yitzy69

help! on wednesday my transmission went and the car is a 2000 tl.i leased the car based on the fact that its a a solid car and that i wont have problems with it. al of asudden on wednesday the check engine sign went on and i had to take it to the dealer who told me that theres a problem with the tranny. i dont have andd extended warranty. wince its a recall wwill i be covered under the cars original warrany? i leased the car in july and its now january. otherwise is the leasing company supposed to pay for it? please help me and tell me how to get out of this situation with aworking car and anon empty wallet.

yield2s

calm down. If you have less than 100k miles IT'S COVERED under manufacturer ext warr.

livinglegend

If you have a 99-03 TL ,generally you'll be covered.

limitedTLS

yea i just got mine replaced i don't think u don't have to worry about anything

bbznyc

don't worry about it.... if you have under 100K - ur covered... Mine was replaced @ 107K, i just paid for the labor!!!

Z Factor

Hello and welcome to the forum.

As others have said, you should be covered so let us know how thing go at the service department.

VTEC11

How much did labor cost you??

redbox18

Are all 2000TLs under 100K miles covered for the transmission? I bought mine used from a local dealer (not certified) and was wondering what would happen if my transmission went bad.

VTEC11

Yeah, all 2000TL's are covered by the 100k mile tranny warranty..

fsttyms1

mine was replaced at 115k and i didnt pay any thing

mriguru

During my drive home on I-95 N (towards Baltimore), my 03' TL-S tranny literally died on me. I have been reading the various threads about trannies dying on other acura-tl members. I guess I thought that I might be one of the lucky few whose tranny did not die on them. Fate can be all-too ironic! I have a wopping 16K on the odometer! I called the local Acura dealership as quick as I could dial my phone. They asked me to bring my vehicle to them tomorrow morning @ 0730 hrs.

My question to you all that have dealt with this problem before is this: How long did it take to have the tranny replaced? Did you get a replacement car (Acura) until your vehicle(s) was fixed?

Being a member of the TLC program, you would think that they would keep to their promise, and furnish me with another car until my TL-S is fixed. I refuse to pay for mechanical error. If it were I that did the damage, than I would expect to pay. I am just flabbergasted that a new car would have it's main artery die out before it even had a chance to live!!!!! Thanks for your information.

Sergeant C.J.

chris_wTX

MRIGURU, the length of time it takes to get the transmission replaced can vary, but it is MUCH faster than it used to be. My first time, it took 6 weeks. The second barely took a week because the parts were much more available.

If the dealer doesn't give you one of their loaners (many don't as they want to save them for shorter jobs), an equivalent car should be provided to you. The dealer has a certain per day rate they are allowed to charge to Acura (normally something like a Taurus), so if you don't feel you are getting what you feel adequate, a quick polite call to the Acura client service will get you upgraded to a TL-equivalent usually without much effort.

Chris

2003TLSNKC

What if a TL has an issue with its tranny and it is one of the later production '03's that did not get the warrenty extension to 100k? Do you think that they would go ahead and cover it under warrenty if you are over the 50,000 mi original factory warrenty? Why didnt they just cover all of the '03's? I dont beleive that they have magicially fixed the issue.

diamondstn

My transmission (30k) started to go about 2 months ago. I noticed that sometimes (unpredictably) the engine would rev as it tried to switch gears and it would take a few seconds to 'catch'. I called Acura and explained the problem to them and they indicated that they were unaware of any problem... Several weeks later, it got much worse and ultimately got me into a dangerous situation with my kids in the car one day on the highway. It started jerking us around as we drove and luckily, we were able to limp home (emergency flashers at about 25 mph). I called Acura emergency service and they had it towed back to the dealer. They rented a piece of crap Saturn (45k and smelled like smoke) from Enterprise -- it took 2 1/2 weeks to fix -- but all at no cost to me. My new tranny seems fine and it's nice to have my baby back. I'm very disappointed that the car was not recalled for the problem (rather than 'wait til it breaks then we'll fix it under warranty') but at least they fixed it and it didn't cost me anything.

`ill*tl

Sorry to hear about your tranny failing. Could you provide your build date? If yours is one of the later builds, I'm going to have to start looking for a new car. I don't want to deal with all the hassles of bringing the car in, renting a car, etc.

mriguru

`ill*tl , I will post the build date as soon as I give Acura a call; I want to discuss my rental situation with them too!

Sergeant C.J.

