dusty1959

Going 65mph and rpms at 1700 Ok here goes... we have a 2002 MDX that has had a rebuilt tranny installed March 2008 with 110,000 miles (or so). The reason why we took it in was bec the diff was leaking. We had ALL the ATF fld chgs done at dealer. I remember one other time we took it in the fld was down about 1 qt. But, being the faithful Honda owners that we are we chose to just take a "wait and see" approach. We bought the car at 60,000 and I had another Honda/Acura specialist (my sister runs the shop!) do the 60k service. I thought that maybe the tech who did the svc didn't fill the atf up all the way.

I used to manage a Honda/Acura shop with the same co that my sis still works with for 10 yrs. So I am NO dummy when it comes to cars! Suffice it to say that I know more than my husband does about cars. When I worked as a manager/svc mgr I gained a whole new respect for the industry and KNOW that you can't just be a dumb redneck and work on today's complicated cars!

No problems with the tranny until the weather got REALLY cold here in NC right before Christmas 2008 - 16 degrees. My husband noticed that car felt like it was in N after pulling away from a stopsign and barely going 30-40 ft. Took it into the dealer and they found that it was 1 qt low. They put dye in the system and we brought it back a week later to have it rechecked. They could not find a problem. (Are you surprised???)

Since then, he has had a few times where it did the same thing, with the hesitation - only in cold weather (under 30 degrees).

So last Sat 1/31/09, at 26,000 mi I told hubby that I felt we needed to get the ATF chgd (bec I am a FREAK about keeping the flds clean). I do the ATF every 15k on my 2002 Honda Accord.

He said that on the way to the dealer on 1/31 the tranny hesitated again. Of course, they didn't find anything.

I had to FIGHT to get the warranty on paper and even called Acura HQ and have a case#.

The dealer tried to act clueless.

At first, the dealer tried to tell me that we did NOT have a warranty. He read the notes and said that it stated R&R tranny to repl the rear main seal. I told him that I REQUESTED the rear main seal be repl while they had the tranny out bec you HAVE to take the tranny out to repl the seal anyway!

Acura mgr said "OH!! I think we can make that fly. That way you WILL be cov under the warranty."

I tell you... if I had been some dummy walking in off the street they would have just ripped me a new one!! I MADE the mgr create a dummy work order stating that we would be cov under the 36,000mi/3 yr warranty.

I also stated that there are only 3 reasons WHY the ATF would be low:
1. There was a leak (dye showed none)
2. Their tech did not fill it up all the way when the tranny was replaced
3. It is burning it.

Well, this week (on Wed 2/4/09) hubby said that the hestitation happened again in the same manner but this time he told me that the D5 light was blinking. I just about FREAKED! I told him THAT was important to note.

I talked with sis and she said that in order to ck the light it MUST be ckd before the car is turned off. Well, I didn't know that until it was too late.

Instead, I decided to go to my local AutoZone in the hopes that maybe, just maybe, there would be a code stored. NOPE!

Note: It was 35 degrees this morning.

On my way up to AuoZone I drove the car and tried to duplicate the hesitation problem. Nothing. However, when I got on the highway I noticed that the rpms were ONLY 1700 at 65 mph. Then at 55mph the rpms were 1500.

I know that is WAY too low!! I drove my son's 95 Accord today to compare and at 65mph the rpms were about 2600. My 02 Accord is the same.

Any suggestions here?

I read some of the other posts and think that it MAY be the ATF temp sensor or possibly the torque converter (that was supposedly replaced in March 2008).

Hubby has a friend who used to work at the Acura dealership as a tech (he now works at Lexus) so if that is something that is simple to try, maybe we should try that first. Anybody know the cost of the sensor? I read in a post here that it's a 15-30 min job (for someone who knows what they are doing).

Needless to say, the MDX is at the dealer right now awaiting a Monday morning diagnosis.

I am anxious to hear what they have to say.... we still have about $10,000 on the warranty. (hubby drives a lot)

Any comments? Suggestions?

luckyAKAhappy

My rpm is at about 1700-1800 at 65mph. I believe that is when we can get the best mpg's but who goes 65mph on the highway?

If you think you should be at 2600rpm like an Accord, that is way too high for the MDX.

dusty1959

I just found out today that I was WRONG about the rpms. I feel pretty dumb right now. But I am still a little nervous about the hesitation.

vas25tl

Any updates with diagnostics?

dusty1959

Well, no "official" update on the diagnostics on the MDX.

My husband and I actually just bought a 2003 Chrysler Town & Country Limited Extended Length van this weekend from Carmax. This is the 4th vehicle that we've bought from them and every car we've ever bought from them have been really GREAT (except for the MDX and it's tranny problems). But I know that cars are not perfect and they all have their little idiosyncracies. I'm not looking for perfection, just reliability.

So now the MDX is our 3rd vehicle. This way we still have another 10,000 miles left on the transmission warranty on the MDX. This should give us another 2 yrs so if it's going to act up, that should be plenty of time to figure it out.

Hubby has a cleaning service so this really works out a lot better to have a van. We would have liked to have bought a Honda Odyssey but I've heard they have the very SAME transmission problem! We opted for the 60,000 mile extended warranty on the T&C so we don't have to worry.

I must admit that I was a little leary of buying American but you get SO much more for the money. Plus, with the warranty, it gives us piece of mind. The 2003 T&C has only 42,000 miles. It was used as a fleet vehicle so that gives me some comfort because I know that businesses WILL keep those vehicles up! The engine compartment was immaculate! We feel it was a good choice for us!

I will tell you that I've driven the MDX 2 times this week to see if it would "act up" and saw the D5 light flicker 3 times during the drive to work. I immediately went to Advance Auto and had them ck for a code - nothing. I really believe that the D5 light problem may be a loose bulb. The other times I drove the MDX the light was a steady green. I also did not feel any shifting problems whatsoever. Maybe hubby was feeling something that wasn't there (?) I don't know at this point.

I just know that NOW we feel a little better that we have a back-up vehicle if either of them gives us a problem.

Thank you for checking in with me!
Lee

YeuEmMaiMai

if the D5 light was flashing, you will be able to retreive the code even after the car has been turned off. Those codes are set and are retreivable. most likely will be the one for automatic transaxle malfuction......

Acura will be able to pull the code within 5 minutes of you being there......

FiftyFive

I wouldn't bet the farm on this, but congrats on your purchase.

akord 97

+1. I bet they ran that thing into the ground.