hey everyone. been surfing these boards before about my cl and never really posted, but im looking to buy an 03 tl-s and need your help before i take the plunge.... heres my scenario...

i found a good deal on an 03 tl-s at my local acura dealer. one owner super clean. new timing belt, water pump, brakes, tires, etc.... the only catch is it has 170k miles. i drove it and it didnt seem to have any problems what so ever. i just know its a ticking time bomb. my question is this; what do if i ever have tranny problems? can they look up the trannys history? do i have any coverage based on my model year car? do i get it inspected before i buy?

any input on this would be awesome.... ive been reading alot in this thread and i have learned alot, but would still like some more experienced opinions. me purchasing the car really hinges on this. it scares me the problems they have, but its such a nice car.

 

Hi There. O.K.All depends on 2 things. 1st what's the price. 2nd how much do u like the car. Read my post on page 43. Find out what it will cost u for ext warranty for xtra 50k coverage. If they'l go that far. Buying from dealer much better than from corner lot. They at least have a reputation to maintain. My car is GREAT> LOVE IT!!! Tons of fun. See if u can get service history on it and base ur decision on that info.

 

acura can tell you thje warranty history of the car by VIN- the dealer can provide the same info
1-800-382-2238 x5- tell them you are looking to buy
If you stil llike the car have a private shop inspect it underneath for you
Thats really high miles for the year and could need all new brake parts- calipers and rotors and pads and master cylinder--$1000
Assuming the timing belt and water pump were done at 105k, you have that coming due again at 210- be aware thats $1200 plus dollars service

 

there are many excellent cars here for sale too- click Off Topic link then scroll down- Member cars for sale has its own main heading now!

 

Have most of the people here who have had problems had the recall done to their cars or does it happen more to the cars which have not had the recall done.

 

the recall is a seperate issue to install and extra oil supplier to 2nd gear shaft
The typical failure is 2nd 3rd gear clutch plates fail due to lack of cooling oil flow
The replaementr units have a new improved case with better oiling and far better reliabilty as a result

Get the recall done if you havnt yet!
They may find damage to the gearset- which mandates a freebie warranty trans for you

 

how do u know if it has had the recall before when i bought mine i looked on car fax and it had gone in for some recalls but im not sure whhich ones how can i be sure?

 

My 03 TL with 62000 miles had a transmission failure. Waiting for the dealer to fix it now. But since its over the 5yr limit its off waranty. Do you think I should get external waranty after I get the car back? Since from what I read the replacement transmission has a good chance of failing too

 

Did you check to make sure that your 2003 TL is in the group that was not covered by the 7 year 9 month extended warranty on the transmission? If you haven't checked yet, just call Acura with the VIN number.

 

Hi all,

I had my oil change at Acura Glendale a week and a half ago and today when I was driving to work I experienced some shifting problems. Felt like the gears were in neutral at moments, and jerky kicks into different gears. I managed to get to work but on the drive home I was getting the earlier problems and then at random I get the VSA light, VSA exclamation light, check engine light, and then eventually a blinking D5. When I pulled into my parking lot at home I needed to reverse, and while D5 was blinking, my car would not reverse, only move forward. I turned off engine and restarted, then I was able to reverse.

But hours later (right now) I cannot reverse AT ALL. I am also STUCK in 2nd gear, had to drive home on the 101 freeway at 50mph to avoid getting close to REDLINE for a long drive home.

I had to get my friends to help push me out of a driveway. I was parking somewhere else and I was stuck in a weird angle and I had to drive up a ramp, shift neutral and gain speed rolling back so I could get out of the jam

I am definitely getting my car into the dealer tomorrow. I am waiting for everything to open.

 

yep-- another TL gets the fluid changed... and then bites the dust
Pretty standard stuff

At least the dealer has no excuse for not getting you warranty replacement!!

I think this is their new game- charge 100 for doing something they know wont help and MAY cause failure~
they make 100 now and then more from acura when your trans goes.

To others who may experience crazy trans like last poster- pull over and shut the car off for 15-30 minutes
Restart and it should work ok to get you home or to the dealer
That usually gets it past 2nd gear for you

Rob and all- call acura and register as new owner 1-800-382-2238 x5 need VIN handy

ask if any open recalls- and extended warranty on trans- seatbelts- SRS or anything else

some 03s get a free timing belt- pay a little extra for them to do the water pump and you just save a grand on the 105 mile service!

No one should be paying much for out of vin range 03 trans, either full goodwill or you pay 500 labor and buy a 300$ 3/36 warranty on that trans from them

 

Call acura care- and ask for the flatbed tow truck- its part of the extended trans warranty- they pay for the tow

Call the dealer and ask if its faster for them to call a tow for you instead of acura corp

 

this is all good info when it becomes my turn to bite the bullet :/

 

Being Aware and Informed is the way to go in Life- much harder to bend you over when you know acura is doing 500 labor 300 more for warranty deals- you got better than that?!

