So about two months ago I'm on interstate 91 speeding through CT headed up to Boston..all of a sudden it happens ......my car slows down ..the needle on my rpms are flying up to 6 and 7..then smoke comes up out the hood..I pull over on the side of the highway..Mind you it's about 12 am..on a friday night..long story short ..had my car towed home to NY..ran the codes ..they were 1740/P0505/P0845...I'm sure you guys all know what those mean...At this point I'm just venting..

I love my car..its a beauty ..nice bright blue, windows tinted, toyos all around...it just looks like money..nice simple yet flashy..Im at 128,000 miles..I tried working something out with Acura but they aren't saying anything I wanna hear...I checked junkyards but to be honest I can't see myself paying $900 for a used tranny and not know how long it will last...The only solution I have is to have it rebuilt at this local shop I go to once in a blue..at $1600 rebuilt with a one year warranty that's the best deal I feel I will find by far..My car was well kept..from top to bottom..I feel a certain sort of way now about Acura as a company..and I highly doubt i will be purchasing another vehicle from them..It's a shame that I have to fork out $1600 considering my vehicle was already recalled in 04 and the tranny was "replaced" then..I am dedicating the rest of my life to make sure none of my friends and family purchases these vehicles lol lol I am tight!!!!!!!!!!

 

Hmm, I had the same thing happen literally on the second day I got my car. I got it bought it on Friday, November 4th 2011; on Saturday the 5th on the way to Tuscon I got the RPM at redline and ATF all over. Towed it home, flushed the fluid. It lived.

Good luck with replacement.

 

Really just a flush? I was told to never flush on these tranny's because they are sensitive?

 

Sad to hear about that but Did you not know about the tranny issues before hand? And why you didnt sell the car when you had your re-call???

Not trying to bash you or anything but If any company tell me they have to replace my transmission for anything I would sell the car ASAP... If not I should be aware of WHY They re-call it...

You can try to SWAP the Accord Transmission! Its waaaayyy Cheaper than rebuilding your current one and its said to last for good now. I already have mine and Im enjoying my TL-S now to the fullest without caring too much about my Still Original Design Rebuilt tranny, Once it goes out! AV6 Trans kicks in.

 

As far as I know weren't all TLs from 99-03 recalled for Tranny issues, and given extended warranties? That's what I understood it to be..Regardless of that though if you recall my tranny to fix it...it should be fixed? lol lol Acura is a joke..don't get me wrong love the design on the cars, the luxury all that jazz...but at the end of the day..there are thousands of TL owners like myself feeling that pain right now..and their lack of responsibility as a company is a slap in the face..I don't see any Lexus owners going through tranny issues..this definitely is my last AC ..they lost a customer for life..and to think I was going to buy that 08 S type too..after this shit? Hell No..

 

Nope Lexus owners just got their DBW Gas Pedals Stuck and a Couple of Families Died, No joke intended.

All Companies have their PROs and CONs just becouse Acura doesnt want to Stand Back over now an Almost 12 Year Old Car doesnt talk bad about them. When my First trans went out at 114K after reading all about it in Here I didnt even tried to go to Acura.. I just send my Trans to Rebuild for around 1300 bucks which was Cheaper considering Acura wanted almost 4K to Replace it with yet Another Shitty transmission! All said most people who decided to stay with the Car (Almost all 2G Aziners) Knows about our Trans Issues but still Love our Cars!

Just to end my Point you can Grab an Used Accord V6 trans for less than anything their asking to rebuild yours and say goodbye to Faulty trans! Your basically Lucky to have yours Fail with all the Info Around!! I know a couple of Members who got their transmissions "Fixed" at Acura OVER 5 TIMES!!! (Thats about 2-3 weeks per "Fix" without No Car)Getting a Replacement from Acura isnt a Fix.

 

I'm also having tranny issues....

For about 1 week straight my car would run fine the first 20 minutes after that it would hard shift the rpms would go up a lot and finally shift hard. I took out all the fluid and put Honda z1 I believe its called? and tranny was fine for about a week and just today it started doing it again except it doesnt shift that hard but still revs up from 1-2 2-3 and bounces when shifting back to 1st....

Should I change the fluid one more time and see if it helps?

 

Nope your just wasting money on Band Aids once it started slipping its a matter of time until it wont even shift at all!! Time to search for an 06-07 Accord V6 transmission

 

Do you know why it takes some time to start doing that? lets say I leave th car off all night...in the morning I drive it and its fine then after 20 minutes it starts doing that, however when I changed the fluid it was ok sometimes it would maybe shift a little hard once and thats it(in a 50 minute trip) today after getting the back and front motor mounts replaced it started again after around 30 minutes of having the car on.

Btw this started a couple weeks after I put Castrol honda/toyota/ and other imports transmission fluid.

I'm really hoping I dont have to replace the whole transmission

 

would the noobs please read your owner book,,free one at www.owners.acura.com

you effed the trans by using non honda fluids
was dextron3 part of the mix??--thats the worst! and why acura made a 3x3 `flush` method= in case any dex3 was ever added,, you need to wash it all out asap!!

