I've already taken my car to Willow Springs once with Anthracite (Sean) and a week later the trans went out and was rebuilt. But I don't know if it was because it already had 30K on it (It was already replaced once) and was on its way out or because I had the fluid flushed via power flushing instead of hand flushing which I hear can cause the trans to fail. It certainly didn't overheat because I have a trans cooler. I know it's been mentioned here a billion times, but what is it exactly that causes the 99's 4-speed to fail?

 

your just going to have to remove that 200 shot of nitrous man. lol

 

stupid....

 

Fluid cooler does not guarantee that your transmission will not overheat. I tried doing a rally stage run in 2-3rd gear through the dirt section of I-88. I ended up limping home with only 2nd gear working, no other gears. Two drain and fills later, the transmission was alive again and it made 1/4 mile passes two weeks later.

There no YES/NO answer to whether it will last. It can, and it may not. One way to find out.

In Jeremy Clarkson's words: "This is the thing you have to remember, Acura built its automatic transmissions to be as good as a transmissions can be... briefly"

 

Ugh, not what I wanted to hear. However you have the 5 speed. Is that a different design? What exactly is the fatal flaw of the 4 speed?

 

Fatal Flaw of the 4 Speed?
To my Understanding the 5 Speed does Suicide, But I only heard of a couple of 4 Speedos Craping out dunno what you mean with "Fatal Flaw".

For me the 4 Speed is like any other trans... Abuse it, Pay for it. Nothing Fancy.. Where my 5 Speed is (HOLYCRAPDONTEVENLOOKATMEORIMGONNABLOWINANYSECOND) .

 

Well I'm on my third one with less than 120K on the odo. First lasted 'till 80K when Acura changed it for free despite being out of warranty. After that it failed at 115K. It's been rebuilt since then and seems to be doing alright. And by "fatal flaw" I meant what is the one thing that makes this transmission fail? Overheating fluid? Bad clutches etc?

This is a bummer. I'm totally hooked on tracking my car now but can't thanks to its Achilles heel. I had a brand new Optima Turbo and gave it up to go back to this and don't regret it a bit apart from this. C'est la vie.

 

The oldest acura is better than the newest Kia. You made a good decision.

 

Guys I'd hate to sound like a broken record but back to my original question which I'd really appreciate getting answered...

To answer Skirmich's question on what I mean by the transmission's 'fatal flaw'...

"By "fatal flaw" I meant what is the one thing that's most problematic that makes this transmission fail? Overheating fluid? Bad clutches, etc?"

An answer would really be appreciated guys. I need to know if the problem can be remedied so I can hit the track again.

 

remedied..



easy




MT swap. lol

 

Lol, yeah, I'll pass. I love the idea of my car as a stick but you're talking to a kid who can barely change his own oil. Doing an entire trans sway is way beyond me. And there isn't a hoot in hell I'd pay someone for that swap. I'd rather just buy a new car. Wait, I did

 

power flush with non honda fluid is the weak point for us all

a cooler wont hurt for track days but is not a savior
heat is the enemy of fluid,,old fluid is lousy at working in heat~

honda atf fluid, correctly fully changed, new filter (if applicable/able- i dont know 4 speed- 5s have external $25 filter)

and some good luck!!

 

HAH! i dont think so.

 

Kia is junk dude.

 

Biggest issue is teeny tiny clutch packs on the gear sets. They can (and will) wear quickly, contaminate the fluid and the internal passageways and overheat the fluid which just compounds the issue with more wear and poor lubrication.
Take a look at a cutaway of the transmissions. The clutch paks are about the size of a fist and have to carry a high torque load v.s. say a planetary type trans. This does keep the trans small to fit the FWD layout. That being said adding a 5th gear to the 3 shaft trans design adds additional heat and lubrication problems as more has to fit in pretty much the same space (even though the 4 and 5 speed transmissions are completely different).
Best bet: change the fluid with only DW-1 and do it often. Also do the 3x3 if it has not been done. I won't risk the backlash I will get by stating how often I change mine, but I am over 120k on the warranty replacement and would not wait more than 20k between changes.

 

Its from the lack of fluid to the 3rd gear clutch packs to keep them cool. Its an internal design that you cant do anything to help it out. The BEST things you can do is change fluid often, and Remove and either replace the the solenoids or clean them on a regular basis. Keeping the line pressure up, especially during the 2-3 shift is key to reducing the slippage which equals wear.

 

there are many who change 3qts atf with every or every other 7500mile engine oil change
If its in your budget- do all the fluid every year!

reminder: brake fluid needs replacement too- full flush max every 3 years, every year preferred for best brakes

 

The clutch packs are pretty decent in size and isnt the problem, especially 3rd. Another reason size isnt really the issue is it all comes down to clamping force (no different than a manual trans multi plate clutch) There are more discs to aid in the holding/slipping power. The problem comes into play of getting enough fluid thru the 3rd gear clutch/drum assembly to keep them cool enough

 

If you wanna track your TL, then be ready to replace your tranny sooner than later. I love driving hard but being the car that the 99 TL is (00-03 is worse i hear) i don't do it at all, i treat the trann the best i can under all circumstances. You are asking a stupid question in my opinion.

 

mine did, i have tracked mine couple times but after couple laps i did a cool down lap and parked it with ignition and hood up. My tires didn't last though lol. i'm still on original tranny and works well. However you gotta be ready for tracking, you could get flat tire, busted shocks, go through a set of brake pads, crack rotors, cause leaks or perhaps even crash and get hurt? check ball joints, brakes, all fluids and shocks.

 

Thanks for the input guys. So apparently I'm SOL on any meaningful preventative measures of failure as far as track use is concerned unless I go 6MT which I definitely won't. That sucks. It's just too nice of a payed off car to sell off to pick something else up. Even when I had a loaded turbo Optima I really didn't feel like it offered that much more in terms of entertainment or fun over the TL, at least not 26K worth. I guess my track days are over as quickly as they started. I may just go autocross which tends to only use 1st and 2nd gear so as not to screw up the 3rd gear clutch, if that's the way it works.