Car: 2000 Acura TL
Mileage: 112K


Hey guys, I got a big problem and I need some feedback.
Over the weekend, I took a trip to PA from NYC, which was about a 2:30hr ride. It was a really hot day, and I was doing about 80 constantly the whole way. There was absolutely nothing wrong with the car, in fact, the crazy part about this story is that my passengers were telling me how smooth the ride was and how it did not even feel like we were doing 80mph!!! All of the sudden, I noticed the RPM redlining out of nowhere as I hit the gas, but I was not going any faster, it was not responding. Smoke came out of the exhaust and the engine about 30 seconds after. I was able to safely pull over, and I noticed a huge leak of what looked like either tranny fluid or engine oil. I let it cool off for about 15 minutes and let the smoke clear, and turned the car back on. The car turns on fine, engine sounds fine, AC worked perfectly, but the problem is when I try to shift, it does not engage in any gear. The shifter goes straight from P to 1 up and down without engaging in any gear, it just goes straight up and down. It seems to be locked in Park since the guy who towed it could not engage it to neutral. No engine light came on, there was no signs of any trouble, it was just completely out of nowhere.

Obviously the first thing that came to my mind is that my transmission is dead, but most people say there's warning signs before the tranny goes, which I never experienced. I had to leave it at a relatives house in PA, and most likely needs to get fixed out there because the towing would cost a fortune back to NYC. Does anybody know what could of possibly went wrong? I'm really hoping its not the tranny, but I'm prepared for the worst . Thanks guys.

 

First you need to check the atf stick to see if you have any atf fluid left. If not, fill it up and see what happens. In some cases, from what I read, some members had the fluid came out of the breath hole; refill it and it was fine again. Some said different fluid caused that issue. Do a little search you will find many related issues.

 

Codes, You Need to Pull those First! Then we Will have some Hints!

Like "acutee" said it looks like your tranny puked out its ATF, It happend to me before with AMSOIL. Are your running Original Z1? or the New DW-1?? I did a quick fix by locating the breather tube (Its very tiny below the Pre-Intake Box Resonator of the TLp) you will see a little tube coming out of the trans that its open, The ATF came out of it. Buy a tube that matches the size (I Cant remember exact Size) and extend it to the Brake MC, It will never puke ever again but sadly it sounds that your tranny took a beat without its ATF, Prepare for the worst.

 

puked out atf and you still tried to drive it?
assuming you ckd fluid level of engine oil?
the exhaust smoke may have been atf hitting pipe, not inside exhaust pipe-which would indicate a head gasket problem

there were a few signs you probably didnt notice recently, then a drive fully loaded up and at speed for a few hours,,that will get the trans hot for sure and byebye clutch pack for a certain gear
the overflow of fluid Im not sure what causes- unless clogged outlflow screens on tc?

ever do any fluid change before now,, or 113 on OE fluid?
trans original or warranty unit (blue paint on bolt heads-warranty)

 

you are looking at 1800 to 2500 UD$ to rebuild your current trans at local shops

 

I'm new to this forum, but I own an auto repair shop and own Honda's & Acura's. Same problem w/ both transmissions. My Odyssey did this and we flushed trans completely and changed canister filter on top of trans. 22,000 miles later- still going strong. Also not enough cooling for fluid. If it does have the trans cooler in the radiator, they stop up. Either way add on cooler is the best option. Our flush kit has an additive that makes fluid synthetic equivalent. Hope this helps.

 

welcome, good to have a shop among the ziners!

flush is a nasty word around here- acura uses the term to mean the manual gravity drain and refill method of 3 qts trans fluid change 3 times-the infamous 3x3-
to be done `in the event you added ANY dextron3 to the mix ``in an emergency top-off``
then you have to `flush` the contents.
thats from the owner book

many shops use the word to mean machine powered changeout, most often NOT using Honda atf= now DW-1..and using the deadly dex3,,soon after,,,the trans dies

cleaning of the shift selenoids is always good, replacement of the external filter also wise.

oil cooler- not old school radiator type.
Temp is one reason for our failure prob, but adding an oil cooler wont solve the real issue, lack of oil passages where needed--so good pressure via clean filter makes the most sense

Our megamoderator fsttyms1 (fast times WON!) went thru 5, count em 5 rebuilds (including last 2 done by him) in 200,000 Miles

Of those, 3 had an external cooler added, Result,,they lasted the LEAST miles!! go figure

please detail the products- this mystery additive- you are using in the procedure, and if some machine system/method we are not aware of that really works,,please educate us!

again welcome to azine!!

 

We use a Wynn's flush machine w/ their flush kit. We flush through old canister filter and then change filter. We do use Dex, but with this additve we're told it converts to synthetic grade fluid. We flush until we have red fluid and all dark is gone. We also have a local trans. shop that only uses Dex + additive for Honda/ Acura. We flushed my Odyssey after puking trans fluid and 23,000 later- still shifting great. Trans guy goes to tech classes annually and says original coolers in radiator stop up. Trans w/ out coolers overheat fluid too much. Some coolers are better than others. We recommend after flush w/ problem, flushing again at 10- 15,000 and then every 30,000. Just bought my daughter a 3.2 tl Type S. Had some shift shudder and delayed shift. Flushed and changed filter- all is well. Has worked repeatedly- but does not work every time.