83tsex

Hello fellow board members. Noobie here and new owner of a 2005 Acura TSX. Automatic 5AT

Sadly, it looks like I may have a problem already.

I have a tapping / whirling noise coming from the bottom of the car. Its more noticeable when in park or neutral. When in drive it goes away.

Took it to the dealer and they diagnosed it as coming from the transmission, and the noise coming from a bearing.

Recommendation is replace tranny at a 5k price tag. YIKES!

I'm going to get a second opinion from another shop, but my question to you guys is, how much longer can I drive the car before potentially the tranny takes a total dump.?
Dropping 5k on a new tranny right now is no easy thing to do.

The car has 113k miles and had the tranny fluid changed recently. The car shifts and drives fine now, so I never figured it would of been a problem with the tranny, if not for the noise.

Any input/ suggestions/ comments are appreciated.
Thanks in advance!

Miamicarfan

Welcome to the club. I am in the same boat. 2005 Acura TSX with 104,000 miles. I have noticed this noise since car had 96,000 miles. You hear it in park and neutral but goes noise goes away as soon as you put transmission in drive.


Car shifts perfectly. I have taken it to several places including acura and honda specialist. Both said it is coming from transmission but could not tell me exactly what it is. Then I asked them if they have seen this in other cars like mine. They said yes. Then I asked then if it is something that has left the cars stranded. They said no. They have not seen cars like mine, even with noise, left stranded.

It has been almost 10,000 miles since i started hearing this noise. I am going to continue driving car as long as it shifts smoothly.

I am just going to change the transmission fluid more frequently, maybe every 10,000 miles.

My advice. Don't throw $5000 dollars away. Keep driving it. It will not leave you stranded from my experience and from what i have heard from the specialists.

Miamicarfan

Has anybody else had this problem transmission noise with their cars?

Your car has to have an automatic transmission.

If you have this problem, you will hear the noise when the car is in park or in neutral. Sort of like a whirling, grinding, tapping noise. It also sounds like a sewing machine.

The noise will go away as soon as you put the car in drive.

The noise is more evident at night and when it is quiet around you with no other cars nearby.

To check if your car has the noise, try the following after the car is warm and has been running for a while:



1) During the night, with the car running, when it is quiet and no cars are around, and while in your driveway or home, lower the driver's side window.

2) With the transmission in park or neutral, open your driver's side door.

3) Listening for any tapping, whirling, grinding, or sewing machine noise or noises that are coming from right behind the driver's front wheel. This is where the transmission is located.

4) Shift the transmission to drive and keep your foot firmly on the brake to keep car stationary. Does the car seem quieter now? Was there noise while car was in park or neutral that you just don't hear when car tranny is shifted to drive while keeping the car stopped with foot on brake?

5) Try putting transmission shifter back to park or neutral. Does the grinding, tapping, whirling, sewing machine noise return? Does it go away again as soon as you put tranny shifter back to drive while keeping foot on brake to keep car from moving?


When you respond, let us know what year is your TSX and how many miles it has. I did not hear this noise prior to my car having 95,000 miles.

The noise does not affect the operation of the vehicle when car is moving. All shifts occur properly in all 5 automatic gears. All upshifting and downshifting occurs properly and reverse also occurs properly.

Thanks to all for any responses.

TexasHonda

It appears as though you could continue to drive, which is far and away cheapest option. Not much downside to a wait and see.

I would suggest considering a used trans from a donor vehicle w/ < 100K miles, lower is better. Check car-part.com and ebay. You should be able to get trans and installation for < $1500 bucks. Looks like only 05 & 06 are donors.

good luck

Chad05TL

I just did the 6th or so 3Dr fluid change and while in my garage I started it up and I noticed that whirling noise. Never heard it before. So I put it in reverse and it took a long time to go in gear. And the whirling went away. I put it in drive and it took too long to go in drive but eventually it did. Then I put it in park and it had a quick grinding noise. Now I'm scared to drive it.

Miamicarfan

Just an update to my previous post.

My car now has more than 112,000 miles. I now have driven more than 16,000 miles since I first heard the noise without any incident other than the noise. I continue to have this noise but my car gets into gear perfectly and shifts all gears perfectly. It has never left me stranded and at no time did any of the gears slip.

Does anybody else have a TSX from 2004 to 2008 with an automatic transmission that is making this type of noise? As mentioned in a previous post, put the car in park or neutral and listen for a noise coming from behind the driver's side front wheel. Now put your foot on the brake and change gears from park to drive. With the foot on the brake and without the car moving, does the noise go away?

