I own a 2008 Acura TL with 213k miles on it. I've had it for 2 years and baby it. I love this car. I don't race in it, I don't even use the sport shifter. I just drive her and enjoy her.
6 months ago, the transmission dropped. I was driving and it literally sounded like I drove over a bowling ball. I had the transmission replaced and all was well for about 6 months until the radiator went out on the highway, leaking coolant and transmission fluid all over the side of the road, because it burnt up the transmission coolant line.
TWO WEEKS after the radiator was replaced, I'm sitting in Starbucks drive thru when the temp begins to creep up. I drive back to work, which is only a few blocks away, and the temp drops to normal. However, I call the shop that works on my company's vehicles and ask them to take a look at it because obviously something is amiss.
A couple hours later, I go to take the car to the shop and out of nowhere, it blows out thick white smoke from the exhaust. Oh fuck. I pull into the shop and the mechanic is out there and sees it. He tells me (what I suspected), a blown head gasket. A week prior, I had a code pop up on the Navi screen that said I had a misfire in cylinder 3.
Here's the kicker. This is the SECOND Acura that I've had and the SECOND time this has happened, in this order! New transmission, new radiator, new head gasket. WTF? My first one was a 2006 Acura TL I bought in Texas. This one is a 2008 TL I bought in Ohio. Five years apart. WHAT ARE THE CHANCES?? Has anyone else had this issue? I thought Hondas/Acuras were supposed to be reliable! They both are turning out to be money pits. Lightning does strike twice.

Should I replace the head gasket or just get a new engine? At this point, I'd like to roll it into the river but....MAN, she's pretty.....

 

MODERATOR NOTE: Thread moved to model specific forum.

 

(a) I don't think Hondas are as reliable as they were until the late 1990s. I'm not even sure if Honda is still in the top 5 in the JD Power reliability survey (I think they were when I got my TL). That said, the 3Gs are mostly reliable, fun, good-looking cars, but the automatics have a glaring weakness.

By now, you've probably read through some of the transmission issue threads on this site. The 2004-2006 TL had vulnerable transmissions. Many members have managed to maintain the original transmission with regular (every 15 - 30 k) atf changes, transmission switch replacements, and transmission filter changes. Honda used a different transmission for the 2007-2008 TL with a built-in transmission cooler. I think these transmissions are more reliable but many members have also reported issues. You did not mention any maintenance in your post. If you had not changed the fluid, and the previous owner had not done it either, the chances are not small that you would have had a failed transmission.

The other issues are less likely inherent to the car and could have been mechanic's error. If the mechanic improperly installed your radiator after the transmission job, that could have led to your ruptured hoses. Once your car overheated, a blown head gasket became likely.

(b) There seem to be a fair number of used engines for these cars available at a good price (maybe because of all the transmission issues). Rebuilding a 200k engine would not be my first choice, I would buy a used engine.