I've had my 2000 3.2TL for about 6 months now. I got it at 27,000 miles and the previous owners were elderly people so I know for sure they didn't drive the car all crazy and shit. Anyways, I'm seeing a lot of threads regarding trannsmission failure. What are some of the signs that a problem may be eminate? Does it matter if I have an automatic?

http://phupham.com

 

It wouldn't matter if you had an automatic, because all second generation TLs from 1999 to 2003 were only offered in automatic.

Some symptoms would be hesitation when going into gear, gear slippage (car downshifts by itself and RPM shoots up while driving), a whistling noise from underneath the car, etc. Sometimes they fail with no warning.

 

thanks for the information. so am i doomed with tranny failure or are there lucky ones that don't have tranny problems?

 

No, you are not 'doomed' to a tranny failure. The vast majority (80%, 90%?) of TL owners in general (as opposed to the TL owners on acurazine) do not have tranny problems.

 

What makes you say that? My thought is that if all are built the same way (Through allllll these discussions we do know pretty much everything about the problem, and that it is a design fault), then what is stopping others from being luckier than alot of the guys here? Not to mention the thousands and thousands of people who don't come here who could very well have a problem also...

I understand though that the same could be said concerning the thousands and thousands of people that don't come here that could very likely not have a problem at all

 

Observation. There are cars from every year that have not had tranny problems, therefore no individual car is 'doomed to tranny problems'.

 

They're not all built the same way. There were some slight modification made. Not to mention there are always quality control issues with big corporations.

I don't think "We" know everything about the problems. I know certain members here have read the NHTSA report extensively and know a lot more about the transmission itself and it's two major issues.

 

My '03 has 36k miles, never changed the tranny fluid (don't ask), modified, and driven hard. No transmission problems... yet.

 

Your car is under extended warranty up to 100,000 miles by Acura.

I have a 2000 w/ 71k miles and I am on my 2nd transmission.

 

after 100k you gotta pay. in the future there will probobly be so many tl's with dead trannys and expired warranties that a tranny rebuild will be dirt cheap.