I have a 2002 TL-S with only 48k miles. The recall was done a month or so ago where they added the aditional oil jet so I'm curious what is wrong.

Basically the transmission slips while in gear and revs without moving. All the lights in the dash are on. Turning the key off and then starting the car back up will allow the car to drive a little further but then after a short distance, the transmission starts to slip again. The whole time the check engine light is still on.

I'm looking for a possible explanation as to what's wrong with my car.

Thanks in advance to anyone who might be able shed some light on this.

 

Explanation.....your tranny is shot. End of story. :troutslap

 

Did you drive it much between the recall work to now? That tranny recall is bullshit then. They took pictures of it and felt it need a oil jet only?

 

I've put on about 4k miles I guess. Sucks

 

The recall isn't complete BS. It only fixes one part of the problem. His failure was obviously due to the second half of the tranny problems. It sucks that they don't have anyway to fix it yet.

 

So have you gotten your transmission replaced? Or did Acura just do the recall/oil jet kit without driving the car?

 

Not replaced yet. It was towed into the dealership this morning and I doubt I will hear anything till Monday. The only thing that has been done to the transmission so far is the oil jet recall.

 

I probably put about 4k on mine after the oil jet, which made me wonder, too. I'd had ZERO tranny problems before the oil jet (except for that annoying delay from reverse to drive) but my trans was replaced at 97K or 98k. Close call!

 

Sounds like clutch packs are worn. You need a new transmission. Call Acura Roadside and have it towed.

 

Sounds like Acura is just warrenty the tranny for 100K, but there is no cure. Same POS tranny. What to do? I smell a total RECALL, not a warrenty replacement. You guys w/ the TLs from 00-03 really need to start telling acura to correct the cure, not just replaceing them ever 40K. I mean happens if your over 100K ?? SOL is what Acura is saying. Damn that sukcs

 

sorry, still on original trans here, i guess if it was going to fail it will fail no matter what or how many oil jet they put in it. good thing u wasn't flying or doing say 120mph when it happened.

that sucks....

 

There will NOT be a recall that completely replaces all transmissions. The same transmission (basically) is used in the new '04 TL and other Honda/Acura products. ECU tuning and drive-by-wire throttle systems in newly designed cars has helped drastically reduce the amount of failures.

 

Which means if you own a 99-03 you're SOL and will be replacing your transmission until you sell your car...

 

Granted, its an Acura ... and there's a certain amount of reliability that you come to expect from a Honda / Acura product. But I mean if you bought lets say a Mitsubishi, or another brand ... and the warranty was 4 years / 50k, you'd be SOL after 50k if the tranny blew at 60k. It happened to me on my last car ... Had to pay for a rebuilt tranny at around 75k. Was it bad engineering? Could be, the Internet wasn't as big back then so it was harder to see how many others had the same problem ...

In any case, not every car is perfect. The thing is after 100k miles a lot of people trade in their cars anyways ... I know some people will try and keep their cars for 300k+ miles because its an Acura after all, but you could always trade in this Acura after 100k miles and get a new TL 6spd which should last you 300k miles ... I'm not supporting Honda/Acura here, but I think the 7 yr / 100k is pretty nice of them. My last car didn't have that

The car is what it is ... Personally when my warranty is up (I don't even qualify for the 7 year / 100k b/c my car is too "new"), I'll most likely be trading for something with a 6spd, I have had nothing but bad luck with automatic trannies (every single car I've owned has had a bad auto tranny except for my TL *knocks on wood*).

 

its not BS. what you guys need to understand is that the "jetkit" is only for 1 of the 2 problems. it doesnt solve both. the problem it does help to keep from happening is alot worse than the clutchpacks and slipping tranny. and the fact that honda upped the warranty to 100k is nice. they didnt have to do that, and not many other car companies would do that.

