i'm brand new on here, but I thought you all might be the experts...

I picked up a 2002 CL about 2 mos ago. car test drove fine, beautiful condition, I had my mechanic go over it with a fin tooth comb. The car has a salvage title (NY title, PA salvage), and was rebuilt by a dealer before being retitled. The car is in pristine shape in and out, 45xxx miles. My mechanic was impressed. I pulled the police report- car hit a tree to front right side. Just cosmetic damage. All wlds were solid, no engine bay intrusion. I picked the car up for 5800.

of COURSE the first day i put it on the road the transmission slips. Next day, CE light goes on with the d5 light of death.... bad transmission.

Due to being salvaged, all warrenties are void with Acura.

I have a friend interested in picking up the car for his 1999 ford explorer limited with 73k, clean title, straight trade.

do i
1- keep the cl, fix the tranny? (how common is a repeat tranny failure and other issues)
2- trade for the truck, straight up, and save myself the 2k for the repair.

my issue is that i was just accepted to medical school in PA and will be burried in snow for 4 years. I need a car that will be reliable. I know the explorer doesnt have the best reputation, but its v8 AWD (great for snow). The cl on the other hand may/may not be good to go following a new tranny. I'm in a bind... if I was in a position to have a steady cash flow for a bit I wouldnt be so hesitant to keep it but being that I'm off to school for another 4-5 years... well you get the picture.
thanks in advance. my email is irjanus@hotmail.com

 

Actually the V8 Explorers of that year 98-01 are pretty reliable. I would trade. Sounds like the Explorer would fit your needs.

 

I'd take the trade also.

I just had a new tranny put in about 4-5 months ago from Acura and it is already acting up again. Good thing it came with a 3yr 36k mile warranty.

If you do pay for the tranny, will they give you a warranty?

 

I mean, you could try to see if they would give you some grace even though it is salvage. Just don't bring up this fact, they will ask for the vin, but perhaps they will give you some kind of a discount.

I don't know man, that is a messed up situation. Sorry about your luck.

 

yes though the warrenttee will come on the part as a remanufactured/rebuilt item, probably 2yr at best.

i cant tell you how this is killing me.

mostly due to the fact that people think im nuts to trade away a honda/acura for a ford... i have no idea what to do. the possibility for a repeat failure scares me. other maintinence does as well i suppose, but a repeat faiure is a back breaker

 

Thats a tough situation bro. It just sucks that a reliable company like Honda would produce such a crappy transmission

 

Ha, explain that you're going to be a Dr. one day and that no Honda/Acura product will ever cross your mind as a choice down the road.

I'm kidding, i wouldn't pull that card. But in terms of economics and customer relationships, that is what happens.

As someone who is soon to be in their purchasing prime, Honda is possibly losing a customer for life because of their piss poor tranny.

Some of these companies don't learn when it comes to life long customers.

 

Its going to be.......BMW or Mercedes lol

 

i know... sadly i've wanted an acura for a while, and have heard nothing but great things about them... wxcept for this single issue, which very well may be a back breaker should it repeatedly fail. is it common for it to fail multiple times? Is it one of those things where its just kind of a defective drivetrain on the whole? or do i stand a reasonable chance to fix this transmission and see 4-5 years trouble free... (assuming less than 6k a year driving... ill be locked away in a library haha)

 

is repeated failure common? It would lead me to believe that the issue isn't completly a transmission one if repeat failres happen often. Thats my prime concern.

 

The CL does pretty well in the snow, and it looks alot better than a Ford Explorer, however the tranny is failing. Up to you. My cousin had an 01 TL that had a tranny go, he picked up a new used one for 500 and put it in one saturday.

 

Its a toss up for me.
obviously my greatest concern is a repeat failure. It just seems more common than i'm comfortable with. I'm from rochester NY and the school i'm going to is about 3 hours away. should the tranny go again, i'll be 3 hours away from my shop that im comfortable with replacing it under warrenttee. thats a HUGE time expendature away from school (med school is going to be 24/7 more or less for 3 years then ease up in rotations).

i dont exactly trust the truck... being a ford. I have heard mixed things, but then again, the truck will at worst nickle and dime me to death (read: repairs under 500 that can be done in a day at any shop), rather than a ~2100 transmission for the acura. Its a rock and a hard place...

 

It hasnt hapened to me (yet) but ive seen a lot of posts where members have replaced it up to 3 times

 

how many miles/ how long since the new tranny for you? With repeat issues i HAVE to think the issue is deeper than the tranny alone, and more a total drivetrain failure. then again maybe the 3rd clutch pack really is just a piece of crap (did I get that right? bear with me, im new to this and i thought i read that was the suspected culprit.)

 

100k+

 

yea but then i have also heard that the tranny goes bad on the explorer as well.

 

^ you are correct
and is that 100k on the new tranny?!?! or you have since hit 100k following replacing the tranny at x miles. i just need a ray of hope here ha

 

My 3.0 auto tranny is at 109k and it still shifts like any other 11 year old car. No metal shaving or anything either.

 

yeah but the 3.0 and the 3.2 were vastly different in terms of transmissions, right? there is the generational gap between 1 and 2g (2001+)

 

How hard do you drive the car?

I say replace the tranny. Take good care of the car and you will get your monies worth. If Acura is willing to give you a warranty for a new tranny if you pay for the replacement, you're still getting a CL for under market price.

Keep the car.

