2002 TLS trans problem
 

My daughters 2002 TL s is having transmission issues. It's a dealer installed replacement trans installed at 70K miles. It is now at 170K miles, so 100K miles on it. The problem is a shudder sometimes downshifting from fifth to fourth,

I have done a 2x drain and fill and the fluid looked fine. I also removed all the solenoids and tested them and they are all OK (tested coil resistance and whether they click with battery voltage). None of the screens were clogged but I cleaned them all up with carb cleaner, replaced all the o-rings and gaskets and reinstalled. As expected there was no change. My daughter reports if she drives in D4 there are no problems. In D5 there is the occasional shudder when it downshifts.

I have now ordered new third and fourth gear pressure switches, since I saw some posts claiming they fail commonly and will try that. Hope that fixes it. I rather doubt the clutch packs are bad since there isn't much clutch debris and the fluid is not burnt.

I replaced the canister filter on the top of the transmission a while ago.

Any other ideas?

just have her use D4 in normal in town driving,,where the clutches get the most workout

and slip it to D5 once on the freeway= for the gas savings

^ What he said.

Shudder is often a sign of torque converter issues in the MDX, probably the same in the TL. A lot of MDXers use D4 exclusively around town to prevent the shudder. I concur with the others that it is worth a shot to see if it prevents bigger issues down the road.