ferizzo

Just wanted to let you guys know that at 18940 miles my tranny is toast. Started noticing it a few days ago and it finally went tonight. All the lights in my car are now flashing (check engine, D5, VSA, etc.).

I will say that I drove the car to montreal this past weekend and it got me there and back safely (close to 800 miles). I started noticing a day before but she didn't act up during the trip. When I got back I started noticing a little slipping and hard shifts at very little throttle. So since I had warning I drove the car carefully and tonight she does struggled getting into third gear until finally the lights went on. Got me home safe and I had already called Acura so she was scheduled to go in Monday anyway for them to check. I guess I'll get a loaner for a week or two and then have my baby back. Pain in the ass but I must say that at least I was prepared thanks to the info on these forums.

6-speed TLS HPT here I come!!!

Oh and I bought my car early last year so I was still in the early 03 production line.

jchoi19

i had the same problem too before. all the lights went on and stuff. but they eventually got turned off after a while. i've also experienced one slipping. (my mom is the primary driver and she doesn't really know about the car.. so she never really complained even if there was a slipping) is my tranmission fuc*ed up? last time i checked with Acura, they told me that my transmission was alright thru scanning... it seems fine now. what do i do?
'

ferizzo

Not sure but mine was pretty obvious. Why didn't you take it in when the lights went on? I knew my tranny was toast and there is no mistaking it now...would rev high (as if in neutral) before catching.

fsttyms1

mine just started the hard 1-2 shifts and lazy 2-3 shifts taking forever thing today. i noticed the slow to shift into 3rd about a week ago but thought it was my imagination but nope! # 2 is dead. time for #3

copland007

Not you too...

truballa

what the ****!...tranny problems at 18k miles? thats basiclly brand new. i was thinking about getting a TL but im not so sure anymore if the tanny's go at 18k miles....why are they so bad...?

Ruski

truballa, 18K miles is a lot

my '02 tranny went at 6,100 miles

DivinDude

my '02 Tranny was replaced at 6k and 12k .. nice huh?

1SICKLEX

Dang dude, thats focked up. Glad your okay.

nolimitazns

hey jw i put on an aem cold air intake. Do i really need to go through the trouble of putting the stock intake back on if my tranny blows? I did kinda crack the air box a little bit. The dealer might blame the tranny failure on my intake if i don't remove it right? My car is only at 4k miles right now. So far no problems at all. Any thoughts?

ferizzo

nolimit, I have headers and I left them on. Not sure if they'll give me sh!t for them but I'll be pissed if they do.

1sicklex, thanks! The car give me clear warnings so I guess I can be thankful for that.

I am rolling in a TLP and although its nice I sure miss my baby. Big difference between a stock TL and my TLS. As long as the dealer doesn't give me poop over the headers I'll be happy with them. They have been good so far.

copland, yes me too! So how is your 03 so far?

pianoman41

Another MA peep loses a tranny. It totally blows. Hopefully you'll get the ride back soon. I had a loner TL-P when mine was being replaced and although it is nice, I definitely missed my "S".

BJSTLS

ferizzo- When did buy your '03 TLS? I also have an '03 and my tranny failed at 22,500 miles (back in November of '02) I picked up mine April, 2002 (I now have 46,200 on the odometer!!!)

ferizzo

BJsTLS, I bought mine in March of 02 so I guess you and I were in the dangerzone to begin with. I have a tad under 19k in the 16 months of ownership. Damn man, I thought I drove the car alot!

LLKZ16

The Trani on my 02 TL-S just went to **** too.

I noticed when it shifted into 3rd, it would not catch and I would hear a big REV of the engine untill I let off the gas and then it would shift either into 2nd or 4th. I have 22,000 miles on it. This is not acceptable. The cars in the shop and I hope to find out WTF is going on and when it will be ready.

On a good point, the guys at the dealership were GREAT!
They put me in a new TSX!

LLKZ16

The Tranny on my 02 TL-S just went to **** too.

I noticed when it shifted into 3rd, it would not catch and I would hear a big REV of the engine untill I let off the gas and then it would shift either into 2nd or 4th. I have 22,000 miles on it. This is not acceptable. The cars in the shop and I hope to find out WTF is going on and when it will be ready.

On a good note, the guys at the dealership were GREAT!
They put me in a new TSX!

r10apple

Woo hoo! Welcome to the club, 'rizzo!

If it is any consolation, I like my new one much better!!!

copland007

Mine hasn't given me any problems, yet.

Twenty03 Type-S

What dealership? Pasadena? I've heard they have a TSX as a loaner car.

ferizzo

I was told I should have my new tranny and the car back early next week. So far Acura of Boston has been great.

copland007

Yeah acura of boston was great during all my tranny failures. If you just mention me or the LA Times article they'll cringe, haha

Yaron2

what are the last few digits of your VIN?

