I recently had the opportunity to purchase a 2001 Acura CL Type S for a great price. It only has 63,000 miles on it. The CarFax tells me that it got driven a fair bit the first few years on the road, but by 2006 it was only being driven about 3000 miles a year, and only was driven 1000 miles in the last two years. It looks like it was left under a tree or something as the paint is less than stellar. Mechanically, it seems sound. The only thing really wrong with it was the windshield wipers, which were wildly flapping all over the place. I fixed that with new connecting arms from the dealer. Engine runs smooth and is very strong. I am, of course, worried about the transmission. I didn't find out until after I bought the car that there is an issue with these automatic transmissions.It's definitely the original unit. It seems to be shifting just fine. It has the oil jet mod. When I got the car I did the three transmission fluid change procedure with Honda transmission fluid.

The thing is, I don't want to spend thousands of dollars on a new transmission for what is essentially a commuter and a car for kicking around in to keep the miles on my newer car low. Does anybody have any advice on keeping this transmission in good shape? Does anybody have any other advice on this particular car in terms of preventive maintenance? Also, if anyone has any suggestions for light mods, it would be appreciated. Finally, if anyone has experience getting a black one repainted, I'd love to hear about that experience, including cost and results. Thanks!

 

Headers, CAI, lightweight crank pulley are some decent power gains, wheels are good mods possible lowering it too can do alot for a car. as far as repainting the car I would just go and get a nice wax job done by a professional detailer can make paint look like new again and cheaper then a new paint job

 

drain and fill, drive a few miles, drain and fill again, drive a few miles drain and fill again. after that drain and fill every other oil change.

 

Well, I put 20,000 miles on the car in 16 months. Randomly, and without warning, the transmission completely crapped the bed. 3rd gear clutch packs were toast. Total rebuild required. $2400. Transmission guy says that the updated parts he put in should solve the problem and it should last a good long time now. We'll see.

 

Toss the old tranny in the trash and put a transmission from a 2006-2007 V6 Accord in your car; that tranny is a dramatic upgrade over yours and they are plentiful and relatively inexpensive. There are a lot of threads here discussing the swap.

 

Too late, the transmission has already been rebuilt and is back in the car. I looked into it and even found a AV6 transmission locally that had very low miles on it, but I couldn't find a shop willing to do the work and I can't do that job myself. The transmission guy explained how they have figured out what was wrong with the old transmission and that the upgraded parts (valve kit) he put in the transmission should solve the problem. He said he's done many of these transmissions and not one has come back after the new valve kit is installed.

 

in a nut shell the swap involves swapping the harness from old to new trans, swapping the acura oil to water cooler over and last but not least the PRNDL switch

 

Want light mods but don't want to hurt transmission? That's not a great combo. Mods will only encourage you to go harder on a transmission which is already made of glass.

I'd save the money for the mods and put it into savings for when the transmission eventually takes a crap. An additional downside of low mileage vehicles is that they obviously sat a lot. That's often worse than being driven. It means seals are more likely to have dried out and other issues can pop up.

The car is way overdue for the 110k service (timing belt, water pump, water pump gasket, spark plugs, etc) if it hasn't been done. That service should be done every 7 years regardless of mileage. Age causes them to fail more than mileage, in most cases.