Well, I was driving from the movies back to my Girlfriends place. I was stopped at a red, and when the light turned green I accelerated normally and felt an unusually long shift period from 2nd to 3rd gear. I thought nothing of it since my tranny has slipped before from 2nd to 3rd but nothing drastic had happened.

I got stopped at another red, and when the light when green I accelerated and same problem as before: the 3rd gear wasn't catching and this time I felt a hard lurch as 3rd gear caught... it was like someone was riding in a car with someone who didn't know how to drive stick shift.

I started to get worried so at the next stop light, i tried to accelerate slowly and I felt the same hard gear shift. Not only that, but now my Check engine light came on, VSA light came on, and the yellow exclamation was brightly lit. Also, my green D5 light started flashing...

Yup.. my Tranny has finally died at 65k. I have no idea what I have to do, but I need to call the dealer and ask if its covered until 100k. Looks like I'll have to go through the process of getting it replaced. God, and I thought my TL-S wouldn't have that problem... oh well.

 

that sucks man, but hopefully the new batch of trannys are problem free

 

At least yours last till 65k. My first one busted around 50k and the second one kicked the bucket around 10k miles later. Currently on the 3rd one and feels pretty good so far.

Hope the dealer treats you good. Mine has been satisfied so far.

 

Sorry to here that man, just when your car was starting to come together this poop happens

 

What do you mean IF? You are covered.

 

He didn't mention what year his car is. If it's a 2003, he may not be.

 

Can someone clarify which of the 2003s are covered? Are we talking early 2003 models are covered, but late 2003 models are not? I'm pretty sure mine is an early 2003 model. Carfax showed it was bought in mid 02.

Also when I was looking at buying the car, I called Acura and found the car had had the tranny warranty work done, oil cooler installed at 26k miles.

I hope mine is covered because I can already tell at 46k miles that the tranny does not feel right. At least to me. I'd love to get a chance to drive someone else's 03 TL to see if theirs feels different. I shopped online and ended up buying on Ebay so I didn't test drive any other ones. I suppose I could go test drive one at a used car lot or something...

 

Have you read this thread? Maybe it will answer some of your questions.

https://acurazine.com/forums/showthread.php?t=146801

 

Register your car at Acura Owner Link and you can find out for yourself if it's covered. It's not an 'oil cooler' that's installed it's an oil jet.

 

I have an 03 and it's covered. It was built in May of 02 so I'm not sure when the cutoff is.

Hopefully yours will be covered.

 

Good News.

Got off the phone DCH Tustin Acura this morning. My 03 TL-S does qualify for the warranty. However they told me that they wouldn't be able to start working on the car until Monday morning. I thought it was odd that they didn't have any service mechanics working during the weekend but I guess it makes sense.

Anyhow, they were very responsive and told me that they'd have to have their service guys diagnose my car to see if the transmissions the problem. I asked how long the diagnoses might take, and she told me roughly 2 hours. I kind of freaked out since I had class Monday morning, and so I told her the symptoms of my car (hard gear shifts/slips and flashing D5 light). She told me that if I told the service person my symptoms on monday morning, he'd probably be able to diagnose it immediately. Although.... I don't know why it'd take 2 hours to diagnose the tranny problem...

I then asked about a loaner, and she said that once the diagnoses shows that it is indeed the transmission, and since the transimission is under warranty, they will provide me a loaner vehicle until repairs are complete.

I know lots of people have had problems with Acura, but it might help to call around to different dealers in the area. I first called South Coast Acura who told me they were out of loaners; they told me they'd call me back with other local dealers that have loaners. They called back in like 15 minutes and told me that they just got off the phone with DCH Tustin Acura and told them about my problem and that they had a loaner available for me on Monday.

I live in the O.C. and Acura/Honda dealers are a dime a dozen here. I understand it might not be possible for those who live far from an Acura Dealer. But hopefully, the new tranny will feel alot firmer. I hope the 05 revisions can handle the heat.

Anyhow, off I go to install the stock headers and intake.

 

Why are you doing this?

 

probably b/c some dealerships are douchebags about aftermarket mods with warranty shit, eventhough an intake and headers have nothing to do with the tranny, they are still asses about mods, including Northeast Acura by me, by far the worst dealership ever.

 

Hey BraveDemon, aren't you the one who said owners of these cars had no case in terms of transmission problems in the class action suit? The timing for your failure is almost comical after that.

