New Owner of Family-Owned 2005 NSX-T

[klacombe]

My wife and I are new owners of a Silver 2005 NSX-T 3.2 6sp originally purchased new by her father in December 2006 at Hinshaw's Acura of Fife (near Seattle). The only modifications that I know of are upgraded speakers and an open air intake box. I don't know the details to either but was told not to drive in the rain because of the air intake (but I wouldn't do that anyway). Because I have limited service history available I am looking at the scheduled maintenance, in particular, the timing belt. It says to change at 105,000 or 7 years. The car has just over 33,000 miles and most of that was in the first 5 or so years. Should I go to the Acura dealer for service or is there a good shop nearby that is recommended? I had a 2004 MDX that I had serviced at Hinshaw's and had 2 timing belt changes there over the 245,000 miles. We just want to take good care of this great car and enjoy it for many years to come. -Kevin & Adele

Is there a trick to uploading photos? It said I had an incorrect format when I tried to attach a 350k jpeg

 

[docjohn]

welcome! Very nice car by description. I just use the upload tool and download direct from my hard-drive. Unless you have no air filter , and no cover I doubt you have an "open" airbox...nsxpo if it happens will be in Portland area this year..

 

[Honcho]

My wife and I are new owners of a Silver 2005 NSX-T 3.2 6sp originally purchased new by her father in December 2006 at Hinshaw's Acura of Fife (near Seattle). The only modifications that I know of are upgraded speakers and an open air intake box. I don't know the details to either but was told not to drive in the rain because of the air intake (but I wouldn't do that anyway). Because I have limited service history available I am looking at the scheduled maintenance, in particular, the timing belt. It says to change at 105,000 or 7 years. The car has just over 33,000 miles and most of that was in the first 5 or so years. Should I go to the Acura dealer for service or is there a good shop nearby that is recommended? I had a 2004 MDX that I had serviced at Hinshaw's and had 2 timing belt changes there over the 245,000 miles. We just want to take good care of this great car and enjoy it for many years to come. -Kevin & Adele

Is there a trick to uploading photos? It said I had an incorrect format when I tried to attach a 350k jpeg

Welcome! The best way to upload photos is to host them on a site like Google Photos or Flickr and link to them here. NSX Prime gives you just a little space to host photos directly on the forum server, so you'll run out of room fast. There are tons of threads on the timing belt and many different perspectives. My take is that the belt is made of rubber with nylon cords embedded into it. Both rubber and nylon degrade with age and heat. That said, the belt is well engineered and there are plenty of NSXs out there driving on 20+ year old belts. My perspective is that a broken or loose timing belt can cause catastrophic engine damage (the C32B is an interference design), resulting in potentially needing a new engine. A new C32B from Acura is $20,000+ and used ones are usually over $10,000. The cost of a timing belt job is between $2,000 and $3,000 (around $1,000 if you DIY). So, for me it's a math problem with an easy answer- change the belt. My personal schedule for my NSXs, taking into account driving style, circuit usage, ambient conditions in my geography and Honda's recommendations is to change it every 7 years regardless of mileage (I don't put close to enough miles on a NSX to ever hit the mileage triggers). I change the damper pulley every other timing belt. Most owners also refresh the engine while it's all apart for the TB/WP service. It's a few hundred bucks' worth of O-rings and rubber seals, but it ensures everything is reset to zero once the engine goes back together. After all, it would really suck if you develop an issue because a $2 O-ring failed, that could have been changed during the service.

At this point in the NSX's life, most of the NSX-trained dealer techs are gone. There are a few left and not sure if any are still at your local dealers, but most owners these days go to an expert third-party shop. These shops usually have ex-dealer, factory-trained NSX mechanics or mechanics with a lot of experience on the NSX. It's usually a safer bet than the dealers, who have messed up a lot of NSXs in recent years (including my past one). I'd steer you to one of the independents unless there is a dealer nearby with a factory-trained NSX tech still on staff.

 

[MaxGeek]

Congrats on the NSX! I recommend you join the PacNW NSX Owners Group on facebook for local recommendations. There are a couple of good local mechanics, but also consider if something goes wrong if they will be able to afford to make things right.

