DieselTech32

hey everyone I bought my 03 tl last summer with 127k on it and it now has 142k on it. I have never had any shifting issues ever. but I wanted to do a tranny flush and I'm not sure if I should because that year they had transmission problems with certain VIN numbers and My TL falls in the ones that could have a problems. my fluid is pretty dirty and I want to know do you think I should change it or not I really don't have the money for new transmission but I like to maintenance my vehicles and keep them nice so what do you think I should do ?

Cord

Well...first of all for the 00-03 TLs its not a question of IF but WHEN it will fail ....
Second, We NEVER flush our transmissions or any Honda transmission for that matter,if you want to change the fluid completely you perform a 3X3 i.e change out 3 quarts at a time with breaks (driving) in between each change.

And seeing as you JUST registered to get help with your problem, you may not know but,If your looking to keep the vehicle and your transmission fail you change it out with an Accord from either 2006 or 2007 V6 (non-hybrid) one.

Skirmich

Regardless of Year.. No automatic Honda trans should ever be flushed!!
Do a 3x3 instead but NEVER a Flush.


Edit: Cord beat me to it!
To Add.. When it fails, Don't rebuild your trans! Swap it for the AV6 Trans.

01tl4tl

to clarify- a flush as meant by a trans shop is hooking up a pressure machine and forcing fluid thru = usually the wrong fluid ie: dextron which kills our trans- no kidding

do use HONDA DW-1 atf only!
see our diy section for more help

look at your trans- are there bolts on the trans- things mounted to trans, with blue paint on the bolt head? that's an acura warranty replacement unit, so fewer miles than you think
They are not fixed perfect just improved over original design
acura didn't get a real fix until gen3 cars in 2005!

ask dealer to run your cars VIN and see if trans was replaced and when

Its good to replace some atf at each, or every other- oil change

tysonlor

i have an 03 tl & i just did my 3x3 this past weekend. car is running smoother than before but i still notice some slips between gears. so no matter what, if your tranny is gonna die its gonna die regardless of a 3x3 or not. goodluck

musiclevelz5

You can always do another 3x3 in a few months tysonlor and it will probably help even more! Just a thought. I have done mine that way and every time it gets better.

Chojun

Based on all the recommendations I've seen all over the place maximum trans fluid life for 2nd gen TL is 30K miles (really low!). I plan to do a 1x3 every other oil change from here on out until an AV6 goes in. Not sure when that will be at this point.

01acls

I guess I was lucky, I had a shudder that went away after the third trans fluild change.
Although, I also did an external filter change at the second fluild change.
Plan B was to change the two pressure sensors if the shudder didn't go away.

I think its an excellent idea to do 1×3 changes in between oil changes. From what I can tell the goal is to have 3×3s and a filter change done within a 30,000 mile interval.

tysonlor

thanks thats good to know. i was planning on doing another 1x3 just to see the results but i guess ill do a few more & see how my tranny goes from there.

tysonlor

maybe another external filter change also will help. my fluid was real dark when i did the first 3x3. will wait til this weekend to do another & hope for the best

tysonlor

cool, good for you!

01acls

Every 30,000 miles may be over kill for some peple. Im going with a 1×3 every 15,000 miles.

This is really uncharted territory, people are doing what they think will work or what they're comfortable with. Of course its going to depend on the type of driving you do and the conditions you do it under.

tysonlor

agreed, people are gonna do what theyre comfortable with. i plan on doing 1x3 every 10,000 miles but thats depending on how my tranny is going to run after i do another 1x3 this weekend. if its good, ill probably go with 1x3 every 15,000

tysonlor

if not, ill probably do another 1x3 sooner

01tl4tl

if you have slipping in gear shifts no amount of fluid will cure the problem
At that point the clutch disc friction material is wearing away

best thing to do is take a 3 ounce sample of atf and send to blackstone labs with 20 dollars
a mass spectrograph testing of the oil and human interpretation and comparison to every sample of Honda atf ever tested by them = generates a report of what is wearing in the trans, good or bad things all show up in the fluid

Skirmich

30K? 15K 10K? I change my ATF every December regardless of Mileage, That includes the spin-off filter and the Magnefine inline filter on my ATF Coolers..

I got an Original Design cheap Rebuild Trans that's been seeing SS Mode all its rebuilt life. That's around 120K now on Sport Shift with Yearly ATF Changes and four 3x3s in Total... Call me overkill but that trans is still going and the Original Designs liked to die way more often than the blue bolts and the post 2005 recalls so its working... Either way I got my AV6 Trans sitting in my garage for when it finally dies.

tysonlor

well heres the thing, it has its days where itll slip a little & its other days where it doesnt slip at all. it usually only slips at the beginning of driving. after 3-6 minutes of driving the slipping would stop & like i said it has it days when it does that.

01acls

If your shudder is in the third/fourth gear ranges you might want to replace the third/fourth gear pressure swithes. It may help.

musiclevelz5

Also check your solenoid resistance and screens underneath. They can be clogged causing shudder and shift shock! If out of resistance a new solenoid will fix the problem! At least until the trans dies completely!

MilwaukeeDave

iTrader: (3)

Only the solenoid to the front of the car has a screen on the gasket. On top is just a gasket, O rings and some little pipes. The smaller round ones just have O rings. If your trans is dying definitely look into AV6 swap.

01acls

Thats not correct. My understanding is there is a screen inside the pipe. Three pipes three screens. The pipes detach.

MilwaukeeDave

iTrader: (3)

I just had it open. The pipes were straight open no screen. The only extra one I found was on the gasket that looks like a maze and has it right in the center.

01acls

The screen is on one end, did you pull the tube out? It may be on the bottom side.

Chojun

I need to clean my solenoids and screens, is there any possible way that anyone could get a picture of them or highlight their location on the transmission? I haven't been able to find any good picture of them.

01acls

Screen





Top of trans left side

MilwaukeeDave

iTrader: (3)

Thanks! I know what I'm doing this weekend.

Chojun

Me too, any hints or tips on how best to approach this thing when it's in the car?

EDIT: If I'm correct, after taking a click look under the hood it looks like this deal is directly under the battery tray.

musiclevelz5

Yes theres a solenoid directly under the battery tray, make sure you have a nice swivel socket set, as it makes getting to a couple of the bolts a lot easier.

Theres another solenoid underneath the thermostat housing on the 99 trans thats a pita to unbolt but here again the swivel set comes in handy. This same solenoid is located on the side of the trans right behind the fog light on the 00+.

01acls

https://acurazine.com/forums/problem...-again-929434/

Today is your lucky day. Here's a diy posted today. Click on above.