Daylonious

Lately my 02 tls has been acting wierd. Around 40-50mph and 1500-200rpm it shudders for a second a loses power just for a moment. I noticed this around labor day weekend....

The dealer guy told me that this was the 'smart' transmission getting to know how I drive, and that it would pass as it 'learned' my driving patterns...

I think he's fulla crap, and this is a symptom of the much dreaded "tl-s tranny failure".

Any thoughts? it has 11k miles on it...

Yemeni TL-S

'Smart transmission', what a dumbass . It amazes me how stupid some dealers think their customers are when i hear stuff like this. My car is in the shop right now waiting for a transmission that they wont get in for another 2 weeks cause its on backorder. They gave me a jeep liberty, I already miss my car. Take it to another dealer and see if they say anything different.

PeterUbers

iTrader: (1)

All TL-S's will have that shudder where it feels like the tranny disengages from the drive line, and then when you apply the accelerator again, it feels like it re-engages and then becomes smooth again. Unfortunately that is the design of the tranny,. Now if you really mean "shudder".... as in the tranny is misshifting, and you subsequently also see the tach jump around indicating a drop to a lower or higher gear... THEN your symptoms are indicative of a typical TL-S tranny failure.

I realize it's pretty hard to put all these sensations into words, but hopefully you'll figure it out by the time you read the six thousand or so posts about the transmission on this board and the five guhjillion posts about it on the CL-S board.. best of luck

Daylonious

No...the tach doesn't jump anywhere.......honestly if I didn't know better it would feel like I ran over a double pot hole....that about how long it takes...

Okay.....so it's a tranny design thing, not some precursor to imminent danger......

Question: so the tranny IS designed to "think" about shifting? I shouldn't worry about anything unless the tach jumps?

p.s. this happens when I'm "smooth driving"...not when I'm accelerating or slowing down....this is constant, straight highway speed....40-50 mph, 1500-2000 rpm... it feels almost like the tranny is trying to figure out what gear to be in... (3-4? 4-5?).

again, the best way to describe it is that it feels like I drove over a double pot hole...it's about that effect, and about that long in duration..."thump thump" and it's over....

thanks again for any diagnostic help...

evictor

When I purchased the car, my salesman recommended I put the car in D4 for "city" driving. By doing so, speeds around 45-50 do not have the transmission doing its downshift dance. Recently, I have been using D5--I'm going back to D4!

TLS 2002 with 16k miles

eswartz

I've got the same symptoms.... except my rpm gauge does jump, lower... to higher... to lower again when it finally decides which gear to take.

I've already had the fluid changed once... made a world of difference on shift quality and speed. However... it seems to be regressing.

I know once the weather gets cold again... it'll start shuddering while shifting from 1st-2nd like it used to. I know that's not normal, but difficult for a dealer to duplicate.

Do you have any trouble with shuddering? I've got 18K miles on it. It's amazing how perfect the tranny can be one day, and how crappy it can be the next. Sux don't it?

rysky007

Here is what im wondering about the tranny in our cars, how many of u have tryed this simply to see if it will alow, but if u are n reverse and backing up and before u come to a complete stop in reverse u are able to shift into gear and then start to rev up but still ging back and then the car kicks in and goes forward?? all of my previouse hondas have always not alowed me to even shift into a drive gear if the car was still moving unless its very very slow speed like 1-2 miles/h any idias or thoughs on this?? could this be showing a bad tranny in the works???

Smitty02CLs

My 02 Cls does the same thing. However, mine only does it when it's cold, every morning at the same spot during my trip to work. I tried d4 and d5, no differance. only at speeds around 38-43mph . I plan on telling them in a few weeks when I take it in for 7k service.

copland007

Yes, I can do this at least. Any time I'm in a rush backing up out of a parking space I will shift to D5 and start to accelerate even when I still have backwards momentum.

-copland007

PhatNastyCat

My car is at the dealer today being checked out for tranny problems. I have experienced many of these same symptoms that you all have described.

I decided early on that when I was driving in stop and go city traffic to leave the car in D4 since the tranny seemed to work to hard when left in D5. It seems to be fine if I leave in D4 until I get to highway speeds. I also rarely use the sportshifter expect when I need to pass.

I have experienced the shuttering recently when accelerating from a dead stop (traffic light). Feels like I am going over a rough road.

I spoke to the tech at the dealer just a little bit ago and was told that after driving the car for 15 miles on the highway and on backroads, the tech was unable to duplicate or experience what I described. They also checked the computer and received no data that reflected a problem. This is both frustrating and scary.
I have read some of the stories of people having their tranny go out on them while driving on the highway. I don't want to be driving and have it die on me. I am going to insist on someone riding with me in the car tomorrow and I will see if I can duplicate it.

Does anyone have any recommendations or tests that I can ask them to do to make sure that catch a problem if one exists. And all symptoms point to a tranny problem.

-PNC

rysky007

In reality if the car is driven hard and constant use of the tranny is being done it will eventually go bad, needless to say some cars make their trannys more durable then others, but i think we ALL can now see that we need to take it easy on our trannys or we will be sitting on the hyway waiting for a tow truck, hope no one every has to but its a car, its bound to brake, the lighter u drive it the longer it will last, if cars were made unbrakable then the industry would be dry... . sad as it is its how it is,, maybee im talking out of my @ss here but it sux...

PhatNastyCat

It is official...my tranny is done!!! The dealer checked it againg this morning and it started showing all the symptoms described. Now I have to wait 2 weeks as for the new tranny to come in. OUCH. My car only has 13K miles too.

