I work in an Acura Dealer and spoke to one of the technicians who does the transmission on the TLs all the time .
He said that as long as you change the transmission fluid often the chance of getting a busted tranny is low...that's only if you guys don't abuse your sport-shift.

Now changing the transmission fluid as often as 15,000 miles is a good way to maintain your transmission but personally I would do it every other oil change because i don't wanna risk my money on a tranny.

If you don't change tranny fluid more often...the metal shavings from the transmission will build up in the transmission since therez no "transmission fluid filter". What mess up your transmission could be those build up metal shaving..

I'm not an expert on cars or transmission, the technicians told me that they do a lot of tranny replacements and it got me scared because i just bought a 2003 TL-S and i don't wanna be paying thousands on tranny. So to prevent tranny problem i will change my tranny fluid more often. As far as i know this is the only cause to the transmission problem.

Its good that they told u to change ur tranny fluid more often but cudnt you go and try to ask them what the real problem is? that way most of us will avoid it so we dont end up sitting in the waiting room

Perhaps the fluid break down is caused by the lack of a REAL transmission cooler (I'm talking a real one, not that nut sized coolant fluid warmer/cooler). Flushing the transmission (of which I babied) at 7,000 miles shown that the fluid drained is brownish compared to the light cherry red fresh ATF. It is not a bad idea at all to flush/change ATF fluid often!

It's funny you mentioned there isn't a transmission fluid filter. I could have sworn I saw one. Specifically, on the return line of the hot side. Check your Helm manual. I even saw it in there.

BTW, do you get good hook up prices at the dealership?

I remember at one time seeing an aftermarket transmission drain plug that had a magnet on the end. Might be worth looking into getting and replace the stock one.

Ours are already magnetized. And it works well. You'd be amazed at the amount of crap it collects.

Thanks for the heads-up, NighthawkS. Anyone know off-hand what a tranny flush at an Acura dealership runs, nowadays?

V.

P.S. NighthawkS, are you from West Ovina or West Covina? If it's Covina then your "location" has a little typo!

why did you post this topic twice?

duplicate thread.....closed.