The service guy at Alhambra Acura told me the following... just wanted to know if its true or not:

1.) Tranny problem was fixed for all 2003 models after January 2003 (mid-end year for the model).

2.) If you only get sway bars and do not customize the suspension to something stiffer, you will keep braking the rear sway bar link and will eventually lead to more severe problems due to the extreme pressure put on hard turning. IS THIS TRUE FOR NOT SO CRAZY DRIVING TOO?

 

so i guess i'm still doomed \, got my 2003tls in march of 2003. by the way looking @ your profile we have the same ride. what is the plasma spark blue? is that part of your neon desciption?, of is that a special spark plug?

 

We are not doomed if you got your car in '03, everything after Jan. '03 is fine according to him. The plasma blue is the light bulb I have for my fog lamps, they are PIAA and shine pretty blue (7000K).

 

Did he mean = manufactured after Jan 2003 or was the fix done after Jan 2003 ??

My 03 TL-S was manufactured Dec 2002....

 

hey thsiao,

I don't know if upgrading to Comptech sways will require upgrading everything else in the susp'n or not ... i've had it since may 2003 and have experienced no problems with them. Wait a sec ... my bushings needed to be silicone greased (squeaky) but ever since then ... no problemo.

A lot of people on this board and other forums have the CT sways (or Eibach) and haven't heard people breaking susp'n parts left & right. Perhaps your maintenance guy is scaring you from doing it. I can say upgrading the sways is a definite plus. Also, CT does their homework when they do their upgrades.

The only company I know that requires you to upgrade the sways is those with a solid bar (everyone else's is hollow). I think Neuspeed has the solid (race) sways is the one ...

Hope that helps.
- derrick

 

The dealer guy was not scaring me or anything, he was actually encouraging me to get suspension for my car (weird thing for a service guy to do). Aren't the Eibach Anti-Roll solid front and back?

 

How can you find out when your car was manufactured??

 

Its a long read but this explains everything about the transmission problems and what modifications were made to the transmissions to fix the majority of problems:

Link

This is applicable to TLs and CLs (mostly Type S models).

The first 2 modifications were made in January of '02 and May of '02. Most transmissions produced after May of '02 will be fine. This is because the biggest problem, the 3rd gear clutch pack which was not being produced up to Honda standards was fixed. This doesn't guarentee you'll have no tranny problems, but you'll be less likely to have problems. This is why after this mod, Acura stopped giving out the 7 year, 100k mile warranty on the transmission.

If you want to know when your car was manufactured check in the driver's side doorjam, there should be a manufacture date in there. Mine was made in June of '02 so its one of the ones with the first two modifications, and so far *knock on wood* I haven't had any transmission problems. Only ~15k miles on my car right now though.

The final mods to the transmission were made around January-February of '03, so if your car was made around or after that you should have all of the modifications made to the tranny. This again doesn't guarentee you against transmission failure, but it does make it more unlikely.

 

Mine says 12/02... does mine has the final mods or am I *****d?

 

I don't think you have the final mods if yours was manf. 12/02, but you have the majority of the mods ... I wouldn't worry so much, just enjoy your car. If the tranny goes within the first 4 years/50,000 miles it will still be covered under warranty and I think you probably have a leg to stand on if it fails within the first 7/100k too.

The most important mod was the one made in May of '02 which also came with an improved quality control on the 3rd gear clutch pack, and you have that one..

 

I just got my Eibach sways and I am loving every single second of it! Just felt like sharing my joy...

 

You have the same manuf. date as mine. I checked with the dealer and according to their service link computer, the car needs NO modifications or updates. I even asked if the PCM needs updating and they said not to worry. Any new updates will be in the form of service recall (provided you're the orig owner or registered)...

 

That's good news... thanks for the info. Now I can finally sleep peacefully