danog

I agree 100%! Although most things have the possiblity to fail, known problems should be addressed and not taken lightly.

Someone told me there is a character in Fight Club that their job is to determine which choice is financially cheaper, recalling defective products or paying any lawsuits that "might" occur. I've never seen this movie but I can't discount the possiblity of this position actually existing in the Corporate World.
We're still working on our rewind and hope to have aresolution soon.

How do you determine the month and year a TL was built? Is it held within the VIN info or somewhere listed in the car? I'd like to compare mine with the rsults from the 1600+ page doc Acura provided to the NHTSA!

rfrys

Sticker inside the drivers side door will have the build month and year.

That Girl

We could double up our bet's on this.



There are some company's whose only interest is the DOLLAR. Lives are of no concern ,afterall it is not effecting them.

They can't feel it or see it from where they sit.

until someone dies as a result of this defect ,they will NOT get the message ,they will get that message when it hit's their pockets' hard enough and well we know how deep those are.

If someone dies as a result of this defect ,will these famous threads be of issue?


Yes it will be the proverbial SMOKING GUN. I really hate to sound dramatic ,but it is only a matter of time before someone is killed ,due to this defect. Those of you whom have had your lock up occur at fast speeds,know what I'm talking about .


My accident could have been much worse,any number of things could have occured when that CAR SLAMMED me while my car tried to make a dead stop on the busy highway. The scenario as it is, is bad enough ,,,,,,But WHAT if's in this instance could very well have caused a fatality and Honda's ADAMENT statement's that this is not a safety issue sounds good to the general public ,until you expierience its FULL EFFECT.


Tell me does anyone feel a car that stalls on a highway is dangerous? Does anyone feel that a car that comes to an dead stop on the highway ,with no break light's , no coasting from a car that say stalls is dangerous ....


They are simply buying time~ BUYING time another unfortunate MIGHT NOT HAVE!

r10apple

Welp, the TL has been around for how many years, with how many units built? And there are, oh, let me see, ZERO deaths? You ARE sounding dramatic!

danog

I hope the mindset here is that it isn't a problem until someone dies!

Hokie D

Well, took in my 2002 TL-S (40K) this morning and the tranny got progressively worse and by the time I got within a couple miles of the dealership it wouldn't shift to 3rd. Then a bunch of dash lights came on - VSA, D5 (flashing), transmission warning, exclamation point, etc. I dropped it off and they had a rental Ford Taurus for me....nice.

Anyway, I went down the road to the Lexus dealer and OMG, that RX330 (while not a speed demon) was very, very nice. Much nicer interior than MDX. Tested the FX35 and that thing was decent speedwise (mid-15 sec 1/4 times?) and handled very well. Also, stopped at a Volvo dealer and tested the XC90 T6. What a ripoff. Stereo sucks, interior looks plain-Jane, twin-turbo engine hisses anytime you push on the accelerator. Has lots of power down low, but absolutely no top end whatsoever. Also, the Volvo dealer had an S60R. That thing just looks mean!! Not looking for another sedan though.

Going to test a Touareg soon. It costs as much as the XC90.

r10apple

danog, you really ought to extensively search this site and others as the the transmission complaints, symptoms and failures. No, a fatality isn't the mindset, but it appears driver error would cause a loss before the Acura transmission ever would...

danog

True, driver error plays a role. I don't want to take the risk or deal with the trouble having trannys replaced. That isn't something I look for in a vehicle.

You have made some good points about this issue and it sounds like you are not worried about it happening.

As for research on the issue I'm starting to read the same things over and over. The only item I haven't read completely is the 1600+ page pdf available from the NHTSA site.

That Girl

I'll REPEAT THIS ....



Who KNOWS if there have been deaths due to the tranny failure.... Someone may have been hit ,lost control of their car and DIED and did not LIVE to tell what happened.


When a CAR ................ ANNNNNNNNNNNNYYYYYY ....CAR locks up in the middle of the highway ...... It's a serious accident JUST WAITING to happen.


I KNOW what CAN happen .... Do NOT forget this' and DON'T WORRY .. I won't let you!




I am FAR from DRAMATIC..... in this INSTANCE ..


The accident I was in has given me FIRST HAND EXPIERIENCE ..


UNFORTUNATELY.......................


Do you have ANY first hand expierience such as this' to speak from?


Thought NOT ...


