Hello, recently I purchased a 1999 3.0 CL with 135,000 on it. The cars in amazing shape for its age and seems very solid..and it drives great too..As of now I love the car. My question is what is the deal with all this poor transmission stuff Ive read? I honestly cant find one good thing to say about the car and pretty much everything I read, leads me to believe I shouldnt have bought the car because the tranny is bound to go..Knock on wood it runs fine. But were ALL Acuras effected by this, is it possible/happend that a lot never experienced any issues? Is there anybody out there like me who have had a stable model???

Haha sorry for maybe sounding insane, its just its my first car, and I paid for it myself and am hoping it gets me down the road.

Thanks!

 

there are some people that never have problems with their transmission as long as they take care of it, and then there are some that are on their second or even third transmission even though they take care of it. It is really just a crap shoot with these things I think. I wouldn't worry about it and change the fluid regularly, only worry if you start having problems

 

Yes... Just put redline racing ATF fluid in. Welcome to the site bro. There are nam LOT of nof parts to put in at a cheap cost to add 25-40hp. PM me or I/M me on AIM/Skype/Yahoo.

 

^Agreed; baby the transmission and it will take care of you.

 

I'm a relatively new owner as well and my 99 3.0 CL just hit over 129,000 miles (It was at 127,000 when I bought it). The transmission is doing okay as of now and the previous owner had taken pretty good care of it. Unfortunately, I don't think my car's fluid was changed until the 90,000 mile service. Apparently that was the recommended interval back then which I completely disagree with. The fluid was brown when I got the car and it seemed to have some hesitation when shifting. After I changed the fluid the shifting has gotten smoother, but I still plan on babying it. Also, I recently discovered that two transmission seals are leaking slightly, but my mechanic said I don't need to worry about it for a while. I'm wondering if anyone else has had any issues with transmission leaks?

 

my 3.0 CL has 188,000 on the automatic transmission and nothing's happened yet. i'm not sure about it's maintenence history because i bought it used but from what i know (carfax) it was into a porsche/acura dealership every 2k miles for various stuff, so it probably was babied

 

sorry to bring up an older tread, but can someone fill me in on the details of what "babying" a transmission entails?

How often should I change the fluid? Also what type is best? ( I don't have the manual, I am looking to buy a 97 3.0 Auto in a few days)

Also, I have heard the problem is the overheating in the transmission is what causes the failure and that some people have said adding seafoam helps?

 

I have a 97' 3.0 with 120,000

babying means dont mash the gas... dont pressure shift...dont EVER redline her... dont shift it yourself (even tho you can). .. change fluid/filter every other time you change oil ( so every 6,000 thats what i do) ...use a good quality atf fluid synthetic or from honda but pick one and stick with it.... install the biggest ATF cooler you can fit (hayden is good place to start)... I would avoid seafoam in your tranny you will probably cause more chaos then you intended.

In my opinion its all in how well the previous owner cared for it, I bought mine 2 years ago and when i test drove it she rolled 100,000 the dealer had all the service records and I was sold. Best car Ive ever had ill drive her untill she dies then a rebuild will come ( maybe never i baby my car everytime ) stock CL's are too slow to race

 

Don't slam the gas, don't hit hard on the gears, and keep up on changing the fluid. I change my fluid once a year.