A418t81

iTrader: (1)

I've been noticing over the past couple of months that our late '03 TL-S has been shifting a lot more harshly than I remembered when we first bought the car. Anyway, I realized that the mileage was nearing the usual alotment for when these things usually go out. I checked the tranny fluid color, it was about the color the the motor oil, perhaps a few shades lighter

Anyway, I took it to the service dept this morning and informed them of what I had noticed. There were no check engine lights....YET. They pulled tranny troubles codes and did note the symptoms of impending doom :o The rebuilt acura tranny will be here Monday.

So, there you go. A late '03 with all of Acura's "fixes" to the problems of tranny reliability fails at slightly less than the average failure rate. I'm not very happy, but maybe when the next one goes, we'll get Acura to buy our car back PeterUbers style and roll in the new style TL

yield2s

YA NO SHIT! I've had two bad tranny that where suppost to be the "new and improved" ones. I'm shopping for an 04/05 6spd which my laywer says i should be in by end of year.

rfrys

A418t81-

Whats the build date on your TLS?

Malayalee King

iTrader: (1)

Have they even put up a recall yet?

Man this :shit: sux

Type S Lady

This is really beginning to suck...

A418t81

iTrader: (1)

Tell me about it. As for the build date,I am not sure. The car is at the dealership, so when it returns, I will let you know. When asked if there was anything different about the tranny we are recieving, the dealership told us nothing was different. "Ok, so its going to happen again, eh?" "No" "Oh really, why is that?" ".........dumb silence........."

:sqntfawk:

Malayalee King

iTrader: (1)

This behavior is UNacceptable.

I'm almost certain if my tranny goes on my 03, i'll probably be looking into another car (like that mint 6 speed legend coupe that was posted earlier!!! )

indoMFP

If my tranny keels over, i am for sure getting a g35, six speed....
















or I might just get the replacement tranny and keep driving the awesome car, THAT IS THE 2003 ACURA TL-S (all black with all factory shit on it)........

A418t81

iTrader: (1)

It really is a shame. I enjoy this car so much, but if the transmission is going to take a crap every 20k miles, it certainly isn't living up to my expectations of Acura. I was really, really hoping that our late '03 with all the fixes would "fix" the problem. Obviously it didn't.

You know, all this could be solved by them just replacing the POS auto box with their lovely 6 speed/LSD unit from the CLS. I would have no complaints at all

Pure Adrenaline

iTrader: (2)

When did you get the car, A4?

I got mine in early January in 2003, and it didn't come with the extended warranty. I currently have just under 23k miles, and I think it might go in the near future. I don't trust them bitches for a second when they tell me it's received the "fix." If/when mine goes, I'm definitely going to yell at them until they give me the extended warranty. I might actually tell them buy the car back, since they told me at the time of purchase that the transmission received the fix and would not fail (for the same reason as other transmission failures, of course, since any transmission has a chance to breaking for whatever reason).

A418t81

iTrader: (1)

We purchased the car around the end of Febuary '03 and were told that all fixes had been implemented and there would be no problems.

aquilles10

Looks liek my car is having a bad week. Four days after getting a a huge scrape on my '03 TL-S, I noticed my trannsmission acting funny. I called the dealer and have an appointment set-up for this monday, but I am afraid I already need a new transmission!

I leased (whew!) my car in 2/03 and it has 17.5k miles on it. What are our options once the second tranny fails? This is ridiculous! I bought this car because of the Acura reputation!

billmatt

I leased my 2003 TLS from Thomas Acura in Covina in April 2003 & am having some trans. problems also. However, I'm not worried. It's Honda's problem, not mine. I'll just take their loaner while mine is being replaced - then tell them to jam it in August 2005 when the lease is up.

billmatt

Whoops. I made a mistake. Make that August 2006! By the way, I have 23,000 mi. on mine!

A418t81

iTrader: (1)

Well, the car is back. They are certainly proficient at installing trannys, ours was installed in less than a day. Imagine that

The funny thing I noticed while there.....EVERY single service bay except one had a crapped out tranny sitting on the ground by the garage door. I believe I counted 5 in about 10 seconds. Absolutely amazing...

Chet03TL-S

Build date of Feb 2003 had all known updates. Anything before shouldn't have. That is the cut off date. My build is Mar 2003. I will post if mine does go out.

JPritch

I have an '03 TLP, but build date was March '02.

So I guess I'm not included in the "fixed" category, huh?

Is my tranny guaranteed to fail at some point, or is this just happening in relatively small percentages overall to the number of cars out there?

