We may have our 4th blown 6MT tranny. The post was made by Mcc18 in onenonlineTSX's blown tranny thread.




http://www.acura-tsx.com/forums/show...5&pagenumber=6

 

Is it time to start worrying?

 

This just makes me more and more glad I bought an 5at.

All the blown tranies so far have been 6mt.

Suck for 6mt owners. BE AFRAID, BE VERY AFRAID

 

I wonder if there is some connection with build #? Perhaps there were some faulty trannies produced in the first batch.

 

It was buit Aug 3rd (or 5th) if there is a way to find the build information let me know and i will post it.

 

The last 5 digits of your VIN number will tell roughly when it was built. Do you know your VIN?

 

If this last guy only had his three months it would be as old as mine

vin#011610

That's not a first batch number.

 

thats my best guess FDL.

 

correction 3 trannies 1 clutch makes me soooo nervous

 

vin # 013531

 

Did the dealer determine what the damage was?

 

Hmmmmm. Now the failure rate is up to 10.7% ... BTW there are a few references to RSX transmission failures over at Edmunds.

I'm not worried. Worst case scenario is I'll dial 1-800 *L*A*W*Y*E*R*S* and order another Volvo.

And no, not the 5AT, I'd rather eat razor blades than drive a car with an AT!

 

Not yet, I only dropped it off 6 hr. ago, they were telling me that they need to take it out of the car to look at it...

oh yea, then if thats not enough they will have to take the engine out to figure out what side the problem is on? (i didn't get that part. then again i'm much better at driving cars than fixing them)

 

I also posted this in my original blown tranny thread...

Mcc18... the same silvery liquid came out of my tranny when i took it in. Sounds like we have a similar problem. Did you experience any clicking/thudding noise coming from the tranny?? They had to overhaul my entire tranny... something you might want to expect. They also covered mine under warranty. So... dont PAY!

 

it was more of a shaking (i was driving around 70mph) I didnt notice any clicking or thudding while driving.

when changing gears the car always seemed to 'lock' into gear, i didnt think of it really as a click, and that has been since day 1. So i assumed that it was just the way the car was built, it never set off any alarms.

 

Yes, be afraid, be very afraid.

I'm starting to really regret buying a first model year car, and I drive an AT.

 

i dont know if that is the case I never had one bit of mechanical trouble with my RSX

 

I'm willing to bet that studies would show that firsat model years cars are far less relaible than the same car in its 2nd, 3rd and 4th years. In fact I think CR documenttaion shows that the last generation TL got more reliable from 98 to 02. It makes perfect sense IMO.

 

I wonder if they assumed rsx-s quality components could handle the torque in the car but have turned out not to be able to. The extra torque coupled with the extra weight could really put a lot more stress on a tranny.

 

Would they make such an unbelievably stupid mistake?

The TL tarnny issue's were sort of out of their control, something like your expaling was well within their control.

If this is in fact a big problem, our resale values are going to hell.

 

domn,
the thing to remember is that the CR surveys are based on what readers say, and as the cars get older, there are going to be more problems. If you compare the ratings from this year, to the ones from 2 years ago, for the same model/year car, the earlier rating (of the exact same car) is almost always going to look a lot better. Tranny issue aside, I think that honda/acura quality is fairly consistant across model years, though I'm sure they do improve things from year to year (but occasionally I'm sure they make things worse too).

[edit: sorry for the off topic post]

 

right I wou ld hope they wouldn't make that mistake. I'm just speculating. I guess we'll know more when we find out what the real source of the problem is.

 

THe other thing is if this was worldwide i'd assume we'd be hearing about tranny failures in europe/japan. It's been out 6 months or so longer in those places. Makes me wonder if it's NA market specific.

 

Isn't the 6MT for the NA market the only one with the magnesium casing? Maybe different gear ratios?

I'm at 8K on my TSX (#000577) and so far, no problems.

 

Woudl we really hear about it? I have my doubts. I once asked a very long time ago if there was some kind of car forum for the euro accord, but there doesnt seem to be. And as for hearing about it via honda issuing a recall, well we all know how long it takes before thy do that. So its possible that the problem exists in Europe and Japan and we havent heard about it.

There is a 5 year power train warrenty on the car so I am not THAT worried, but I am started to become a little concerned.

 

#000370 & 10074 miles and no tranny problems yet. But then again, all problems seem to happen rather quickly with the 6MT. I do not drive mine hard and I don't think I have really hit iVTEC @ 6000 rpm since I have had it. I do most of my shifting @ 3-4K rpm.

 

Yes both are true. I don't see the casing making much of a difference at all. I'm just wondering of the gears were taken from the integra r. Specificaly the final drive. (both are 4.76)

 

I am worried about my TSX's tranny because it sometimes shifts hard and feels like its slipping, but no problems for me as of now. Don't know for how long though.

Mines was manufactured back in April and I bought it in May. How do I check to find what my car's build # is?

