mike_snyder

A few thousand miles back, I noticed a harsh downshift. Other than the happening occasionally, no *real* symptoms of a failing tranny. Yesterday, heading into an on ramp @ approximately 50mpg, used s/s to go into 3rd, proceeded to accelerate out of turn slammed throttle, near redline, shifted up into 4th, tranny slipped MAJOR high rpms, went to near redline, car didn’t pull. I was like SHI^(%&*. After that noticed several gears slip and car didn’t respond for 3-4 sec when shifting from D5 to Reverse. I was like time to take it in. The weird thing is after the car sat and cooled down, it drove OK, until after about 25-30 min of driving, then slippage and harsh shifting. No D5 flashing or visual failure indicators (not D% flash etc.)

I am taking it in, but I thought when these things failed it was like the 3rd or 4th gear clutch pack blew up and slam to 2nd etc. Have any others experienced a slow death like I am experiencing. Just turned 50K miles to day too…at least we have the 100K/7yrs! Still sux though!

AcuraT

When mine went at 68005 the first symptom was it did not want to go into reverse - it went into drive instead! The second symptom was later in the day when it did not want to shift, and took a very long time to shift. The third symptom occured on the drive to the dealership when the transmission locked up in third gear and the D started flashing - transmission failure. There was almost no slippage whatsoever. Then again, I did not go near red-line as you describe or manual shifted at the time it was going. From what I understand from others, the harder you drive it, the more severe the symptoms can be when it does fail.... good luck!

r10apple

The harsh downshifting was noticed when my tranny crapped out.

The current symptoms you have was when the throttle body crapped out. My lights didn't come on for awhile though the shifting was hesitant and acceleration largely nonexistent.

mike_snyder

Thanks for the reply. As AcuraT put it, it depends on how you drive. I had made an appointment to take the TL in @ lunch today. Since my symptoms seemed to be related to heat, I drove it hard and was able to reproduce the slipping. at 50 mph, in 5th gear, nail the throttle, RPMs shoot up, no downshift. A couple of times there was a hard BUMP/THUD, when downshifting. limped back to dealer, by this time the tranny was slipping majorly in EVERY gear, and two blocks from the dealer, the "!" indicator and the "VSA" indicator lit up solid. "D5" never flashed. Tranny was toast!

Anyway, I'm in a Mazda Tribute with a good week wait for the remanufactured tranny. I questioned the 'rebuilt' trannies, he said oh yeah, they put the oil jet kit in internally in the remaned trannies..I was like: but that was for the 2nd gear problem what about the other heat related problems in the 3rd or 4th gears? He was like..I dunno. Oh well. I have two young kids and I am scared that another failed tranny might cause an accident with them in the car. I feel lucky the tranny died a slow death. I don't know whether to unload this or keep it until 100K miles??? I like the car otherwise, but I hate driving around in fear!

r10apple

The only thing I can say is that I have three kids and a wife and I am not afraid to drive the car with them in it at all.

fsttyms1

teh biggest symptom (on my 3 that died ) was a sligh slipping between the 2-3 shift. it was like a slipping clutch. the tack would slide up 300-600 rpm before it shifted. i got about 1000 miles out of it before they died. the reason it worked after you let it cool down for awhile is because the 3 gear clutchpack and fluid had cooled down.

as for having fear driving it you either get over it or get rid of the car. i use mine daily and not affraid to have my family in it. i saw the symptoms on all 3 that died before hand

JnC

iTrader: (12)

I have asked this question before as well that wouldnt a transmission cooler kit from comptech help the cause?

fsttyms1

NOPE! i had one on the last and it still died! with the least amout of mileage of all 3 that died too

mike_snyder

yeah, I need to get over the 'fear factor' (no pun.)

Given that they *usually* show symptoms beforehand, I shuld be able to get over it. I like the car and want to keep it for several more years (at least to the 100K mark since hte trannies are free!)

Ken1997TL

Post all info, complaints, gripes, questions and other comments of actual VALUE in here. Keep to the topic please.

scottiew

Mine just died... '03 TLS 27k miles. Pretty aggrevating having to complain to get a rental car.

You don't quite understand how other people feel and how big of a deal it is until your own tranny dies.

mickey3c

I know how that feels... From the time my 01 died which lasted till 50K I was having fun with the car. Now, with the oil jet, etc. and what I know about the tranny, I no longer use the manual mode. They replaced the computer module with my rebuilt tranny which also changed the shift points etc.

