The only improvement that I know of for sure is that the case was redesigned (this is why only some of the 04s needed the oil jet kit) for better oil flow.

 

that could be just to deal with 2nd gear overheating problem (which is not the leading cause of failures). I also heard that they upgraded some of the parts, same specs but just more durable materials and supposedly step-up quality control to make sure parts are machined to the specs... or so they say.
still beats me how some people get 100K+ miles from original transmission.

 

2001 TL...first tranny went at 70K in 2007....Acura replaced it at no charge.

Got the dreaded P0730 code today after getting engine revs at 40mph in 5th gear 2 days ago. Now it's at 113, 600 miles on the OD.

They (my local Acura dealer) just quoted me $4,500. to replace. The car is pristine and looks like new, runs like a champ, burns no oil....and it needs it's THIRD FREAKIN' TRANSMISSION!

I'm done with them. I was going to give this car to my son and by a new TL within the next 2 months....not anymore.

I've been on this thread for over an hour trying to find some info on second party repairs....has anyone gone to Aamco or other transmission repair shops and gotten any better repair prices and had any better luck?

Thanks guys...

 

06+ TL trans in there

 

ok guys, you are upsetting me. but here is the deal, my car has a trade-in value (edmunda/kbb) $4000, but I know I will be lucky to get $3500 for it. I have 2 more years left on my tranny warranty. So here is the delima, do I sell now or take a chance. I know if it fails after 2 years I will dump the car because it will be worth less than tranny costs, but it there is a chance it will live another 3-4 years I think its worth it. If get a new car, it will be $30K car, so I will be paying $500 month... I think even if my car only lasts 2 years, $3500 sounds like a good deal for 2 years (compared to depreciation of a new car).

forgot to mention, car is in great shape and I just put new tires and have timing belt done, so really no major work is needed for next few years.

 

I was a guy who a few years ago loudly shouted that the tranny failure problem was exaggerated, as I had read some literature that stated that only 2%-3% of the 02-03 TL's were affected. Well, my tranny failed a few days ago and I am a few months out of warranty. My dealer (I've had two Acura TL's exclusively serviced there for over 10 years) is talking to Acura about a goodwill repair. I am keeping my fingers crossed!

 

that 2 percent was about the 2nd gear shaft breaking, not the real problem we all face
with clutch pack/disc wearout

With your dealer history, a serious amont of goodwill should be coming your way
maybe 300 for the 3/36 warranty and labor only on trans,,,or free everything!

 

Hey I have a question. It may have been answered here but I can't read 73 pages... lol

My 06 TL has a whining noise when you first start moving and sometimes when I'm going to put it in reverse if the car is rolling forward just a little bit the tranny snaps it into reverse, it's not a smooth change same vice versa...
is that normal? especially the whining. Car has 57K miles.

Thanks

 

you will have better luck posting in gen3,,this is for gen2 cars
but a whining noise can be trans related or brake related

NEVER swap direction gears with the car moving--what are you thinking!!
its not much more than a motorcycle transmission in there, with not enough clutch disc to make it all hold together~ treat gently in 2nd and 3rd gears especially

You may even have a broken motor mount- which the front and rear are vac assisted to smooth idle vibration in gen3..and cause many probs when fail

Sounds like you are not DIYer, so take it to a shop for inspection
Look in phone book for a smaller ad place with honda/acura listed for what they work on

 

Good Afternoon,
I'm new to this thread and site, as I have just received the DTC P0740 on my '03 TL which has 198k miles. There are NO symptoms I can tell from driving or sounds I hear. The 'check engine' and 'TCS' lights just came ON during a short drive to the supermarket. When I got home, I put the OBD meter to read the code and viola, here I am searching the internet.

My car has been serviced regularly and I had the 2nd gear recall service performed back in '05(?) with no major problems ever! Of course the warranty is long gone and I'm hopeful that
it is just the clutch valve or similar smal item and NOT the tranny!

I erased the code and will drive around tomorrow and see if I can discern any strange noises and/or quirks with the shifting.

Thanks for sharing your posts and reading mine!

 

pray harder !!!
ck the trans fluid dipstick- how does it smell- burnt? and color?
ever change the trans fluid?

 

the 2nd gear oil jet kit is a seperate issue than the clutch pack failure most of us experience

at 198 I think you are the new record holder on original trans!

 

shit, if you can get 200K of the original transmission its a record in itself.

 

This car has been serviced regularly so the trans. was drained back at 96K miles.
I'll check the fluid today for the color and smell, thanks.

 

sooo 100,000 mile ago- half of the cars total life- you had the trans fluid changed?
and it still went another 98 on top of that
I am amazed- congrats to you Sir!

 

Here's the deal I was given:

Acura will pay for 50% of the tranny parts and labor and the new tranny will come with a 3/36 warranty for no extra charge. Total out of pocket for me is $1700. I was 18 months past the 7 year, 9 month warranty so I really can't complain.

 

I was told that since the economy tanked, it's no more "free everything" from Acura. Unfortunate, but understandable.

