Legendary1

I have a couple of qestions for you fellas.

When I first decided that I wanted to let the ole Legend go, I knew that I would have to buy another Acura, I mean come on, awsome cars right? Well I thought so until I saw all the problem with the trannys. It really suck because all the other cars out there are either underpowered or POS american cars.

When I went to the Acura site I saw that the 03 TLS was being offered, and I had todo a double take. Why would the 03's be out already I asked myself. This is where you guys come in.

Are the majority of the tranny problems on the 02 and older TLS's or are there still a good amount of you with 03's that are acting up. This whole tranny thing has me miffed. Even the MDXs are having trouble with the seals. I have to sy that the thought of dunmping 20K in my Legend is looking better and better. I was under the impression that as technology advanced that our vehicles were going to be MORE reliable. This seems not to be the case.

Sorry for the ramble.......

Givanni

fahoumh

The tranny problem isn't major enough for Honda to do a full factory recall, so I doubt it's that widespread. You shouldn't let the possibility of a bad tranny sway you from buying at TL. If you did get one and the tranny did go on you, it would be replaced under warranty.

Southbound

I hear you Giovanni, I was scared by all of the bad tranny info that I have read on this board as well. But I was like you... I was sold on the car. Anything else either costs $5K-$8K more or is an american POS. This car seemed to be the best combo of price, performance, practicality, and supposedly reliability.

I decided not to let the tranny issues on this board deter me from buying the car that I had determined fit 90% of my needs. I bought a new 02 TLS three weeks ago. I hope that I don't live to regret that decision.

When looking, I spoke to the sales manager about my concern with all of the tranny problems that I had been reading about on the internet. He said to me... "Yeah, we experienced some of those back last year, but they were pretty much contained to the first two months of production in Feb and March of 2001." He said that supposedly Acura had been studying the problems and had made corrections... He said that we haven't seen any more of those troubles in the last six months???? Was he feeding me a line? I'm sure that he wasn't above such a comment, but then again, he didn't have to admit that the problem ever really existed to begin with... He could have tried to downplay and deny the entire issue. Instead he did admit to troubles with early production runs. Yet, if Acura has indeed made some kind of correction, why have we seen people like 03TLTYPES still experience the problem? Have they not really done a thing to improve the situation, or are the failures now at a rate that would be expected of a car that is being produced at the rate of over 3,000 per month?

In any case, it is an issue of concern. Has anybody gotten over 100,000 miles on one of these trannies yet? NO, it's too soon to tell how durable they are. If Honda is doing a study of the failures, will they come up with a recall to replace an internal tranny "weak-link" part? I doubt it, since they will probably just redisign the entire damn thing for the new 04 model... Even if they did come up with a recall, would you want to roll the dice at having some unskilled technician tear out and then take apart your tranny and then replace it and trust that "all was now good"? I'd almost rather they leave my box alone until the factory really finds the internal weak link and starts producing new and improved versions. Then, IF my tranny fails, swap me out for one of the GOOD ONES...

For what it's worth, on the sticker it says that the engine is manufactured in Ohio and that the transmission is manufactured in Japan! I guess that sort of shoots holes in the American POS theory...

Sorry for the rant and ramble... The TLS is a great car! And I LOVE DRIVING IT! And I refuse to drive it like it has a "GRANNY TRANNY" in it... BUT, If I had it to do over again, I'd probably try to negotiate a free or cheap extended warranty for peace of mind. That might be a good option for you that would help you to make the leap and join this great club!

silfa718

i know what ur saying Givanni my '89 Legened ran perfectly until a van came in contact with it

Legendary1

Do any of you know why Acura started distributing 03 TLS so early in the year?

Laurelcrest

The '95 Legend was the reason I fell in love with Acura and the main reason why I bought my TL-S.

Remember, Legendary, far more people will seek out websites when their car is having trouble than those who are perfectly content with their car. For every complaint you'll find here you'll also find a dozen people thrilled with their car, and countless more outside the boards who have no tranny problems either.

But if Acura ever brought back the Legend, and it resembled the '95, I'd be there in a flash. That was the last year Acura made the Legend, I think.