THANKYOU~

yoda

Guys & Gals,
I'm looking at an '02 TL-S right now. Production date for it is 9/01. It's on it's 3rd tranny now (if you count the original one).

The newest one was replaced literally this month. I don't know when the first one was replaced. But that's not too good, this is the 3rd tranny w/ 40k on the car. That's basically 13k average per transmission.

One thing I was told by Acura was that the "voluntary recall for the PCM (or whatever computer it is) was not done yet." I thought it was kind of strange that the car just had the tranny replaced and they didnt' do this. Did this recall just happen within the last week?



Should I be worried about buying this car?

thanks!

r10apple

No, not within the last week. This is strange to me. I cannot give you an accurate answer, Yoda. I got a new tranny and a new PCM in April of this year, but I have heard of people on this site as well as a-cl and a-world that have had trannys replaced as late as September without the PCM. This has even occured to soem people who otherwise get excellent service from their dealer. We all know, however, some dealers are just bad. The PCM apparently is the fix, though. I haven't had an ounce of problems with it, and I can tell you the whole character of the tranmission changes. I don't think there is anyone yet with the new PCM that has had one go...

That being said, no, I would not purchase a car (regardless of the 100k mile warranty) working on a 3rd or 4th tranny. There is just too much work that goes into replacing one, unbolting motor-mounts, etc. that could then have an issue later when the rest of the car is out of warranty.

I wouldn't be disuaded by the tranny issue on another TL (or S) with a documented service history though.

Stupid logic...Just stupid...

Who does? Any car runs this risk, though. the question is, do you want to buy a '03 or older TL or TL-S with 2% having a known transmission defect? That is the question. Stay away from the likes of VW Jettas with the recent eletrical recall, Audi's with turbo's blowing, etc...Many makes have something, but I still think Lexus and Toyota in general, are a bulletproof as they come (but I did have a coworker blow an engine at 55k miles right after a complete $700 service at 49k miles in an LS400).

I'm not worried about my safety at all. I deal with death and destruction all day here at work from accidents of all kinds. I'm as safe as they get--almost paranoid about certain things. I would be caught dead in certain cars--even as a rental--even to drive 2 miles. Even though I know of potential tranmission problems, even having one go at high speeds on me, I'm not worried in the least bit for my or anyone else's safety in this car. But whatever your decision is, is simply your own. Honestly, the handful of people here screaming the loudest about their problems, if you read all of their posts, you'll realize they really don't make sense when talking about safety and the true facts of their actual failure experiences. That and their underlying tone is of Jerry and Elaine's female friend who wants you to look at her baby...Waaaaaaaah.....

That Girl

Apple ... Your FAST mouth has come back to haunt you .


This is you .... trippin up.



Also ,in case you didn't see it in my other post .......... MT TIRES were replaced on my car ,due to the lockup .. YES lockup of the tranny~! Acura said TWO of them ,the front TWO ,not all 4 .... because ,HELLO.......... 4 is what would get bald spots from locking your breaks ,this was the tranny ,so it only effected the front TWO..But Acura as a courtest ,replaced all 4 . That was good of them.


STUPID logic ? Can you say anything without using CHILDREN'S LOGIC ...


Such as calling people TARD's ... Stupid Ignorant ...eCT ect ect~~


Don't forget to address my tires now APPLE .. Ok..

fsttyms1

i dont know why your tranny locked up? all that i have heard about slam into 2nd gear. my 2 slamed into 2nd gear. ive had various other cars (not honda) and there trannies died also and theirs locked up or slamed into 1st. so its not unusual for that to happen to trannies, so its not just honda trannies that do that.

slider2828

Guys this is totally crazy..... I am in the market for a TLS and will pick one up probably this weekend. The guy bought 10/26/01, so the manufacture date is prior to that. Nothing but Acura Services and no tranny replacement with 41k miles on it. You guys think i should be concerned about the tranny thing?

That Girl please don't reply, because i think you are just plain paranoid. There had to be clear signs of a transmission problme while you were driving. Unless you weren't paying attention or you just didn't notice it, but tranny's usually slip then freeze, not all at the same time but it has some prior signs. I race a motorcycle and god knows a slip in that means instant death, but there are signs....

