First some background:

2004 Acura TL w/ Nav
Automatic Transmission
Roughly 135,000 miles on the clock.

The past few days when driving, I've noticed that engaging from Drive to Reverse would have that "Delayed" effect. Meaning me throwing it into either R or D would take a while for it to "lock" in to engage that mode. It was very minor, and I shrug it off as paranoia or just over thinking on it.

Today however things got a bit hairy. I was driving back home and was fast approaching a red light. I braked well in advance but noticed that the downshifts up to the light were VERY rough. I saw a noticeable spike in the RPM tach when braking and everything just felt extremely rough.

Upon accelerating from the red light, I experienced the same, but in terms of going up in gears, as the upshifts became very "laggy". As if the RPM meter glided when upshifting instead of a fast, swift tick. Once more, as I pulled into my house while slowing down, the downshifts were very very rough.

As I parked in my driveway, I had to reverse a bit to position my car. After reversing, when throwing into drive, once more it felt like it took a LOT to engage into the proper 1st gear in Drive Mode. I had to almost blip the throttle to get the car moving.

I think we can assume by now it's the transmission. The car hasn't quite "broken down" as it can certainly move, slow down, and accelerate, and thankfully it's at home now.

My question now is: What can i do from here on out? I called my mechanic, he will be dropping by tomorrow. I stupidly never changed my pressure switches or fluids, and now I fear it may be coming back to haunt me. So far, from what i've described, is the transmission STILL salvageable in the sense that if I DO perform the switches and fluid mod?

Or am I looking at possibly having to replace the entire tranny?

Thank you guys in advance. I'm very concerned and would just like to know the root issue for now. I think it's safe to say I probably should NOT try to drive on the car for the time being in the fear of being stranded or being a safety hazard.

 

bump?

 

I would have the mechanic pull the filter and replace with a new one to see if that might be slowing the fluid as it's a quick and inexpensive repair, then fill it up and see what happens.

 

Thanks turbo nut...so replace the transmission filter and refill with new trans fluid?

If i may ask, are my symptoms that i outlined something that would be effected by an aging filter/fluid?

Trying to keep my hopes up

 

Just a shot in the dark, really can't say, but I've serviced numerous cars that stopped moving just because the filter was clogged, not TL's though. If the fluid is burnt, it has been overheated and may indicate damage done to the trans, but once again, I've serviced many cars that the fluid was very dark and burnt, added new fluid and the car was fine. Have changed many A/T's, but actual internal trans problems are far from my area of expertise.

 

I have the same problem. When I shift from reverse to drive it takes a second to switch over. Not sure sure what this means.

OP have a look at this thread.

https://acurazine.com/forums/3g-tl-2004-2008-93/diy-major-transmission-tune-up-fluid-filter-switches-mount-screen-cleaning-867107/

 

I don't know if this helps, but when I replaced my battery, I have noticed improvements in shifting. It wasn't bad before, but it felt smoother and occasional rough shifts are gone. Is your battery healthy?

The logic I had was that since all the pressure switches are controlled electronically, the condition of the battery may affect the operations as well. When I had a faulty APP sensor code, my mechanic pulled the code and told me it may actually be the battery as the error code I had seemed to indicate the battery was at fault, not the APP itself. After replacing the battery, the code didn't come back.

I'd still drain and fill the transmission fluid though. It could still be the transmission itself. I personally do the drain and fill every other oil change.

 

 

When you disconnect your vehicle battery and leave it disconnected for more than 20 minutes your ECU resets. Thats probably what happened in your case.

 

Actually, that's not what happened. The battery was replaced while the car was still getting electricity (at Acura specialist shop), and I didn't have put the codes in because the power was never interrupted. The ECU was never reset.

I was told the battery wasn't producing stable voltage as it was getting older. I think my battery wasn't giving the transmission pressure sensors stable voltages to work properly all the time. The occasional rough shifts I experienced before doesn't exist any more after getting a new battery.

 

If this were a year ago I would never believe the battery but I've had similar experiences after replacing a crappy Optima for a Diehard Platinum. The car in the summer time drives so much better, it's night and day. The surging is completely gone, it feelslike a new car. Not transmission related though. These cars are very sensitive to voltage.

In the OP's case, it's not likely anything but the transmission. You can try replacing the serviceable filter but that one is usually fine. The one that gets plugged up is the non serviceable one that you can't get to without taking the trans apart.

How does the fluid look and what is the level like?

If the level is fine, fluid is burned, if you want to limp it around, do at least a 1x3 of pure Type F fluid. Don't waste your money on the good synthetic stuff, go to the autoparts store and get the cheapest Type F available. It might get you a few more miles but it might not. If you get good results with a 1x3 of that fluid, do another.

 

 

OP what was the outcome? Are you still with the original trans? Has anything changed? I had almost the exact same thing happen to me today. I have already changed the pressure switches and changed the fluid to redline 10,000 miles ago.

 

O.p comes on ask question and dissapears....Too busy on celca forum..lol