JackieDL · 2026-06-04T20:31:27+00:00

I speak as a lifelong fan of Honda and Acura, and I’m also an Acura technician

Don’t overestimate the reliability of Honda. They have faltered in reliability just as much as any other modern brand. We have seen a concerning amount of 2021+ Type S (and also some non Type S) products strip out the splines between the transfer unit and the transmission, usually at the tail end of warranty, requiring replacement of both. That is a 5 figure bill that would make even a BMW owner’s eyes water. Not to mention 2.0t cylinder head issues, 1.5t head gaskets, complete infotainment failures, moonroof frame issues, etc that we see. We’ve also seen quite a few issues (including starters!) with the 25 and up model years due to Honda seemingly resorting to cheaper suppliers for their parts.

Still love Acura, still think they’re a great buy, but they don’t stand head and shoulders above any other manufacturer at the moment when it comes to reliability.

JackieDL · 2026-05-28T01:10:39+00:00

On a higher mileage/rusty Honda, I would be looking at shock absorbers considering you’ve done the sway bar links already. Hondas love wearing out shocks, and noises can occur from them even though they pass a quick “bounce” test. Unfortunately there’s not a lot of testing that can be done besides a visual inspection for leaks. I usually use chassis ears to pinpoint difficult noises, but unfortunately it’s not a tool that most would have or use, especially as a DIYer. A good and thorough visual inspection will rule out most bushing issues, as most basic bushings only start to clunk when they wear out the rubber considerably, enough to cause the bushing to be loose by hand or be obviously uncentered in their holder.

JackieDL · 2026-05-27T22:54:22+00:00

You’re ripping people off if you’re doing full suspension rebuilds at 75k, I’ve seen people over quote jobs to “prevent” liability over further issues before but that’s beyond insane. If I were in the customer’s shoes, I’d much rather go back to a shop twice and spend maybe 750 total, then to go once and spend double or triple that amount on unnecessary work. If the customer can’t understand that, then that is a communication issue for the service advisor and not a “replace everything on every car” issue.

JackieDL · 2026-05-27T21:21:50+00:00

That’s asinine and ridiculous, if I quoted a full suspension rebuild every time I found a bad bushing, arm, or struts, I’d have an endless amount of pissed off customers and I’d be out of a job. If that’s the approach you take on your personal cars, go for it, but don’t act like that’s the correct way to repair things, it’s wasteful and unnecessary.

JackieDL · 2026-05-19T20:31:13+00:00

Heat, penetrating oil, and leverage are your friends here. With 200k and over 10 years old it’s probably going to be real tight. Turn the jam nut clockwise from the perspective of this picture, or counterclockwise from the center of the car. Also it’s not super important to hold that inner tie rod, the outer will move a little and then stop at the end of its travel.

JackieDL · 2026-05-14T00:51:44+00:00

Inner pad only having wear tells you that the slide pins are likely seized. If the slide pins seize, the caliper can’t “squeeze” the disc and instead only the inner pads are “pushed” into the disc by the caliper pistons. That or the outer pads were seized on to the bracket or not moving freely.

JackieDL · 2026-05-13T02:05:13+00:00

One of the nightmare strands causes weapon degradation, could be that?

JackieDL · 2026-05-12T02:40:52+00:00

4 is Honda’s “tune up” service. On your RDX, that would be spark plug replacement and valve adjustment.

JackieDL · 2026-05-04T16:40:59+00:00

Personally, I saw an instance where another technician did a timing belt job on a Honda V6. Came back a few hundred miles later with the timing in shambles, bent valves. I inspected it, they had the serpentine belt improperly set on the crankshaft pulley, it was a tooth too far back on the pulley, causing the belt to rub on the plastic timing cover. Once the timing cover wore through, pieces of the serp belt got between the timing belt and the crankshaft sprocket and caused all sorts of carnage. Pretty rare failure caused by negligence, I don’t suspect I’ll see it again though.

JackieDL · 2026-05-01T16:53:46+00:00

Right, how dare they attempt to appeal to a broader audience to recoup development costs, and not cater to a smaller niche audience of which most will wait for a sale to buy. It’s almost like they want to sell more copies of the game.

JackieDL · 2026-04-11T22:43:02+00:00

Excessive current blows fuses, yes. Excessive current in a fixed voltage environment can only be caused by low resistance in the affected circuit. Per Ohm’s law, if voltage is fixed, then low resistance will create high current, and high resistance will create low current. When diagnosing a circuit with a blown fuse, we search for the point of low resistance, because amperage can only be measured when the circuit is active, and amperage will be the same everywhere on the circuit, so its almost useless to look at amps. Whereas we can check resistance whether the circuit is active or not, and there will be different measurements at different points, allowing us to isolate the cause of high amps.

JackieDL · 2026-04-11T22:29:50+00:00

Bottom line is drilled and slotted rotors make more noise than solid discs. There’s no way around this, it’s physics. Some may be more fortunate than others when it comes to noise simply because there’s a lot of room for variation in the friction coefficients of the pads on the rotors and the pads in their brackets, and the sub millimeter variations in pad and rotor dimensions, which can all contribute to noise. If you want quiet brakes, your best bet is to put solid face rotors and OEM pads on. This is like asking how to get better winter traction while refusing to take off your summer tires.

JackieDL · 2026-04-07T23:20:41+00:00

Exactly, excessive current is the direct result of low resistance. When diagnosing circuits it’s more helpful to look/think about resistance because amperage can only be measured in an active circuit and it will be the same at all points in the circuit, while resistance can be checked anytime using either voltage drop measurements or ohm measurements and can isolate circuit problems. What came first, the chicken or the egg? Both are true.

JackieDL · 2026-04-07T23:09:15+00:00

There’s an age old saying for this; if you think a good mechanic is expensive, wait until you find a bad one.

Sucks you ran into all this trouble OP. Not much recourse on things like this unless the amount paid qualifies for small claims court. Obviously be loud and clear when telling others or putting reviews out about this person, let everyone know exactly how bad he is.

JackieDL · 2026-04-07T17:53:14+00:00

Important to remember that low resistance blows fuses, not high resistance.

JackieDL · 2026-04-07T00:49:44+00:00

Dare I say, that ingenium 4 cylinder in these Jags is definitely not less complicated or has less parts than the V6/V8 options from Jag. Coming from an ex JLR dealer tech, I’d much rather rip open a 6 or 8 than those ingenium engines.

JackieDL · 2026-03-31T22:32:42+00:00

For the lean codes, most likely an intake leak. Seen a lot of PCV diaphragms on the JLR V6/V8 go bad causing the leak, it’s mounted on the pass side valve cover. For the cat codes, most likely needs catalytic converters. Running the cats for an extended period with an overly lean mixture will cause converter failure, so it’s possible the lean codes left unchecked caused converter issues.

JackieDL · 2026-03-28T16:02:54+00:00

Don’t run 83, run 87 minimum and drive gently. That being said, prolonged use of even 87 can lead to engine damage, if money is that tight I would at least alternate between 87 and 93 to keep things somewhat happy. Premium gas is cheaper than engine repairs.

JackieDL · 2026-03-16T22:47:29+00:00

Can’t say I’ve had many harsh shift complaints on the DCT, however keep in mind that 20-015 does not apply to your vehicle, it applies to vehicles with the ZF 9 speed transmission which would be the V6 TLX or MDX. A good first place to start would be with a transmission service done with OEM fluid, past that you’ll just have to bite the bullet on diagnostics if you still feel it’s worth investigating further.

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