 

i think after acura replaces your tranny they give you another 7 yrs or 100k, coz my friends 01 accord's tranny went out and they gave him another 7 yrs and 100k miles warranty on the NEW tranny, im only speculating this of acura coz honda gave that warranty to my friends accord.
you can go to aamco, they have better deals i think, cost & warranty.

 

Probably. But the 3.0 trannys are know to f*ck up too. The only difference is that we didn't get a warrenty...

 

Most of the early V6 auto trannies suck, quite honestly.

 

I just got my 01 CL 2 months ago, I go to UB med and the CL is perfectly fine in the snow. My CL has a dealer replaced tranny, that was done at 28K, now the cars at 87K without any noticeable problem. I would say that if you have a shop that you trust or if the dealer is willing to give you a warranty, then I'd say keep it..

 

Dang...hit or miss on the tranny issue.

I'd say keep the CL despite the possible transmission issues.

We aren't talking about brand new cars here...other makes and models run their own risks! IMO.

Biggest prob. here for the CL is the tranny.

Keep some money on the side or invest in a good insurance plan (or supplemental plan) that works with mechanical issues.

 

^

its a sexy car, way more appealing than a ford. and the block itself is bulletproof for the most part, get the tranny fixed, get a warranty w/ it.

 

should I purchase and install outside of an acura dealership, what does that do warrenttee wise? Is it in my better interest to pay 3700 at an acura dealership vs 2000 at my shop? The part will come warrentteed, and the labor will as well, though sep. because the tranny will have to be shipped out to the company that rebuilt it.

 

Oh- and on top of that, thank you all so much for your help. I know I kind of barged on here looking for info (and I promise I did LOTS of searching before posting) but your opinions are all very helpful. I'm towing it into my friends shop today to see what im going to do... still unsure if i need to do this thru an acura dealer. with the Salvage title, I dont know if they are going to void any warrenttee on it. every time i call a dealer they demand the VIN and POOF... salvage pops up on the screen

 

The original owner (talked to him about 3 weeks ago) told me it was replaced at 20k but only because he received notice of the recall, not because the tranny crapped out. Since then, more than 100k has been put on it and its still running strong. So I guess I'm one of the lucky ones

 

From my experience...pretty much all warranties are voided with the Salvage Title.

I have one as well...

There are very few things that qualify under that status...one is the seat belts.

Mechanical issues/recalls like tranny's will not typically be honored.

 

irjanus
You have PM turned off so research the Explorer here...
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/

 

Explorers are notorious for breakdowns. Stay away from them!!!

 

So are 2nd gen CLS's. Whats your point. Everycar ever built will have a number of failures.

The Explorer he is looking at has a far better track record than the CLS.

To the OP, If your worried about nikel and dimming, understand that the CLS is no better. Mine is killing me and I only 80K miles. I'll be happy to list it for you if you like.

Yours is low milage though, so maybe it won't be that bad.

 

Ford sucks

 

Dude, all you do is complain about the CL. We know it's not a rocket ship, we know it has tranny problems, we know the brakes suck but they can be upgraded, we know it doesn't handle like a 350z.

I have 170k miles on my CL-S and have changed the oil, timing belt, and spark plugs, it doesn't have one squeak, it runs better than most 30k mile cars.

Stop giving your personal opinion to people when the majority of people on here like the car and find it mostly reliable. Honestly, by now I don't even understand why you still have the car.

But i am curious what the issues with your car are and what owner you are and how long you've had the car.

 

Just being honest about the CLS. People are working the car to be something is surley is not.

Is the OP not looking for opinions? That why he is asking, so I have every frikking right to give it!

To answer your question, I'm the second owner, bought it with 58K miles from a female judge in FL, that had it serviced by Acura only. I now have 80K on it. New tranny 4 to 5 months ago, (and already having problems with it)needs new motor mounts, need new rear veiw mirrior, needs new center console clip, passenger seat only works when it wants to, Stereo knobs inop, replaced on head light ballast and bulb, replaced a IAC vavle, Replaced IMRC valve, had to upgrade brakes, have had to clean the EGR valve, Needs new O2 sensor, and i suspect the CAT is going. Thats well over $5000.00 in parts and labor. Talk about Nickle an dime!

Is that enough for you. 95% of my driving is highway. 100 miles round trip to work.

Just because I'm not bias to the CLS does not mean my opinions are invalid. If the CLS is such a GREAT car, why is the resale so piss poor? There is a reason.

The OP is worried about the tranny failing a second time. This is a common thing in the CLS to go through 2 to 3 trannies in it's lifetime. I'm about to be on a third with only 80K. Because of his situation, I think the Explorer is a better deal. JUST MY OPINION, which is what he asked for!

 

He is not covered under the warranty and if he has dealers like mine, they wont touch or even service his car. If he wanted to replace his tranny, he would have to go to some place like Aamco. they would offer a warranty there, but make sure they will honor it since your car is salvage. May places are iffy on any warranty on salvage cars.

 

Yea but only because of their tranny. The rest of the car is almost failproof. You must not treat your car right. Ford on the other hand has cars that are know for breaking down, the Exlporer and Taurus being some of them.

F.O.R.D - Fix.Or.Repair.Daily IMO
but

Yea the CL is no supercar but i like my car

 

You people are so quick to tag the explorer as a POS ford. While in reality it is not. You people need to do your research on that before posting based on misinformation & non sense ranting.
CH46ESeaKnight
With the exception of the trans, I could fix everything on your car for under $1K. All of that is common. In fact it's common on MANY cars.

 

You know it is