06TLIL

Hi everyone,

I've spent a lot of time lurking here and benefitted from everyone's expertise over the years. I know transmission issues are common on our TLs, and I'm in a bit of a bind...
Driving from Georgia to Illinois when my transmission decided to crap out in central TN, while driving uphill. Had been holding steady at 65-70mph when it cut out: as usual, the RPMs went up but no power was getting through to the wheels. Pulled over, got a tow to a nearby town, and now my car is at the shop. It's got about 145k miles on it.

The guys here say there's a chance I can get on the road again with a fluid drain and replacement. I think it's highly unlikely to work. When I discussed other options with them, they mentioned a Jasper replacement (mainly, I think, because of the warranty). It sounded as though they had put one in a few years back and had no issues, but this clearly isn't a common line of work for these guys. They're the only shop in town, though, and have good reviews and do lots of business (I hung out for a few hours until they got to looking at my TL).

As far as I understand it, here are my options:
-Get lucky and finish my drive (~8 hours) after the fluid is replaced
-Find another trans (rebuild? reman? salvage? jasper?)
-Junk/sell the car here...(and hopefully recoup the cost of the repairs and new tires I put in a few weeks ago—seems the 06 TL is not going for much anymore, sadly)

Jasper quoted me 3253 for a new trans (after rebate from sending them the old core). I've looked at car-parts.com and a few other places, and found shops selling rebuilt/reman units in the mid $2000s, along with salvage yards offering even cheaper options. I've also read here about the 06/07 honda accord v6 transmission swap, though I'm not finding those to be any cheaper than the 06 TL rebuilds / remans.

Anyway, just wondering if people had any thoughts. One concern is geography...not a lot around here, between chattanooga and nashville, and the fact the car can't be driving to other shops for quotes. Anyway, any thoughts or references to parts suppliers would be appreciated.

peter6

There is almost identical thread here. Guy was going uphill and car died.

It's most likely because Atf overheated. Once it cools down car should be fine again.

https://acurazine.com/forums/3g-tl-problems-fixes-114/p0741-tranny-code-death-thanks-suggestion-thoughts-964490/

Difference is that he had code for torque converter. But if you were driving under 50mph then yours wasn't locked as well.

06TLIL

Just got back from the shop and they're saying it's toast. I had tried it a couple hours (should be enough to cool it off in this weather, I'd think), and it still wasn't working so I think these guys are probably right. There's no way to know I'm not being gouged, by this shop, though...I wish the fix had been that easy!

losiglow

iTrader: (1)

That's a tough decision. Towing to another shop would be expensive. That TL is probably worth around $4K-$5K at most. I'd be hesitant to dump $3K+ into it.

I think I'd probably be looking to pawn it off. Even if it happened in your hometown it's just not worth the money to fix.

Best of luck.

horseshoez

iTrader: (2)

There is a different way of looking at this type of an investment in a car only worth a little more than the necessary work...

A number of years ago my wife and I both took the plunge into the world of being small business owners, and as such, the new cars had to go. I ended up driving a (then) seven year old car which had a bit over 100,000 miles on the clock but was in otherwise pretty good shape. At exactly 109,000 miles the transmission failed. My options were to sell the car and buy something else or fix the one I had; the cost of the remanufactured transmission, installed, was about 75% of the value of the car (when running), and I opted to fix it. Why? I reasoned if I sold it in non-running condition I would get virtually nothing for it, and then I would have to spend considerably more than the cost of the transmission to buy something at least as nice in similar condition.

I spent the money on the new tranny and ended up driving another 100,000 virtually trouble free miles.

06TLIL

Even though it's an anecdote, thank you for sharing that, horseshoez. I'm in a similar situation (just joined my friend's new business so we're now a 2-person outfit), compounded by the fact I just spent a pretty penny on other repairs: brakes, control arms, tires, etc just a few weeks ago. Financially I don't think I'm in a position to buy a new car so I'd probably get by without it for a year or so just fine (I work remotely); however, I have to consider that going car-less brings other issues into play such as insurance (I.e., continue to pay with no vehicle? or suffer a rate hike after a gap in coverage?)

So far, I've found a few companies with 3yr warranties for a reman trans—I just wish they had more reviews. ETE reman is definitely cheaper than Jasper so I may go with them. The piece is 2614 (after $750 is returned to me for the core) and the shop here quoted me 500 to install. Jasper came in at 3253 after $800 returned for the core. Both have 3 year warranties. Rebuild isn't even an option since no one local can/will do it!

