Good day, gentlemen. I recently acquired an '05 RSX-S from a friend, and it is quite possibly one of the best cars I've bought (it'll be car #38 now) in a long time. I absolutely love it, so smooth and quiet.

So that brings me to ask a few questions, just to be sure it lives that much longer.

It has 211k miles. Very lightly driven miles, almost all highway miles and driven by an older gentleman that was a salesman. The car still had the factory clutch at 204k miles when my friend got it, but it has been updated to a new OEM replacement.

- I know it's a timing chain car, but with the mileage, do you think anything in that area needs to be changed? It doesn't make any weird noises or anything, I just want to be sure.
- Is there anything I should be looking out for being that is has the higher mileage?
- Anything else I need to know about these cars that can eventually be an issue? (I'm new to the DC5 platform)

Here's the car. I have since hand sanded and ground down every bit of rust there was on the car (very minimal, but I HATE rust) and I have undercoated the hell out of it. There is ZERO rust left underneath.

 

Did you get any maintenance records with the car?

 

I just bought my DC5 and I had the car fax. So I could see the last time the brakes were checked, Oil change, and other maintenance. I looked and physically saw immediately that my Drive belt needed to be changed. Of course since we have timing chains thats not such a big worry(from my understanding. I was able to see the guy previously had the rotors turned twice...
Also just check to make sure no cracks in hoses etc etc.

Fresh looking DC5 btw.

 

I didn't get a maint. records, but I know the car was well taken care of.
Thanks for the offer on the pads but I have a bunch of old pads from my s2000 that I'll toss on it if/when I decide to track it.

The belt looks to be fairly new, and my buddy that owned the car right before me just changed out rotors/pads on it. I was mostly just worried about timing chain problems. If they're not known to stretch or break, I'll be one happy camper.

And thanks! It really does look good for the mileage, I'm really impressed with it. Awesome car.

 

What a POS. 2/10 at best.

A stretched timing chain would be indicated by a CEL or some sort of running issue, usually. If it breaks, you could always stick to walking because you are likely drunk anyway.

Have a terrible time.

 

Alright so I think I actually came across a common problem in RSX. So I've been hearing a faint clatter/ticking. Nothing too alarming.

So I pop my hood and look around hopping its not engine knocking blah blah. It seems I only hear the sound around where my belt/chain is. I notice that my auto belt tensioner is shaking. Like enough to where it could possibly be relieving tension off my belt so I know that's not normal. Even though it supposed to move a little when you turn A/C on. So I do some research and find that a lot of people seem to get this problem. So I am assuming with an high mileage RSX it's good to check this. I know I will probably be replacing mine here shortly.

 

Buy the factory manual first off... than there is a mark on the tensioner that tells you if it needs to be replaced. If I were you I would replace all pulleys the belt and all fluids...

 

Luckily I have my factory manual. It doesn't go past the mark I still have plenty of tension on my belt. I just think the rattles back and forth isn't normal. But I say screw it. My cars a high mileage car so I'm just going to do everything to make sure it last another 100k.
So I will replace the belt tensioner and pulleys. The belts fresh. And I will also be replacing my spark plugs with ngk iridium pre-gapped plugs.
I'll probably have my timing chain tensioners changed out in the future too. And chain if need be.

 

Clean *** car for the mileage! Just keep up with the basic maintenance and it should last another 200k