Well, I'm about to take my TL back to the dealer for repairs. The first time I went in, it had about 1000 miles on it and the 6MT was notchy going into 2nd/3rd/4th. The dealer said, 'it will go away with time'.

Well, now it has 5000+ miles on it and it still notchy going into 2nd/3rd/4th... it also appears that when the car is cold and the temp is below 70 degrees, the car will actually grind going into 2nd gear. I'll push the clutch all the way in, and still I sometimes have to play with it to get it to go into gear. If the dealer tries telling me this is normal, I'll be forced to smack him.

I just junked a 1986 Honda Accord and I swear it shifted far smoother than this TL ever has. On the plus side, at least they are giving me a loaner for the day.


* oh.. and my window molding is also deformed on the drivers side. Uhg.. all the problems since day one.. perhaps I should have just gotten a Chevy. At least then I would have been prepared for such shotty quality.

 

my car was notchy going into 2 and 3 but it fixed itself after awhile. now its smooth as butter. i have 2500 miles on the car right now. also with 5K on the odometer i would imagine you did mostly highway driving. you would never really be in 2-3 on the highway. so maybe that is another reason why it did not fix itself.

 

I've put a lot of highway miles on it recently. but of my 5000+ mile I currently have, 2000 of that is easily city. Also, regardless of highway miles or city miles. I don't find it acceptable for me to tollerate my 2nd gear grinding (not notching, but grinding) when it's cold. For this level of car, I even think the notchyness is rediculus.

That's like them giving me sh*tty tires that flat spot and trying to say 'oh.. well.. just drive around and it will go away once it warms up'.

I'm not interesting in 'work arounds', I'm interested in solutions. A car of this 'quality' should drive wonderfully right off the lot.

 

CBlackburn,

Let me know how you get on with your tranny issues. I may be having to do the same thing. I just got out of a 350Z (Nissan repurcahsed) with the EXACT same troubles (ground constantly in second) and moved to a manufacturer that I understood to have the best manual transmissions and I am still having problems. I know how to shift, I have been doing it for years with no trouble.

I hope it will get better as others have suggested. I am thinking of moving to synthetic fluid to see if that helps. I just really don't want to go through this again with another car!

Stu E.
04 Satin Silver/Ebony 6MT Venture Clear Bra

 

Do not lose heart it does go away!

 

it's just the start baby. i lost count how many times i've been in there.

gotta go in tonight because my keyless memory settings and my seat memory are out.

 

Whelp, I've dropped the car off and they gave me a POS TSX as a loaner. Gawd, this car sucks. And it's automatic, which makes me feel like I've been nudered.

The guy claimed 'the notchyness is normal, it will always be there. And the fact the the 2nd gear can grind when it goes into 2nd on cold days (before engine is warmed up) is normal too'. I told him, if I would have known that the TL was great for looking at but sh*tty for driving, then I would have never purchased it.

He's keeping it over night and will drive it tomorrow morning to see if the gear grinding shows up. Hopefully it will.

Will keep you posted.

 

I have similar problem as you, and I have almost 7000 on mine now. Sometimes the notchiness is not due to temperature, 50s really can't be considered cold.

In the last week or two it has behaved better.

At 6000 I flushed out the tranny fluid, but that didn't help either.

I am thinking about going to something thicker like Redline MTL, but others have warned me it would mess up the synchro mesh... But I think someone posted that they put it MTL and it works great. Don't know what I should do.

 

I'm starting to wonder if the problem is only with the 6MT's or if the 5MT's experience it as well.

 

Don't think the TL comes on 5MT...

 

My mistake.. you are right. I glanced at their site a while back and saw '5 speed', but they were talking about the automatic.

 

Updates?

 

cblackburn - what is your VIN? Mine is 18xxx

 

Got the car back today. Again, they say the notchy shifting is 'normal'. They had a car on the lot that that had about 4,700 miles on it and it was having the same problem. I'm going to call/email Acura Care today and see if I can get any action from them. Pretty sad when my $1,000 '86 Accord shifts far smooth than my '04 TL. If I would have known before hand, it would have certainly influence by purchasing decision.

I swear is seems less noticable when it hot. It's burning up outside today, and the notching was still there.. but not as bad.

 

My VIN is 31xxx

 

In the cold morning air things were much worse and once things were warmed up the shifting was much better, but NEVER perfect. As I have mentiond in the past, this does concern me since with the Z these notchy gears turned into grinding gears with more miles.

The irony about this issue for me is that I purcahses a Honda product to remedy this problem with my Z. I have heard nothing but praise for Honda manual trannys up until now.

Vin#: 37xxx

Stu E.

 

Well, I called ACS and explained my case. I also intend to write a letter. They basically told me 'they've never heard of that problem before' and my best course of action it to talk to the factory rep the next time he is at the dealership.

I asked him why ACS always says 'this is the first time I've heard about xxxxx problem'. After digging, he said that their database of complaints isn't searchable by the phone support people. Basically, they are just their to document problems/comments. The only time they will say "oh.. I've heard about that" is if they personally spoke to someone with the same problem or heard someone mention it around the watercooler.

uhg..

Oh well, it's 6pm.. I'm going get in my notchy ride and head home. Ciao!