I am thinking about getting a 2003 type s in wdp but i want to know if its possible to check some how before i buy that car if the tranny is gonna go bad by a vin # or something....

 

I traded in my 99 tl and I bought a 2003 tls in october 2002. The dealer assured me that by then Acura had already corrected the problem with the supplier/tranny and fixed the problem. Well, so far so good, the trannys holding up well..but time will tell! the dealer also said there was a "ending" vin where the old style was stopped being installed and the new style tranny was installed. however, acura is still extending the warrenty on new tl's so that leads me to believe they probably haven't totally corrected the problem.

 

the reason they have the warranty extension all the way up to the 2003 model TL is because it wasnt until around October, 2002 that Acura finally figured out what the source of the tranny failure is. So even your 2003 may have the defective part, which is the 3rd gear clutch pack, that has since been redesigned for the repair. And dont forget that even after they figured out what was the cause Acura still had in inventory new trannys with the defective part.

 

I called Acura customer service and gave them my VIN on my 2003 before I made the purchase. My car is not included in the extended warranty.

Since the VIN number is on everypart, I'm sure they can tell what color of shirt the person making your transmission was wearing when they made it!

My car was made in November 2002 (tagged inside the driver's door) and has a production number over 53000 (last 5 digits of VIN). I believe you'd be o.k. with anything 50000 and above. January's run is already into the 60000's.