 

[Ric]

My wife and I are new owners of a Silver 2005 NSX-T 3.2 6sp originally purchased new by her father in December 2006 at Hinshaw's Acura of Fife (near Seattle). The only modifications that I know of are upgraded speakers and an open air intake box. I don't know the details to either but was told not to drive in the rain because of the air intake (but I wouldn't do that anyway). Because I have limited service history available I am looking at the scheduled maintenance, in particular, the timing belt. It says to change at 105,000 or 7 years. The car has just over 33,000 miles and most of that was in the first 5 or so years. Should I go to the Acura dealer for service or is there a good shop nearby that is recommended? I had a 2004 MDX that I had serviced at Hinshaw's and had 2 timing belt changes there over the 245,000 miles. We just want to take good care of this great car and enjoy it for many years to come. -Kevin & Adele

Is there a trick to uploading photos? It said I had an incorrect format when I tried to attach a 350k jpeg

If you live in the Seattle area, there are only two Acura dealerships in the area: Acura of Seattle in Southcenter and Acura of Lynnwood, now known as Carter Acura. Do not take your car to the dealership in Southcenter. They don’t have any NSX tech there.Take it to Acura of Lynnwood. They have a couple of NSX technicians. Jon Lai is a long time NSX expert there and has just been promoted to service manager. They can do all kinds of service to your NSX, including installing aftermarket parts if you wish. The other place that caN service your NSX is Zanntech in Redmond. It started out as a VW repair shop but it can service NSX as well. The owner, John is a former NSX owner. I have seen multiple NSXs there when I took my car in as I have used both for my NSX.

 

[alum04org]

Welcome!

Kevin and Adele welcome to Prime forum :smile:

If memory serves me, new forum members must have a certain # of posts (is it 5?) before they have capability of private messaging and photo attachment(s).

Can anyone clarify this?

Looking forward to viewing your photos.

 

[klacombe]

Oops! It's a 2004

I realized after looking closer and checking the VIN that this is a 2004, not 2005. I had always thought it was a 2003 because my in-laws also had a 2004 MDX I thought was bought at the same time and I knew the NSX was a year old new car when they got it. It turns out, the NSX was bought at the same time as the 2007 MDX they bought. Still trying to find the owners manual and the service records. I did find out the car was serviced for the timing belt at about 30,000 miles and it is now at 33,842. The service was done at West Hills Honda in Bremerton possibly in January 2017. One of the keys has a paper tag attached with a drop off date/time written on it. I guess I could check with the dealer to find out the service history if we can't find it.

I did check with Hinshaw's Acura in Fife and they do NOT have anyone who can work on NSX's. Seattle Acura in Southcenter says they do have a very good tech (Rick) that is qualified. The quote for the TB/WP service was $3000. I called Zahntech in Redmond and spoke with Matthew and was quoted just under $2000 for the engine out TB/WP service with tensioners and soft seals. I would probably go there for any major service in the future and maybe just for a new owner checkup. It's just a bit of a drive to get there from Gig Harbor but at least it would be a fine one! I will keep updates posted as I learn more and hopefully be able to post photos soon as well.

Thank you everybody for the warm welcome and the advise. I will definitely check the PNW FB group and look forward to meeting up with any local NSX owners.

-Kevin

 

[Miner]

I used to get my Legend service (a couple of recalls) done at Acura of Fife. No complaints with their work. That was a long time ago, though.

 

[klacombe]

A Little More Info...It's a 2004!

A little bit of updated info on the car and history. I was mistaken when I said it was a 2005 as it is a 2004. My father-in-law bought it in December 2006 and I knew about it being an older new car but I thought it was a 2005. He also mentioned that it was supposed to have been serviced at about 30,000 miles for the timing belt but at the local Honda Dealer. Cringe! I am trying to get more information from the dealership in order to determine what was done and when it was done. After speaking with Hinshaw's Acura in Fife, Seattle Acura in SouthCenter, and ZahnTech in Redmond concerning service available for the timing belt (when needed) I will plan to make arrangements with Zahntech. I spoke with Matthew and he took me through all the service and how they do it. Hinshaw's does not have any NSX certified techs and Seattle Acura said they do have a very good NSX tech but the cost was considerably higher than ZahnTech. I want to find a good service home that I can rely on for now and into the future and ZahnTech seems like a good fit. The only real modification was the Downforce Air Intake Scoop from Science of Speed. Not a fully open intake airbox like I referred to, just a more open air intake. Thank you everyone for the warm welcomes. I will plan to read through as much here as possible and post back with updated info as I get it. Hopefully I'll be able to post photos soon as well.