If you can afford to, trade it in about 2000 miles shy of 50k. This way the can certify the car and you get peak trade value. The decide if you want to try them again or try another car maker. IMHO they reason the engine was changed in 04 was to make it looke like it was more powerful with 270 hp but the torque curve was made less agressive to help avoid the problem that you had. I bought an infiniti and while poeple say they put so much on one engine, the 3.5 they won awards with it. Acura has but its 5sp auto in many vehicles. 3.2, mdx, honda, etc. They have all experiences tranny failures... the more powerful the engine gets the more failures seem to appear

Damon Hill

Transmission #2 just died. 61K miles on the OD. This is frustrating. How can I trust that this transmission will last. I was told that the first tranny replacement came with a 100K warranty on the tranny. As in, when I got it replaced at 20K that the warranty would cover until 120K. Well, when i asked yesterday , they said the warranty only covers until there is 100K on the OD. This is crap.

scottiew

Not a bad idea I guess. Trying another maker might be good but they all have their anamolies. Unfortunately Acura's seems to be trannies which makes the car undependable IMO. I was lucky it happend on my way home.

I don't know if more power = more failures -- maybe it was a weak tranny and needs to be built stronger. Someone like fatty can answer the technical aspects of what you say. Not all trannies are the same. That said, I don't think I'll buy another one (I was considering a MDX) so long as they all have the same trannies and apparently the bearings haven't been changed. Or am I wrong?

Crazy88

Does using SS increase the likely hood of blowing a tranny??

fsttyms1

NO. if any thing it would help out by you being abl;e to not use 3rd as much

Crazy88

So in other words, 3rd gear is the gear that f*cks up all of the trannies???

mrsteve

iTrader: (1)

Meh... highly debatable. Minimizing shifts, especially between 2nd and 3rd will increase the life of the transmission. The weak links are 1) The teeth on 2nd gear due to inadequate fluid delivery (flaud by design) 2) 2nd gear clutch packs (also from inadequate fluid delivery, i.e., they over heat and crumble)

scottiew

Does anyone think they [transmissions] are all just waiting to fail? I've seen some people on here say they've gone through 2-3 trannies.

Crazy88

whenever im driving around i stick it in SS just to see what gear im in and almost always im in 4th or 5th so thats good, instead of 3rd.

Jimmy The Saint

I'm at 52K miles and still on the original tranny - Any bets on when it dies? It'll be covered though up to 100K miles right or no?

antlive

well folks, my 2nd tranny just failed today. WTF. Y can't they get this shyt right. I'm going on my 3rd tranny in 4 yrs. I'm so pissed right now. Acura should recall all these dayum cars and give everyone a new one.

acuraTLao

what have been the general experiences that you have had when going to the dealer for tranny replacements/repairs?

I'm getting close to the 100k mark and my tranny shifts ok, its not as smooth as butter or anything but you definitely feel the gear shifts esp 1st to 2nd and 2nd to 3rd.

I'm thinking about taking it in to have the dealer take a look at it and see if they would replace it or repair it...so I'm wondering what your experiences have been like.

scottiew

I hope no one flames me for this but I'll give you my honest opinion and feelings. My overall experience has been shitty.

I took it to the dealer on Saturday. My roommate followed me. The guy said "we don't have anymore loaners, we might have some Monday -- I'll know by tonight". That was it, no other options. Pretty much go home with your roommate. So I told him I'd call him Monday morning.

Called Monday morning "we might have some by this afternoon". At that point I was fuming. So how was I supposed to go to work? My friend with a $10k Hyundai got a rental without asking when he took his car into service. The service guy never even offered nor hinted an offer. This is partly what pissed me off.

So I call back and talk to him respectfully but firmly. Finally he said they'd get me a rental. So I said fine. I got a ride over there and got the rental. NOw the rental is lower than any Honda I know of. That's fine -- I'm not bitching about that (roll down windows, manual locks), just glad I'm driving a car with a transmission that works. I do think they should've at least tried to match Acura since they are a "luxury car" dealer. Hell Cadillac has better service than that.

Anyhow, after the guy left me with the rental lady I asked her if they had a lot of warranty rentals. She said "we've had a few". So basically the guy tried to give me runaround and never offered a rental until I fussed a little. That's what pissed me off. Was he tried to take advantage of my age? I don't know. Needless to say I called Acura Corporate to let them know the situation and they sent a letter to the dealer. I got a call back from the service manager and he was all apologetic. I told him I'd keep all of my experience (mostly bad) in mind when I decide between the MDX and a RX 330. Left him something to think about.

The lady at Acura Corporate said the dealer isn't required to give a loaner. Great. But other dealers here do. Hell my friend took his Honda he bought used at an Inifniti dealer (low milage mind you) to the Honda dealership (consquently owned by the same person as the Acura dealership) and got a loaner. So they are treating their Honda customers better than their Acura customers. I'm not griping that Honda customers should be treated anyless; if anything, both should be treated the same.