Flush as used by us means manual gravity drain and refill of atf

flush as as used by many trans shops = pressure powered machine often using dextron3!!
to move fluid out and instantly replace
Too high a pressure and wrong fluid is why we say avoid `flush`

blue: the recall was to install an external sprayer in the regular filler hole to saturate 2nd gear with atf,,it wasnt getting enough before and could break the gear from heat

the recall had them inspect that gear for heat damage--IF- in rare cases- it was heat damaged already- they replaced the trans on the spot as warranty
If all was well inside they installed the oil jet kit and called it `fixed` as it did totally fix that problem
Our real issue is early clutchpack wearout of 3rd gear set
in the early days they would die before 50kmiles, so a court case ordered MOST but not all vins (cutoff mid 03) get a 7 year 9 month or 109kmiles warranty against THAT failure
Many of us got a free trans from it!

to tell, look at bolts on trans, bolts attaching things to it- if blue paint present on them its a warranty unit!

ck other car makers = 50kmile warranty and thats it.
asking acura to help you at 128 is a stretch unless you are a really good customer of that dealer,,no reason for them to help you

other models and later gens with different trans are fine, no reason to blast the entire brand over a prob with 1 model~
acura upped the HP and added a 5th gear in 00,,,but the trans wasnt up to the increases
took till 05 before significant changes inside unit for oil flow for our car on replacement trans
even 05 06 TL of gen3 had same exact trans prob as us, and no warranty after 50kmiles!

our best option now is a used oddy or accord trans from certain years,,about 1500 installed and out the door

reminder to use Honda DW1 fluid and dont be mixing with other stuff or any additives

why does car go 30 minutes and then prob?
Simple- the free floating clutch material thats come off the friction plates gets flung onto the outflow fluid filter screens of the torque convertor- clogging them = no pressure to shift!
Let car sit 15-30 minutes and crud falls back off- allowing another short usage

getting rid of some of that with a drain and refill may help... but wont cure the prob
No friction material !! = trans time

 

 

Like I said I'm not downplaying The AC TL..I love my car..my beef is that I am not the only AC owner to have tranny issues ..you search this forum and you find people with even 07 and 08 models going through it ..left and right people are getting stranded on the highway cause of this and all Acura can offer me is 50% off an already inflated $5000 repair job? It's real simple they know they built a soft sensitive tranny..fixing it should not cost an arm and a leg..my problem with Acura is their customer service in regards to fixing this problem. I still love the cars..however they should have better options available for customers that have to live with their faulty Trannys.

 

2500 is still way expensive! Dont pay for that all they are doing is Installing yet another faulty transmission! Just get the Accord V6 one (Got mine for Around 800 shipped) its pretty straight forward to swap! Just make in mind that installing it any shop will quote you around 500 bucks! Which Im planning on Do it Myself...

 

I know blue paint means a warantiied unit, but how about green? Is it the same thing, because mine has green paint on trans bolts.

 

Hah, only one shop in town that was even willing to help me and there first quote was 1200$. Luckily I ended up having a friend that was willing to help me

 

I have never heard of green from acura
but

anyone with a `partial pay` trans unit care to go look at the bolts?

 

WoW 1200? thats more expensive that the Trans (AV6) Itself..... Better to do it yourself...

 

It was more than the transmission I had a friend help me with it and it runs better than ever now

 

Maybe they replaced so many that day that they ran out of blue paint??....lol

 

So yesterday I pretty much did what AZ Silver said he did when his tranny acted up like mine on the highway..I drained my old fluid ..let me say it was black ...like tar black..I put 3 quarts of Honda fluid in drove around for a bit and my car was back to normal? The engine malfunction lamp disappeared ? Let me say that this car was jerking and barely moving past 15 mph and now I'm doing 100 with no problems from a fluid change? All my friends and mechanics were saying I need a new tranny ..and are now in total dis belief that I may have fixed this issue without a rebuild ..I hope it holds up ..thinking of maybe draining and doing another three quarts ..? Thanks for the help A Ziners ..

 

Actually the 07 Toyota Camry and 07 Lexus ES350 both were plagued with Transmission failures. Most within the the first 1500 miles.

 

Hey Blue, thinking of a complete "3x3" fluid drain & fill.......or are you thinking of dumping the old TL while it's now running normal and capable of doing 100 ?

Apparently the car's tranny was neglected if it's fluid was as "BLACK" as you had described it when draining the old stuff out. You may want to consider checking the solenoid valves and replacing the external fluid filter, then do another couple of drain & fills.

 

Hey that sounds like a good idea? I'm no pro at this car stuff..so I appreciate the advice..I got the car about 2 years ago and prior to buying it the owner had so many service records and assured me that she had changed the tranny oil; so I never really thought about changing or doing a fill as of yet. I have two cars and rarely drive the tl..Maybe I'm overdue at this point obviously.I definitely will be completing the drain and fill..

 

Transmission, power steering, coolant, and brake fluids are often completely overlooked maintenance items on the used cars.

I would NOT trust anything that previous owners say "they fixed and serviced" themselves unless you have a stack of parts receipts. When I went to change the cabin air filter on my car, I was rather surprised to see that plastic panel that covers it still had the original plastic couplings uncut! So 9 years and 170k miles on ORIGINAL interior air filter!