well tonight the D5 started blinking and i got a weird 2-3 shift. better not be , but i guess ill find out tomorrow!

 

wow.. but look at your mileage man!

good luck with your tranny man. why dont you just go with an aftermarket tranny, like some other guys did here? not like you could do much since youre like passed 174,00 miles now!!

 

uh oh! good luck kris

 

look at my sig, im on tranny # 4

 

I threw a transmission related DTC the other night upon start up. I cleared the code and the transmission still shifts great. We'll see what happens. Have you thrown a code yet?

 

teh check engine light isnt on, ill see if i can get it tested tomorrow. i think its going though. it had a funny 2-3 shift (like the last 3 failures that ive had) ill try reseting the puter in the am and see

the fluid isnt burnt or black yet though

 

i had my 3rd put in 2 weeks ago...less then 200 miles later....I'll be getting my 4th in this week sometime. This is insane how bad the tranny's are!!!

 

Sounds good.

 

maybe it was just a false alarm...or a warning
you should be looking for a new car
j/k i know you really wanna beat chuck at the mileage thing

since you obviously have no warranty i'd be looking for a transmission place to rebuild and buff up your tranny...and i bet it'll cost just as much as it would at an acura dealer

 

too bad Kris lives in the middle of nowhere

 

Oh no! Tell us it ain't so!

 

I feel for you. Keep us posted please. Good Luck.

 

Can you still declare the tranny as lemon ?

 

^^ better be sarcasm

 

Yeah I've thought about looking for a new car but I'm trying to get rid of payments! 350Z looks really nice!

 

dayum this doesn't bold well for my chances.

 

well i wasnt able to get it in to get tested today as i had to go out of town for work. i did reset teh computer and it came back on blinking after about 20 min of driving. i didnt have any weird shifts though. i did call the dealer and talked to a mechanic and he said that blinking is usually a sign of failure

 

That sucks! Good luck though

 

Can you do the lemon law thingy now? Or no?

 

A used Lexus LS400 is looking real good the more I read!

 

Nope, to old too many miles

 

well still flashees, but i dont have any weird shifitng. i have a appt friday with the honda dealer to have tehm plug it in and see whats wrong. (acura dealer to far of a drive)

 

After you reset the computer did you complete the idle learn procedure?

The service manual strongly recommends this after reseting the PCM (Powertrain Control Module). Since the PCM controls the shifting it might be worth a try, however unless you have a bad sensor you might be on your way to tranny #5.

Per the service manual to complete the idle learn procedure do the following:

1. Make sure all electrical items (A/C, audio, rear window defogger, lights, etc.) are off.
2. Start the engine and hold it at 3,000 rpm with the car in park or neutral until the radiator fan comes on, or until the engine reaches 194 Deg. F.
3. Let the engine idle for about 5 minutes with the throttle closed, if the radiator fan comes on do not include its running time in the 5 minutes.

 

no i didnt do that but its weird it was on all morning, then i shut it off for lunch, then after lunch it didnt come on the rest of the day till i started it up after making an appt with the dealer. hopefully its just a bad PCM. it shifts normal, (no signs of failure like the last 3) and the fluid is still just like new in color??? who knows. if it dies again i will be driving something else. CTS-V??? honda ridgeline??

 

This tranny issue is getting out of control. Try writing a letter to Honda stating that you are on the 4th tranny and see if they can cut a break or something.

 

Honda already has "cut a break", they have extended the trans warranty to 100K "original" miles and has been replacing the defective ones under warranty without much of an arguement. Not many auto manufactures offer volunteer recalls, most wait until the goverenment forces them to do a recall. I don't know of any auto manufactures who replace transmissions under warranty for the life of the car.

 

Are you implying that they do [or will] replace the transmission for life? It'll be interesting if they make fsttyms1 pay for his 5th transmission. I think since the transmissions are "new" they should be warrantied. The problem with them arbitrarily deciding to replace transmissions over 100k miles is that they can stop at anytime. That said, it's like playing musical chairs; I hope you have a chair when the music stops

 

I'm implying that no auto manufacture will replace anything free of charge if the vehicle has over 100K miles. Even people who purchase "extended" warrenties have to fight to get the repairs covered under warrenty. Any vehicle out of warrenty is like playing musical chairs.

