Hi,

I plan to buy a car in 2-3 months. TL-S used to be high on top of my list, until I saw the many complaints about the tranny problems on this board. This really scares me. Could anyone give me an idea how common this problem really is?

 

Based on the back-order there has been for the past few months, I would say there are no more than a few hundred tranny failures across the nation in past year. Compared to the few thousand (I think) TLS Acura is selling every month, the percentages are pretty small.

My tranny has failed twice but there is still no other car I would rather have.

 

I'm on my second one that is going. Redlined, you really wouldnt want a different car after 2 trannies going south. I am so pissed that i put a down payment on a manual 330ci. I couldnt take the squeeks and rattles and tranny this and engine that anymore. I have a friend with a 99 323ci and not one rattle is to be heard from that car and the only thing its been to the dealer for is maintenence and a fan recall, that's it. I love my car but i'm sick of prob;lems that i dont have time for.

 

No Tranny problem yet, but i prey every night.

But the windows have begun to rattle on highway speeds.
My 1992 corolla doesn't even have that problem.

I love the performance of the tls. But in reality if i can go back a few months i definately would not buy the tls all over again.

If you can spend a few grand more, I say go with the Bimmer.

As they say you get what you pay for. It is well worth it. There is a reason why bimmers cost so much you know.

There is also a lot of hype about the new infiniti G35. I hear nothing but praises for that car so far. It might be worth your while to do a little research in that car.

 

You're having this window rattle too? I thought it was the ground effects, but have found out that it might be my windows. Anyway the reading so far all of the tranny problems and such, I think it's more people who made earlier purchases. Look on this board for previous subject, because I think some are doing surveys of some sort. My car seems to be fine except for the tranny slipping sometimes, but that has been fixed with a flush and redline tranny oil.... I love my car and wouldn't buy anything else for now. Maybe in the future I will purchase a bimmer 5er or a GS430, or maybe just keep this car and buy a convertible M3, but so far real happy. With BMW's or any euro car is, if you plan to keep your car longer than 3 years get the extended warranty. My 323ci was the best car that I had had until I hit around 40k miles. That's when things electrical started going bad, freaking cup holders breaking... Shoof'n from the off topic board will defend me on this. My friend who used to own a Audi S4, just traded in his car and purchased a new GS...

 

No problems as of yet, and bigman your friend is lucky because I have friends with the 330 and 328 and they all have had problems. when I say problems I mean they are at the service area at least twice a month each.

 

THERE IS NO LONGER A PROBLEM!!!

If you own a 2001 TL, or a very early 2002 TL built last March or April, there may be Transmission problems. But other than that brief period, there are not any real problems to speak of.

Have you been to an Acura dealership and looked at their service department? Its a pretty quiet world these days. Why? Because these cars just don't break down. Go to a Ford, Audi, Nissan dealer, and its a different story.

Buy what you really want, but know what to expect. With Honda cars you can expect year of outstanding reliability.

 

I don't think is true (unfortunately). I've been reading the tranny threads and there is at least one person that had a TL-S with a DOM in May 2001 and another with a DOM in Sep 2001 that had to have trannys replaced. I'd love to be able to say the problem has been discovered, isolated and corrected but I just don't think that has happened yet.

 

I do not want to upset any fellow board members here who have had tranny problems, but I wonder if you drive the hell out of you're cars, and the mods (some that increase HP), put undue pressure on the tranny. There are a lot of younger members here who may be a little more enthusiastic with their driving habits than an old guy like me. Now don't flame me, it just makes me wonder. Also, the people with problems are much more vocal than those who have no problems and rightly so. No tranny problems here yet.

 

even though Tls are known for tranny problems, people only post a problem if they have one. so im sure the problems are relatively few compared to how many Tls are made every year

 

You have a valid point, however I think it has already been established that driving style and/or mods has nothing to do with this problem. Your conclusion was also my conclusion at first until I started reading the various threads carefully. Take a look at one of the latest causalites: roadman. His TL has 29,000 miles on it, absolutely bone stock, drives it like a grandmother delivering Ming vases, and even did a tranny *fluid change* at both 10K and 20K as a precaution. And still his tranny crapped out. So he did everything possible to keep his tranny in good shape, but it didn't matter.

 

Sorry to burst your bubble, but there have been more than a few with tranny problems in cars made well after Mar/Apr. Not to mention, my 2nd tranny, installed in July 01, went bad. Also, take a look at the CL board, they seem to be having their fair share of problems w/ the Type S trannies as well.

Also, my dealership is anything but quiet. I usually can't get an appointment for at least a few days when I do need service. Even when my trannies went, they couldn't even take a look at it for 2 days. And they NEVER have any Acura loaners so somebody must be using them.

But my problems must be due to all my mods. Maybe it's the tinted windows or perhaps the shift knob (it is connected to the tranny). Perhaps my body-kit increasing the wind resistence or drag, creating a strain on the tranny.

Or it must be the way I drive as clearly indicated by my very low average mpg of 30-31 hwy and 25 city. And cruising on the highway at 2000 rpm for most of the mileage, that's really tough on the tranny.

Interestingly, in MotorTrend's recent article updating the long term test of a CL Type S, they commented that the quality of the car just wasn't up to Acura's standard, stating that their car had quite a few squeaks and rattles. They went on to say that it was even more surprising from a coupe, which is usually stiffer than a sedan. They did give it the benefit of the doubt saying maybe it was because it was an early production vehicle. What would the excuse be for my car?