StanMan

the first type-s tl (2002) came out in march 2001...so i guess this is their cycle now...kinda lame though, but it's a good head trip!

sniper5

Givanni,

don't let tranny issues prevent you from getting a TL. I would leave that part to leaky/squeaky sunroofs, messed up windows seals and seats, defective seat belts, leaky headlight housings, numerous paint chips and sooooooo many rattles to last you throughout the next five years as you are paying the car off.
Make sure you have enough money for gas too b/c:
1) Advertised mileage is not quite true,
2) Two trips to the dealer per week can add up.

TLover8888

if your so worried about the tranny, then when you get the car, flush out the tranny fluid and put in new fluid. i believe the tranny problem resulted from contaminated tranny fluid from the factory.

typeSmaximum

14K with mine now and nothing but bliss. No car is perfect, and the tranny issue is not as wide spread as a forum will make it seem. This is still the best bang for the buch sedan you can buy. My roof did make noise, but all it needed was some sylicon gel, and that was 3-4K ago.

Southbound

TLover, you may be on to something...

Contaminated fluid could cause them to self destruct regardless of the type of driving Is there such a thing as transmission "break in" fluid? Could it hurt anything to change the fluid right away? I've got 300 miles on mine now, and this might make sense to me. Better safe than sorry... but it's got to be done right away... But it would seem sad to think that Honda wouldn't have this scenario covered... And why would it be so intermittent? Maybe Friday fluid is full of grit? People talk about their fluid turning brown after only a few thousand miles. That shouldn't be the case. My Camry fluid is still red and I only drain/change it every 30K miles. It now has 80K on it.

When you say flush the system, does that require sucking out the old fluid? Or is a simple drain and fill sufficient? I know that in my Camry, I have only drained and refilled it, although that only seems to take 2 quarts of fluid... so I know that I'm only replacing about half of it at a time.:

thephantom

My last TLS had 14K miles on it in 6 months and the tranny was fine... until I totalled the car. Like any car, something may go bad, a few bad apples out of the bunch. Do not let the "bad tranny" issue keep you from purchasing an Acura.

1SICKLEX

TL/CL designed and built in the USA, badged as an Acura.
Camry/Altima/Accord etc built in the USA badged as Japanese cars.

What is an American car?!?!?!?!

TLover8888

i believe that i read from a member that you should drain and refill the tranny, and then start the car and shift through all the gears, and then shut the car off and drain and refill the fluid again. you should repeat this process 4-5 times in order to get all the old fluid out. i know this is a lot of fluid to use but i think it is worth it instead of having a blown tranny...

U2SLOW

I think we should all sell these POS and go get a real car.
Lexus comes to mind.

Built in Japan and it shows.

fahoumh

RedLined

Wrong! I had my first tranny flushed and it still went bad. The new tranny was installed. They filled, flushed, and refilled a couple of times immediately after it was installed. The second tranny went bad as well. Fully expect the 3rd to go as well.

RedLined

Legendary1,

You are right -- Acura definitely doesn't make them like the used to. My father has had 2 Legends - a 90 and a 94. The first one was rock solid for 250,000 miles. Not one problem, ever! I think the battery died while he was driving once when he had about 200,000 on it. It caused problems with the ECU causing all kinds of problems but as soon as the battery was replaced, no problem. He sold it to a friend's son about 4 years ago who I think is still driving it. He still has the 94 with about 190,000 on it. We drive it for business and it's still rock solid as well.

Although I love my TL-S -- loaded w/ features and performance for a great price -- I can't in good conscience recommend that anyone buy one. I believe the tranny problems are indeed small on a percentage basis but I sure would hate to recommend the car to someone and they end up having the experience I've had.

I bought my car on 4/24/01. The first tranny went at about 8500 miles sometime near the end of June. At that point, Acura claims that hadn't seen anything like what my car was doing. It took them a week just to decide that it was indeed the tranny that was bad. Once the did, my dealership ordered a new one and 2 days later I was back on the road. Then in Nov., the 2nd tranny went out at about 26500 miles. This time, it took them half a day to decide to replace the tranny and then over 4 weeks the get the new tranny in. I was about 30th on a national waiting list ( think there is still a pretty good sized waiting list). The car has been fine since, but I still don't think Acura has figured out what is going wrong.