MikeElmendorf

These cars are awful. I cannot believe how widespread the transmission problems are. I wish I never bought mine. Never again.

fsttyms1

you could do worse

DivinDude

I think yogu is a little bit worse

DivinDude

I think yogu is a little bit worse

MikeElmendorf

You could do worse? Sure, I could buy a Kia, but then I would EXPECT problems. You buy a car with a supposed reputation for superior quality, and you sort of expect the transmission to last longer than the tires. Or the brakes to last longer than a container of windshield washer fluid. Or for the car not to be filled with rattles....

mriguru

It's official...My tranny is shot!

I went to check on my car to see if it sustained any damage from the hail storm this weekend. While there, I ran into my service rep. He informed me of the bad/good news regarding my tranny. I should have my car back by mid-week.

My question to you all who have received new trannies is this: Were you informed of a certain break-in period for the new tranny or were you told to drive as you would normally?

I have yet to hear back form the dealership on this question.

Thank you,

Sergeant C.J.

`ill*tl

Sorry about the bad news Break in your new tranny like you would break in a new-car..so, like 500-600 miles. Also, was your '03 one of the early builds? Thanks

mriguru

I called Acura today. My build date was October 2nd, 2002.
My poor 03' TL-S is going to have to be broken in once more. I guess it is more like a Baptismal by fire, more-or-less?! The best part is, as was previously stated, I will not have to spend a dime.
Thanks for all of your info and help. Ya'll are great.

Sergeant C.J.

redbox18

This might be a dumb question. But how does one know when they have (or might have) a tranmission problem? I'm reading about all these posts and starting to wonder how I can ever tell. Will the car just die on me? Or will the check engine light come on with the code indicating it's a pending transmission failure. Thanks.

mriguru

I don't know about everyone else, but I did not have any kind of warning light, only a loud grinding noise and a slip in the gears.

Sergeant C.J.

yield2s

your fluid turns brown and smells burnt, then one day you downshift and your engine hits thye rev limiter with no speed increese

kdw88

At last week, I had fixed or replaced my tranny after it toast at I-85 Hwy. with my two children and wife.
It was only 22500 miles on it.
I read a lot of posts here that having a tranny problem. Somebody has fixed their tranny more than twice. It is very very terrible. It does not matter it cost you or not to replace it.
My concern is SAFETY.
I don't know others' situation the time it breaks. My case was so------ dangerous. In the middle of I- 85 Hwy around 80 mph, it is automatically down shift to 2nd gear then pop up to "N" then plays itself wildely. Think about it. Without a notice or indication, the car in front of you that drives 80 mile, then suddenly reduce its speed to 20 Mile in the middle of Hwy. What would you guys do.
I was barely stopped the car in emergency side. I am sure that if my wife drives it at the same situation, then .... I do not want to say it... There was an 16 wheels at my back. He skid real bad and showed me his finger. After that I am driving 2002 TL-S now. I am buying a new SUV for my wife now. I am sure I do not buy another TL anymore(it does not matter new design or not). But, I would buy another model, like MDX, RSX.
Think again for your safety. I am curious that you would buy it again, after what happened .

mriguru

KDW88,

Safety has always been in the forefront of my mind. I just neglected to mention it. After all, one should think about their safety first when dealing with a situation as serious as this. That said:

I received a call from the Acura dealership today, letting me know that my vehicle was ready to be driven home. I could have kissed the lady on the other end of the phone! After driving a beater and wondering when and where the Rent-A-Wreck was going to stall next, my TL-S became longed for even more.

I am glad to have had such a quick turn around with the new tranny, 5 days to be precise. I will see how long this tranny will last. I guess I haven't any other option if I plan on keeping the car. What a disappointing paradox.

Sergeant C.J.

Chet03TL-S

Officially TL's built on Feb-03 and later are to have all available updates to the Tranny. So those built on or after that month are suppose to be the safest from Tranny Failure. Don't know if that is the case. Just cuz Acura says so it doesn't mean its true. My TL-S was built on Mar-03. I have 9200miles on it. No issues with the tranny yet. However, if my tranny does fail they are extenting my tranny warranty to 100k. I am not going to be satisfied if I supposedly have all the tranny updates and my tranny fails they better extent my tranny warranty. If anyone that has all the tranny updates had a tranny go out please post it. If mine goes out I will let everyone know.

`ill*tl

At least Acura is covering those that aren't in the Feb. '03+ category.