Well, I thought I might have lucked out since I went 37,000 miles (2001 CL-S) with no failure but then today, after showing symptoms over the last couple of weeks, it finally went...dashboard lights and all. I'm having it towed to the dealer tomorrow after having it in for the last two days only to have them tell me they can't reproduce the problem.

Travis

 

what kind of mods do you have?
how often do you drive hard?
btw, sorry about your car dude, that sucks

 

Sorry to hear that...

AND

Mods -- move to tranny problem forum...


Would you update any info on what happens over there...

TIA

 

No engine mods, only comptech springs and sways and 18 inch wheels/tires. I don't drive it like a madman although I have attended 4 race track/driving school events where I push the car to its (an my) limits and a couple of drag race events at the local track. I drive primarily highway miles and no hilly terrain or excessive stop and go traffic.

 

ok, so I take the car in this morning and I ask the service manager if they know what is causing the tranny failures. He claims he has been in contact with the engineering dept of acura and says they think it is a solenoid/bearing issue. He also said that they think bigger wheels and tires and lowering the vehicle can contribute to the problem (I've done both) because of the different geometry and forces the transmission sees. I don't know how much of this line to believe but I thought I'd pass it on anyway.

 

What a load of B.S. !!!

What about people like myself & others with bone stock cars that have had tranny failures inside of 10k mi ??

Acura is just to cheap to spend the money it would require to fix the CL/TL trannies. I figure the CL will go away after '03 or '04 at the latest & then the new TL will be redesigned for '04-ish & then they will have a redesigned tranny in production.
In the mean time for the unlucky few it's same old shit!

 

It's funny I got server the same story by Oakland Acura who is currently replacing mine this week.

Seems they send the same story all over the place, of course I caught him by asking why Acura Customer Service is so quiet about this issue but then he was more worry by me sending a good survey back to Acura than answering that question.

Also, all dealers I talked to protect themselves by saying that Acura is requesting all defective transmission to be sent back to the factory without being taking apart. So that they don't know what the problem is but just replace the part with what they are told.

God knows where the truth is in all this information

 

That is common of Honda/Acura to tell the dealer to send the transmission back without taking the unit apart, it is OK for the dealer to drain the unit first (which Honda/Acura recommends in the service bulletin) and by draining the unit the dealer may have some clue as to why the transmission has gone out (burnt fluid, foreign particles in the fluid (ie. metal shavings, etc.)). If Honda find out that the transmission was disassembled, I believe they charge a core charge on the unit, which I believe is pretty pricey.

All in all, I guess we will never know. Now why the dropping of the vehicle and the change in wheel diameter would affect the transmission is beyond me.

 

RE: Dropping the car -- it is possible to reduce the airflow around the transaxle case (I said possible -- that's all).

RE: Wheel diameter -- if it gets bigger, it's like putting a taller rear end/gear ratio on a car (in this case the bearings would see the load, not the final drive gearset).. However, the bearings (that are the topic of debate on how they are "too small for the task") could “see” more load; this could cause the bearings to see more load and higher operating temperatures. IMO, I think this is "minor" issue. This could be totally relevant and important if and only if one only found failures on cars with rolling stock that had mismatched diameters, To add to this -- what about the change in diameter in the stock tires as they wear? (Taller when new, smaller diameter when old...)

RE: the color and "droppings" in the tranny. A number of people have reported black, smelly, burnt ATF coming out of the "trashed" boxes (Jens for one) And, more than a few people have found metallic particles that are not too small coming out with the "ugly" ATF and have also found some pretty nasty looking shards on the magnetic drain plug. IMO, it wouldn’t be too difficult, during the tear down, to know which parts are getting "chewed-up" and/or worn.

There is a core charge that gets added if a dealer (or user) decides that would like to have a look-see inside the transmission. I have a feeling that they really don't want a detailed "here's what’s screwed-up" commentary with pictures for everyone to see... But, being a "fan of human nature", I can't image large companies wanting their "laundry" being aired in public…

There is a TSB on tranny issues. I printed a copy of the TSB that originated from the MDX forum (the link to it should be around here somewhere).
.

 

The service manager told me that Acura requires the dealer to ship the transmission back with the tranny fluid in it.

As for the wheel size issue...although I have 18 inch wheels, I have not changed the overall diameter, and the wheels and tires are lighter than stock so I think Acura is trying to place the blame somewhere else for their problem.

 

I have another completely stock CL-S(hit) that had a transmission replaced at 30,000. The transmission seems to be slipping a little bit again with just an 3,000 miles on the "new one." I am trading the car in now, and I have had it with Acura. So much for Acura quality!

 

WHOA!! I've been gone for almost 2 weeks & I missed this.

This is interesting news!! EricL, can you point me in the right direction to read this ??

A TSB on tranny's from Acura! Hard to believe!

So can I safely infer that the MDX is experiencing tranny failures too ???