No they didnt

 

I have a 2003 TL (79,000 mi) and started to show signs of slippage as the car would shudder slightly between 2nd/3rd and 3rd/4th. Over the next month and a half the transmission just kept getting worse.. slipping between gears and then finally when I would downshift on the highway by pressing the pedal to the floor the transmission would fail to downshift and rpms would go beyond the redline with no acceleration whatsoever.
I brought the car into a local transmission shop that has a very good reputation and the guy said as soon as he dropped the tranny he knew right away what the problem was.... the clutch spring in the 3rd gear clutch set had snapped and was the issue for all the slipping, etc. He mentioned that he notices the spring snapping in about 40% of the TL's they work on there... so he regards the spring as a defective part for it having such a high failure rate. According to him the spring is about 60 pounds too stiff and that weakening the spring most likely would solve the transmission issues probably most of us are facing here on this forum. Of course I had to ask if they resolved the spring issue and he said that Acura has not done a thing with it so now $2,805 later I have pretty much a rebuilt transmission with yet another defective spring that will probably let go again (40% chance).
I'm sorry but 79,000 miles is way too soon to have such transmission failure. I mean the car doesn't even need a tune-up for 105,000 miles yet the transmission can't last that long? That is pretty sad. Does anyone know if this kind of damage is covered under any extended warranty on the transmission? I would like to at least get my money back on the parts that got replaced ($1300).

Eric

 

Am I missing something? If your tranny was slipping why didn't you take it into the dealership? I thought they extended the warranty to 100k.

 

I'm contacting a few lawyers to get a class action going... PM me if you have any questions

 

Wow, you didn't realize there was a factory recall on the transmission? Like others have said it was extended to 100K or 7 years. You could have taken it to Acura and had it replaced for 0 dollars. IIRC you still should have some recourse as long as you kept the receipts. I believe it says that somewhere on the Acura owner link page. Call up Acura CS ASAP.

 

I knew there was a factory recall on the tranny... i had brought it in a long time ago for that... they installed an oil jet kit to help cool the second gear jet. Is that the recall you are referring to? But, there was no mention in that letter I received about a 100,000 mile/7 year extension on the warranty. I did receive a letter regarding an extension to the warranty on the SRS system though. So, if there was a letter that went out stating there was a general "extension" to the factory warranty for the tranny I never received the letter in the mail. So, when the guy at the transmission shop asked if the car was still under warranty i told him no since i was well past the 50,000 mile mark.

 

Not every 2003 Acura TL is covered by the 7 year/100,000 mile extended warranty for the transmission. It depends on the VIN number. Call Acura or register your car with Acura.com to find out if your particular TL is covered.

It may be that your warranty did expire at 50,000 miles.

Bob

 

Well, my hunch was right... my car is not covered by an extended warranty at all. I think there should be a general recall for these transmissions as I am seeing a lot of people on this site with near total transmission failure with mileage well under 100,000 miles... mine being included. I have owned many vehicles... most of them GM's and none have gone less than 130,000 before transmission work is needed. So is there something to be said about Acura quality? Or is this just a general trend with the sporty cars of today which seem to get a horsepower upgrade every year and possibly a lack of re-engineering the transmission to suit the extra horsepower? I was once a big fan of Acura for the so-called high quality standards for it being a honda car with a fancy body/extras... but this transmission failure left a sour taste in my mouth and my eyes were opened seeing how many people on this forum have experienced premature transmission failures with no real resolution in sight from acura except "keep getting it replaced".

 

Well not to jump all over you, but if you had bothered to read the info on the tranny on this site you would know. Having a recall on the tranny was looked into by the NTHSA but they found it not needed. Forums often make issues out to be larger than they are. Also Yes they had a problem with the trans. It was a design issue, but it doesnt mean they are no longer a good car. Every car has issues. Also if you were to read "all" theyse failires were in the past while they tried to find and resolve the issue. The latest redesign (feb 05) so far seems to have worked as no one has had one of them fail.

 

Good luck! On what grounds?

 

Did your local transmission shop incorporate whatever changes Acura made in February of 2005? As fsttyms1 mentioned, Acura might have fixed the problem with those changes. If not maybe that's something that could be incorporated without too much expense while everything is working OK. (Your transmission shop might even give you a discount if it's something that they should have been aware of.)