The bottom line is this -- It seems some people have absolutely no problems whatsoever from the TL. No squeaks, no rattles, no failures in any way, shape or form. Others, like myself, have every problem under the sun. All the common squeaks and rattles, major equipment failures and some other problems showing a general lack of quality control (like the water leak I had).

And to answer Bigman's question, money and size being considered, there still isn't another car I would rather own and drive. I spend a lot of time on the road and my car is a joy to drive. The power, the comfort, the amenities, the room (I can fit my 2 young kids w/ carseats w/ no problem), the ride, the handling all for around $30k. And I can fit a couple sets of golf clubs and some luggage in the trunk. I also thought I could put close to 40000 miles a year on the car with no problems (I guess I was wrong). If I didn't need to worry about taking out customers, driving my kids around or putting 40000 miles a year on a car, there's no question I would get a 330i or an S4.

 

I don't think the percentages are high at all. Less then 2% which is better then most cars and on par with BMW, Lexus etc. Just here you have a wide range of people posting - sometimes posting multiple times across different threads - so it looks like a lot. Plus it's not just one year it's 99, 00, 01, 02.

I've asked people for lists and statistics or whatever and no one ever posts anything besides opinion.

I feel bad for those with problems but I've seen nothing to show that there is a widespread flaw.

The other problem is rebuilt trannys fail 3-5 times more often then the original. So if you do have a problem - you are greater risk from then on.

 

Let's face it - those who have not had a tranny failure (lucky guys/gals) are going to give the standard ("This problem is not widespread") line, assuming that those who have had tranny failures are people with a lot of mods and who drive like madmen. Trust me, I know, as I myself dismissed all of the dead tranny posts as "...it will never happen to me." That was before mine died.

Those of us WITH tranny failures feel that if it could happen to us, it could happen to ANYBODY. Only WE know how we drive and what our cars have been through.

Other facts are that those with the failure will have more of a reason to post than those without. It is human nature.

My feeling is this. I bought a 2002 car that I planned on driving 250,000 miles. I had done that with a Maxima, I surely should be able to do that with an Acura. Now, I have to alter my plan.

If only I had a tranny problem, and there were no other posts about them, I would feel that I was just an unlucky owner who got a bad tranny. The fact that there are over 22 TL-S members who have has THE SAME THING happen to their tranny can not be taken lightly.

When you guys say "it is such a small percentage", I think your logic is screwed up. If you consider that we are a TINY blip in the ownership group of TL-S owners, 22 is a lot. Many members have indicated that there are Tl-Ss at their dealers waiting for trannys.

When I brought my car in with the bad tranny, the service manager did not even fake a suprised look, he immediatly got me a rental. He was not even fazed by this happening to a 6 month old car. Isn't that odd? This is NOT some small fraction of the population.

There WILL be more tranny failures (sorry), and it could happen to ANYONE (and believe me I do not wish it on anyone).

One more thing, have there been 22 TL-S members with head gasket failures? A/C failures? Steering failures? Electrical failures? Engine failures? Waterpump? Cat converter? Radio? Heater? Tires? Cupholders? Anything else???????? NO

Only the tranny, and that, to me, is a MAJOR COMPONENT of the car.

So, 22 owners here, who bought a 2002 car less than a year ago, have had to have their trannys replaced, AND they had to wait for them because they were on NATIONAL BACKORDER!!!

Sounds like something more than someone driving their car too hard.....

:-jon

 

Very well said, Jon.

 

I am having the tranny problem and am scheduled for a replacement. I have no mods on the car, and I am a VERY conservative driver. I bought the car for luxury and performance and I am very disappointed. My dealer service manager says it is not just the TL-S, but TLs going back to 1999. The salesman who sold me the car bought one for his wife 2 months ago, and she is experiencing the same problem. I think it is more widespread than we think. After all, this forum just represents a small number of TL buyers. Hondas/Acuras are supposed to have the reputation of being reliable/dependale. This no longer seems to be the case. In fact, I think Acura needs to stand up and take notice of what is going on here. I have already pointed 2 folks to this site who have changed their mind about purchasing a TL.

 

Has Acura had anything to say about the tranny failures? It seems that if they were supplying dozens of new transmissions suddenly, in the last year, that the guys and gals in Torrance would commission a study and release results to us, their customers. If the small sample of TL/TL-S owners reflected in this site is a microcosm of total U.S. TL ownership, it seems that a significant problem is at hand.

I've had no problems yet that I haven't caused, but have only 3600 miles on my TL-P. I'm hoping that I don't, as it would be tranny problems on TWO cars in a row for me (my prior car, a Dodge Intrepid, had a very early tranny failure). Can lightning strike the same person twice? God, I hope not.

As for those complaining in other threads about where the car is made...(e.g. "maybe the car should be built in Japan"), the transmission is made in Japan--says so right on my window sticker, which I kept.

 

And it keeps happening. 03TLTYPES on this board has to have his tranny replaced, and as you can guess by his screen name, he's got an '03.

 

I've been struck twice in this TL-S alone and fully expect to be struck again!

 

Mine just started slipping today, On my way to the store it just reved up and shifted with a huge jolt. It did that the whole way home, boy am I pissed off, my wife is out of town in the Max and I have to Go to DFW to get a rental all the other places are closed. i am going to have it towed in today.

 

Monday I meant

 

Please refer to the following post.

http://www.acura-tl.com/forum/showth...threadid=30872

Use the search button, and contibute to the old posts. Oblio98's post is a particularly good compilation post. He put in alot of time and energy searching and getting the names to make that list, so add to it; that will make a more accurate count than a new post every few weeks asking for the same.