 

i dont think many other companies have had such an isolated and consistant problem with their tranny's. correct me if im wrong

 

Mitsubishi. 2nd Gen Eclipse. Not the tranny but the engine. "Crank walk" Basically placed the blame on the owners for "racing" their cars and causing the problem. Even on completely stock cars and the issue isn't caused by "racing". They completely turned the owners away and told them

 

Got the call last night and they transmission IS being replaced.

 

You don't want their extended warranty, you all want the KNOWN PPROBLEM TO BE FIXED. Why wait for it to break and beg them to fix it. It is their problem. Don't wait for them to tell you it is now out of warranty. It is just the matter of time and it will happen to everyone of us. This is not about warranty repair issue, IT IS A KNOWN ISSUE, "DEFECTIVE MATERIAL WORKMANSHIP", AND MUST BE FIXED REGARDLESS OF WARRANTY. Fix the problem and keep their extended warranty.

 

Toyota -
1MZFE & 5SFE - Oil sludge issues
7MGTE - Horrible head gasket issues

General Motors
Iorn Duke 4 cyl - Bent or weak connecting rods from the factory

Ford -
All motors have overheating problems
91-95 2wd explorers have tranny issues similar to ours

BMW-
The old 530i (3.0L 8 cyl) motors would fail very frequently
The new M3 6cyl has a very high failure rate also.

Mitsubishi
Crankwalk, cracking heads, crappy trannies ....

Mazda
2nd gen Turbo RX7 motors fail very often. Owners state that engine replacement is "Standard Service" at 60k. 3rd gen motors aren't much better.

Audi -
Cars would jump into gear and crash into things (this almost put audi out of business)

Don't even get me started on the rash of recent recalls for cars hubs falling apart (dodge & GM), trucks catching on fire (ford), and Bad seatbelts (dodge & ford)

 

Got the car back. They changed out the PCM and it's noticable. The shifts aren't as hard and the car doesn't downshift in some instances that it would before (like slow u-turns under the frwy when rolling and getting on the throttle) and the upshifts are smoother.

The tech said that only the computer for the transmission was changed. I suspect they did this for the obvious reaso... keep the wear and tear down on the tranny.

Overall the car drives like it did before, has the same feel and power delivery. It just doesn't have that crispness in the transmission like it did before.

 

The jet kit was designed for a diff problem. Dont let the dealers tell you any different

 

I think we'd all like to have the transmission be recalled and fixed correctly. But the economics of it don't make sense. Recalling all of the cars with defective trannies would cost Honda millions of dollars, its simply cheaper to keep replacing the potentially 10% of them that are bad up to 100k miles. Even if Honda did recall all the trannies, I don't think they even would have a fix for the tranny short of re-designing an entirely new tranny or adding drive by wire throttles to all of the cars.

Remember that transmissions are also wear items, just like basically every part of the engine. The transmission is probably spec'ed to last about 100k miles regardless of whether or not it has the defect, so by Honda providing you with a 100k warranty they're basically saying that if it fails somewhat early, we'll cover it. Otherwise, you're on your own .. just like anyone else who bought a car and their tranny died after 100k miles.

There's no Acura or car bible out there that says transmissions will all last to 250k miles.

No car company is perfect, and if you can't accept that ... you should probably start walking wherever you go.

You don't have to like it, I don't think any of us do ... but thats the way the car is. There aren't many other car manufacturers out there that would offer up the 100k warranty, and there are even fewer that can produce all of their cars perfect.

Oh and BTW, as for Mitsubishi ... the problems that have been mentioned are things people KNOW about. There were plenty of problems that Mitsubishi of Japan had that should have been safety recalls and they covered them up to save money. How's that for a good car company?

 

I find that hard to believe that a $30,000+ honda/acura is spec'ed to last around 100k miles. Many people can put that kind of miles on a car in a just a few years. That would be an expensive ride. Many people including myself have had earlier hondas/acuras last well past 200,000 miles without any drivetrain problems such as the one on the TL. I'm sure this is one of the more appealing things to people when they buy a luxury car from honda, the reliabilty. Otherwise they can just as well buy a luxury car from anyone else that makes expensive cars.