You dont have to go in being huffy- I know whats covered!!!- customer
Just be nice and its not a problem

Word from one of the real acura advisors on here is: out of vin 03, Especially canada!
Ccorp is cutting down on goodwill, wanting some proof of a trans oil service during the cars lifetime.
Since the book does not call for such service before many of the failures occur, its kind of a joke.
BUT
If you want to be safe- go buy 3 quarts of Honda ZR1 atf -use that ONLY!!!
Buy it at honda or a specialty import car parts shop-= just make sure the date and name of oil is on the paperwork.
You can change it at home, I would take a pic of the odometer and the process being done, 3 new qts lined up ready to replace a jug of nasty fluid should do it nicely~

Record the service in your owner book and on your acura.com account
BTW- 3 qts is less than half the total trans fluid capacity- but acura says thats good enough
http://owners.acura.com/registration...erstepone.aspx

 

I have a TSX loaner and they estimate it will take 3-4 days for my tranny replacement to be done. I am under the extended warranty.

 

He stated the OIL was changed.....

 

OMG its worse than I thought!!!
It used to be a trans fluid change at dealer or other place and then failure...
Now, just the sight of the inside of the service dept and a week later -bang gone~
Who Knew!!!

 

Lol, should that have been in red?

 

tranny just crapped out on the 2000 with 65k miles. brother is in the middle of fucking nowhere. piece of shit TL.

 

Hello dere my fellows tl_ster's...of course im here cuz my tranny dead but anywayz need sum help...Can a 2001-2003 Acura 3.2 tl tranny fit a 2000 Acura 3.2tl cuz i know it doesn't fit tha 1999 tl. To be more specific it a 2001 tranny about 87k on it str8 from ebay. iunno if it worth risking also. let me know Thanks yo!

 

Are you salvage title? thats about the only reason for acura to deny warranty coverage on the trans
Even 03s past the vin cutoff get full coverage if you ask!

SUB- arent you still covered- how far can your car be from an acura dealer?
Was it on a long hot trip and it died? 65 is right on schedule- the acura tech told me anything over 50 and its due~

tl-ster- you know the trans weighs 450 pounds right?- watch the shipping charges!
You can have your trans rebuilt for about 2500,
a junkyard one may crap out in 1000 miles too!

 

^ - My brother was heading to Oregon and it started slipping really bad. I don't know what the other symptoms were. Problem is that the nearest Acura dealer is about 120 miles away.

 

If you are still in warranty- call acura care 1-800-382-2238 - one of the options is for road service.
Towing is included in the extended trans warranty- and if he is the right age- a loaner car will get the trip back on the road in their car instead of yours!!

Did you recently tell us how well your trans was doing?
Thereby Incurring the azinr curse~
I wonder how he took that 10,000 pass, a little heat in the clutches and thats all she wrote

 

That's pitiful....

 

3rd gear at 110 mph and 10,000 foot high steep mountain, after 5 hours of high speed freeway, I could see that putting the hurt on a transmission
I am guessing the car spent a lot of time in the Streets of San Francisco,?
where the automatic would get a real workout....

 

Actually the car has been driven around a pretty flat town. Averaged just under 10k a year. It has been babied. Was the moms. She got a new one. Gave it to my brother - he drove it even less - he spends most of his time in Europe. I think he has put about 12k on the car in 2 years. Probably doesn't drive it much harder than my mom. Still stuck in the middle of nowhere - Acura isn't too helpful. At least he is on the coast. Will know more tomorrow.

 

Took 2 days for tranny replacement, all is good. No charge

 

My Acura falls into that group unfortunately. What do I do now? I'm having the dreaded slipping trans problem.

 

read the last few pages of this thread for tips like-- be Nice and speak with the service Manager- ask for GOODWILL assistance !

This is a daily thing at the dealer- just be informed by reading the pages here

 

I've been reading conflicting statements.
Do "fixed" transmissions have problems too, just not until you put some miles on them?
Or is the "fix" actually a permanent, real fix.
I'm looking into getting a TL and am trying to get a definite answer on this.
For example, if someone says that they just got their transmission warranty service done recently, is that a green light? Or is it still a dangerous situation?
Thanks if anyone can clarify this for me.
Some people make it sound like all the trannies are shit, while others make it seem like once you get the warranty service done, you're in the clear.

 

What's up folks? Long time since posting, but I recently had my second tranny failure on my 2002 TL-S and I thought I would give some detail on my experience.

