Monday will be here soon. It shouldn't be a big deal for them to keep the car there for you. And you can't tell them to go ahead until you know what Acura is going to do for you. If it's going to be $3,200 at the dealer -- well, if it were me I think I'd try to find a reputable shop that would do it for $2,000.

 

These are the 3 things they replacing that comes with the offer.
- Transmission
- Torque Converter
- ECU

 

Hi, new to the forum and not sure if this is appropriate. I have a 2003 TL-S and a 2002 Honda Oddessey. I've seen the posts on the TS-S transmission issues and don't have any yet 58k. I do have the 3rd gear issue in the Oddessey though 65k. I read the posts on the 3rd & 4th gear sensors and wonder if anyone thinks this fix might work on the Honda transmission as well or if any of you have any other suggestions. Thanks for any replies.

Dan

 

Hey guys, i bought my 03 TL-S with 86K, every time i shift to reverse it had like 5 second delay, is my tranny almost gone ?

 

What's the condition of the fluid? Color, Scent, etc....

 

quick! call acura care and see if your car is still inside the 7 year plus 9 months since sold new IF the VIN is covered on the `extended trans warranty`
1 800 382 2238 x5 need cars VIN

 

lind: it cant hurt to clean the pressure switches,
and replace at least 1 draining of the atf
use Honda fluid from the honda dealer,,its special stuff

 

Yep...mine did the same thing and it is toast!

 

I now have a 2006 RL but certainly remember the 6 transmissions I put in my 2001 CL. When I heard of them failing I rushed out and bought an expensive extended warranty. Not long after Acura started covering the transmissions for an extended period at no charge.

Clearly they had a design defect. Did it ever get properly resolved ? I mean beyond the larger oil hole to try to cool the 3rd gear disintegration clutch pack or whatever ? Dealer told me that some had quit with 50 miles on the odo.

Can't beat a good old planetary gearset, in-line auto transmission ! Anyway I've been searching around to see if they ever fixed the design problem. Couple months ago saw one broke down on the road and I stopped to help. He was on his 2nd going on 3rd. Lots better luck than I had.

 

Tranny blew up 5K miles ago and I got a rebuild from a shop that I think is knowledgeable. 200 miles from home in middle of nowhere so didn't have many options.

I tried going the Acura Client Services route but got nowhere. Makes me think I should go to another car maker next time.

My current problem is if I don't let the car warm up for a couple minutes on colder mornings the transmission seems to slip and not provide power after I go a very short distance (50 yards or so). So I am wondering do I call the repair shop and try to get another fix, ignore it and warm up the engine, sell the car and get rid of the problem?

I'm not a tuner, just want a dependable car that won't need to be in the shop like the previous car (BMW) did. I have a 100K miles on it and the starter seems to be showing signs of death as well and the timing chain replacement will be coming up soon so I wonder if I want to put in $1500 plus more in the next few months or just find the next car.

Any suggestions?

Thanks!

 

I'm no expert but I'm on my third transmission and I've also noticed that the transmission works much more smoothly if I let the car warm up for a few minutes before I start driving, even on warm days. Since it seems fine I'm planning to drive my TL into the ground. My previous car was a VW Passat that I only had for three years because it was constantly in the shop. You just have to make the decision one way or the other and remember there are never any guarantees against future hassles. Despite the transmission issues these are considered good cars. I'm not sure exactly what you mean about the transmission not providing power, though. If you mean that it just shifts a little roughly/sluggishly for a while, I think that's normal for these cars. Sometimes I think mechanics are a little too eager to replace these transmissions if they have an opportunity, and mine have *always* shifted a little sluggishly at times. If I were you and I liked the car and it had been generally reliable and I didn't *really* want a new car, I would give it the TLC it needs and keep driving it. Good luck and let us know what you end up deciding!

 

I own 3- 2nd Gen TL's (and a 3rd Gen), the first one(in my avitar) I purchased 7 years ago and it still has the original transmission with 87K miles. The other two were purchased after the original trans were replaced. The other day I noticed that something sounded weird as I started to accelerate from a stop light with the one with the original tramsmission. I have been paranoid about the transmission since the day I bought this car so I am always listenning toi the shifts to see if I get any early indication of an issue. The next day as I drove to work the trans slipped while shifting from 2nd to 3rd gear a couple times. Later that day it got worse to the point where it was reving but not shifting from 1st to 2nd and 2nd to 3rd. I drove it directly to the dealer and asked them to check it out and to inquire about "goodwill". I do most of my own service so I don't have tons of history with the dealer but i do own 4 acuras so I'm hoping for some "goodwill" consideration. No prior warning, no check engine light just BAM! Any tips of comments about dealing with them would be appreciated as I am waiting to hear from Acura today.

