I Hope everyone is doing well & getting ready for summer. April was a busy month for me, like most, but this month I had some pretty major maintenance done on the TSX. But first, I’ll start with something I’ve never seen before. Something that I didn’t even know existed before a few weeks ago.
I found out about the Morning Glory Spillway, Owyhee Dam Historic District (Adrian, Oregon). Now, I’ve seen pictures of these things before, but I didn’t know that one was about an hour & a half away from my front door! Naturally I had to go check it out!
Driving out there was lots of beautiful scenery including the tunnel carved out of solid rock in the first picture, above.
I’m told the Spillway has been dry since 1973 & typically looks like this…
However, thanks to a record winter, the locals are getting to see spectacles such as this…
If you can imagine it, this Spillway is about 60ft-80ft wide, goes straight down for about 300ft & then down river 2,000ft.
I bought a drone last year & used it all of NEVER. I have a friend that has always wanted to learn how to fly one, so I let him borrow it so he could try it out. I told him about the Spillway & he was out there the next day & snapped this picture from above…
I made sure to inform him of the local news crew that was out a week before with their drone & they got too close & the Spillway literally sucked their drone into it’s watery depths. There is a vortex above the Spillway, so I told him to stay at least 60ft above it.
Here’s some info about the Spillway itself:
“Designed and constructed by the Bureau of Reclamation beginning in 1927, the Owyhee Dam Historic District consists of the Owyhee Dam and several dozen buildings and structures associated with the dam. These resources include a residential camp, industrial buildings, and other features that date from between the period 1927 and 1939. The district was listed in the National Register for its important and historic association with irrigated agriculture in eastern Oregon and western Idaho as part of the larger Owyhee Project. The district was also listed for its national significance for the design and construction of the Owyhee Dam, which served as a testing grounds for new dam technology and engineering. New technology first used in the Owyhee Dam later served in other Bureau of Reclamation projects, including Hoover Dam.“
It was pretty cool to see & I’m glad I found out about it. Who knows when it would be running again after this year!
THE MAINTENANCE
The transmission has had a slow leak for quite sometime now, & I’ve been putting it off due to the amount of labor involved. But, it was finally time to get it taken care of. I’m not going to reach my new goal of 625,000 miles (1,000,000 Km) by perpetually putting off needed maintenance. So I called Lyle Pearson Acura & set a date to have the torque converter seal replaced.
To replace this seal, you need to drop the engine cradle & remove the transmission. Since this job was so labor intensive, I tried making the most of it By replacing everything we could, even if it was still looking OK.
We also replaced the rear main seal on the motor…
This seal is located behind the driveplate between the motor & transmission. We also replaced the shift shaft seal, axle seals, torque converter O-ring, a motor mount & finished it off with a new splash shield as the current one was pretty ragged. You can see how important these seals are by looking at the dirt build up on the back of the torque converter. The seals keep the necessary fluids in, & this crap out.
You can see how bad the splash shield was…
While Master Tech Chris Downs was working away at it, I took a 2017 TLX & went up to Cascade,ID to see if the Cascade Lake’s Spillway was open, I wasn’t disappointed…
The camera on my phone had sort of mid-life crisis & the results were worth posting.
I made a video documenting what Chris did to the TSX & you can check it out here:
And here is the invoice documenting what all was done:
After being back on the road for a couple hundred miles, I found this quiet scenic spot to wrap up the video…
Heading home I came across this sign:
I was pretty disappointed actually. I wanted to go check it out, but I left my spear & ripped abs at home for this trip. Just my luck!
That pretty much wraps up this update. I’ve got some other interesting projects coming up in the near future, so check back in from time to time to see what’s happening.
Thanks for stopping by & stay safe out there!
TSX Travels "Have TSX-Will Travel" 
“This is Sparta!!!” Great post. The spillway was really impressive- what kind of noise did all that rushing water make?
Cool update on the TSX maintenance. All things considered, that’s not an awful amount of maintenance, given the amount of mileage you have, and that it’s an auto! How was the TLX?
The spillway sounded just like a large waterfall, only muted. Kinda hard to describe. Really like the TLX. She handles very well & has some pretty good pep!
That’s a great deal Josh! How you liking the TLX? I’ve heard of many issue with the transmission being confused and hunting through gears constantly.
Hey Mo! I like the TLX a lot. Going up the mountains I didn’t feel any transmission problems. In fact, due to all the gears, the only time I felt any shifting is when I was getting on it to pass someone. I was very smooth.
Wow. Great stuff. I like the Benny Hill and Turning Japanese music.
Ha, thanks Carlos. It’s hard to go wrong with the classics!
That drain is something! I would not want to get to close to that. Haha. Really great video of the big repair job. It looks like they also gave you an amazing deal for that service. I would bet four times that amount, by the book.
Retail was between $2,000 & $2,500 with all the stuff I had done. I’m very appreciative of my Acura brand!
Haha stop leaving your ripped abs at home all the time. The spillway is just like a giant toilet bowl. Cheers to the TSX getting some much needed maintenance! See you in < 20,000 miles!
Yes indeed! Hope you’re having fun at NSXPO! Lucky dog!
Josh, how does your automatic transmission shift when starting up cold in morning? Any kind of difficulty getting into reverse or any kind of flaring or roughness when first starting in morning and going , in full automatic mode, from first to second, or second to third, or third to fourth?
No, nothing like that. It still shifts smooth. I have the customary Honda transmission whine though. But no shifting issues whatsoever. I give it about 1 minute to warm up before starting out.
Hi Josh,
Does your 05 burn any oil? My 04 seems to go through almost a quart every 1,000 mile. I’m up to 238,000 miles and hope to also get to 500K!
Hi Kevin, to be completely honest, I’m not sure if it does. I’m in every month or so for an oil change anyway, so it’s never been an issue for me. I know Honda has a crazy high tolerance for oil consumption tho.
That would be interesting to see how your car fairs. Especially with that kind of mileage. Might not be a bad idea to know for your sake as well!
I just saw the video again. Wow. That is a Ton of work to change the seals. Great mechanic!
It sure was! He’ll appreciate that.
So awesome to read through your blog. I actually just bought a new-to-me TSX (used to own an Integra), and it’s cool to see what these cars are capable of in terms of long-term reliability. Kinda off-topic, but how do you find the TSX handles in snow? Do you run snow tires?
Hi Cody, Congrats on your TSX! Mine handles just fine in the snow. I burn thru a set of tires every year with the miles I put on, so I have it timed out for new rubber late Nov-Early Dec for new All Seasons & it works out just fine! Glad your enjoying the blog!
Josh, when is the next update to the blog? 😎
very soon! been crazy busy!