Hello All,

I own a 2002 Type - S, just under 120,000 miles and the transmission went. The torque converter ceased to work and none of the gears work. Nothing. The entire unit must be revamped/rebuilt.
I understand this is a widespread issue for the auto transmissions in the Honda/Acura line during these years.

I've received a quote to rebuild the unit at $3,250. To be honest, that's more than I spent initially on the car.

What are your experiences with this? Is it worth being fixed?
I have a daily commute of over 40 miles a day and in the span of over 3 months of ownership, put about 5,000 miles on it.

After being rebuilt/replaced, do they tend to brake again? I don't mind investing in this car as the engine is strong and it handles very well, however, I don't want to be in a money pit either.

Please let me know how your thoughts and how you feel. I appreciate any feedback.

P.S. - Is it possible to do a manual transmission swap in the TL-S of this generation to further avoid this auto problem?

Many thanks,
Omar

 

All of this has been discussed 10,000x here in the forums. The https://acurazine.com/forums/second-...n-swap-905115/ thread is what you want.

To answer your questions briefly:

- A rebuilt tranny will fail again
- Many are opting to replace with a used 2007 Accord V6 transmission.
- You can swap to a manual from a CL but it is expensive and much more involved.

My transmission went out recently on my '02 TL-S, @206K miles. I put in the Accord V6 myself for around $900, currently at 210K now.

 

I reread this and to answer your question "is it worth it" - If I had to pay $3K, maybe not. I do love this car, and I am glad I fixed it. There really isn't anything else out there that I am willing to spend new car prices for, and my TL works great and I love driving it. I have a 50 mile round trip commute, and I'm planning on racking up the miles on the TL until fixing it becomes too expensive.

 

Hello Greg,

Thanks for your feedback.

Upon careful consideration, and new evidence of the vehicle's actual history, I don't plan to spend another dime on it.
The "6-month warranty" for the supposedly "re-built transmission" was completely bogus as well as the odometer reading.
As a last ditch effort, I pulled up my car's CARFAX and to my surprise saw the last odometer reading (prior to my ownership) was 214,509.
I didn't think it was possible, but they manipulated the digital odometer reading and took off 100,000 miles prior to purchasing the car. This means the car's now budding 220,000 miles.

Oh well...lesson learned.

At this point, I will summon a mechanic, who's a friend, to part the car and we'll split the profits...and if I can, take the seller to court.

Off to look for a new car.

Again, many thanks and safe travels.

 

Ouch sounds like you bought from a very shady dealer that replaced the gauges.. Sorry for that. Onto a new car

 

WOW!! That's pretty shady. What a huge difference between what you thought you were buying and what you got. Personally, I got my TL at around 50K and have had it since 2006, so after all this time I'd like to keep it running since I know almost the entire history of the car. In your case though I can understand ditching the car.