Ahhhh so about 2.5 weeks ago i got myself my current dream car, the 3g tl

everything was fine its a dip with only 86k and i snagged it for $8k

yesterday BOOM transmission starts locking up, was doing 30-45 on the highway and the car would freeze up and stop like if i floored the brakes (luckily noone behind me)

the engines rpm shot up to 3-4k and the car wouldn't move...

today my mechanic told me i need to rebuild the tranny. damn.

so my question guys is how much does this typically run?

he told me hell do it for me for $1,200, reasonable? what should i look out for? what should i tell him? he gave me a guarantee for a year, how should i attain proof of this?

also if anyone wants to inquire about the symptoms i had before my tranny gave out ill explain, just ask, for 04's this is typical, apparently.

 

Yes it a good deal to rebuilt the transmission at that price, to obtain the warranty make sure you get something that explain in written contract or in invoice. After you get your new AT make sure you change out 3x3 ATF regularly (every 10k miles) and change the 3rd and 4th pressure switch every 50k miles. Honda sure make glass AT, seem like the owner before knowing about this issue and they just want to get rid of the car before the AT needed to be rebuilt.

 

Thats what it seems like.. :why me:

ill take it to the mech tomorrow and make sure to get the invoice from him.

thanks.

 

thats a good price man i paid $3k to rebuilt the transmission, make sure he use oem parts

 

Unforunatley now you know why the car was so cheap. Good this is with the price of the rebuild you still got a decent price

 

That sucks man...at least you got it at a decent price (even with the rebuild)...good luck going forward...enjoy the car!

 

damn that sucks, no wonder it was only $8k

 

sounds decent they were charging me to give me a rebuilded tranny on my 5at since my old one has a cracks on the case but bought a used one for a cheaper price

 

I would actually be skeptical of a price that low; has your mechanic ever rebuilt a Honda/Acura 5AT before?

Aftermarket rebuilt kits (rubbers, gaskets, steels, frictions, etc.) are atleast a few hundred dollars.

Did you purchase the car from a private party? Did they have thorough maintenance records?

You might try contacting them and seeing if they will help out; that's how you tell the good eggs from the bad.

 

$1200 for a rebuild? snap that's a deal!
I need to find that!

 

Long story short, I work at a gym, he goes there gave him a deal and he gave me one too.

Normally, he told me, he'd charge 1,800-2k for the tranny rebuild.

I guess since ima "friend" thats why the price.

Also the person i bought the car from told me when he gave it to me it was good and honestly theres nothing i can do on that end. NYSDMV says it themselves BUYER-BEWARE

 

yea, learned THAT one the hard way

 

oh well at least even with the rebuilt price you still manage to snag it for a good deal.

 

I paid $10K for an 04 with 131K on it this summer , even after the rebuild it's still a sweet deal if the car is accident free.

 

Does anyone know if I change the switches, will it stop the hard shifts immediately or is the damage already done?

 

That price will likely go up once he gets into the transmission. This is likely the '04 specific lube problem, not the normal clutch pack failure. The transmission is going to need a lot of hard parts, there's no way it can be rebuilt properly for that price and still turn a profit. Sometimes with the '04s you're better off looking for a used '05-'06 trans due to the carnage. Usually a "rebuild" is replacing frictions and rubbers, not hard parts.

 

Hard parts were fine, he gave me a warranty on the job he did for a year, my error was the stupid P0741: torque converter solenoid stuck off.

i bought the pressure switches and had him put em on also along with new mounts. The tranny's guts looked fine according to him, however almost all the clutches were ground down to nothing but bare metal. I took em as proof. I will be watching my tranny more closely now, and will be doing more regular fluid changes.

Anything you would recommend in order to prevent this from happening AGAIN?

 

Shes accident free just needs TLC on the exterior and of course the rebuilt tranny


Question for everyone: im not familiar with how the TL should behave in working condition. that is to say how should it be driving now, after the rebuild? is it still normal for like a 2 second delay from park to drive/reverse? how should the car "feel" as it shifts through the gears?

 

Do people actually do a 3x3 that often? The Acura dealership charges $90 to change the trans oil, and if you ask them to do it 3x they will want $270 because it's 3 times the work for them. Even if you do it yourself it is an insane amount of work to do it that often.

 

You have new switches, right? Use any Dex III fluid or a mix of Dex III and Type F fluid. Redline is a great brand, so is Amsoil. Redline's Dex III is "D4". Amsoil is "ATF" lol. They're both synthetics so you can go a lot longer without changing the fluid. You can also use any off the shelf non synthetic Dex III fluid. I'm guessing with the conditions of the clutches, he installed new steels?

With yours trying to lock up, I would be very surprised if all hardparts were fine. I guess you will find out over time. I would have gone with a later trans because the '04 had the unique lube problem and the others did not. Does it have an oil jet kit installed? If not, it's a good idea. I can't remember for sure but I believe the factory will do it as a recall.

 

Hmm, i called up a Acura and gave em the vin the car has no recalls on it... now I'm getting worried again . Ima change the fluid to Redline D4 within the next two weeks though...