watson831

Hi! Im in the market for a new car after my old car (1997 nissan altima) got totaled. I've always driven toyota camrys and altimas, but this time around i want a more attractive car. I came across this beautiful 2003 acura TL type S with around 86,000 miles for $9,000. Now I've never owned a luxury car before so I don't know how much it costs to upkeep. I've had toyotas and nissans and I just took them to the cheapest place around to get serviced. Would it be smart to do that with the acura? also, thanks to you guys, im aware of a tranny problem which seems to plague this model. If I buy the car and the tranny gave out, would I be able to get it replaced by acura for free?

thanks for time!

indoMFP

should be the same, man. TL=Accord.

increased cost associated with premium gas is the only thing I noticed and some folks talk about the mod bug... kinda like the flu, so drink a lot of orange juice... I did and all I did in mods was painted calipers and coilovers.... I haven't caught the full bug....

check to make sure that all the maintenance was done and up to date and enjoy it.

kenbangbang

It would be harder to get it replaced now

watson831

how much does the transmission typically cost to replace? I also read that they extend the warranty of some 2003 acura by certain VIN numbers. Anyone what the criteria is?

TLin401

~$1500-2500.

my.daily'tl'

first sign up at owners.acura.com
they'll show you a list of open recalls on your vehicle
warranty is 7 yrs and 9 months or 109,000 miles i believe
hopefully 01tl4tl chimes in. he's the man to speak to.

01tl4tl

register as said above, look in recalls section for more info
or call 1-800-382-2238x5 register as owner and ask for recall ck and history of warranty repairs- has trans been replaced etc

some 03 are not `automatically covered vin` for trans and some others get a free timing belt job under recall! score!!

Now many of us are under the airbag inflator recall- ck your vin and know- get it taken care of

01tl4tl

to me- an 03 without trans warranty on original trans and 80kmiles- is worth ~4 grand and plan on rebuild or replace trans 2500-4000 dollars

does it have navi

the 800 number will do a history-recall ck if you tell them you are doing a prebuy ck on the car..should own it before registering online as owner~

dudeinaTL

iTrader: (1)

Grab the VIN off the car and plug it into this web page: http://owners.acura.com/recalls/
No need to register for anything.

If you see an item description with "2000-03 TRANS WARRANTY EXT" that means that car is covered by the extended warranty.

You can also check here:
http://www.hondatransmissionsettleme.../php/login.php

watson831

Hey thanks for the quick reply guys! This is a great community you guys got here and I hope to be part of it! I checked out the vehicle on the website dudeinaTL provided and it says the the status is "fixed", hopefully it was fixed correctly as I have read that it took acura a couple times to get the right fix? well anyways, do you guys think a 2003 acura with 86,000 miles for $10,000 is worth it? It does not include a navigation system

dudeinaTL

iTrader: (1)

Are you sure the description for the "fixed" thing was "2000-03 TRANS WARRANTY EXT", and not something else?

With these TLs, whatever you do, learn the tranny history-whether it be from the seller, dealership/ACS (Acura Client Services), or other sources (sometimes Carfax has service info). I've heard from a reliable source that you can tell a car has the original tranny (case) if the VIN is on the tranny. That doesn't mean it hasn't been rebuilt - but if someone rebuilt it, they most-likely painted the case; does the case look like it just got painted or is it old & dirty?

Secondly, find out if you are covered by the extended warranty as of your expected purchase date. If you won't be, expect to replace/rebuild the transmission. If you will be, with first sign of bad things going on, make sure it's documented by the dealership or ACS. And I would recommend getting your car serviced at the dealership-this is something that gives you "points" towards Acura covering some costs, if you're outside the warranty period. Small jobs like oil changes, or larger jobs totaling a couple hundred bucks; not major things like a timing belt($1k+). You want Acura to think that you planned on getting your car serviced by them for EVERYTHING.

Now I see you say you just took your older cars to the cheapest places to get work done. So consider getting stuff done at Acura a loose form of "insurance". Yes, you'll pay a lot more, but in the event that something happens, you want Acura to "cover" you. Then go to your cheap shops afterwards!

Third, let it be known to the seller that you are aware of the transmission problems (and that you know you are/aren't within the extended warranty terms). Let it be known that that's part of your available budget towards the purchase of the car. The downside is that they're gonna know that not all people know about this shortcomings of the transmission, but you need to make it sound like it's easy for anyone to find out. For example, tell 'em you did a quick Google search on "TL problems" and transmission was the first result, and that in this day & age, the Internet is most-likely the first-sought resource to learn about the car.

So all in all, you can see it's pretty obvious that the transmission is the only big thing you really need to worry about. Other than that, these cars are pretty reliable.

On a personal note, I wouldn't pay $10k for an 86k '03. If you can't get it for cheap, I'd keep looking.

01tl4tl

Im guessing where it says `fixed` was for the oil jet recall and NOT a replaced transmission

Look under the car at trans main bolts- are they painted blue?- its warranty replacement

does it says that car is part of the `covered vins` - it would say Trans Extended Warranty- OPEN

01tl4tl

an 03 with no nav, type P? out of vin trans, not part of water pump-timing belt recall?
This thing is losing value by the second

tri2tun

iTrader: (5)

Actually if it had the jet-kit fix, you shouldn't have to worry too much for it. I had mine 2nd hand since 45K miles, and it's still running fine (~70K), never had any slip up. (KNOCK ON WOOD!!!)

But I would be pretty confident if it had that fix, you should look under the hood to make sure. And that's a pretty fair price by the way

01tl4tl

the oil jet kit installed on recall- has NOTHING to do with the low oiling and low cooling to the 2nd and 3rd gear clutchpacks- our main failure problem and what the warranty extension is for.
those wear out early, and earlier if any real use is put to them
my acura tech says anywhere after 50 kmiles to 150kmiles is right on timeframe

while there are many cars on the road that will never have a trans problem, among ziners- who hang out on a tech prob forum,,failure rate is pretty high

keep the fluid changed once a year with 3 qts and keep that piece of wood handy~