By the way, there is some confusion on the exact length of the tranny warranty, so I'll spell out what my dealer told me:

The warranty is 7 years, 9 months from the date of manufacture (NOT date of purchase), or 114,500 miles, whichever comes first.

 

your dealer guy is wrong
direct them to the acura website- warranty begins on the cars first date of sale
Until then its just a parked vehicle

New cars may sit months on the lot before being sold--they cant deduct warranty from you because it sat there unused--
So-Your new car warranty is reduced 1 year because you bought at end of the year sale!! thats crazy talk!!

who was that anyway- the service writer? and same person who said they throw in the 3/36,,no my frind, they upped the total $300 so it includes the extended warranty without asking if you wanted it-
as they do for every TL that gets a partial coverage under Goodwill

on miles: its 109 for most of the VINS, with a certain range of vins have a court case that says those cars have a 5% fast reading odometer, so they get 109+5% = 114.5 `indicated` miles

 

18 months past and half price is a great!! deal-
make sure to send a thank you letter to acura and mention anyone who really helped you.
those survey cards are read and acted upon for bonus cks~

 

it's from the in service date that should be listed on your invoice. my in service date was 03-31-02 and my warranty expired 12-31-09.....

 

I thought I'd update you on my transmission mission.

I took it in for service today: to drain and flush the transmission. They said that the fluid definitely was dirty and polluted with clutch plate material. So since the car has so many miles, instead of replacing ALL of the trans. fluid( approx 19 quarts) they said they would only replace half; the thought being that all new fluid would definitely bring on slippage problems for this old tranny. After they test drove it and said no problems were detected. They did recommend that I now change the fluid every 40k miles or so.

So the trip to Quebec City is ON( 360mi)!

"Drive-On"

 

I'm looking into buying a tl/cl type s. I was wondering what is the process of getting the transmission replaced by acura under a recall? I have heard as long as you have less than 100k they will take care of it. Is this true?

 

I just got mine done last week and got a much better deal than that.Do you live in an area with more than one dealership?If so,I'd check and see what they hear from Acura just to make sure the first dealership is being honest with you.I have an 02 with a little over 50K miles on it and it had the original tranny.I'm the second owner of my car.It was bought in August of 01,so it was out of warranty by a year and a half,give or take.I took it in last week and let the service manager drive it.They also put it on the computer since I had gotten the check engine and tcs lights the week before.They quoted me 4K for a new tranny and said they would call Acura about helping me out.I got a call later that day and they said Acura would pay 75% of the cost.I told them to go ahead with it.They did find a cracked engine mount that I had them replace.I got a new tranny with a 3 yr./36K mile warranty,new ecu,new engine mount all for $1,380 with tax.I know that Acura works on a case-by-case basis,but I don't see why Acura wouldn't give you similar help.In the past,I only brought it to the dealership for recall work and a rear brake job.I will be bringing it in for routine maintenance now.Hope this helps.

 

rai- there is a recall from 2004 to install an exterrnal oil jet kit to bring oil to a specific part of the trans
They do a boroscope inspection of the trans and IF specific heat damamge is found to that part- they will replace the trans under warranty

IN addition there is a court ordered 7 year 9 month trans warranty from first date of service/ 109kmiles -114.5 for odometer error vins -see list
That covers the issue most of us face- totally different than the recall case

 

03- they said 19 qts of fluid!!! someone is pulling you leg just a mile or two~
it holds 7.3 total
a correct 3x3 will take 12 qts
Even my suggestion for those going to a different brand is only 14-15 qts

how many hundreds did they want for that ?

and in the end they did a 3x3 with probably 9 qts after telling you it had a lot of clutch material in the fluid?
Did they give a guarantee of `Goodwill Warranty` when the trans takes a dump on your trip?
It will be ok for 5 minute test drives but get it hot after washing out the glue holding it together...
Make sure you have road service valid wherever you travel

was the service MANAGER in on this??

 

note= that most dealers dont do a 3x3 on a gen2,
acura says 3 qts is a normal trans service, and they know that more can kill a trans,,especially one past warranty~

the 3x3 is required if you added Dex3 to the trans in an `emergncy top off`
thats all the owner books says to use it for

 

Just a thought regarding ATF, I'm not saying that I advocate using ATF other than the genuine Honda/Acura Z1 fluid, but I did notice on the Amsoil website under the Amsoil synthetic ATF fluid that it specifically states "AMSOIL ATF delivers outstanding protection against sludge and varnish deposits that clog narrow oil passages and contribute to clutch glazing."

The reason why I'm pointing this out is because as I understand it in regards to the 5AT design flaw, as the third clutch pack wears from the lack of oil flow, particles and debri from the clutchpack end up blocking off oil passages which winds up becoming a "domino-effect" in which the more the 3rd gear clutchpack wears down from the inadequate oil flow it continues to excaberate the oil flow problems by blocking off all of the other oil passages which could ultimately result in the 1st, 2nd, 4th, and 5th gears and clutchpacks wearing down from the blocked off oil passages which originally had adequate oil flow.