Unfortunately repair parts do not extend the warrenty beyond the original warrenty so once the original warrenty expires you are on your own.

 

its not a fact of them upping the warranty, it the fact that they still havent solved the issues for us/or they havent offered the ones with all the failures with the latest and greatest design. its a honda product for godssake, it should be on the original as of yet, not 4 later. most of my miles are hwy, and those are the BEST and easiest miles for a car.

Honda needs to pull their heads out of their asses and start doing things right

 

Do you think they will though? With new models out, are they just going to deprecate the 2nd gens and continue to put in poorly built transmissions to buy time?

 

Actually, it is not Honda doing things wrong but realizing what they can afford to do. The original 5 speed automatic that Honda built has a defective part dealing with the manual shift gate on the Acura TL. Parts of the transmission were not reinforced enough. The more the manual shift gate is used, the more wear and tear the transmission takes. If you don't use it, the transmission does not have problems as quickly - but it will still have problems. Also, the harder you drive the car, the more often it fails.

Honda made some reinforcements to the transmission in 2003 so after that point the transmission did better, but the weakness is still a problem. I heard that it would take a total redesign to solve the problem - why the 2004 no longer has it. Unfortunately for us, if we hold on to our cars, we just have to deal with the fact that after 100,000 miles we are on our own. I just sold mine with 80,000 on it for that very reason - I did not want to deal with it. I had one transmission failure and a second problem which was fixed (not a failure), and that was enough for me. Kudos to those who go through four or five transmissions - you have more patience than I do.

I went ahead and purchased a Honda Accord for now. Love the car, but waiting to see if Acura TLs hold up in the new generation. If they do, I will become an owner again in 2006.

 

I have been seriously thinking about trading mine in, with 140+k miles on it and getting an infiniti G35X. I don't want to go another 20k and it goes up again. I just may have to bite the bullet and do so.

 

Where did you get that misinformation from?? People who never did anything but put the car in D5 and drive it also had failed trannies. The problem is defective, weak clutch packs. Has no correlation to manual, or sport mode shifting.

 

The 3G TL's still have transmission problems, especially the 2004.

 

I find all this garbage about the manual shift gate very funny. You guys realize that when you are in the "tiptronic" mode, all you are doing is telling the transmission when to direct the next shift, right? There's absolutely NO difference mechanically in a shift that the tranny does by itself vs. a user directed one other than what input the tranny computer uses to decide to initiate the response.

 

Sorry, it comes from Acura/Honda in CA as well as my dealer at Springfield Acura. I just called them (CA corporate) and they gave me the information. The clutch pack is integrated into the sport mode shifting mechanism - so you are correct as well. The information is accurate, we are saying the same thing. Honda reinforced the clutch pack/shifter in 2003 but the problem keeps occuring. Trust me, I know you do not have to use the shifter - I never did, and lost my transmission at 58,000 miles.

 

This is also true. You are just telling the computer when to shift - but Honda of CA claimed that in itself can stress the transmission more. I don't know the logic to it but I am sure if you call them (if they have the time) they would explain it.

I don't claim to be an expert, I only know what they told me - and why would I make something this silly up?

 

I am sorry to hear that, why I have been waiting to see what happens... I like Honda products in general, and really want to get one but I don't want to spend my time replacing transmissions left and right. If I want that, there are plenty of European cars I can buy. Thanks for the info.

 

I love dealer/corporate explanations like that.
Instead of flat out saying they made a faulty, weak tranny, they try and defelct some blame on the owner.

Its all hogwash. Whether or not the computer tells the tranny to shift, or you tell the computer to tell the tranny to shift makes no difference. A defective tranny will go no matter how much you baby it. Its just a matter of when, not if.

 

Mr. Hyde, no disagreement - some actions hurry it, some delay it, but in all cases it will go. The problem needs a complete redesign and don't hold your breath on a discontinued model they will anti-up and fix it. Owners will have to deal with it no matter what they do. Wish I had better news... but no one at Acura has given me any hope for it.