quanaman

iTrader: (4)

Hey guys.

Need desperate help.

I was changing my transmission fluid for the second time, and I decided this would be a good time to change the filter as well since I had it sitting for a couple of weeks.

Well, it was a total pain in the ass to get it out. But after I finally did, I started putting it together. It was hard to get back in, but I put the spring in, then the filter, and then the filter cap. As I turned the three screws that hold it in place, one by one the area around the screws broke, leaving me completely f*cked. It wasn't even all the way in, so I wasn't over tightening it. Here are pics to show you. Hope jda123 doesn't mind me using his pics.

This is what I was removing


These are the screws i was tighening


And this is what happened:


And this is old vs new transmission:


I called my local Acura Dealer and they said they didn't have the part in stock, and it would take about a week to get here from CA. Well, I'm basically screwed overall. This is the second day of issues; yesterday it took me two hours to change out the transmission fluid for the first time. The fill screw for ATF was so tight, I broke two extensions AND a breaker bar before I upgraded from 3/4" drive to 1/2 and using a pipe for extra leverage.

The part here is about 25$, but I'm car-less for at least a week. How amazingly unlucky. I'm thinking of buying all the parts from Delray Acura and then just having my dealer re-install it so I don't f*ck anything up again. But then I'd have to pay to have my car towed 12 miles there, and then 12 miles back because I doubt they'd put in my Redline Racing fluid...probably against some sort of policy.


If anyone has any input or maybe has an old bad tranny they could take this out of for me...that would be AMAZING.

F. M. L.

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

Hope you get the part installed correctly this time around...



if it makes you feel any better, my car is on stands and i fucked up one of the simplest jobs.

legendbliss

How does this =broken transmission?

I hate cars

That sucks but parts like that I try to push all the way in by hand to make sure nothing binds first. Tighten evenly, take turns with each screw. Even if the filter went in just fine, if you tighten one screw only, that piece will get crooked enough to bind and break. It doesn't take much to break those little cast aluminum ears.

quanaman

iTrader: (4)

Yeah, this totally is a suck.

I've decided that I'll probably have the dealer put it back together. They said it would "probably" just cost an hour of labor, which is about $109.90. I think its well worth it for the piece of mind...I'd rather they break the next thing than me. He said that when I bring my car in, they would even give me a loaner car for a couple days until the parts come in from CA, and they would put my RR fluid in for me. The parts guy also price matched DelRay Acura's prices and ordered everything for me.

I'll probably be using a tow dolly to get it there, paying tow truck drivers....isn't one of my favorite things to do. Has anyone here loaded a TL on a dolly before?

It just sucks walking by my car every morning and hopping in my dad's old 00' Camry. Ew, much?

/whining.

jda123

I have done this on 4 cars. You should be able to thumb tighten all of those bolts to near seat while pushing in on the housing. About a quarter more of a turn to about 15-20 foot pounds is enough. The o ring makes the seal - the bolts only hold the housing on.

If the spring got turned sideways before you put the filter on, then that is probably what got you.

sddale

If you have AAA they will tow it for you either 7 or 100 mi no cost depending on what membership you have.

quanaman

iTrader: (4)

Yes, the first time, the spring was turned sideways and I couldn't get the filter in all the way. Afterwards I realized what was going on and thought I got it in right.

I think what got me in the end was not having the housing in and aligned 100% right. I think it was in there slightly crooked and as I was tightening I couldn't straighten itself out because of the super tight fit. Stupid mistake. I couldn't even push the housing in by hand, and the filter wasn't what was stopping me. I guess it's a very tight and precise fit. I also ordered new screws, old ones were slightly rusted which only added to the problem and tricked me into thinking that was the reason why it was so hard to tighten them.

I'm back to debating on trying to tackle this again myself. I'm not sure if my car will be able to climb my dolly because of the aspec kit. It's also a pain in the ass winching a non running car. Plus, we are expecting snow this week and I REALLY don't wanna tackle loading and towing in nasty weather. I may be better off giving it another shot myself, which shouldn't take too much longer than half an hour. It'd take longer to load and tow the damn thing.

Ah. Who knows. Parts come in Thursday.

myblack04tl

Yea, when I did mine awhile back the hard part was getting the spring and cover to pop in smoothly. And make sure you tighten each of the 3 screws evenly so you don't F up the little cover.

quanaman

iTrader: (4)

Update.

The parts finally came in, and I put everything together. Luckily there were no hangups this time.

It was MUCH easier this time around. I think in part because I picked up new bolts while I was at Acura. This helped a lot. The old ones were rusty and I couldn't turn them by hand, which added a lot of aggravation and time to the project, given that you can only turn each screw about 1/4-1/2 of a turn with a wrench because its such a tight area. Even with a ratcheting wrench it was annoying. So this time, the new screws helped because I could turn them by hand almost all the way there.

I decided to say screw it and I got another new filter, spring, O ring, rubber gasket, blah blah blah. It only took about 20 minutes to put it in, tighten everything up, and put the airbox and all that back together too. Finally added another 3.5qts of Redline Racing, and I was back on the road. Glad I didn't tow it to the dealer and fork over the money.

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

stvtec

iTrader: (2)

Well done, sir. Having the dealer do it at that point would have been the suck.

jda123

You can spray those rusty bolts with brake cleaner or pb blaster and thread a nut over them (or use the housing holes) and it will clean 'em back up in a jiffy. Keep this in mind if you ever want to save a trip to the dealer. You can also use a socket to help you thread the bolt by hand - they have larger diameter for you to try and grip (just don't drop 'em unless you have a telescoping magnet handy).

I am glad that you got it.