Hello,

I have a new TSX 5AT w/NAV. Only have about 380 miles on it. I've only had it about 2 weeks. This was one of the vehicles affected by the transmission housing issue and had a new transmission installed at the dealership before I took the car.

I started noticing a clunking sound in the front end. This happens most prominently at initial startup and then will continue to occur at lowspeed. I've read other threads that say this could be the ABS priming, but this will continue to happen if driving around at low speed as the car shifts between gears. Seems like either something loose the transmission or possibly something in the front end steering/suspension.

Another problem I'm having and was hoping to get some comments on, is that when accelerating the car seems to pull to the right and I need to compensate by steering a little left. When the car shifts to the next gear, it jumps to the left hard and I need to make a quick correction. Has anyone ever experienced this? Any ideas what might cause it? More transmission issues? Drive-train? Possibly related to clunking sound?

Anyway, this new TSX goes into the shop on Monday. We'll see what they can do. I'm already thinking lemon.

Any comments appreciated.

Thanks, Steve

You guys are not going to believe this...

So I go out at lunch and back my car out of it's parking space. I go about 10 feet and CLUNK! I go around to the front and the tires are going opposite directions. It seems that the bolt for the tie rod came off! They probably didn't assemble it correctly when putting it back together after installing the new transmission. Unbelievable! I'm just lucky it didn't happen when I was going down the freeway at 60mph. Towed the car to the dealer and they are fixing it.

Any comments on how I should handle this with the dealer? The car has less than 400 miles on it. It's had the transmission replaced, and now this. I was excited to get an Acura because I had heard about the great quality of workmanship and service. I'm very dissappointed.

This one is not a quality issue. This is most definitely an issue with your dealership. Take the car to them and show them what happened. You can probably convince them to give you free scheduled maintenance or some accessories for free. You might even be able to talk them into a new car if your negotiating skills are good enough.

Bottom line is that the dealer screwed up and they should compensate you somehow for their mistake. Don't let this scare you about Acura quality. It really is quite good. My family has owned 5 Acuras in the last 14 years and they've all run exceptionally.

I was just going to mention about the front end suspension pieces not being tightened properly. The "pulling" you mentioned is very indicitave of that.

I had a CG/5AT that got hung up in that deal. I wound up getting 6MT. I wondered if shit like this would happen. I wasn't even thinkin of all the FWD apparatus theyd have to drop.

Bad news. Sorry. Id ask for a new car.

I told the General Manager and the Service Manager that I either want my money back or I want a new car. I told them I will go through arbitration or enact Lemon Law proceedings.

Just got a call back from the Service Manager who said they will get me a new car. They are working on finding another CG/Ebony/5AT/with NAV that does't fall within the VIN number range affected by the transmission issue.

Steve that's great news.

I would be very troubled if my new car had the problems yours had but if a dealer offered to give me a new car I would be more than happy. Every manufacturer is going to have problems. How they handle them is what separates the good from the bad.

Couldn't we consider this a dealer error as its unlikely the car initially came like that? Good to hear about a honest dealer though!

I agree that it was probably the dealer's fault, however, ultimately the manufacturer is responisble for having qualified dealers.

Yep, great news! Glad to hear theyre doing right by you.

After having considered all the driveline and front end components that have to be dropped to change out the transmission case on the (non)recalled TSX, Acura had better think twice about selling those as new.

I have no complaints. They are definitely doing right by me. New CG/Quartz/5AT/w-NAV is due in within a week or so with my name on it. I originally had the ebony interior but the quartz looks great too.

In regards to this being a manufacturer or dealer issue, I would say it's both. If the transmission didn't need to be replaced initially, this would never have happened. Secondarily, if the dealer had assembled the front end correctly after installing the new transmission, and the tie rod bolt did not fall off, I would probably still be happy with the car.

I would say however that this is a very rare case and my dealer has certainly set things right. While I'm still dissappointed that the problems occured in the first place, I'm very impressed with their responsiveness in getting me a new TSX.

And I did verify that the VIN of my new TSX does not fall within the range of those affected by the faulty transmission housing.

What is the VIN number range for those cars that were affected by the transmission problem?

There is a whole thread on it:
http://www.acura-tsx.com/forums/show...5&pagenumber=1

Thanks for the pointer to the thread on the transmission issues and the VIN range. I just put a deposit on a CG TSX 5AT and wanted to be aware of the range when I go to pick it up. The dealer hasn't given me the VIN number on the car yet, so I wanted to be prepared. Been two weeks so far...they say no more than 1 more week. Thanks again.

What is wrong with Honda trannies?

In recent memory, there was the issues with the 99-03 TL's and CL's then there was a range of a couple thousand TSX's with defective AT case, and most recently was the recall of the Odyssey.