Picking up a rental this afternoon.

I am just glad they found the problem and are taking care of it.

-PNC

SilverBulletCLS

Actually whats happening is the tranny is trying to shift down into another gear, but there isn't enough rpms to do that, so basically its stuck in a state that its confused. If you either slow down ro give it more gas, it will then shift into whatever gear it thinks it should be in.

Mine does it around 45mph and 30mph.

rysky007

hey phatnastycat
what year was urs a 02 or 03??

PeterUbers

iTrader: (1)

The owner's manual clearly states (in the transmission section) that you WILL feel "two" (2) sensations upon initiation of highway/local cruising .. both due to the lock-up torque converter. You should all look this up in the manual and read about this... I haven't looked at in a while .. try torque-converter or transmission in the index to locate it.

Biker_RENAMED

My previous 02 and current 03 TL-S both have had the same sensation (on occasion) when driving at a speed between 35 to 40 MPH (not accelerating). It feels like the transmission has down shifted. So I selected the sport shift position to see what gear I was in to find out if it had down shifted to 3rd. It was still in fourth which is correct for that speed. Consequently, I believe that it's the torque converter locking up that causes it. So that may be normal. I've had no problems when shifting up or down.

Dirk Diggler

Mine did that once too... cruising at around 45mph, with no change in throttle position, the tranny decided to either upshift or lock the torque coverter (I can't tell the difference all the time) and as soon as it did that, the engine sounded like it was going to bog, and it downshifted or unlocked the coverter right away... was kind of weird.

Dirk Diggler.

PhatNastyCat

Rysky007-
Mine is a 2002.

When I was picking up my rental they asked how long my dealership would have my car. When I said, "2 weeks." She asked, "Oh, you must be getting a new transmission." Turns out they have had several TL owners sent to them for rentals for the same reason. The tech at my dealership said that they have replaced a number of transmissions. I praised this website to service rep and the tech for being a great resource to Acura owners. If it wasn't for this place I would not have recognized that that problems I was having (violent shuddering, extended gear searching), I would not have known to have my car checked out for potential tranny problems.

So, I just want to say thanks to all those here who for the info you share. I don't post very often, but I do read the board from time to time and like I said, it is a valuable resource.

As for my rental.....I am the proud driver of a 2002 Pontiac Bonneville. It came with a lot of nice standard options, but I can't figure out where the button is to drop the anchor in an emergency. I hope I never have to use it.

-PNC

ColdFusionTL

What is wrong with acura...my family has been with acura for a long time now and have not experienced any tranny problems until now...we have a 94 GS legend and the tranny has been ok for almost 9 years now. But now my 03 TL-S might have tranny problems after only 737 miles...Is there any way to end a lease and get another car?

copland007

ColdFusionTL:

Check out the lemon laws for your state regarding getting out of the lease:
http://www.lemonlawamerica.com/

Usually they have to fail to fix something 3 times or your car has to be at the dealership for an extended period of time due to repairs (usually 15 to 30 days, varies by state)

-copland007

2k3TLS

I've been told that the trannys affected are the 2000 - 2002 TL's and some 2003 TL's. Why is it only some 2003? How can I tell if my '03 TL-S if affected? Is there a production date that could determine if my tranny is affected?

vperkins2

So far it seems as though the tranny problem is an equal opportunity disease -- striking randomly. No discernable pattern has yet emerged.

V.

fog80

Pulling up a really old thread but its pretty much exactly what im dealing with on my 02 TLS.

I had a new tranny put in at 100K and now I'm at 176K and starting to feel that flutter, hesitation, shudder whatever you want to call it between 35-40mph. It only happens when im lightly accelerating. If im mashing the gas it switches gears smoothly.

As a work around I've been accelerating up to about 35, then letting go of the gas and then accelerating again and it does it smoothly.

I've seen people say the tranny is on its way out, the torque converter is dying, the EGR valve is bad and some other random responses. Any idea if its even worth my spending the 100 bucks on a diagnostic from the dealership when i know its probably not sending out any codes?

Is replacing the tranny my only option?

01tl4tl

STOP!!
go to a parts store and ask for a code reading==-its free!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

do you change fluid every year.... or at all?
clean trans shift selenoids and external filter, and get on the new dw1 atf
as long as its not slipping/revving we can do some fixes with fluids and cleaning

dealer will do a full acura machine fluid changeout--thats good
any other trans shop use wrong fluid and kill a TL trans in seconds!
or you can do it at home,,drain and refill,,
drive 5 minutes shifting to move fluid forward to drain ,, drain again
you get less than half total capacity at each draining

01tl4tl

you are overdue for egr service== not replacement
remove intake manifold and clean out egr passage and ports
makes a major running differance

new spark plugs wont hurt now either,,ngk iridium

northwoods

from my experience, the early sign of the dreaded TL tranny problem is very

similar to a slipping clutch...power down or lost and revs up...

Skirmich

Our trans are painfully slow shifting when driving in the city on any given auto mode (D3-D4-D5) this is becouse the car strives to get the most MPGs possible so it shifts ridiculously early and I mean 5th gear while doing 40mph??

Besides even using SS the car takes a Full Second+ to Shift between gears that feels like an eternity sometimes.

In the 35-40 range the Torque Convertor Lock must not engage that is for highway speeds only. Maybe your just realizing now how slow the trans is?? This can become more obvious with worn Mounts..

I have never EVER driven a TL or Auto Hondas Overall that I could not feel its shifting, Even in a Brand New Accord V6 its noticeable...