Aaron Schmidt

Just reading through this thread. I’m in a similar situation right now. Headed to dinner the other night and entering the on ramp RPM’s go sky high, my ‘06 TL fails to enter into gear. Luckily I got it off the road. It’s now sitting at my local AAMCO shop, waiting for their estimate. I love this car - bought it 1.5 yrs ago from my elderly neighbor who had all maintenance performed at the dealer and as required - so I’m not sure what to do. My wife bought a small biz so I gave up leasing and bought the TL for $6K with 105K mi. Now at 119,500 or so. Hoping for good news but expecting the worst. Have most people faired well with a rebuilt? If I can get another 3 years out of her I’d take it. Thanks. Update: Just found out the error code was for torque converter, but was advised that is the standard code when tranny goes. Awaiting estimate. Thanks in advance for any input.

06TLIL

Mine was a corporate car before I bought it, with good maintenance records as well. Bought it 4 years ago at 109k, now it's at 145, and all the mechanics I've spoken with (and what i've seen on the boards) suggest to me that the transmission is the main thing to worry about. Hoping this investment pays off and I can get another 100,000 miles / 4+ years out of it. I'm going to end up going with the jasper transmission—this shop has experience with it, and it would be the quickest to arrive (since I'm not local, getting the work done in the next week or so is a high priority for me). The other options were one from rock auto dot com, manufactured by The Transmission Authority. Cheapest and seemed to come with a good 3 yr warranty. For about 600 more, I found retailers selling an ETE Reman unit, and then the Jasper is another 600 higher than that. The mechanic here balked at how inexpensive the TFA piece would be—at about 2200 (including shipping) he was concerned they aren't using quality parts. Anyway, the Jasper with labor and tax is going to come out to about 3800 total...

06TLIL

Mine was a corporate car before I bought it, with good maintenance records as well. Bought it 4 years ago at 109k, now it's at 145, and all the mechanics I've spoken with (and what i've seen on the boards) suggest to me that the transmission is the main thing to worry about. Hoping this investment pays off and I can get another 100,000 miles / 4+ years out of it. I'm going to end up going with the jasper transmission—this shop has experience with it, and it would be the quickest to arrive (since I'm not local, getting the work done in the next week or so is a high priority for me). The other options were one from rock auto dot com, manufactured by The Transmission Authority. Cheapest and seemed to come with a good 3 yr warranty. For about 600 more, I found retailers selling an ETE Reman unit, and then the Jasper is another 600 higher than that. The mechanic here balked at how inexpensive the TFA piece would be—at about 2200 (including shipping) he was concerned they aren't using quality parts. Anyway, the Jasper with labor and tax is going to come out to about 3800 total...

Aaron Schmidt

Thanks for the reply - good luck w/ your repair. I’ll post what I hear back from AAMCO as soon as I get word.

Aaron Schmidt

Just heard back and got probably the worst news possible. Not only is the tranny gone but it also needs a computer replacement which I need to get a cost on. Sounds like I’ll probably have to go a different direction. It seems like it’ll cost me more than she’s worth at this point. Anyone have this same issue?

nfnsquared

How do they know the ECU/PCM is bad?

Aaron Schmidt

Told me they got a particular error code when they ran the diagnostic.

horseshoez

iTrader: (2)

Hmmm, I'm smelling a second opinion; both a tranny and a computer at the same time? Color me skeptical.

Aaron Schmidt

Probably a good idea. Thanks.

j.miniaci

I'm in similar situation as well. I found a trust worth transmission shop through my dad's mechanic and I can get a rebuilt transmission for 1900 taxes in and that includes Labour all that. It's a blessing because I ended up taking my car to aamcco and the price for rebuilt plus labour was looking at 3000 and to be honest I've got work done by then before and price was reasonable but this time I needed a second opinion so I got one. Better to be safe than sorry. My vehicle has 315,000 kms on it and it has been maintined really well and I believe this is the first time there's been any issues with tranny. So with that being said i plan to keep this vehicle as it's strong and I really haven't even experience the true power yet seeing the tranny has been wearing out. Always get a 2nd or even 3rd opinion before making decisions and if you want to still keep your car then you may need to invest a little more then you anticipate. If it's in amazing shape I don't see why not these engines are strong boy.

j.miniaci

Just to add the kms are mainly highway btw

j.miniaci

Akso to hate to say it but sometimes some mechanics will tell you a long kistbof stiff that's needs fixing mean while it doesn't so also remember certain places are a business and there purpose is to make money that's it

j.miniaci

* long list of stuff