My fiance and I are currently looking at a 99 acura tl 5-speed automatic transmission, 3.2 v6, 193k miles. Not one hint of a scratch, dent, or rust anywhere on it. They are asking 4800 for it. We know that its high mileage, but if it has been taken care of, mileage does not make or break the car. We are currently doing our homework up on it. It appears to shift well, drive beautifully, quietly, suspension nice and tight, little teeny tiny bit of vibration in the steering, like any older car. Only thing that it has (which i've read your guy's very excellent, easy fixes for) is it has the irratic idling that jumps from 1rpm to about 1.5 rpms, only happens in park and neutral, not at all in drive. Just wondering if all of u tl owners out there think that this one still has some umpf left in it from what i have said. My fiance knows a decent amount about cars, just not familiar with this one. My whole family is anti-foreign period, so we can't get an unbiased opinion out of any of the many mechanics in my family. Thanks.

Oh and whoever owned it prior had some kind of luxury service package to, cards and all.

 

99 should be a 4 speed, if theres a five speed you need to find out some info on the transmission.

Edit- tell your family that the TL is built in the USA.

 

price is also high in my opinion! also, it's ready for another major service at 200k unless it's already done!

 

^+1
2G TL's also have shitty transmissions, soooo lol

 

IDK, if they can be talked down to $4200 or so and it has a newer trans then its worth it IMO. Most 2gs wont go 190k on the first trans but you never know. I paid $4500 for my 99 with 182k and a newer blue bolt tranny and I think it was well worth it. If its the original transmission then I wouldn't buy it. I also have my doubts that the struts were replaced so I cant see the suspension being as tight as it should be. When I pulled mine off at 190k they would compress but wouldn't rebound....didn't feel uncomfy really but you could tell the TL was supposed to be a bit smoother.

 

Oh, and the slight vibration in the steering wheel is likely the motor mounts if you feel it at an idle, they are known to go bad on this car. Check the VIN # with Acura to see if recalls were performed. The ignition switch goes bad and usually gets replaced with the same defective unit. Make sure the rear view mirror doesn't look like you can see fluid inside of it, this means its the original mirror that can combust!

 

My fiance says it is the 5 speed tiptronic transmission, i forgot.. whoops, that might make more sense.

 

Even the tiptronic versus the regular automatic? We've heard not to use the manual side of it and they are fine.. Have u had a different experience with them?

 

Its not a Ford or a Jeep, so it wont matter to them. My family all works for a ford/dodge/jeep dealer.

 

Oh, and my fiance just informed me that the transmission didnt look original but we could be wrong. The nearest acura dealer to us is about 100 miles away as far as i know. We live in the middle of no where in Indiana, but im going to do so research to see if i can find a closer one to get a vin check, or maybe try calling, some places will do it if you call


Thanks everyone for your insight!

 

look under the hood at the transmission- if there is blue paint on bolt heads you will see it
That neans warranty replaced unit

1 800 382 2238 x5 is acura care and can do a pre-buy history ck on trans and other warranty items, and ck recalls are all completed

sounds like it needs and egr cleaning and iacv cleaning for the idle prob

all 5 speeds are tiptronic- all that means is you can drive in D5 or use the other side of the switch which lets you control up and downshifts

Its use to downshift at high rpm into 3rd and 2nd adds to premature clutch wearout

Trans fluid condition is a tell of internal probs and overall service history

If it were most of us- we would not buy another gen2 without a trans warranty that was worth a darn when you need it
or $2500 in pocket for that eventual day

Lets say it was replaced at 50-100kmiles under warranty from failure
you have double that on the replacement--what do you think the odds are of ot lasting much longer

I would buy a honda or toyota over another gen2 today,,much as I love mine

 

any local shop can inspect brakes and all fluid condition--crash damage etc

trans probs require a 30 minute drive and some specific hard use to push the clutches,, to fully test
They all cruise great----right until they wont shift !!!

I agree 4800 way too much for this car
you can score an 00-01 tl for 4 with better description and care if you must have one

mine will cost you way more that that if you want it~

ps you need cars VIN when calling acura

 

Like I said, the 99 is a 4-speed, so if it has a 5-speed it's not the original transmission!

 

for triptronic vs automatic... from what I understand triptronic isnt tooooo bad to use, just dont use it everyday and never down shift with it. and dont travel along the shift gate to change gears ( going 1-2-3-4-5 as if it were a manual transmission)

and once ur tranny craps out, be prepared to burn a hole in ur pocket

i got my car used, and i used the SS (sport shift, the +/-) pretty harshley, i even down shifted here and there.... and not too long the tranny crapped out on me.

 

Changing the fluid to the new synthetic tranny fluid for Acura/Hondas or Redline Racing ATF. This will help maintain the tranny. Also switching out the switches and cleaning the filter for tranny fluid helps as well. Keep us all updated. Take some pix for us to check out the paint and interior b4 you buy.

 

The 99 TLs had no transmission issues.
You are probably referring to TLs 2000 through 2003.

 

The 99 TL is a 4 speed automatic. Look on the shifter ... it will say D4, D3, D2 etc ....
If it was 5 speed it would say D5, D4, D3 etc ...

 

The 99 TL's DO have issues, although a lot less often than the 2000+. Mine took a crap. It litterally just crapped. Start in park seems fine, but once you moves shifter down to reverse or pass reverse (even to neutral) it whined like crazy and would not do anything. And this is with tranny fluid changed often. My brother thought it was because it was almost always parked on an incline. Needless to say, after transmission was swapped, never parked on any noticeable inclined surface.

 

Yeah, I read somewhere on here that switching to the redline racing atf helps. and yeah, switching out the switches definitely help, but why clean the filter? might as well buy a new one. i know theres a DIY on that somewhere on here.

 

Then as mentioned, it's either NOT a '99 model.. or the transmition has been replaced... all '99s came with the 4 speed auto transmission.

makes no difference, they had issues regardless of wether you use sport shift or not.....

thats a stretch, they are just LESS problematic, not exempt.

 

You read my mind .... the probablilty of transmission failure on a 99 TL is much much less than 2000 to 2003 TLs.
All makes and models have some transmission issues over time. It also depends on driving habits. Someone could easily take a brand new latest 2012 model TL and drive it such that the transmission kicks the bucket in less than 1000 miles.