 

Couldn't agree more with this post! (I'm still pissed about the tranny failing at 50K, but at least we know we are covered not only with a remanned tranny, but also transportation while hte work is being done.)

 

Sure, some people's trannies have lasted longer than 100k miles on the CL and TL. I've seen some people with 170k miles on the original tranyn ...

But if the Mean Time Between Failure is spec'ed at 100k, then some will last longer and some won't. I'm just saying that 100k miles isn't unreasonable to expect a transmission to last. I agree that most buying a Honda/Acura are buying for the reliability aspect and would normally expect a car to run for more than 100k miles with no problems ... but, unfortunately it isn't true with this car's tranny. That doesn't mean that Honda MUST fix the problem as acutee states. If your tranny lasted to 100k miles in another car, I think people would accept that, and had it not been for the Internet where people can come together all over the country to complain ... I doubt most of us would even know about the problem.

I'm not defending Honda/Acura here. I hate the fact that I own a car with a ticking time bomb for a tranny in it ... But I don't expect that Acura will be recalling the tranny and replacing it with a non-defective one. I would have appreciated a 100k mile warranty on my 2003 though.

 

I got 02 TL-S about 70000 miles.
I've changed Transmisson 2 times already.
After 30000miles Acura roadside didn't even tow. I paid for towing.
My in-dash 6 cds are gone.
I won't buy Acura again!!

Acura

 

^^ a bit off topic but can any TL owner use that acura roadside number....I noticed the sticket but didnt think i could use it (bought my TL-S from a small non-acura dealership)

 

**UPDATE**

I've had the car back a while and have put over 200 miles on it and so far I am VERY pleased with the tranny that was put in. I notice no difference in the way it shifts, drives nor do I have anything negative to say about the swap.

I can only hope the tranny stays this way.

 

There should be a difference in the way it shifts...not nearly as agressive, IMHO.

 

In the first 20-30 miles I thought it was different but now that I've put some miles on it, it shifts no different than before. 1st, 2nd and 3rd gear changes are as crisp as they were before. If there are differences, they are very subtle and I can't tell -OR- Honda of America has actually done a good job and given me a good replacement transmission?

 

Cool. At least you are a happy Acura customer. Enjoy that tranny.

 

I was under the impression that;

Smoother shifts = Takes longer to complete the shift = The longer the clutches slip = More heat = Longer Shifts are Worse for the transmission

True?

 

Yes, usually. A shift that takes a long time will wear the cluthes more than a quick shift. BUT a shift that is too quick will damage the gears.

 

they "fxed" mine when i bought the car at 20k miles...tranny dead at 33k miles...so much for the "fix"

 

I'm considering buying an 03 TL-S this weekend. I'm still working on the deal.

But this tranny failure actually sounds dangerous. I know I've heard of at least one case of someone in the TL getting hurt because of their tranny. Can it lock up at say 80 mph on the freeway due to either of these problems.

It sounds like a slip not a lock, so you should be safe???

 

ragin, you're just now buying the car. the transmission is covered till 100k. Then what? You didn;t note the current mileage, so if you have a 4 year loan, and 50K till tranny coverage is gone, how much more time will you have on your loan when/if you blow a tranny after 100k miles? Could be risky.

 

That's exactly my fear, it's an 03 with 53k miles on her. It's had the jet installed and I haven't noticed any tranny problems, but who knows if this is it's 2nd, 3rd tranny. I think I'll count some more pennies and get an 04 or 05.

btw, they want $20,995 for it.

 

Do this first.... take the VIN# and call any acura service dept. Ask them to tell you what has been done to the car. How many transmissions has it had? If it's been replaced find out what the mileage was at that time.

My $.02.... walk away or have them throw in an extended warranty that will cover you.

 

Yeah I did that but the car is from Jersey and I'm in Idaho (auctioned). This dealership has no record of any work done on the car other than recall maintenace.

I've got kids so like I said my main concern is safety. If my tranny dies and I've got over 106k that's one thing. It can be replaced. Lives is what I'm worried about.