NSX Health Check Service

[Kaz-kzukNA1]

Hi, all.
It’s been a while since last time I updated this thread.

Before/after the Japfest, I was so busy working over the weekend as well as until midnight during the week for many projects and also worked on several NSX including timing belt service.

I would like to say thank you to some of the owners who were very generous when I couldn’t complete the planned service due to my sudden back injury just before the Japfest.
I also had to change the schedule for some of the owners who were in the queue for my Health check service. Everyone who contacted me in the past are still on the list so I’ll appreciate your patience and understandings for the long waiting period.
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I started to work on beautiful 2002 Silver NSX in April in time for the Japfest.
Followings are some of the services carried out on this NSX.

1. Main Relay
As mentioned many times, it is always good idea to replace this parts with new one, re-solder the old one and keep it on the car for an emergency spare.


On this 2002 NSX, the original relay had the parts built at the end of 2001 and early 2002.
The replacement relay was built using the parts from the end of 2009.

The original one was re-soldered and then applied the conformal coating for extra protection.

[Kaz-kzukNA1]

2. Brake calliper
Even this 2002 NSX was being serviced regularly, the brake calliper was never overhauled.

It was showing one of the common failures on our NSX. The parking brake cable was seized to the lever causing the imbalance between the Right and Left parking brake mechanism.


Also, the rust got inside the Front calliper and one of the pistons was pitted with the rust. It was too deep and not possible to re-use so had to be replaced.

As I don’t want any debris to get inside the calliper during the overhaul process, all of the parts including the calliper bracket are washed and inspected thoroughly.
Time consuming process so I don’t think main dealer will be doing this kind of things but I can’t compromise on this especially for the brake system.

[Kaz-kzukNA1]

Front and Rear calliper washed, overhauled using the OEM kit with new bleeder plug as well.

[Kaz-kzukNA1]

3. Brake Master Cylinder
There was so much black debris inside the filter and although there was no leakage at the base of the master cylinder, it was decided to overhaul the master cylinder at the same time as the brake calliper service.


At the end, it was a good decision as the guide sleeve was already started to rust even on 2002 model.


Checked the pushrod clearance before putting back the master cyl.
Used the OEM overhaul kit. Bench bled it first before putting it back on the car to get rid of the tiny air bubbles. Due to the design and the position of the brake fluid feed holes, it is time consuming to push out all of the tiny bubbles while it is fixed to the booster housing.
Although it is not ‘must’ procedure, if you want to save your time and brake fluid, it is a good idea to bench bleed it first.

[Kaz-kzukNA1]

Then, use the pressure bleed method to keep the system under pressure during the entire brake bleeding process.

4. Drive shaft

The owner had his drive shaft serviced by someone in the past and unfortunately, it was not done properly and the grease was already leaking to outside causing some noise due to the lack of grease capacity.

After cleaning the joints for thorough inspection, I found that the alignment of the spider was off by 1 tooth.


Cleaned the joint thoroughly.
Again, it’s time consuming and not many people will clean it to this level for inspection but for me, this is the standard.

[Kaz-kzukNA1]

I also paint the joint housing.


Overhauling each rollers. There are 12 rollers in total and each of them has around 70 pin bearings. After the inspection, these tiny pins are planted carefully with new grease. By the end of overhauling 12 rollers, my shoulder is very stiff and my eyes are tired so time to take some coffee break.

It is important to inspect the internal wall of roller as quite often, I found scorching marking on there and you won’t be able to inspect it without disassembling the roller to this level.

If you are going to overhaul the Left drive shaft, you must first drain the MT/AT fluid. For AT, your drain bolt is built in with the magnet so it will provide you with some info on the state of the AT.


For MT, it is always good idea to inspect the strainer/filter nearby.

[Kaz-kzukNA1]

The old and new grease....


After the left drive shaft back in place, fill it up with Honda MTF-3.

Unless you use your NSX regularly on track, it is best to use MTF-3 due to the design of the oil passage and the way the MT oil pump is driven. If you use other trans oil, you may have difficulty in selecting 2nd gear or even cause small damage in a long term.

[Kaz-kzukNA1]

5. Coolant system

The original coolant hoses were stamped as Sep/00 so nearly 10 years old and we decided to replace all of the hoses, clamps, header tank, thermostat, tank cap, etc as we are going to replace the water pump during the timing belt service.


Even for 2002 model, some of the water pipes were started to show some corrosion.


There are lots of different combination of coolant hoses used depending on the DBW/non-DBW, AT/MT, NA1/NA2, year model, etc so you must select the right parts first. You also need to consider the order of replacing the hoses especially on the later models as some of the hoses are difficult to access due to the extra devices for the LEV.

[Kaz-kzukNA1]

Regardless of your NSX model, there are more than 20 hoses to be replaced so quite time consuming service.


Vacuum test and feed of the coolant.

[Kaz-kzukNA1]

6. Oil leakage

When I first looked at this NSX during my Health check service, I was quite surprised with the amount of oil leakage for 2002 model. I was told that someone worked on the car previously including adjusting the valve clearance so I thought this person didn’t replace all of the seals included in the head cover gasket kit. I cleaned the area as much as possible.

During the timing belt service, I found the reason for the leakage but I’ll touch on this later.