Went to Nalley Acura in Marietta, GA and was initially told that my vehicle was covered by the 7yr 9mo/109k extended warranty. After waiting 30 minutes I was told that it was not. Spoke to the service manager who said they could pay 75% and I would pay 25%. Told him I would think about it. I quickly went home and logged on to ACS website and verified that my car was covered, but was 1k miles over the 109k limit. Bummer.

Called Acura Client Services and logged a case. My case was handed to a manager who I played phone tag with for 4 days. I still have never directly spoken to him.

Ultimately, I paid the 25% which turned out to be $720.41. I guess I am satisfied with the overall result, but I am still going to write Acura and express my disappointment with this vehicle.

I have owned Honda and Acura vehicles for 18 years (I even have a Honda lawn mover) and for the first time in my life I can not recommend a Honda product.

Anyway, just my 2c.

Peace.

 

burn- see if your VIN was part of the odometer reads fast group- that covers us up to 114.5 MOst acura delaers are aware of that but not ALL- so best for you to check yourself and get that cut down to free~

schnee:
the `fixed` trans-`warranty serviced trans` == things that dont exist

Warranty replacement units are rebuilts with a post feb 2005 external case that holds all the parts- we are told it has better oil passageways and better cooling
You CANNOT fix the other real problem of: not enough room for enough clutch plates inside the physical case dimension limitations- not gonna happen.

So the warranty replacements are rebuilt units made from other warranty returned units- New parts as needed- old parts where still good, all the updated whatevers are used,

and usually if its going to fail- it does so within its 12 month warranty- likely within a month or two-
mechanical things sometimes fail and these are complex devices!~
Past that you probably have a winner thats good for 75-100,000 miles

 

acura has been known to respond to letters of disappointment-(they do surveys and anything less than perfect 10s in every dept is a failing grade for the dealership or specific person)
Especially after you read all these Goodwill stories on acurazine.com. then had terrible difficulty and never reached the Acura Corp rep-you were shocked thaqt 1000 ~indicated~ miles over would deny you coverage like that~
Send a copy of the receipt and they may just send you a letter of apology and a check for the amount you paid.

 

01tl4tl - thanks for the response. do you have a link where I can find the vin range that has the bad odometers or would this be on the acura link site?

 

My story for my '02 TL:

Transmission was replaced @ 65K miles in '05 (by the first owner, and it looks like it was free).

Transmission was replaced yesterday, car has 112K miles. The car was covered 100% by the warranty (7yr9mon or 114,500mi: that's what the document the service manager had in front of him said). Free loaner too. Car definitely shifts smoother.

 

burn- try Google- acura odometer lawsuit
its probably on acura.com but I never looked

As the above poster discovered- it should cover most gen2 to 114.5~ even if a little Goodwill is required

For those with happy results - write acura corp and copy to the dealer- name names- say how happy you were and well treated and appreciative

Acura uses survey results to dispense or withhold bonus checks....
anything less than perfect 10s is a failing grade on survey

You should get a survey card when you pick up th ecar, then acura may call and ask if you want to do the email survey too
Let the service writer and service manager you will be giving them high marks!
Next time you drop in for something- they like you!!

 

This is why I'm confused. You say that it, by design, is set up to fail. Then you say that it could be fine!

How about this. If you were going to buy a 2001-2003 TL, would you feel comfortable buying it if the transmission was replaced fairly recently?

 

Wondered about that too shnee but never really got an answer.

 

therin lies the problem!!!
Some of them do last forever without a burp
Some of them last 40k miles- some go 150

There is no FIX- and no one can say which car will have a problem!~
replacements made in mid to late 2005 and any newer than that, should be pretty reliable

I LOOKED for a car that would soon need a trans when I bought my 01, and
got a free trans a month later!!!
That made me confident in keeping it-half a new car for free with purchase!!!
and even if any problems come up- still covered by a warranty.

If I had the option of buying a warranty to cover it- Yes I would get that and feel better.

The average TL owner on the street doesnt even know there is a trans problem- but this is a gathering place for problems and tech help- so the failure numbers seem higher here.

Any car may have problems- and few have the warranty coverage on trans like we do. Go look at vw with same trans--- bad news

 

hey guys, looks like im next in line for a new tranny, my car is shuddering between 2nd-3rd and 3rd-4th under light throttle, ive skimmed through the last few pages and i think i might be screwed, i have a 2000 with 151k miles

i actually went to the dealer last week because my SRS light was on and fortunately its under that lifetime warranty, im still waiting for the call that they got the part in though. im gonna talk some more with the service advisor when i head back, turns out hes got a 2nd gen too! i asked him if he knew about azine and that its great place to learn about the car but he told me he was used to be a tech before his back gave out so he knows the car already, didnt seem like he was interested in joining.

back to the problem.. im probably gonna get slammed with the 4000 repair huh?

would it be a good idea to get an extended warranty from AAA or some other company?

any advice would be appreciated thanks fellas