Hey there.. TL owner as of the 16th. Loving it so far.. but had a question about the auto transmission. The car has 53,000 on it and it seems to have a kind of agressive almost jerky transmission. Usually in the 2nd and 3rd area its just not *smooth* Brought it to the dealer and they said that i need to have my transmission fluid replaced <which i made an appt for> will that fix it? I have a 90xxxx bumper to bumper warrenty on it so shouldnt worry too much.. should i?

 

You will be amazed to how smooth the transmission will become once you change out the fluid (hopefully)...Make sure they dont just drain and refill once. I would ask what their procedure is on changing the ATF. One way to check is to use a white cotton rag and wipe the dipstick with it before the change, and do the same thing after the change. The new color should be substantially redder/pinker. If it is only slightly red, then they just drained and refilled once. We have 7.6 ( i think) qts of ATF in the tranny, of which you can only drain 3.2 (or 3.6 ...i forget) at a time. After three drains, and refills you will replace about 70% or so of the old ATF. To get to 90%, you need to drain and refill 5 times. Sorry for the long explanation , hope this helps!

 

I dropped it off today and they said they use some machine that sucks out all of the fluid and then the replace it?

 

Well, the service manager at Acura dealership where i bought the car told me that Honda America has strictly advised (keyword there) all their dealerships not to use flushing machine on Honda trannys since they have tiny valves and stuff in the tranny that can get potentially damaged by force flushing. I believe that force flushing when you havent ever done at like 80K miles can be more harmful than good, but at your mileage you should be ok. Also, I may have been fed BS by my dealer, but who knows. Then again, Honda service manuals tell dealers to change ATF via the three change method....Its all very confusing...Cars are like math, there is more than one way to solve a problem, and everyone is going to have their opinions about it...But its a good thing you got that warranty on your hands! Im sure you'll be fine and if they used the machine, they got out over 95% of the oil, so you should feel a noticleable improvement in your transmission. Also, i believe that Acura Dealer workmanship comes with some sort of warranty.

 

sounds good! Yea it seems to shift a bit better.. still a little *lurchy* in 2nd and 3rd. I figure I will just keep bringing it up when i bring it in there for oil changes and stuff. And yes.. Definatly a piece of mind with the ext'd warrenty. I made sure to pay the $$$ for the best one that covers every single freaking thing.. But definatly loving the TL. Have to get some pics up and on here for you.