And I would definitely contact Acura to see if they might cover some portion of your repair. Even though it is not technically covered other TL owners have reported coverage beyond the 100,000 mile cutoff. Be prepared to work your way up the chain of command. If your local dealership can't help, call the national Acura customer service folks.

Best of luck!

Bob

 

On the grounds of the second half of the 2003 TL's not having the extended coverage, I have started gathering VIN#'s of cars outside of Acuras range that have had the same exact problems as previous year transmissions. Acura will not acknowledge the fact that all 03's are still problematic. My second half 03 TL-S is on its 4th transmission in 65k miles.

 

96000miles and am on my 4th and started to act again...Has anyone gone thru the texas lemon law process? is the 100000 warranty start from your last transmission? will the dealer give a print out of all my tranny problems/
thanks and wish me luck

 

If I remember correctly the new transmissions only have something like a 2500 mile warrantee on them... so you better get yours replaced soon. That also means that after you get past 100k you'll be SOL when another one goes. I believe the acura tech said it would've been about $3500 when I had mine replaced. Or maybe it was $2500.. Either way if you've gone through that many I'd seriously consider getting a different car. :|

 

have they fixed the problems in the newer models? i have a 2000 3.2 with 110,000k just lost the trans. just now finding out about all these problems. out of pocket expense unbearable. still owe 9,000k on car. what gives? is a trade the solution. read about people going through 2 and 3 trans. no way i can afford this on my budget. any insight helpful.

 

I'm curious (and nervous), does any have the actual statistics or have an
EDUCATED guess as to how many trannies go?

1 / 100 ?

1/1000 ?

 

that info isnt correct at all.

The trans is warantied up to 7 years or 100k which ever comes first. For sake of arguement, lets say yours died at 100,000 even, the new tranny is good until 112,000 miles. The new trannies have a 12k warranty on them. (some have had the dealer quote 36k) and the trans cost 4500 on average from the dealer

 

Call acura client services to see if they will good will a new tranny. (i had one replaced at 115k for free.

Yes the new ones are supposed to be fixed. All that you read on 2-3 failures were all before the latest redesign in feb of 05

 

None. Honda never released any and asuming any accurate # from the forum wouldnt be accurate

 

I just picked up a 03 TL-Type S not even 4 days ago and Im seriously thinking of taking it back and getting my money back or exchanging it for a diffrent car.
Despite the fact the dealer told me it has extended warranty 7/100 all these tranny problems scare me ...... should I take it back ?

 

I'd at least check that your particular TL is covered by the 100,000 mile warranty on the transmission. Not every 2003 TL is covered by the extended warranty. You can call Acura with the VIN number to find out or you can resgister the car with Acura online.

How many miles does your TL have?

Bob

 

My TL-S is covered, its certified with extended warranty 7/100,000 .... I know that for a fact, but that doesnt matter ... what good is a car if you have to replace the tranny 10 ? thats not my thing.

It has 45k miles.

 

all the multiple failures you have read about was before the recent updates (feb of 05) Plus things are far worse looking on forums than they really are In the end its your decision.

 

What recent updates ? could you elaborate ? cause Im "this" close of taking it back.
When I bought it I was all excited, now Im all terrified..

 

my tranny died today, but other than that, getting a new one from the dealer, yay, hopefully this new one is good.

 

Search around in the tranny threads, (though i dont know what your looking for for info). In Feb of 05 honda redesigned some parts for the trans that they were sticking in for the ones that failed. These new ones arent failing (as of yet) but after near 2 years and nothing yet id say they are holding together better

 

Hey everyone I'm new on the board. Just purchased a 03 TL-s three weeks ago. Searched through every page of this tranny thread. My car has 42k miles. The factory warranty expires in one month. I went to the dealership and asked about the 7yr warranty extension,and was told that my car didn't have it. If I was to buy a acura extended warranty I have to get it before the original one runs out. Was told by the service advisor that "most" likely if my tranny dies within the 100k range it should be replaced for free. Question is should I roll the dice with the most likley promise or buy the $1830 4yr warranty from acura to be totally sure? The extended warranty is equal to 3 car payments and my TT&L, so I'm kinda on the fence about it. Other then that I love the car.

 

Welcome!

You might want to double check on the warranty expiration by calling Acura directly (national 800 number) or registering your TL-S at Acura.com. That will list the warranty terms.

Even though these transmissions have reliability problems, $1830 is a ton of money to pay up front. I'd probably pass on the warranty. Even if your transmission does fail, you'll have $1830 to put towards rebuilding it. Of course, it's a gamble either way.