As to the comment the sales guy made, I'm certain it was not limited to just a batch of cars in Mar/Apr 2001. I know for certain there have been people on this board who bought their TL-S in Sept. 2002 whose trannies went bad a few months later. I also know there was at least one person with an 03 w/ 1700 miles whose tranny went bad. There have been so many, it's hard to keep track of what's what.

Some people say it must be the mods or the driving styles that is causing the trannies to go bad. That's wrong too. Other than aftermarket wheels (that have a proper offset), my car is bone stock. My driving style is what I would call assertive. I like to go fast but I don't lay down rubber at every light. Also, at least 75% of my driving is on the highway, cruising at about 70-80 mph, and 2000-2200 rpm. Hardly a harsh condition for the tranny. Also, you will see a lot of posts on here of people who say the babied their car hoping to avoid the tranny problem only to have it go bad anyway.

Other than the tranny problems, I've had a water leak behind the dashboard that presented itself the first time I washed the car after I bought it. I had warped rotors at about 20000 miles (the service rep at the dealership told me it was a very common problem). And I've had squeaks and rattles out the wazoo.

As disappointing as ownership has been, I still love my car. I love all the features and amenities, the power and handling, the size and comfort and I think with the body-kit, spoiler and wheels I have it's a great looking car. I always get compliments on it from friends and stranger alike. Contrary to what others say they get, I get great gas mileage -- usually about 30-31 on the hwy, and 24 around town. Other cars are tempting -- the Audi S4, BMW 330i, new Infiniti G35 -- but, to me, none of those cars would be as rewarding overall to drive. For me, the TLS is a great balance of size (the Audi and BMW are kind of small for a family of 4), price and perfomance. Should my tranny go out again, I will be very sad but I think I will have to get rid of the car.

It's a tough decision to make. Chance are you won't have any tranny problems. But who knows for sure?

Legendary1

Thanks for the post my friend.

First of all I must commend you on your love of your call despite all the problems. Itoo am sure I would love this car but I tend to think outside the box when making such an investment. I know that even if I get a TLS that seemingly has no problems that resale is going to be less than pleasing, atleast to a person who knows anything about a car beforethey buy it. I cant see how all owners DONT have defective trannys. I mean how can some be alright and some not. I am strting to think that those who havent had any problems are lucky. I could understand a bad "batch" but damn, when the replacement trannys are bad, then there is something bad wrong here. I know I cannot buy my TLS without walking eggshells and worry of its malfunction, and that is real crappy of a NEW 30K+ automobile.
I am going to Acura this week to test dive a 6-speed CL as I havent head anything bad about non-SS trannys. I really want to stay in the Acura family as I have been in it since I got my license in 1992. It was funny though, I figured that one i bought my TLS or CLS and modded it I would be in the 40K price range. I looked for comparible auto for 40-45K and found that I could get a low milage Porsche 911 in that range.
Sorry for the long post butmy head is so clouded with all this crap. I never thought buying a new car would be such a task. I remember the days when beating down the salesman was the worst part of the whole ordeal.

DJ Iceman

If you can do that, then go for it. A friend of mine is having a hard time finding a low mileage Boxster S in that range, so a 911 would be a real bargain.

But if you're looking for a high-performance sports car and want to stay in the Acura family, why not look at a slightly used NSX (which will also fall in the same price range)?

Legendary1

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Iceman
[B]

"A friend of mine is having a hard time finding a low mileage Boxster S in that range, so a 911 would be a real bargain."

I was on autotrader.com and found that te majority of the Porsches for sale were Boxters. A good number of them were in the mid 30's with low miles. Perhaps your friend should check that out.

DJ Iceman

I will mention that to him, although he's kind of picky in what he's looking for. He wants a Boxster S (not a base model), will not take it without heated seats, and doesn't want to go too far away from home to pick it up. In any event, it would be worth it for him to see that web site to get a better idea of what's out there--thanks!