Anyone else have any inputs?

fsttyms1

now you just opened a can of smack with her. i had 2 go and there were small signs a week or so before they went (i put around 1000 miles or so a week on) slight like a slipping clutch from 1st to 2nd shift. plus you have a warranty to 100k i wouldnt worry. im still driving mine at 126k and love every min of the car

r10apple

OMG! Someone new who actually read the threads and is actually sane.

slider2828: Not all cars were affected. You migth be one that it happens to, you might not be. I would compare the VIN and have the dealer verify that it does not need the new PCM replacement. Beyond that, you are right--you should have some signs first as many of us did prior to a failure.

Huh? Can you quit yelling?

Caps key broke? BTW, I want to help people take you seriously (and besides, I've seen this too many times in too many posts):
It's etc. as in 'et cetera', Latin for 'and so on'...m'kay?

Oh yeah, I addressed your tires in the "I wish people wouldn't bi+ch about their cars" thread...

slider2828

Awesome man thanks for the reply. You think 22 grand for the car is worth it?

r10apple

I'm assuming an '02 TL-S with Navi? Maybe a little high, but not too much. If it is non-navi, it does sound a bit high...

slider2828

thanks for the comps R10, i am a good forum member since I belong to a motorcycle one as well. I gotta admit some motorcycle people are really anal about forums. Forum remains unmentioned. I like the TL Type S and nothing really fits me better. LX IS300 was a joke on price and gas guzzler. ES300 is old fogy's car (my parents drive one) but man lexus rocks.

One thing I really dislike is the SOHC..... fuel efficient, but loose a lot of benefits. I gotta admin the non-type S feels a little like an accord. No offense.

kahinclt

My 2003 TL Type-S has 4,000 miles on it (purchased three months ago) and is currently having the transmission replaced. After always owning American cars that had minor problems, I trusted that a Japanese car would not have the minor problems, not to mention a major issue. This is crap.

r10apple

Well, I got the car before the issue was ever known. Tranny died, they had it for 4 or 5 days while I drove a rental, and now all is good asd if it never happened. My dad had a Grand Cherokee drop it's tranny outside of warranty and it took two weeks to repair and he got no rental. He also reported noise and shifting problems prior to the warranty expiring and Jeep did nothing. His new tranny crapped out within two months before he had it replaced for free, after arguing up a storm, and then traded it.

It's all good. I don't know how good of a member I am, but at least there isn't a question as to where I may stand over an issue. I'll be sure to make it clear enough for everyone to know, and if they don't like it, fu(k 'em. Wanna debate or play thread games, sure...I actually love the IS300 and especially the Sportcross, but they are soooooo slow. Additionally, the local Lexus dealer frown heavily on mods of any kind and service would be a royal pain in the a$$...

slider2828

Hey guys I talked to the guy who i was going to buy the TLs from and he had the tranny already changed. He said that there was a recall on it and he got it done. He said he got a 100k warranty on the tranny alone. Pretty cool huh

Hokie D

Ours went pretty quickly after the first symptoms. Wife drove it one more time after it acted up on her...I told her not to drive anymore or I wouldn't be able to make it to the dealer. Barely made it but not before it got stuck in 2nd and all the lights came on in the dash. Ours just wouldn't shift into 3rd and upon decceleration it would slam down into 1st or 2nd...talking 5-10 mph and not strong enough to bark the tires or anything.

bezztl

Folks,I need some advice for my tl-s . had my eyes on this one for 2 years and finally got it 3 months ago.
Last week, on the freeway I felt the engine stall when driving at 60-65mph and decelerating. took it to the dealer and explained the problem. they took it for a test drive but could not duplicate the problem. the service advisor suspects it could be a transmission problem?

He asked me to keep an eye on it. This week I felt the same thing, the engine appeared to be stalling at 60mph. This thing is starting to bother me.
I have a 95 Honda civic and had no problems whatsoever with the engine.
Appreciate your input. Thanks.

danog

Had tranny replaced this past Monday which is the third replacment in under 33K miles. This morning I was driving down to the local hardware store and guess what happened....?

I was driving about 35mph when the car started acting like it couldn't decide what gear to be in. D4 was on and the D5 started flashing along with the traction control light.

Drove it to the dealer and plan to do whatever is necessary to return the car. We've only had it a little over two months. I really hate it too because this car had so much potential.

Dano

Hokie D

I'm like you man. Love the power for a family sedan and it looks bad as hell with the Aegean Blue. But, I'm not going to keep getting stranded and stuck with a Taurus rental car. If I wanted to drive a damn base-model Taurus I would have bought one and saved 15 grand.

