Ok, so my transmission seems to be starting to show signs of up coming failure. This would be the FIRST mechanical failure of my car in due to a factory/design flaw in my TLS and that is after 24000 miles of driving in the one year I've had my car.

What am I noticing?
The sound of the tranny was the first thing to change. My tranny has always had this whinning sound I thought was weird at first but I got used to it and though it was kinda cool. That sound has now changed something really weird. The change in the tranny sound's pitch kinda tipped me off that soming was probably going to happen.

Then, shortly after that change in tranny pitch, slippage in 2nd, 3rd and 4th as far as I can tell so far.

This started happening after my 15000 mile service that I took at about 22000 miles. They told me it was optional until I near 30000 miles, then it was a must.

Living in Poughkeepsie, NY, the longest trip I had usually taken was either to Brooklyn, NY or Albany, NY. Which is about one and half hours and 300 miles, round trip. Although, just before the tranny started acting up, I finally took my first "long" road trip to Washington, DC. Concidering that I expected this trip to be about 1000 miles round trip I had my 15000 mile service done.

So hmmm, was it something that is different about the fluids and/or procedures performed during the15000 dealership service vs factory assembly and install of my car's transmission?

Or, was it that my car's transmission was damaged by the duration of the time in continual use (heat build up)? The time would be about 5 hours at highway speeds going to DC and about 7 hours coming back to Poughkeepsie.

I'm looking for feedback on this. Also, think back to when your tranny first failed or your style of driving. I drive average to hard. But this didn't seem to make significant difference.

Do you drive long distances in your car? Or did it happen after some type of servicing? I'm looking for similarities in the failures so many drivers are experiencing in their TLS.

 

My tranny didn't really show any signs before it failed. The main thing I remember was that it would shift hard into reverse.

I also took it on a long trip, and it failed when I got back home (within a day or two). A long trip won't hurt a transmission in good condition, but it seems that it might have put that "last nail in the coffin" of the one that was already failing.

 

My transmission didnt show any signs of problems before it failed either. I noticed that it would slip sometimes while shifting gears then a few days later it failed. This happened at 18,000 miles, 3,000 miles after the 15k service but I doubt that there is any connection there. Most of my trips are short and I drive the average to hard as well. I did use sport shift a lot though.

 

I know it doesn't seem to be related but has anyone's transmission failed straight from the factory or is it always after the major 15000 mile service?

 

Mine failed at 9,100 miles. There have been posts with people having even fewer miles than I had when their trannys failed.

 

Mine slipped into each gear starting from 1-2, and eventually, like a virus, spread to 4 to 5. It happened sort of suddenly, the first slippage that is. I drove both long distance highway trips, as well as short city driving, as well as aggressive driving.

 

what do you guys mean when you say "slip" ?

 

My GF's Tl is approaching 10K miles. She and I noticed some minor slippage as well. She has her 10K service coming up soon. Should this be checked out at the dealer before it gets worse? Is there a TSB that I should bring in?

 

I'm beginning to notice some slippage from 3rd to 4th. Does the tranny slippage problem usually occur starting with the lower gears?

 

There's no TSB that I'm aware of - or have seen posted specifically dealing with TL tranny failures.

Should you bring it in for a service if you think it's failing? Absolutely not. The last thing you want is a tranny where a dealer service delayed an inevitable failure (i.e. to 55k miles). Have it fail outright and get a new one.

 

Well, I still dig Acura service... I took my car in today to have it checked, and (once again) with out an appointment they got me a loaner (RSX automatic) car and had my car checked during the day.

Yes, my tranny is on the verge of going to tranny heaven (or hell, not really sure... ). They tell me there is a two week wait on "new" trannies. Tthat might actually be a rebuild. I didn't get into the details. I'm on the list...

The down side of this is I couldn't keep the loaner because of the short notice. So, they told me to take it easy on the tranny and I should be ok until the new unit comes in. If not, bring it in and they'll have to figure something out.

I'll tell you the truth, I really enjoy my car. I really hope this is not going to be a wide spread problem that never gets properly fixed... Else I might as well give it back (leased) when I'm done with it as opposed to my original plan which was to buy it out right.

Oh well, if it is a problem that has no cure, at least I'm not ultimately stuck.

More on this later...