Bob

 

I'm having my first (I'm hoping, I bought the car used) transmission replaced at 55k on my 2001 TL. My warranty's up in Dec. '07 and I'm wondering has anyone had any success with a rebuilt transmission? Are they just as defective as the originals? Am I pretty much guaranteed to have it fail in 30-40k miles. I don't put a ton of miels on my car so if it were to fail in 30k I would be well passed my warranty. Should I just sell/trade in next year?

 

From what I heard, Acura uses updated trannys for our cars (Feb '05 revision) ... and from what I heard on this board poeple with updated trannys arent having any problems yet.

 

I've been reading many pages of this transmission thread and have also been reading threads throughout the last few years.

After almost 4 years of ownership, I believe that my transmission is starting to go. I have an 2003 TL-S with just slightly under 35k miles. Car has been bought brand new with 10 miles on the odo, and every mile was put on by me from January 20th 2003 to now. In the past 3 days, I've felt my transmission slip or so I think. This is my very first car in my life so I'm not very sure on how slippages feel like but after reading threads, I believe I'm feeling slippages. The 3 slips that I've felt was that the car was trying to shift from 2nd to 3rd but I felt no shift and the RPMs just kept getting higher even with minimal gas. I heard a slight metal grinding noise so I decided to let off the gas. Is this what slipping feels like?

I've checked under the Owner's Link and my car falls into the extended warrenty, but I'm not worried about warrenty because I only have 35k miles and my warrenty doesn't expire until January 2007 (for the 4/50,000 mile original warrenty). But I am now very scared that the transmission will just fail when I'm traveling on a highway. I'm fine if my car crapped out on a city street.

At this point, I doubt the dealership will do anything for me since the symptoms are only just starting to show. So I'm thinking that I should just drive my car around and to test out the car to make sure that the transmission is going out.

I'd rather have my tranmission go out at this point before I have to drive back home (500 miles away) for the holidays. Even with this problem, I still love my car. Too bad I was just about to start modding. Guess that'll have to wait.

So would it be bad if I was more aggressive on my driving now to cause more heat to the transmission to make sure that the transmission is going out?

 

+1 to the tranny failure club... AKA me... Tranny failed tonight while driving home from the movies (VSA light, ! light, and Flashing D5 light)

Gonna take my 03 TL-S into Tustin Auto Center Acura...

Hopefully the revised tranny of 05 will hold up better.

 

my third tranny was installed back in march, so far i have 18000 miles on it with no problems.
goodluck guys

 

Take the car to the deal and tell him it is slipping, and they will check the codes. Don't wait get it on record.

 

Ya, the tranny doesn't have to completly die before you can take it in. I think most people wait to take it in until mutiple lights flash on the dash because they don't like going to the dealer unless they really have to.

 

i got mines replaced a few months ago free of charge. i experienced slipping in 3rd 4th and 5th. but yea it doesn't have to be dead to be replaced. bring it in as soon as it starts slipping and they will replace your tranny and maybe even your ecu which they did to mines. now, new tranny but they messed up my alignment. beware of acura of seattle

 

I just got my 99 TL a week ago and it has 81,000 miles on it? I bought it from my cousin and I'm the third owner but I have a few questions though.

How can I check to see if the tranny was replaced because of this issue?
Do I have to be the original owner to have the tranny replaced if it ever has this problem? What mileage is the limit for this type of replacement?
Can I have it replaced even though I have not experienced any problems with the tranny so far ?

 

1. Register the car at Acura Owner Link.
2. No. 100,000 miles or 7 years
3. No

Oh, this information is mentioned in about a thousand other threads on this site.

 

might as well add myself to this thread..... my 2nd tranny failed last tuesday at 74XXX miles... the first time i felt a gear slip too... and after it slipped all the engine lights went on and i had to drive to my acura dealer feeling like th ecar could shut off at any moment...... props to Open Road Acura on Rt 18 in East Brunswick, NJ though.... i dropped my car off tuesday night at like 9:30 pm... and it was done by thursday afternoon at 4:00 pm.

 

Just got a letter telling me about a potential out-of-court settlement on the Acura transmission problems. The big winners are the lawyers. The second-place winner is Honda (they extend warranty 9K and still get to decide who gets a new tranny. The loser are the owners. I am sending a letter Objecting to the settlement and will withdraw from the settlement. Comments?