And considering that the Amsoil Synthetic ATF claims to be able to either reduce or eliminate the debris and deposits that would block narrow oil passages as you would find in the Honda/Acura 5AT, is it possible that the Amsoil synthetic ATF could assist in halting the domino-effect of the 5AT self-destructing by the debri and particles of the 3rd clutchpack wearing down blocking other oil passages to the other gears and clutchpacks?

 

if you started using it when the trans was young sure
a lot of gen3 switched to it, and gen2s with warranty replaced trans--some are on it

 

Wow, that's definitely good to know. But could Honda/Acura give someone a problem with covering a 5AT replacement or rebuild while under warranty if they found out that you weren't using the genuine OEM Honda ATF-Z1?

 

1. Amsoil makes a lot of claims about a lot of things, but its a design flaw and when clutch pack starts to come apart it will continue to come apart, usually at accelerated rate. There is no magic fluid to stop deterioration of the pack, even if you hide/remove all the debris it will still stop working.

2. Its pretty much guaranteed that Acura will deny a claim if you use non ATF-Z1 fluid. Its in the manual (use only Honda ATF), and they do ask for receipts if you change fluid outside dealership.

 

`magnussen dodge act` prevents them from denying unless they can PROVE the stuff you used caused the problem,,hard to do with the trans`

per dealer techs I know- they are looking for certain symptoms, not brand of fluid, during the test drive for trans failure
then its drained out and gone- nobody knows
Keep your mouth shut!

 

So i have 132xxx miles on my 02 tls, took it to get the oil changed the other day, got the full service, so they checked all the fluids and tire pressure and all that. After the oil change, I started to notice the trans slipping/jerking as it changed into gears. Is my trans done? Do you think it could have been something they did at the oil change place? im not sure if they added trans fluid or not. any help would be greatly appreciated. thanks

 

oil change place!!!! ughhhh
look at your receipt- if they did a drain and refill on your trans with dextron3 fluid or a powered machine flush- they killed your trans

Its well known around here that high mileage trans and lots of new fluid is a bad plan- the cleaners in new fluid wash away the last of the adhesion the clutch plates had and the trans dies soon after

even adding ANY dex3 'in an emergency topoff`- this is from the owner book=
requires a complete change of fluid with honda atf using the 3x3 method'

you need to look and see what was done--there is a liabilty on the shops part if wrong fluid used,,or if they overfilled it because they dont know the acura method
ck it:
Drive 15 minutes easy freeway- get off and stop on level ground in safe location
car in park- key OFF- remove trans dipstick and wipe clean
insert fully and remove
read- should be halfway between the dots- not at max, not at min- between the upper 2 dots

 

i thought for automatics your suppose to check the oil with the car running? also, about that 3x3, i just bought 4quarts of acura tranny oil today. i was talking to the service manager, and he advised they dont do the 3x3 method. they just drain, and refill to 3-3.2 quarts. im about to change mine and no one can give me a stright answer. do i do the 3x3 method, or do i just drain and refill to 3-3.2 quarts (depending on the dip stick) ? idk? i dont want to fu*k up my tranny.

 

im gonna check tomorrow, so what if I check and it doesnt read in the middle?

 

you would add a few ounces if at the low mark
let car cool a few hours and repeat testing of level

The TL is not a normal car!!!- hence ck our trans with 15 minute freeway- not in town stop and go- that will raise the indicated level from heat--
freeway cruise then stop- park- ck

for our cars with high mileage a 3x3 is a very bad plan and your dealer knows it.
as said before- its really for when you added the wrong fluid and need to clean all of it out.

a single drain and refill takes 3.-3.2 qts--depends how patient you are on the draining~
do 15 minute freeway cruise before draining for best results

 

Al you need to know exactly what fluid was used if they touched the trans
most cars run on dex3- which kills our trans

 

note- indicated fluid level on trans dipstick will change with trans oil temp
after an hour drive it will read full if halfway when ck'd after 15 minutes
thats why you want it `in between` the upper dots at the specified time

Im guessing the 3rd, the lowest dot, is for techs to know there is close to enough when cold on new trans install- thats a guess based on guessing

 

my tranny failed maybe 2hrs after buying the car. Took it back to the dealer where its getting fixed right now. Said it should be ready tomorrow (hes had it all week). Car I think is now going to be on 2nd tranny cause lloks like original one still in therr made it to 165,000km which is amazing. Glad its getting all fixed for free.

 

At 132000km, tranny failed, slipping in 2nd and 3rd gears, canadian car not covered under US extended warranty. Rebuild found third gear drum spring had failed (due to heat build up) and led to severely worn clutch packs. Tranny has an internal filter that cannot be removed or cleaned without tranny removal, design flaw I surmise is the cause of failures. This filter clogs over time as clutches wear and restricts fluid flow to clutch packs and since 2nd and 3rd gear are the most used in daily driving, they wear out first and get hot due to restricted fluid flow. The only solution, and this will not fix the problem by no means, is to keep the fluid changed often as the clutches wear out. I installed a new 3rd gear drum and all clutch packs and new filters. Some models have and external filter that can be changed, mine does, but the internal filter plugs first and cannot be changed without tranny removel. So, in a nut shell this is all due to a poorly designed tranny, which is a shame because if it had a redisigned filter system, I suspect there would be alot fewer problems.