Anyway, hope you get it back good as new (that's a joke when it comes to the tranny, though)

 

Yup, I am. But I posted this before I responded to that thread.

No legal case for us TL owners, but eh. Still like my car.

 

Oil cooler is what the guy I talked to from Acura called it. thanks for the clarification

 

Okay so I got on owner link. If my car shows the transmission recall in the recall section, then I'm covered?

 

I think so.

 

The recall and the warranty extension are 2 completly different things

 

If it says 7year or 100,000 then your covered for the warranty extention. This is not to be confused with the oil jet recall.

 

Okay I think I'm not covered then. Also I looked at the post that said what vin numbers were covered, and it seemed that since my vin ends with 020003 that I am not covered, if I was reading it right.

So what does this mean, they fixed the problem with the later 03s?

 

^ they claim they fixed the problem in the later batches of the 03... but according to many here, it seems like they didn't.

Update: I got into my car this morning to take it to the dealer to get my tranny replaced. Oddly enough... the car ran fine. The D5 light wasn't flashing, the VSA lights were off, but the check engine light remained on. I didn't want to gun the transmission so I drove it cautiously. But I did notice that the gears shifted rather late... in between 4-5000 rpms even when I was driving like a grandma... Is it normal for a the car to drive normally after experiencing total tranny failure two days before? I didn't drive it over the weekend for fear of getting into an accident. Anyway..

I took my TL-S into DCH Tustin Acura this morning at 9 A.M. Very friendly service. I walked in and they immediately called me by name. I sat down with the service rep and he handed me a cup of coffee and offered me a muffin. I asked how they knew my name and they said they only had one appointment for a White TL-S that morning. (Strange... does every Acura Dealer do this?)

Anyhow, I sat down and described the symptoms of my car. He told me it was a common problem with the TLs from 99-02. When I told him mine was an 03, he said that only the early batch of 03's qualify for the warranty. He didn't bother to explain why, but I didn't care to ask since it didn't apply to me.

He immediately asked me if I had other means of transportation and I told him no. He told me that when I set the appointment on Saturday morning, they put my name on a list for loaners and that he had a loaner ready for me and that it was already getting washed and would be out shortly. Now, he did say that they would have to determine if it was the transmission and that the loaner would be free only after determining that it was the transmission. But he said that the symptoms I described are clearly transmission failure symptoms so I should be ok. He said he'd call later today to confirm whether it's the transmission or not.

All in all, took me 15 minutes to talk to the service rep.

Now onto the fun part. While I was there, I spotted a 3rd gen with dual exhausts. Yup. An 07 TL-S! I immediately walked towards it and started drooling over it. It was a grey metallic color, which matched the gunmetal wheels. I personally don't like the rims but interestingly, they clear the brembos by alot. I was drooling over it and then a sales rep came by. He asked if I was looking to buy a car soon. I told him no, but that I was there getting an 03 TL-S serviced. He asked me if it was for the transmission and I told him yes. He told me he had an 02 TL-S and he was getting his fixed as well.

Then he asked if I wanted to test drive the new TL-S. I said "Hell yes." and got into the drivers wheel. He handed me the keys and told me he had a meeting to go to and that I should just pull up the car into the service area after I was done so that it can get a wash. He gave me a time limit of 20 minutes and I took off.

First impressions: Interior is nice. Really freaking nice. Dash looks nice, the trim is different. Seats are comfortable. The only downside was that it was the 5AT. They said they haven't gotten any of the 6 speeds in yet.

Driving Impressions: Fast. Vtec kicks in really strong and yeah... you can feel the power difference from the 07 TL-S and the 03 TL-S. Stock suspension is alot stiffer, but still very comfortable. Tiptronic seems alot quicker in response than my 03 TL-S... but then again, mine was probably failing for a month now so I can't say.

Anyhow, I took it for a spin. Slowly at first, then gunned it on the 405. Brought it back after a 15 mile test drive and they gave me my loaner. A fully loaded 2007 TSX with 2000 miles on the odometer. After driving the 07 TL-S... the TSX is :whatever: . Actually... the TSX is really weak compared to my 03 TL-S. After driving it home I decided to never go back to a 4 cylinder again... just not enough pull for me.

EDIT: I did ask them if free loaner vehicles varied depending on the dealer. And my service rep said yes. He said that DCH Acura offers loaners for any vehicle that is covered under warranty, and for any warranty service that takes longer than 24 hours. I suggest calling around and asking your dealer their policy before taking your car in for tranny service if you need a loaner.