Now some may say I'm lucky to get a rental but that's standard customer service here in the Houston market. Lexus would not let you go w/out a loaner. Bottom line is it was shitty customer service. The guy should've offered a rental because obviously they've given warranty rentals to other customers. He tried to stiff me and I called him on it. This happened when I got the oil jet kit too. Sat there for 5 hours.

If you have crappy service it doesn't hurt to call Acura Customer Service.

02 c-town tl

I just had my 02 TL (33,300 miles) at the Acura of Cleveland shop today, got a loaner- a 2004 Blue TSX which was very nice, and I didn't have any problems. The tranny didn't have any indicators of any heat damage and they installed an oil injector and changed the tranny fluid. Topped off with an oil change and filter and she is a smooth as the day I drove it off the showroom floor 4 years ago. (It will be 4 years in July 2005) My TL is all stock as I got it in Nov 04 b/c my wife traded my 02 Maxima SE in for an 05 Nissan Pathfinder LE which is a very sweet SUV, better than the MDX. Anyway, all is good in TL land and I can't see another car for me for the next 3-4 years or longer. The ride of TL on the highway is great and around town it is better than my Maxima SE.

antlive

well new tranny will be installed next week. I was hoping they would refuse so I could sue their asses for this crap. But, they are going to do it. I'm at the point of getting a new car.

Has anyone contacted corperate and ranted about this. If so, what were the results.

scottiew

They wrote a letter to the dealer and the service manager called me the next day. My qualm was with the way the service guy treated me. I did mention to corporate we shouldn't have this problem in the first place.

As far as the tranny issue, I don't think they care.

antlive

we should look into a class action suit.

02 c-town tl

<<<we should look into a class action suit.>>>


Maybe they will gives us all new 2005 TL's!!!!!

LudetypeSH

I just had my 03 TL-S tranny replaced a few weeks ago. It had 30K miles on it and went out before x-mas. I got a rental car but was hoping for an acura loaner car. I wanted to try out the new TL or the TSX. Oh well, got stuck with a Mazda 6 (4 banger) and it was okay. So I'm guessing my next tranny failure will be around 60K....I almost inclined to trade-in/sell the car but I really love my TL-S.

scottiew

I feel the same way. I don't feel like getting a new car now so I'm not trading. I'll wait 'till I get more cash and then worry about it. Now we have warranty although replacing the tranny is a major inconvenience.

You got a better rental than me

xpothosx

I just had my tranny replaced again (for the 2nd time). Once at 49,000 miles, then again at 55,000 miles. I got a crappy loaner the first time ( Dodge Stratus), but then i got a good loaner the 2nd time(Volvo S60).

scottiew

Your car is out of warranty but I wonder if it goes out 2 times during standard manufacturer's warranty if you can call them on the lemon law and make them buy the car back.

Anyone care to opine?

fsttyms1

thats a pipe dream if i ever heard of it.

about the only way you are going to recieve any compensation from acura is if you fall under a lemon law. a few members have.

as for scottiew having bad service? thats a dealer issue, not acura. my dealer has always bent over to get me a loaner if they didnt have one, and of same class if i ask. the one time they couldnt they got me one the next day and met me half way (i live 1hr 40 min from the dealer) to give me the equivelant loaner (i had a fucus).

fsttyms1

lemon law in most statesis more than 2 times and usually has to take place durring the same year

antlive

so y'all don't think we have an class action suit?

mrsteve

iTrader: (1)

No law suit. They doubled the warranty period on the transmission, they recalled the car for the transmission to aide in one of the problems. There really isn't much more they are going to do.

fsttyms1

Nope!

mr_min

hey,

02 tl type-s 30k

In the last month, I have had 2 thumps while driving. When I say thump, it sounds like 2 hammers hitting each other and a hesitated move. I am not doing anything abnormal besides driving the speed limit and not gunning it.

What is this a possibility of? Future tranny failure?

thanks,

mr_min

jmhowieii

Took my 03 in for the 45K service and the recall on the trannie. Superior Acura in Kansas City, KS. offers me a loaner car for the day since I live about 60 miles from the dealership (closest to me). Well they call me later in the day and tell me they are going to replace the trannie in accordance with the recall.
Since the rental car company was closed for the day, they let me keep the loaner (2004 TSX 4 door) for the week. I am scheduled to pick up the TL next Saturday. We'll see how the new trannie does, never had any problems with the current one, at leat I never noticed.
Any word from thse who had theirs replaced on performance changes?