LLKZ16

It was Payton Cramer in Torrance.

ferizzo

I think its 1641 or something like that. I know its low, especially since I got the car in Mar 02.

fsttyms1

well i have115,550 miles on my car just droped it off at the dealer monday night and acura said they were gonna cover it. that an i should have my car back this friday!

garylee55

Sorry it happened to you too! It seems so long ago for me now...just been a year and 3 months. God luck getting it fixed. I hope the replacement trannies are better now so you don't have to take another hit like a lot of us have!

LLKZ16

OK, I just picked up the can after they put the new Tranny in and the next day I noticed that the Triptonic manual shifter does not work....

Now I have to go back CRAP!!!!

:bigun2:
:tflamer:
:banghead:

ferizzo

Thanks gary...me too! If not there is always the G35s6 right?

MikeElmendorf

My transmission on my '03 TLS went at 21,000 miles. Now I am at 26,000 and it is acting up again. I am taking it back in on Monday. I would not mind if they did not return it to me.

This is really unacceptable. I've owned many cars, and not once have I ever experienced such an obvious engineering and design defect. And, based on my experience and all the repeat transmission failures reported here, it is a problem they are unable to correct at this time.

Not good. Not impressed. Probably NOT buying another. And, if this continues, definitely availing myself of my options under New York State law.

ME

Twenty03 Type-S

Yeah, it's a pain in the a$$ to have to take the car in, get a loaner, etc.

But you know what... at least Acura is taking care of it. Imagine if this was Ford? or GM? You'd be SOL.

fortunate

LOL, ain't that the truth. Ford screwed so many folks over with that pain defect in their '98/'99 Mustangs, can't remember which one exactly. My coworker went through 12 months of hell trying to get Ford to fess up to their mistake. Even then, she got a crappy paintjob and ended up having to have Ford correct their correction.

garylee55

Ferizzo, I'm in an FX now! I LOVE thios thing!

MikeElmendorf

Sorry, I have to disagree. I have NOT been impressed by how they've handled this.

Sure, they fix it. The car is under warranty. They are doing none of us any favors here--they HAVE to fix it. But how many new tranmissions are we supposed to keep getting??

In contrast, I had a '98 Eldorado that I leased new in '98. It had some very strange electrical problems. All sorts of weird things happened; no one could figure it out.

You know what GM did, after repeated, unsuccessful attempts to fix it? They first offered me a new car--however I wanted it. I gave them my order. They went looking for it. This was on the heels of the UAW strike, so there were serious inventory problems.

So, when it took too long, you know what they did then? They bought out my lease, refunded all my payments and every dime I put down, and I went out and bought something else (a Lexus SC 400).

Two years later, when it was time for a new car, I went back and got a Cadillac STS. Even though I had problems with the ETC (it was my second; the first was great), I was awed by how they handled the situation and I would definitely go back again.

As for Acura, I am not impressed by how they are handling this at all. Their approach seems to be to pretend it's an isolated problem, no big deal. Folks, one new tranmission on cars with our mileage (or any mileage, for that matter) is a big deal. SEVERAL is a major problem. MAJOR.

ME

garylee55

I agree that Honda America is not handling this well at all, and my experience was bad enough that I will never own another Honda product. I must say though, the dealer treated me better than the Southeast Honda America rep who accused me of killing the tranny myself. My response to that was that I must be getting better at it then because it took 15k miles to kill the first one, but it only took me 400 miles to kill the 2nd one.

My dealer did buy mine back for the retail value of the car at the time of the 2nd failure (that was about $3k over wholesale). I was happy with that and moved on from Honda/Acura. I loved my TL-S, but of all the new cars I had owned in 20 years, it was the one I had the most problems with, and I am a former owner of a Pontiac Grand Am!

gohawks63

In my situation, I noticed a HARD 1-2 shift and it was fine the rest of the drive hom. Called the dealer and they immediately told me that I needed a tranny. When I took it in they couldn't recreate the hard shift, but they said it was a little "sluggish" (which I didn't notice), so they put in a new tranny.

I think they didn't want to take the chance of telling me it was fine and then having something happen while on the road.

I dropped the car off on a Thursday night, they got authorization from Honda for the tranny replacement on Friday, new tranny arrived on Monday and My car was ready and detailed on Wednesday morning. Pretty painless.

ferizzo

haha...called the dealer today to see if my car is ready and was told it should be ready by the end of the week...they just got SIX new trannies yesterday and one of them SHOULD be mine! Wow, six trannies!