Chad05TL

If they did not use Honda fluid, then I would definitely look to that as the problem. I just fixed my whirling noise and I too had it mainly in park and neutral. But the fluid problem I had effected shifting too. But the new dw-1 honda fluid fixed everything.

I hate cars

No, you made up a transmission story in order to say aftermarket fluid is bad and wasted a bunch if people's time.

Chad05TL

The last redline fluide chang was the 6th or 7th "3 quart change". And it crated problems. Whirling noise from presumably the torque converter, and shifting problems and it would not go into drive or reverse. I had no problems before the last redline fluid change, and then all of a sudden, it gave me fits. Then I drained and refilled with Honda DW-1.. And all is well! I can only pinpoint the issue to be "too much Redline Racing fluid".. Maybe a few quarts is ok... but if you go too heavy on the Redline Racing fluid, these Acura transmissions do not like it. So therefore I say, stay with Honda DW-1 !!!!

I put in Redline Racing fluid beacuse "Ihatecars" said it was ok.. But then after a while, there were problems!.. So again, stay with Honda Fluid!
You'll regret it if you go TOO HEAVY with non-OEM transmission fluid..


I am just thankful that I didn't immediately go to a transmission shop and ask for a rebuild. See, I knew there was no mechanical problems with my tranny. I had no problems before the fluid swap and after the DW-1 swap, I had no problems.. So, this pinpoints the problem to Redline Racing Fluid..

Stay away!!

.

I hate cars

You want to have a technical debate, we can do that but you're incapable. You still think the braking system has a pump on it that circulates brake fluid.

You made up your so called trans failure story. You got caught. That's what happens when you don't know enough to even make up a believable story to support your agenda. Besides not answering a single question of mine trying to help you such as your fluid level being low with the Redline fluid because you were checking it with the engine running and never getting it up to full before swapping back to OEM. You said it made a grinding noise when you put it into park from drive with the car not moving. What you don't understand is that cannot happen unless there's a hard part breakage allowing the parking pawl to rotate. Between this lie and your unwillingness to answer questions I realized why you created that thread.

You had problems the second you started the car, before you drove it. You could have put tap water in it and it would not have shown the problems you're making up from idling. And let me get this straight. You are saying the fluid is too thick yet it got you through the winter ok and all of a sudden became too thick now that temps are hotter and the fluid is thinner? You constantly contradict yourself without even knowing it. For what it's worth I warned about the viscosity way back in the beginning for those in colder areas. I suggested a mix with the lightweight fluid. I suggested the Amsoil version. I suggested D4. I've reminded people that Inaccurate ran straight lightweight racing fluid and to err on the thin side. Over the past couple years I've realized that the switches MUST be replaced if you want to run the racing fluid to prevent problems. If you chose not to thoroughly read or you're not capable of understanding it's not my fault. The information is out there.

Why is my car shifting better than it did when I drove it off the dealer floor with 8 miles on it now that it has 125,000? I did the first ATF change at 18 or 20,000 miles with a DexIII. I went to straight Redline Racing around 75,000 miles. Just 1,000 miles ago I tried a mix of Racing and D6 for fun. I've got over 100,000 miles on a non approved fluid and 50k on straight racing fluid. What are you doing wrong? The answer is you don't know how to check your fluid and to cover up your mistake you blamed the fluid.

So Chad, the next time your transmission makes a whirring noise because it's a couple quarts low on fluid because you checked the fluid with the engine running, blame yourself, not the fluid.

Majid TabkhPaz

Hi guys, I recently bought a 05 tsx, and realized this noise when on P/N and goes away when put on D/R. However, I can hear the same sound when I driving and suddenly remove my foot from the pedal, when the rotational speed of engine reaches 1000 rpm. You can check it too.

The previous owner did not have any idea about the noise, so I am not sure this noise been there since when. Please update the status of your cars after these years.

Cheers

Braz60

Since were on the subject of transmissions what is the proper way of checking (ATF) the fluid level? I always thought that you get the car up to operating temperature then while in
park and foot on brake shift through each gear Drive, Reverse etc then put back in park and while car is running check dipstick fluid level.

Majid TabkhPaz

Thanks, the ATF level is okay but there are still noises (as others and I explained) are coming out.

23lastfirst69

I believe you are supposed to warm it up to op temp then shut it off, pull dipstick, wipe dipstick then reinsert and check to make sure it is between the lines or holes or level indicators. You should check your owners manual or fsm if available to be sure. Good luck.