I have a 2002 TL non S ...with 30000 miles on it. THe other day driving home from work , the gears started slipping. The more and more I drove, the worse and worse it got. Anyway. The next day I immediately brought my car in to service. After running analysis on the transmission, they came to determine that all testing failed and I need a new transmission. I was wondering if anyone has encountered this same problem. They are trying to send me a rebuilt transmission and I am weary about this. i was wondering if anyone out there had a new (rebuilt) transmission put in their car after similar problems and the current status of the vehicle. Also, after the new install were there any future problems I might need to deal with regarding the transmission. I am trying to leverage a new transmission to be delivered instead of a rebuilt one. If anyone has encountered the same problem can you please tell me the dealership you used and if you would...your name this way I can avoid being taken by these guys. Thank you all for your help.

 

very common problem with the TL. mine went out at 58k and i havent had a problem with it since. since then i have also installed a transmission cooler. also change my tranny fluid well before recommended intervals.

 

Was it replaced with a refurbished or new tranny? What year is your car...and how many miles do you have on it now?

 

do a search, there are tons of posts on this topic, i'm sure you will find what you're looking for

and i wouldn't call it common, according to one member who recorded all the transmission problems, at most only 2% of the owners have this problem, and many are due to abuse

i feel sorry that you're one of the 2% though, it must suck

 

I dont know that you can call the 2% failure rate a symptom of abuse. It seems more like its a defect. The only things people b|tch about the TL at this forum are all the rattles, squeaks and tranny failures. I have had all the rattles complained about so far myself (rear window creak, seat belt tensioner squeak, door panel squeak, and on and on... etc) so I can vouch for the fact they are design defects and not just isolated incidents.

 

this is because i've heard many cases about these kind of mechanical failures in other cars as well, even mercedes

the truth is, all car can fail if not treated properly, many people just jump on their gas all the time, and this really works the transmission hard, and especially when the car we're talking about is an affordable car with 260hp, many people are temted to use all that power not like it's meant to be used
the car we have here is not a race car, it's a fast family sedan, and people should realize that and not pointlessly going WOT all the time

i'm not denying there is a flaw in the design, but 2% just does not seem all that great to me

the backorder problem: how many transmission do you think is supposed to be in stock? most likely, not much, and when this many people who like to go fast in the TL demands replacement, well, i don't think any company can shell out the transmission that fast, and when repeated break-down happens, it is likely because when the replacement is just a rebuilt unit, and if this is the case, they may have overlooked areas that look fine but in fact aren't

please do not flame me for this, if whatever i say don't make sense, that's what we're here for, discussion!

 

I totally agree with you and I hope I don't get flame for it either, but looking at most of the post here, a lot of people are using their TLs on tracks or street racing. Stuff like that will do more harm than good to the tranny. I guess if you really want to race, get a tranny cooler and change your tranny fluid more often than scheduled. As for me, I'm going to get the extended warranty just on the safe side due to my stop and go driving on a daily basis.

my 2 cents.

 

You gusy who just joined shoudl do a search; the tranny problems on the CL/TL have been due to more than simple abuse/neglect. How can you explain new cars with less than 1000 miles on the clock having trannies fail??

Hit the old search button on the left, and see for yourself.
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Nowadays, manufacturers are responsible to safeguard their products against failures from misuse, both intentionally and un-intentionally. If their cars cannot handle 260hp, then de-tune the engine for less power. If their engines cannot substain high rpm for a length of time, reduce the redline or cutoff rpm. Air bags warning labels are pasted inside the car. If 260hp is too many, they should paste a warning label saying "the car will fail if you WOT all the time !!"

The reason that new cars are tested, ususally in disguises, all over the roads and test tracks, under every (almost every) possible adversably conditions, is to make sure that the cars won't fail in the brave new world.

As a side note, I worked for a software company in my previous job. The boss always told us to treat the end-users as stupid pigs. They would dare do everything that normal people wouldn't do. Consequently, we should use all measures to safeguard our products from their abnormal sequence of usage. In fact, about 20% of the complete software codes were written to prevent end-users from doing abnormal things that could lead to system crash. Who said it's easy to sell a consumer products in this age !!

 

See "transmission gone" by jobuck. Mine had 23000 and no
hard driving. I mostly drive in D-5 cause I'm an old lady.
Anyway I am going to pick up the car with the "remanufactured"
transmission tomorrow and hope it's the last transmission I'll
need. Extremely disheartening to say the least.

 

my friend's 325's tranny broke down the day he drove off the dealr, he was just ignorant enough to wot the car right after the lot
maybe the transmission could save itself if it warmed up first, but many people simply jump on the gas without letting the engine warm up, not to mention the transmission

his engine also broke down, yes, the engine, did the car have a label saying "the engine would blow up if you drive it"? no
my friend's cousin's e320 engine also blew up, did it have the same sign? no
many things the car manufactures aren't really responsible for, but like i said, this could or could not be a defect, we don't know, because many more people who drive the TL are potential street racers or dragsters


i did read all the posts regarding this issue before i registered or got the car, and in the CL as well, and this scared me somewhat, but i didn't let that bother me, i've encountered many friends' cars breaking down

many people don't want to admit the problems being their own faults, and that's fine, but i don't want to scare off potential buyers with statements that are not really proven

i didn't think i'd get flamed, but being called newbie because i used to be a lurker just feels very disrespected

 

First of all...I am not a street racer. Second of all..the only mods I have on my car do not deal at all with the engine. I had an intake in there for about a month and then I took it out. I do have 30000 miles of highway driving on the car, but it's only a year old. my friend has a 325 from 96 with 140000 miles on it and still has the same transmission. Do you guys think it drastic to be this unsatisfied and want to trade it in for a different car. Also, are allllll Acura's known for the tranny failures or are we blessed with the CLs.

 

Get it right Mike, its a 328 and it has 110,000 miles, yes its the same tranny, no it doesn't slip at all, and yes I drive like an absloute bat**** psycho much of the time Little known fact, BMW auto trannys post 94 3 series are actually made by GM :yack:
The point is, trannys shouldn't fail at 30,000 miles, short of over-using nitrous or doing stupid things like dropping into D when revs are high, Bronx 00TL does none of this, he babies his car and takes perfect care of it. I have read about the tranny problems on CL's and TL's, but has Honda had tranny failure problems too? Why don't they just use a slushbox from an Accord, is it the step/tip/manu/tronic (whatever its called on the TL)? Has Honda/Acura acknowledged this problem or no? If it doesn't get fixed the car's resale is going to be screwed once its out of the warranty period. A new tranny every year and a half, that sucks.
Don't flame me, I know this topic has been beaten to death, but it's worthy of further examination and discussion.
And I'm not saying BMWs don't have their problems either. The e46 M3 engines are failing early at an alarming rate. Paying that much money and then having the engine blow up at 5,000 miles, I think thats even worse

M3 engines blowing up into little pieces

 

sometimes you are in extreme bad luck and bought yourself a lemond. Is there anything you can do about it? Not really. There are cases where it's the owners at fault, but don't forget... people putting the machinaries together could make a mistake too. HOw many people here can say that they are perfect? My father once had a 97 lexus sc 300. The car was Only 1 year old and its rear left disc brake melfunctioned. Was it that lexus/toyota makes crappy cars? No. It's just that the part that was on my father's car had a defected break line which caused a simple leak in break fluid. Today, we still prase all toyota/lexus products. in fact, my dad just traded (last year) his sc for another lexus. Anyway, so far, my TL has been extremely good to me. no problems what so ever, not even rattles (have just one rattle from the sunroof). Maybe it is the way i drive.

 

class action law suit?