 

For those interested.......Acura offered me $1000 credit toward the replacement of the Transmission. (A $5000 job) Service tech that works on my cars says he can't even get the part(s) for less than $2500. Tranmission place right next door says he's built over 50 of these tranny's with great success. Offered to rebuild and 1 year warranty for $2100 to $2300. Says business has been good being next door to Acura. $2100 < $5000 = Goodbye income tax check fml

 

FML?! It doesn't sound all that bad. At least you got something out of Acura. Since the car still had its original transmission they could have easily told you you're own your own. Obviously they are acknowledging your loyalty.

 

IMO Acura didn't offer me shit, The job is not a $5000 job they marked it up so they could discount it $1000 to shut me up. The $1000 is only on the table if I do the work at the dealer. I am going to the transmission place next door for $2100 as opposed to $4000 at the dealer. The frustrating part is I have owned the car for 7 years and every time I went in for service I had them check the tranny fearing this timebomb, as recently as a month ago but they never suspected a thing. And anytime you have to pull $2000 out of your pocket for a car repair it is a loss. $2000 is less than $4000 so I guess you could call that a victory.

 

Hi

On my third car, 2002 TL the transmission died on sept 2010. I got a goodwill thing, I paid 2500 for new oem tranny + new ecu installed but I had to fight with them on the phone... Btw, how often should I change the tranny fluid now?

 

The head of the service department at one dealership recommended changing the transmission fluid once a year (he said "even if you just buy the fluid from us and have the work done somewhere else). He told me that he'd always done that as a preventive measure with his mother-in-law's 2002 TL and that its original transmission was still fine. FWIW.

 

I didn't see a DIY link for the pressure switches, and search results yield little info - Is there any other literature you have for cleaning these?

Thx!

 

One of the questions they asked me was "Did I change the transmission fluid every 30,000 miles"

 

I have 130,000 miles on my 2001 TL. First tranny replaced at 36,000 miles under the recall settlement. I now have it at Aamco in Richmond, Va. Service has been good so far. Quoted $2200. I am hoping to have it back tomorrow. Will add my experience soon!

 

Hey new here. Its sad that this is probaly the longest thread in the 2nd gen forum. I was hoping someone could give me a rough estimate as to how much $$ a 2004+ TL 6 Speed into a 2003 TL Type S would be, and also how big of a job it would be, thanks

 

Picked up my car last night. $2400 for Tranny rebuild, $170 for broken motor mount and $275 for right side axle counter bearing shaft. Service was great, he called me prior to replacing the broken parts so I could come in and inspect them prior to installation and the car was ready when promised....hope I never have to post in this thread again.

 

Lots of $ and even more time! Worth it if you plan on keeping the car, the guy that has one here with the same mods pulls me every time when we get to 70.....

Which mount? I just did mine and didn't pay that much for any of them from the dealer. Mine was the third in the car now, lame. Ended up going with that level 10 stuff, not sure of the difference yet.....if any. Seems to pull slightly harder over 100 but I'm not convinced its the parts. I had to replace the case too which sucked but whatev. Did all the mounts at the same time and that made a huge difference, the one's in the car must have been fucked.

 

the 6 speed option for us is the engine and trans from a CL-S..
see thread near top of gen2 main thread list

pressure switches/shift seleniods cleaning has been detailed here with pics and directions
ck the `Official DIY list`,,3rd item down the main gen2 thread list

change the fluid- at least one drain and refill of 3.4 qts every 15kmiles/once a year
If you drive it hard- one draining every 7500 miles might be a good plan
Use honda DW-1 ATF it replaced the very old zr-1

the trans gives very subtle feeling and signs before it goes out-but any of them mean its going to happen!! just how soon is the question

the front and rear motor mounts are 150 bucks each retail
and are fluid filled, plus vac boosted!! failure causes mystery vac leak- engine miss
the car will run better now too!

new rebuilds- I would change ALL the fluid at 5000-7500 miles
get out the shavings and `break-in wear` residue
then stay on a yearly plan==atf change is easier than engine oil change!

 

Hey 01tl4tl, thx for all the help! But I'm truly not seeing something specifically referring to the shift solenoid screens.. I may be missing it, but can you paste the link?

 

long thread but let me add on last week was the first time i felt a problem hit the gas nothing for a second or two then fine and didn't think much of it and went on a little road trip of 200 mile straight no problem but don't drive it everyday so the car sat for a week and today same thing at slow speed hit the gas just rev then find again could this be minor or the tranny going 03 with 92k and whats the average price to rebuild 2k don't want a new car now still happy with this one

thanks

 

I have a '03 TL-S with 107K miles and have rarely used the SS feature. Can I expect prolonged transmission life into 150K + range, or can I expect it to go at any time?

 

Using SS or Dont doesnt prolong Transmission Life.
SS is often blamed becouse you only Use SS to Speed but Speeding in AUTO or anything that makes the Tranny shift into High RPM will hurt it.