Malayalee King

iTrader: (1)

:shit: I bought mine Feb 2002!!!! Build date pre 02? That'll blow hard....i have an alpha 03 TL haha

rfrys

The title of your post says "Late '03" but you now say you bought the car in February '03, so it was prob built in '02.

What's the real deal?

I have also heard that a Feb '03 build date and newer should be OK, and to tell you the truth, I have yet to see someone with a build date of 2/03 or newer with problems.

A418t81

iTrader: (1)

Well, thats what we were told about the car when we enquired about the transmission issues back when we were purchasing the vechicle. I stated that I knew that Acura was having issues with the 5 speed and they told me that I was purchasing a late '03 model that had all known fixes and there should not be any problems.

Edit: Just checked the build date, its 01/03. We missed the deadline by a month. Hopefully all is well now, even though the Acura guys said nothing would be different with the new tranny

Chet03TL-S

GREAT, your build date is only 2 months before mine. I can only hope that my tranny won't fail like all the unfortunate Acura owners before me.

Soo ICeY

does anyone now what the VIN range is for the TRANNY FAILURE??????

01tl4tl

The full extended warranty vin's can be found at acura.com
register your car there by vin on the ownership experience link
and learn if you are covered.

They had to pick a number to end with- thats why it stops before actual prob fixed. Many "not covered" 03's are getting "courtesy replacements" from Acura now

I dont understand why you 03 owners are shocked and complaining

Since the last known upate to the trans they use as replacement units was Feb 2005,
why would your 2003 have a perfect unit?
Someone recently blasted me for diagnosing trans failure on an 04- because he was sure the 04 had no prob rofl Guess what the dealer said was wrong- TRANS FAILURE warranty because under 50 k miles

The real concern is members with post 2/05 replacements that are now starting to fail

Bob_F

Check the dates of the earlier posts.....

Bob

03typeStl

They are ? wtf!

01tl4tl

Doh!
I need new glasses, stupid old revived threads

But there are shocked members with 03 and 04s today with trans probs

There is a seperate thread for post 2/05 replacement unit failures for those concerned

sdafins

I think my TL must be one of the last 03 TLs built. Build date 07/03. 29000 miles. Lumpy shifting at light throttle, esp. from 1-2, but not slipping or blinking lights. I guess mine will be the acid test to the 'improved' transmissions.

03typeStl

My TL-S was produced 08/2003.

laidback93

Yeah I recently found out that my 03 was out of the VIN range. May 2002 was the production date. The only wierd issue I have is that 5th gear seems to engage at too low of a speed. Using 4th gear seems to be the solution while around town.

I'm hoping that if problems should arise Acura will do their part and goodwill a tranny. I've been a loyal Honda Motor Co. fan for as long I have been driving. However, this TL-S is starting to leave a bad taste in my mouth.

Please excuse! I have to go order a new ballast.

I'm serious...

03typeStl

How many miles on your TL-S that you need a new ballast already ?

01tl4tl

Those with funny shifting should go to the dealer and let them inspect.
Later when your trans fails- it was on record

5th gear in town or stop/go traffic will result in wierdness, 4th is a good idea

ChrisQ1980

My TL-S was made in 4/03. Original Tranny with Oil jet kit and 2nd gear replaced. At 34k right now.

fsttyms1

they didnt replace just the 2nd gear. They would have replaced the whole trans if it was bad (what they would inspect before installing the oiljet)

ChrisQ1980

My friend works at an Acura dealership and he wanted me to give him my vin so he could look up the "history" of the car. He said when it had 12,000 miles on it in the summer of 04, the oil jet was installed, along with the replacement of 2nd gear.

I was confused by it as well, figuring it would be stupid to just replace the overheated 2nd gear since there might be more damage and they would have to replace it later on down the road. Wouldn't it have said "tranny replaced"?

When my father had his 03 TL-S inspected at the time of recall, they said the 2nd gear was overheated and they replaced the whole tranny. According to whats in the system at my friends Acura dealership it just says "Oil jet kit installed, 2nd gear replaced"

My tranny does have the oil jet kit, do the replacement trannies have them as well or is it internal? As of now there are no problems with the tranny, and I'm covered under powertrain until 100k (at 34K now) or until 2010.

laidback93

It just turned 68k. I bought it with 60k last september.

03typeStl

Is this your first time replacing the ballast ?

01tl4tl

All readers should register their car at www.acura.com ownership experience link.
You enter your VIN and there is the history of the car.
You can also store your radio code for future need

Rick4771

Well I know my car went into service 12/02 so I dont understand why I dont have the extended warranty

laidback93

Well mine was 5/02 and it still missed the cutoff. I feel like I'm rolling the dice driving this car!

JetBlackAC

need to get mine checked asap