MikeElmendorf

I am on my second transmission on my 2003 TL-S, and I am again having problems.

The car is doing what can best be described as sort of "bucking" between gears while under light acceleration. It does not do it consistently, so it is hard to duplicate for the dealer. And, of course, they report no codes in the computer. When I took it in two weeks ago, they cleaned the EGR valves and said that would fix it. It didn't.

Last time the transmission went, it wasn't slipping. It would randomly rev, and then one day I suddenly developed a high-pitched whine (sounded like a turbine) while on a roadtrip. When I took it in, they replaced the tranny.

I am really appalled by this lack of quality and Acura's apparent total inability to fix the problem. This is certainly not what I expected from a company like Acura with a reputation for quality. It now seems to me that reputation may have been illusory.

I am preparing to file a lemon law claim, in New Hampshire (where I bought the car) and possibly in New York as well. And, unless Acura comes up with something real quick to make me a very happy camper, I will never consider another of their products again.

This is a huge issue of reliability, but more than that, it is an issue of safety. If I was not in a lease, I would already have dumped this car.

We should all write to the NTSB and ask them to open an investigation. Acura should be forced to recall these vehicles.

ME

danog

I did submit a complaint with the NHTSA today. Since the dealer only wants to swap ours for another vehicle we will work on litigation. If we wanted a different car we wouldn't have bought this model. If we knew it had had previous major mechanical problems we wouldn't have bought it for sure!

What will a recall do for anyone? They already replace trannys with remanufactured ones. This doesn't fix the problem because we've had three replaced and it will most likely have the fourth replaced this week.

I have so much I want to add but will hold on for now and wait to see how this plays out.

Hokie D

Not sure if a recall would help or not. Most of the time when you get a recall it's because the company found a problem and can apply a fix. In this case it doesn't sound like Acura really knows what's wrong - so they sure as hell can't apply a fix.

fsttyms1

they do know whats wrong and supposidly fixed it. they had replaced alot of trannies wit the same difective ones before they fixed the part. wether people are still getting them installed?

danog

They believe they have found the problem. That is what they determined in their report to the NHTSA.

If the problem was found and a absolute fix was available, why have I had two trannys replaced in the last two months?

nexus

After reading the last 4 pages of posts i'm starting to get worried actually. I've got a 2003 TL Type S purchased in October 2002. I've got almost 60k Km's on it (37k miles for you US folk). The warranty ends at 60k. I'm wondering what would happen if I took in my car to have them evaluate the Transmission and extend the warranty on it due to history of the vehicle. I have not had a single problem with the transmission to date and quite frankly, the car has been kickass for me. i've been thinking about the 04 TL (dynamic package, I want a manual transmission soooo bad on this car, the TL-S). I might look into it more seriously now because of the known tranny problems.

suggestions anyone?

That Girl

Sorry ...... I can't help but reply ...

If you have read my post's you see I stated that my car tranny locked up ,with no prior warning and there have been others that have stated the exact same thing. Now you may say ,wellll ,your a girl and girls just don't notice things like that .. But there are GUYS' here stating the same thing .. When the tranny locked up ( The first episodes' of 6 times on my way to work ..it would lock up going very fast and then drive normal~ no slipping ,NOTHING .then out of the blue ,it would lock up again and then drive normal ..

I have said this many times ..But for people like you or anyone to keep telling me there were signs' is ludicrous... there were NONE ..


Now I heard some people say their car has gone into drive instead of reverse .or went in DRIVE on it's own ... BUT ~~~ You would never hear me say to someone ...

Oh please thats just not true... and I am glad I never have ,even though that sounds far fectched .. (Cars going on their own ...) I have since seen ACura state this has occured as well ... So I'm glad I didn't doubt or question someone..


I will just keep stating the truth each time I am questioned here ,that way if a NEWCOMER reads it and it happens to them ,they won't think they have lost it .. They' will KNOW the truth .

staple1

Danog,

There may be a lemon law that requires Acura to replace your vehicle if they cannot fix it after three tries.

Check your state laws on the topic.

Hokie D

I wish I knew. Part of me says to sell it and get something new, but everytime I get in my TL-S (just got it back from the dealer and it shifts fine now) it reminds me what a great car it is for the money. Hmmmm.