TheGoodGuy

Maybe perhaps its my driving style but the TSX tranny got flushed 3x by the dealer today, it was dark brown apparently.

For a while I had been complaining to the dealer that the tranny was acting funny. It would shift down for even depressing the gas a bit more (at freeway cruising speeds). They couldnt find anything wrong but last oil change they said it was getting a bit brown but should be okay to the next few changes and keep an eye on it. Then when I got my rear pads replaced I had them check it and they said it needs to be replaced at next oil change.

In the last few weeks I've noticed that going up the 405 would make me smell slight burning transmission fluid, I also smelled it leaving the House of Blues on Sunset (steep slope) the other night and also when I took a left from La Cinega to Sunset. I also smelled it accelerating onto the 118 from Tampa.

Basically I think it means the transmission was slipping badly.

Today Center Acura (Keyes Acura transferred their dealership to here) changed 3x transmission fluid. The car is running MUCH better. I've only driven 20 miles so far and its behaving better. I'll update once I take a longer drive.

Just thought I'd give you guys a heads up. I am a high mileage driver so some of you wont see this pattern. I also use the manual shift override from time to time.

I think we might have to be a bit more careful with our 5A auto.

thunderbt3

How many miles do you have on your TSX?

CU2MIKE

+1 on the mileage, as I've already got around 43000 miles on my car........

09TSXTech

^ I believed he mentioned 36K in another thread.

Hopefully this is not a repeat of auto tranny problem they had a few years back (2004 where almost 500K Honda/Acura was recalled due to tranny problem http://www.theautochannel.com/news/2...30/201658.html).

Colin

I little different, Acura and Honda haven't had those issues with the 4 cylinder trannys.

coffeefingers

DANG...good thing I bought that 120K miles extended warranty!!!!



I can't believe Acura can't make a friggin' tranny that can last!!!!

09TSXTech

Colin, does the TSX 5AT model comes with a transmission oil cooler (like a mini radiator in the front) ? I drive a 6MT model so I cannot check.

Shift_Acura

hmm havent heard of many TSX with tranny problems. Hopefully they just improved an already reliable trans

lightjak_tsx

thanks for the info

TheGoodGuy

Update:

I have 36K on the car currently. I forgot to ask the tech if the car had a tranny cooler. Its quite possible that it doesn't.

I know colin you work in a dealership, but it might be at least for the tip of the iceberg. We shall see, I am going to keep an eye on this thing. I took it tonight with my girl down the 405 to 'fathers office' and she smelled it too (her sense of smell is much more sensitive than mine). The car is running beautiful on straight line (almost like when it was new) but going up hill you can smell the tranny fluid burning smell. I'll have center acura check it on friday again to see if nothing is loose.

In the mean time heads up. Check on your transmission fluid regularly. When I talked to Keyes on the acura transmission fluid life they said usually they need replacing at 60K, so i am quite surprised at 30K i was brown as ever.

I have a feeling that this might be an issue with the addition of the 'paddle shifters'. Using those probably accelerates the ATF going brown.

limleong

At 36K and having brown ATF oil is highly unusual unless you are towing a heavy trailler long distance all the time. It is also unusual to smell burnt ATF oil even with spirited driving using paddle shifter unless you are towing heavy trailler.

I would suspect there might be sone inherent defect with your tranny. Might be worth seeking a seocnd opinion from another dealer.

Colin

Sorry, I'm not sure about that one.

TheGoodGuy, IMO, if you're smelling something, there might be an issue, for everyone else, I'd refrain from pushing the 'panic button' unless you too are smelling something.

RKeatF1

One Transmission problem does not make it an issue for all.
Not sure who manufactures the trans for Honda, but any company will have some parts go bad. Which is what i would suspect is going on here.
My 2 cents.

MrOtocinclus

I know this is difficult, but would someone please describe what burning ATF smells like?

Usually after I drive up a hill or do spirited driving, I can smell something coming from my car, but I always attributed that to my not usually driving like a maniac (high revs), sort of like that smell you get after you first get the car.

tcwatkins

I take it that "brown" tranny fluid means it's running too hot and the fluid can't take the heat and breaks down? (Yeah, I know nothing much about cars.....)

TSteezyX

I know that after driving my car very hard on spirited drives, I can smell my brakes roasting away. Most likely from extensive left-foot braking, but damn the car grips so much better; I can't resist.

StonedCL

iTrader: (1)

Honda has a very big weak spot with there trannies.. That is one of the reasons I leased this car So i would not have to worry like my last car (2001 CL type-s with 4 trannies replaced) It took honda 5 years to get the 5 speed auto tranny right and there way behind on there tranny designs.. other companies have 6-7 or even 8 speed auto trannies where honda just came out with a 6 speed auto (which I would not trust for the fact being the first year the 5 speed came out they had like a 50% failure rate)
I would not be suprised if there 5 speed trannies are still failing prematurely..

Colin

I'm sorry, but I think you're away overstating this. Honda Motor Company has been around since the fifties and during its 60 years of existence they have manufactured their own transmissions. So it is fair to say that they had had "a very big weak spot " with one series of transmissions manufactured during a very specific period of time. (the five speed automatic from 2000 to 2003).

I will agree that the difficulties with the five speed are probably the reason that the six speed was so late to arrive. But I think that the cancellation of the NSX program has played a bigger part than many think. It seems pretty obvious that the new NSX was going to be a front engine rear drive with a longitudinally mounted engine. This would have required a clean sheet design because none of the transverse transmissions would have worked in this application. (not to mention the power requirements)

So my guess is that while the folks on AcuraZine were whining about this or that, Honda was simultaneously working on three new transmission projects. One would be the new six speed automatic, the second would be the new dual clutch for the motorcycle division, and the third, the new transmission for the next generation of the Acura platforms. (which I can only hope will see the light of day in the future)

09TSXTech

^Agree with you Colin. Hopefully what happened to TheGoodGuy is an isolated incident. At least Honda/Acura stands by their product evidence in StoneCL having his tranny replaced 4 times.