And some people have trans for longer than that, Personally mine went out at 114k and Im on my second with no Problems.

 

downshifting at max rpm in SS puts excess heat into the weak clutch packs
otherwise it doesnt matter

change the atf to the new honda dw1, clean selenoids and replace external filter
once a year do at least one drain/refill of atf 3.4 qts

 

My '03 TL-S transmission has been serviced by my Acura dealer to replace the 2nd gear recall issue, and a second time to replace a leaking pump seal, TC mainshaft oil seal and rear differential seal. None of my invoices show, nor has the dealer ever advised me, that my transmission has been replaced. Yet, it has the blue bolts on transmission housing.

Does this, without a doubt, mean my transmission was replaced, or would the other maintenance Acura completed result in the blue bolts being present on the housing?

 

Hey everyone,

Im new to this forum and Im really serious about buying a 99 3.2TL. I've read about the common tranny issues on this car for some time but I keep coming across one trend and that is the 00-03 TL's have a higher percentage of failure as opposed to the 1999 4 spd transmission. Is this true? Which year amongst the 99-03 TL's are the best to buy?

Any information would be helpful.

Thanks so much,

 

Hi,

I have a 2000 acura tl with 195K miles on the car, 103K miles on the 2nd transmission. Recently the p1739 check engine light came on and i got the 3rd clutch pressure switch replaced as this seems to be the most common cure for this problem.

However the check engine light came right back on and p1739 is still there. I notice that AFTER the pressure switch replacement, shifts from 2nd to 3rd are a bit slower than before. Other than that no other problems with the transmission.

My question is is there anything else that i can do short of replacing the transmission? How much time/miles do i have on this tranny now?

Thanks.

 

Hey Integra, while the '00-'03s fail often, the '99's aren't trouble free by any means. My '99's trans was replaced at 75K and it's at 115K right now and seems like it's on it's way out again with harsh shifts, whining, and hesitating into reverse. Not to mention the '99's have the typical first model year teething problems. Apparently after a certain year (not sure which, I'm not nearly as knowledgeable as most on here) the transmissions replacing the defective ones were repaired correctly so they don't fail again. If I were you I'd avoid these TL's all together (just my ). I know I'm posting this weeks after your question, but I'd feel guilty ignoring your post and leaving you under-informed. Wish you the best on your search for a car

 

Man these tranny stories are nuts

My cousin's just went, it had 128k on it :-(

My 03 Type S only has 59k, should I do the tranny flush at 60k or just leave it alone? I would flush it but I have heard of stories about the shifts becoming harder, IDK?

 

Never flush the trans in your TL. Either just do drain and fill or do the running tranny fluid change method. There's videos of it just do a search.

 

I'm sorry, I meant a draining the tranny fluid then filling it back up. I will take a look at that running tranny fluid change. So replacing the fluid will be ok?

 

You should be able to do a 3 x 3 drain + fill if you like. Yours is even lower mileage than mine is. I have an 01 right now I just hit 72k miles. I did a 3x3 when I was at about 69k miles and so far no issues of any sort. Better to do it now then w every oil change or ever other one u can do a 3 quart drain and top off to keep it all fresh.

 

So I'm considering buying my friend's 2000 TL with 200,000 miles on it. He bought it brand new in 2000 and has taken it to the same Acura dealership for 100% of the maintenance. It runs great and looks great. He's in the process of tracking down all of the service records and I haven't yet asked him about the transmission, but should I be more worried about this transmission if it's the original one or his 2nd or 3rd one? Is there any truly "fixed" tranny that could be in there that I don't have to fear its eminent demise?

Thanks!

 

Just talked to my buddy and found out the transmission in the car is the original transmission, only thing that has ever failed is the starter 4 years ago, the AC motor last year, and one of the door handles. All were replaced by dealership with OEM Acura parts.

Should I be concerned about the transmission? Obviously it doesn't suffer from the problem that caused so many other failures if it has 200,000 miles on it but how long is that going to last? He has driven it plenty hard so I know it's hasn't lasted from being babied...

 

I'm speaking as an owner, not an expert, but from what I've read and from my own experience, these transmissions have a tendency to fail, period. If you really want the car, buy it. But do so with the knowledge that you MAY have to replace the transmission at some point. It could be in a year, it could be in a few years. It also could be never, but there is no guarantee, and you won't be able to blame your friend if it does fail. You have a lot of information to read in this forum before you buy. I would also suggest that if the shifting starts to get a little rough, don't replace the transmission right away -- wait until it's very noticeable. Also, the transmission may last longer if you have the car maintained by a good mechanic, avoid being rough on it (accelerating too fast just to show what the car can do, for example), and let the engine warm up for three minutes (in hot weather or cold) before you start driving. I wouldn't recommend against your buying one of these cars because I love mine, but don't kid yourself about potential issues that may come up. Good luck!