rhill49

Hello, I'm new to the forum, a 2nd gen 2003 Acura TL S type owner, I was wondering if anyone had any issues with a popping sound near the intake or airbox of my car and I also hear a humming noise near the airbox sort of like underneath by the fender welds. My second question is I'm getting ready to do a tranny flush using redline D4 transmission fluid, I just purchased the car, it seems from 1st to second gear there's a delay in shifting but all other gears and shifting is fine, any suggestions or help would be greatly appreciated, thanks, Rodney

whitetiger5

The car will shift smoothly from 1st to 2nd as opposed to quick and harsh on you, the engine, transmission and the car. You'll probably notice this changes as the car operating temp changes; that's because the characteristics of the fluid change at temp; and hondas will shift differently based on this. This is why there is transmission temp sensors, and a fluid warmer which work to get the fluid to operating temp asap to shift smoothly (no jerking) and consistently (not delayed).

About real transmission issues (just so we can make sure you're not seeing this):

You want to look for flaring which is a slipping between gear changes that results in the tach suddenly spiking above the current gear's RPM range before engaging into the next gear which should go to a lower RPM range.

Here's a video of some slipping.

whitetiger5

oh...forgot to mention humming sound is pretty normal, could be more pronounced if the filter cover is not completely fastened down or the airbox resonator has been removed.

rhill49

Thanks, for the information, my car does a small flare-up between first and second gear, and after reading your post, I noticed that the resonator box, attached to the air filter box is missing. I'm hoping the redline will help prolong my transmission a year or two plus offer me much smoother shifting as well. I've read many reviews on the redline D4 and are impressed so I will tackle that small job. as far as the popping goes it seems I only hear it when I'm low on fuel, I was thinking maybe it might be a failing fuel pump because it idles very good with the new plugs I installed along with an oil change.

whitetiger5

As long as you don't actually mean a "flush" with the transmission. it's recommended to change the fluid 3 times with a moderate drive around the block between each change. This is suggested here pretty much everywhere and in the user manual.

I personally don't recommend anything other than Honda ATF-DW1. you can buy it fairly inexpensive from www.oemacuraparts.com (about $60) for the 9 qts you will need; small in comparison to replacing the transmission.