 

Your build number is part of your VIN.

So you'd have something like:

JHCL968000577X

The "000577" is your vehicle serial number, i.e. build number.

 

Also beware of the last year of a model's run when the vendors try to sweep the parts that don't quite pass QC muster out the door!

Honda had a problem with the 4-speed ATs in the Odyssey and the TL. Or might have had a problem. There were a lot of complaints posted on the Oddy board. So they extended the factory warranty in the US to 100,000 miles on the involved cars. This was not common enough that it even showed up on the Consumer Reports "Frequency of Repair" charts. The transmission problems have had no noticable effect on resale values. I think I'll wait, if they extend the warranty, fine, if not, and if more reports appear here, I'll probably buy the Acuracare extended warranty.

I'm not losing any sleep over this.

This isn't a FORD where the company first denied that the Crown Victoria PIs were bursting into balls of flame, and then, when confronted with irrefutable evidence that the cars are bursting into balls of flame, claimed that it's a perfectly normal occurrance under the circumstances.

"Long run is a misleading guide to current affairs. In the long run we are all dead." - Sir John Maynard Keynes (1883–1946), British economist.

 

Failure rate of >10%? It don't compute. Let's assume that 20% of the cars sold thus far are 6MT, or (.2x16000) = 3200 cars. Let's assume further that the 4 problems represent half of the real number (we tend to update each other on this car, sothis seems plausible) = 8 problems. This give a rate of 8 problems per 3200 cars = 0.25%. HOnda isn't perfect, but this is not a high problem rate. Compare it to any other brand and it would compare well. However, the 1st year issue may come into play as all manufacturers alter their cars over the 1st year to work bugs out. Then again, this car has been on sale in Europe and Japan for some time, so it is not entirely new.

 

When the problem happens to a few percentage then people should be worried. I do see why this is an interesting topic considering the TL and accord tranny problems. I know it's still early but until there a more problems we shouldn't scare any owners or more importantly perspective buyers. The more people talk about blown trannys the less our TSX's are worth. Which would be fine IF THERE ACTUALLY WAS A PROBLEM!

 

zircon- I completely agree with you.

 

I doubt that half of the North American TSX buyers are registered here or have even heard of the site. Also, the average TSX has been on the road for less than 6 months. The 10% was based on an guestimate of the number of board users and the 30% manual transmission sales rate. It's just my guess, and I'm sure Honda's North American warranty office knows exactly the true failure rate, and knows it as of 5:00 PM today! Any Honda corporate people lurking here? Do you care to share? No?

I've been reading the 4 Volvo boards for 6 years and I've heard of 1 or 2 failed Volvo 850 or 70 manual transmissions in all that time. I've missed more than one shift under full-throttle acceleration, but mine still shifts perfectly at 130,000 miles. (The rest of the car, all the components attached to the engine and transmission have been the problem, and lead to my TSX purchase.)

So even if the 4 TSX transmissions are the entire iceberg and not just the tip, this seems to be an unusual occurrance.

I'm not going to lose any sleep over this, but I just might buy the Acuracare extended warranty if Honda doesn't extend the factory waranty as with the Oddy and CL/TL.

 

Here is a thought (not sure if it was discussed). Maybe these blown trannues are directly related to the cold winter temps. Not that is any reason for this, obviously, but maybe its a design flaw during colder temps...lets hope not.

 

Honda/Acura is revered as producing some of the best gearboxes in the world for any application, this is not news. I will conclude optimistically by stating that this is probably not out of the ordinary. Nothing in life is perfect, especially machinery engineered by people. The magnesium alloy tranny case is a first, but I dont believe it is 6mt specific. I plan to put down a deposit next month, and once again I'm a little uneasy. Hey Ortiz, even if every other shifter-box failed, it still doesn't justify your auto. BE AFRAID of the female genitalia references.

 

This logic is terribly flawed. The 4 problems need to be applied to the # of 6MT owners on this board, not to the total in the US. And just multiplying by 2 suggests that half of TSX owners are active members on this board!

I don't think the failure rate is as high as 10%, but its definately more than 1% (base don the info we have). That alone doesnt concern me. What concerns me is that figure plus the short time the TSX has been on the road.

 

Not to freak anyone out (I may end up with a 5AT TSX), but perhaps the 6MTs are simply showing any flaws early, since they are driven harder than 5ATs? I mean, is it only a matter of time since the 5ATs start having problems (like maybe people who constantly use sport shift)? Just something to keep your fingers crossed over - but stay vigilant!

 

Where you getting 1% from even?

 

As long as I have the warranty. I don't think I would care. And the rsx-S tranny feels like it's a weaker tranny compared to ours. (I have both cars. RSX-S has a famous "can't shift into 3rd" problem which I don't have. But people on ClubRSX does) And I know some people who are making 350HP@ flywheel with stock tranny and clutch. Just a lighten flywheel. It's even daily driven and it was fine. I guess luck also plays an important role.