Oh this ain't good. Over the last couple of weeks it seemed like my tranny was shifting a little harder than normal and/or "feeling" weird. Hard to explain, and I figured that it was like being a first-year med student--after reading about all our members' tranny problems, I was imagining it was happening to me.

Yesterday as I'm driving away from a stop sign, I got the tell-tale "flare" when shifting from 2nd to 3rd--it felt like I had accidentally bumped the shift lever into netural. I even looked down quick to see if it slipped out of D5. No such luck--it revved about 500 RPM higher before dropping ungracefully into 3rd.

Anyone wanna take bets as to how much longer I've got?

 

Oh no man, not you too? Keep an eye on it and get it to the dealer before something bad happens.

 

just be prepared for total collapse doing 80 .... in other words train yourself to shift into neutral should the tranny fail on the highway so that you can maintain some control of your car ... GOOD LUCK AND KEEP US UPDATED!!!

 

Welp, it's gotten worse. The other day I had a heck of a shift from 2->3 and it felt like the tranny was going to fall out. Then it was better for a few days and now it's back to rough shifting.

I changed my oil at 24,000 and looked at the tranny fluid and it was fine. I just checked it yesterday at 24,750 miles and it was brown/black and burnt-smelling. Not a hint of pink anywhere. So it went from perfect to crap in 750 miles.

I've got an appointment Friday with Acura of Avon. Hopefully they won't ****k around and will just replace it.

 

pianoman44 ,thats what mine was doing and then i had it replaced

 

I'v been luck. No trannpeoblems so far.

 

Just got a call from the assistant service manager at Acura of Avon in CT. It's official: my tranny is dead.

2002 TL-S
Build date: May 2001
Purchase date: May 2001
Miles: 24,889
VIN serial: 145XX

ATF had not been changed (planning on doing it at 30,000 miles) but I just checked it at 24,000 when I changed my oil and it was nice and pink and smelled fine. I checked it a couple of days ago and it was black and burnt-smelling. All that in less than 900 miles.

They told me the tranny is currently on back order with no release date, which means they don't even know when to expect one in. He also said this is the first 2002 tranny failure they've seen, although they have two 2000's currently getting tranny's replaced. They were very courteous about it, and they gave me a 2002 TL SSM/no navi as a loaner.

Hopefully this won't take too long

 

I would call ACS and tell them about your tranny failure. At least they can give you an update on when will the replacement tranny be coming in.

 

Damn.. that really sucks... sorry to hear that bro

 

Sorry to hear, and kinda worried since I have an 02'. Well, at least Acura treats you right and gives comparable loaner cars. If this was a Corvette, you'd be driving a loaner Cavalier right now

 

Very true. Since I've read about everyone's tranny failures on here prior to mine going, I knew I could be in a loaner for a while. I've need loaners from Acura of Avon twice in the past and both times I've gotten a 2000 Integra. So I was ready to speak up if I got the Integra again. I don't mind the Integra for a day but if this is going to go on for a couple weeks I want a TL. But they had it reserved for me when I got there.

The service manager is going to call me next week with an ETA. If I don't get that call, or if the ETA is vague or too long, I will call ACS. For now, I'll let Acura of Avon call the shots since they've always treated me well....

 

pianoman41,

As for the backorder, they may not have checked lately. I had mine replaced just this past Monday. It took my dealership 1 week to get a rebuilt unit.

 

I have posted this before, but it took one week to get my first tranny and 4 days for my second. My second BTW, is working well.

Good luck and I know how you feel.

 

Good to hear--hopefully I can get this resolved quickly. I miss my baby already......

 

Welp, I dropped the car off at the dealer today. Diagnosis: transmission needs to be replaced. 24,889 miles.

 

crap.....mine shifts like that too.....its been doing that for i think like 5,000 miles now...i guess im too lazy to take it in.. i have cold air intake and pulleys, and exhaust, u think they'll be gay about changin my tranny?

 

comparable?

no, he is just lucky or has a nice dealer, or both.

When my tranny broke, my dealer gave me a nice Dodge Stratus rental.

 

Oh No, not you too!!!

Sorry to hear about that.........

:-jon

 

 

Well, I got the car back Wednesday afternoon (total time at the dealer 5 days, including a weekend). I called down there to see if they even had an ETA for when they would be expecting the tranny, since the dealer was told Friday (when I dropped the car off) the trannies were on national backorder with no release date. I expected a bunch of excuses and instead I got "we just finished test driving the car and it's all set--you can come pick it up any time."

The car shifts MUCH smoother. Notwithstanding the slipping in 3rd gear, I didn't realize how rough my old tranny was shifting until comparing it to the new one. On my old tranny, even the shift from 4th to 5th at about 45 mph under normal acceleration was quite noticeable--enough to make me always look down at the speedo and think "ayuh, there's the 4->5 upshift)." Now I hardly notice at all.

Two thumbs up to Acura of Avon for quick, friendly service and a 2002 TL loaner to boot. I highly recommend their service department to anyone in the Western MA/CT/Eastern NY area.

FWIW, the service manager (Chris) stated that Acura still doesn't know what is causing the failures (or isn't telling the dealerships). He *did* say that this is costing Acura some serious $$$ to replace these trannies under warranty, so it would be in their best interest to isolate the problem and fix it ASAP. He told me that (like others have posted on this board) they are not allowed to crack open the tranny but have to send it back as is to Acura. He said it costs him (and in turn, Acura) approximately $500 to ship one tranny to wherever it is they ship them and it costs Acura about the same when shipping a new one. Which means (at least for New England), every tranny replacement costs Acura $1000 just in shipping charges. Then there's the labor and the cost of the tranny itself.

Wish me luck with tranny #2...... <fingers crossed>

 

Congrats man! If Acura is paying this much to serve us than why complain.. I mean people had serious probs and almost got in accidents but I wouldnt lose hope in Acura.. Look at Chrysler and GM Recalling all those cars... Acura Should do the same...

 

Didnt Acura say the probs only on like 1-2 % of TL's w/ the Tranny PROB?? Than WHY THE F*** is half the forum having Tranny Probs.. Also is this tranny prob in just TL's or all Acura CARS?

 

Acura acknowledged last month replacing approximately 16,000 transmissions so far on TLs, CLs and MDXs (they all use the same transmission). We've had over 70 affected on this forum (Jon stopped counting so it could be a lot higher than that), but that's about 2% of our active membership. It does seem like a lot--especially when you're one of those 2% failures (like myself)--but it's not unheard of in the industry.

That being said, Acura definitely has a design flaw of the transmission and needs to get it fixed ASAP.

 

Same exact symptoms 2nd to 3rd shifting. The service manager at my dealership was VERY cooperative when I explained the problem. He is ordering a new tranny for me ... hopefully it will come in before next summer

Acura could solve this problem by dropping the 6-speed manual in the TL-S. I recently drove a CL-S 6-speed ..... NICE!