I am having too much fun with my 6MT at the moment, may be my next vehicle will be an AT model but that will be quite a ways yet.

TSteezyX

Also, lets not forget how buttery-smooth Honda's manual gearboxes are! Best in the business, no doubt!

katmai

Part of the reason I bought a manual was because I didn't trust Honda's autos. I know too many people who have had Honda trannies replaced repeatedly over the years. I don't have any real evidence that they're any worse, but my own personal observation is enough for me. They also don't have many vehicles with 6 speed trannies which are pretty common elsewhere, and none with 7 or 8 on higher end vehicles like the competition. Some of their manual trannies are great, but I do consider transmissions to be one of Honda's weak spots overall.

That being said, this is the first time I've heard of someone having a tranny problem on this car. Isn't the transmission similar to the previous gen car?

onthelimit

I smell rubber after spirited driving on backroads

hondu

I would have to agree with Colin as well. This is an isolated case. The only problems that I am aware of that Honda has with auto trannys have all been related to their V6 applications. Their 4-cylinder auto trannys have been very good and trouble free. By the way the "bad" trannys I believe had a failure rate around 2-3%, not 50%.

katmai

That might be. Like I said I don't have any real evidence nor did I look into it all that much. Those were just my personal impressions from people I know with Hondas. I know a number of people who have replaced 4 cyl auto transmissions under warranty, some 3 or 4 of times over. On the other hand I really don't know anyone who has done that with other brands. That may not representative of everyone however, and I wouldn't claim it to be.

So far my opinion of the TSX is that its an excellent car. The only real flakiness its exhibited overall are the bad tech speakers, rear brakes, engine pinging, and some people's window and roof molding coming off. I have two of the problems but they've been fixed. So far the rest of the car has been very solid and I'm quite happy. Some of my friends build cars at Honda, and this is by far better than most of the ones they make. I wouldn't hesitate to buy this car again knowing what I know about it after almost 2 years.

hondu

You are the second person I've seen mention the pinging problem. Are you using 91+ Octane gas, or smething lower? Is there a TSB for this issue?

Colin

^^the ping is kinda like a UFO sighting. The people who have seen em, swear by it. Others, search the skies and strain to find them.

hondu

LOL. I would think the pinging would have to be related to the kind of gas being used. Or a bad knock sensor.

ed_423

^it is isnt it? a bad knock sensor.

JD23

Do you do any driving through mountains? I had to get my transmission fluid replaced at around 17,000 miles (not for a TSX) because of the stress my transmission experienced while driving up steep grades in the mountains. Whenever I reached the top of the mountain, which is where I was living at the time, I could smell burnt transmission fluid if I opened the hood.

ggarding

I currently own a 2005 TSX 5AT. Transmission/Torque convertor and three new motor mounts were replaced at 96,000 miles. ( Covered under CPO warranty). I also had a 1996 Honda Prelude. Transmision went out on that at 25,000 miles. My wife had a 1999 Honda accord coupe's transmission go out at 60,000 miles, and to top it off my 2001 Honda Prelude transmission went out at 40,000 mile and then again at 110,000 mile. All these ccars were automatics. I peviosly had owned a 1986 Integra, A 1989 Integra, a 1992 integra and a 1996 Integra. Al these cars went well over a 100,000 miles with no problems in the transmissions whatsoever. It is the late 90's and on that seem to break down...

ggarding

The good news is that Honda's transmission failure rate is only 6%...

outersquare

last i looked the K24Z3 auto trannies were derivative designs from the rest of the K series autos.
this design family is not known to have any particular weak spots, but there is no such thing as a manufacturer that builds every single car perfect.

I had a 2003 K24A4 accord, with a bunch of bolt ons and made almost 150 WHP/150 ft-lbs, basically same as most stock auto TSX.
that car was heavily abused, i brake stalled and hard launched the auto tranny many times, the car made it to 100K miles without any problems.

fceeviper

You know, I been having a similar issue, I think.

When I'm driving downhill and I begin to brake gently, I feel the engine downshifting/brake by itself a bit.

Is this normal? Should I bring this up with my next service?

jnc2000

Grade logic. It's a Honda transmission thing.

fceeviper

Ohh.

Just making sure, I have an appointment on Tues to check my speakers and brakes- called to confirm, and asked my service pro about it, he told me its normal but he will check it never the less.

buddah51au

Heat is the biggest killer of Auto transmissions & degradation of the Automatic fluid. I don't take any chances & change the transmission fuid every 20,000km. It's a very simple DIY.

TrojanTSX

Not trying to open up old threads but I have noticed a whine when I accelerate from 20 to 40 mph. Not aggressive accel nor a "grandma" accel. Lasts about 2 secs and then its gone. It seems to be in the 2nd to 3rd gear range and around 2 to 4K rpm.

Anyone have this type of whine? I think its transmission related but could be tensioner related too after reading some other posts.

CAgine

All the time, and I'm pushing near 60K miles on this thing.

Anytime I push the car hard on the hills, I can smell the oil burning. Been like this since I had the car @ 0 miles new to now. Not a single problem, although the pinging was a real problem and I had that addressed about 3-4 times @ the dealer (surprising it took 4th time to deal with it.)

Mercedes>BMW

what is pinging?

ceb

Pinging is improper ignition. Sounds like a few marbles rattling around in a can.

You'll get pinging on our cars under heavy accelleration if you use regular gas and sometimes in the morning. Infrequent pinging generally doesn't cause problems