I did a demo of how manual mode works in the TL and a few passengers suggested that it can't be good for the transmission. Am I better off sticking to auto, or are they just clueless? I've read of transmission problems in earlier 2003 TLs. How would I know when mine was built?

 

Operating any vehicle CONSTANTLY at WOT is not conducive to longevity, but in the TL owners' cases, it will not make too much of a difference, as the transmissions for them fail even when they are driven under normal conditions.
The TL series is quick transportation; for most of us they are all we need as to performance. Significantly faster cars exist for more money and some for consideribly less bucks, such as Subaru's and Nissan's offerings. What our Acuras do is give a nice balance to all the important things: luxury, performance, and style...
If you do a search, I think you will find the serial numbers of the vehicles that are on the list of potential transmission failures. Hope I've helped.

 

Check the driver's side door jam. There you'll find decals w/ the month/year the vehicle was manufactured. Not an exact build date, but close enough...

 

If your gonna use the sport shift .... i suggest you only use it for up shifts and watch your red line ......its the down shifts that really strain the tranny.

 

The manufactured date says 6/03. Would I have the "fixed" transmission or the faulty one?

 

Get on the Honda web site and if you do your finances on the net as soon as you get in it you can click the recall and it will tell you if yours have a recall based on your vin number.
Now as for the transmission and use of SS, I can tell you that if I got the car and I'm going to be worry about transmission failures then I'll be running to the dealer to return the car, if it breaks well let them worry about it. I drive the car the way it was intended slow when it needs to and like the sports sedan that it is.

 

Yes.

 

in sport shift redline it every time and get a loner rsx or tsx from dealer. its a good idea. and run their miles up, not mine.

 

The last fix for the tranny was done on 11/02 ... So if your TL was made in 06/03 then you should have all of the fixes for the tranny.

Using SS is probably better for your tranny than not. The reason is that the automatic tranny tries to upshift to save gas at any chance it gets ... So when you're driving in traffic for example, the car will constantly upshift into 3rd gear, and then have to drop back to 2nd when you slow down. In SS you can hold 2nd gear, and waste a little bit of gas, but stress the tranny a lot less.

 

The SS mode isn't as manual as everyone may think it is. There is still a computer program that won't let you shift outside of its "envelope". So far the two things I've found is that it is nearly impossible to downshift yourself from 2nd gear to 1st (the computer has to do it for you). And the car won't upshift into 5th gear unless it's moving 35mph or more. The biggest b!tch with that last one is that most of the streets around me have a limit of 35mph too! So if I'm cruisin' the speed limit the tranny starts hunting between 4th and 5th gears (someone on another thread said that after he put in a Comptech trans cooler it delayed the shifts a little. I'm up for that!) I'm sure there's more but I haven't had enough open road to find out (and yes, I've read the owner's manual and service manual from front to back).

Now if I could only find a way to turn off that %^*&%*& Grade Logic garbage when I need to.

 

True. In the 2000 (and later) TL w/5speed, it *is* impossible to downshift to 1st from 2nd.

In my '99TL it is very possible - I do it every time I slow down.

As for tranny longevity - it's only affecting 5% of the cars out there - so drive the car any way you want to, and play the odds - I am. 56K miles and I'm on my original tranny, WOT all the time, SS all the time, downshift all the time - NO problems (knock on wood - hoping I'm in the upper 95%). A bonus - I'm on my original brakes - 50% remaining on the front, 75% remaining on the rear...

Jay

 

i just let the car drive in auto the whole time... on the simple reason that i believe the ecu can do a better job at shifting than i can :P

only time i use sportshift is just for personal entertainment... or as mentioned above... to avoid the retarded gear-hunts

as for holding the car in gear w/ sportshift... welp... your engine is whining at 4500rpm... go figure

 

I don't think 5th gear is good at about 35 mph. I would leave it at D4 and use D5 only above 60. I heard that too steep a gear ; i.e.: going 35-40 mph @ 1500 RPM heats up the tranny tremendously especially if the ECU forces it to hunt the optimum gear constantly. 4500 RPM is not too much on this engine, and I use S/S sometimes to engine brake keeping the revs above 2,000. Drive it like you would a stick, you probably will have more fun with it. (Especially with a ricer beside you on a red light).

Vicman

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03 TL Type-S SSM

 

No NO No. Please read the transmission failure report submitted by Honda. It stated that a "full-throttle 2nd-3rd gear upshift" was one of the conditions that would create a 100 degree C temperature increase inside the transmission, and it was this heat and friction that would eventually destroyed the 3rd gear clutch pack.

 

Man, all this talk about the transmission makes me want to drive it like my grandma would.

 

I think everybody should read that Honda transmission failure report a few times over. It stated a few conditions or transmission shifts that can cause excessive temp rise inside the gear box. All we have to do is to know what those shifts are and try to avoid them. Then you can drive like a mad man, and the transmission will also live a longer life.

 

Anyone know a URL for that?

 

www.acura-cl.com
go to the transmission forum, and you've everything in there.