bioyuki

I've been noticing lately that my tranny is shifting roughtly between 1->2 and 2->3. After reading all the blown trannys on the CL board I'm scared. Any hints on what the problem could be?

TL4Mo

How many miles do you have under your belt?

trippin555

Remember the transmission is adaptive. If it senses you accelerating quickly off the line a lot it will give you harder, but faster shifts. That's actually why I prefer to use SS, not because it gives me anymore power, but because it doesn't seem to reprogram D5. That way, when I want to cruise normally I just leave it in D5 and it's smooth sailing.

tea elle

Here's a hint: you're probably driving the sh!t out of your car.

Lucky that Acura will fix practically everything under warranty, because I suspect that all those posts you've been reading about people's trannies are the result of abusing driving.

RedLined

Tea Elle said:

Here's a hint: you're probably driving the sh!t out of your car.

Lucky that Acura will fix practically everything under warranty, because I suspect that all those posts you've been reading about people's trannies are the result of abusing driving.
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I would have to disagree w/ Tea Elle. I had my tranny replaced at 9000 miles, 7500 of which was just cruising on the highway -- hardly abusive conditions. The car had 300 miles on it when I got it and I babied it until 1000. So, if I managed to destroy the tranny in only 500 miles, it's must be a piece of sh!t anyway. However, I didn't abuse the car or the tranny. I think mine had problems from day one but since it was a new car and I wasn't familiar with the way it was supposed to shift, I thought it was normal until the shifting gradually became worse. But after I had the tranny replaced, the difference was amazing. It was so much smoother and seemed to shift much more quickly.

Before it was fixed, mine was slipping between gears and then slamming into gear as the engine revved freely while out of gear. It was mainly between 1-2 and 2-3. Then when I would try to pass in auto mode, the engine would start to rev like it was going to shift out of 5th but then the revs would slowly drop back down and the car wouldn't accelerate. Eventually the check engine light and VSA warning light (not the "!" light) came on. These warning lights first came on while I was travelling in NY so I took it in to Park Acura. They thought it may need a need speed sensor but thought it would be ok to drive back to VA. The reset all the warning lights and codes and sent me on my way. The strange thing was the car was fine the whole way home, not one mis-shift. I took it to my dealership and they found nothing wrong. For about another week the car ran absolutely fine. Then one evening it really started getting bad so I took it in the next morning. The car actually died right in front of the service center window. I put it in park, then tried to move it somewhere else and nothing. Put it in Drive and it just revved like it was in neutral.

They took it in, reset all the codes and drove it to re-trip all the warning lights and codes. They did this several times and got different codes every time. They told me Acura was stumped and hadn't seen anything like it. They first replaced the transmission shift sensor (which didn't fix it) and then the tranny. The had the car for about a week but from the time they decided it was the tranny until I got the car back it was only 2 1/2 days -- day to get the tranny and a day and a half to put it in.

Hopefully you won't have the same problem but I suspect we'll see more than a few. Although I call myself RedLined, I really don't drive my TLS hard, at least no harder than I drove my 98 Accord EX V6 for 115000 transmission trouble free miles over 3 years.

bioyuki

Btw, I only notice the problem when I'm driving in D5. I rarely redline the car and I drive sedately cause there is way too much traffic where I live.

Wash n Wax

The car will drive better if you DO drive the **** out of it.

Guest

I had the very same problem as red lined described thankfully he wrote about it on this site. My type-s first started to shift into 3rd gear with a distinct shudder and was then ok, but it got worse until finally it would shift into no gear at all and just reved. Several times on the highway it would all on its own decide to shift into 2nd when I was crusing at 80mhp very scarey. I took my car to the dealer and they did not have clue. They would have to go thrue a multi step process and would probably take forever. Since red lined got his fixed in N.J. I called park ave acura and they said I would need a new tranny. So I told my dealer about some of the other cars that had simmular problems this made no difference to them. The dealer woulkd still have to keep my car for few days and go thrue thier little trouble shooting steps.
I got a call today from the service department and they said I would need new transmission (what a surprise). This trans mission problem must be fairly wide spread because they are on back order.

TL4Mo

Great now we have sucky paint AND faulty transmissions!

Gee, whish we could hop onto an RL and RSX forum and see if there are similar problems.

bioyuki

Oh but you can: http://www.clubrsx.com .

Mr.T

Traffic? That's y you redline it to beat the traffic.

Mr.T

eggbert

Gee..
would there be any way to RESET the programming?

RedLined

Oh sh!t!!! I hope this doesn't mean I'll be changing my transmission as often as I'll be changing my oil.

trippin555

You can reset the computer, or just drive softly for 100 miles in D5 and it is back to normal for me..

Keith

Road Rage

A suggestion, change the tranny fluid with some from a bottle. There is always the possibility that the fluid was contaminated. I always use lubes from a bottle because bulk drums as used in factory and dealer may allow important additives to separate out.

This is easy on the TL-S. I will do it at 5000 miles to get rid of break-in debris, then yearly.

Modern transmissions are very expensic=ve and sensitive to dirt, so I believe in extra precautions.