I too have been experiencing the intermittent difficulties shifting my car into third gear it either grinds or just chooses to pop right out of gear. Makes me really miss the 6speed transmission of my former 95 Legend LS coupe. I sold that car with the original clutch / transmission with 138K trouble free miles. This damn car has been giving me problems since I purchased it last June with 2700 miles on it. I have taken it to the dealer and they never could recreate the grinding or slippage until last Tuesday when they decided to drain the tranny fluid and replace it with quanity (3) n MOBIL ONE 5W 30. Does this seem right to you technical guys out there. I had no idea that a dealership would use 5W30 instead of the Acura brand tranny fluid. They say they have never heard of any third gear slippage. I asked them how many 05 TL A-Spec, 6speed with Navi cars that they have ever serviced and they looked dumbfounded. Could someone please respond. I am scheduled to go back Tuesday morning to have them replace the seatbelt tensioner assembly because my seatbelt is difficult to latch and also I can pull it loose when it is clasped. The car has never been wrecked. Where is the quality control on these TL's. My former Legend was light years ahead of this car when it came to quality, fittment issues, rattles and squeaks, windnoise. Don't get me wrong I love this car and all the creature comforts but the amount of wasted time that I have spent at the dealership or trying to fix rattles on this expensive of a car with less than 10,000 miles is ridiculous.

 

I forgot to note that after only 150 miles of driving the car is back to it's old ways grinding and slipping out of third gear again. I am slightly hesitant to have their techs replace the third gear set. I talked with another dealership and that was there solution 11 hour job. This car had 59,000 miles mine has just under 10,000 what the Hell is going on with Acura's transmissions in general both automatics and NOW manuals.

 

No, it doesn't sound right for the TL. I've had several Saabs in the past that use 10w-30 for MTs but in the Acura I think you can do better. At a minimum I think they should put the improved Honda/Acura MTF back in your car.

I had the 3rd gear issue but not to the point of grinding or popping out. I tried:

• Drain and refill with original Honda MTF - Slight improvement, problem came back soon
• Drain and refill with "improved" Honda MTF -got worse for me although most other reported it got better.
• Drain and refill with GM Synchromesh Friction Modified - NOT ONE 3RD GEAR ISSUE SINCE!!! It was nothing short of amazing. Just as all other's trying it have reported.

I'm not a lube expert but from what I have read it seems that regular oil doesn't have the friction modifiers needed to allow the synchros to work as quickly (surfaces have achieved equal speed) as you would like. This causes the clashing you describe.

Read this http://www.redlineoil.com/whitePaper/13.pdf. It's from Redline about the MTL product but it helped me understand a bit of the "tech" behind all of this. Others have used it in their TL as well and like it.

Lastly, tearing apart the transaxle to replace 3rd hasn't solved it for anyone I have seen post. So try Redline MTL or GM Synchromesh Friction Modified well before something that invasive.

 

I to have experienced the 2nd to 3rd gear glitch!I switched to redline mtl and the trans is much better, but you still should try to be aware of holding the clutch pedal down untill your sure your all the way in third. I still feel that slight hesitation going into third from time to time but its much better than before.I to had a legend coupe 6mt and used redline mtl in it, I feel the tl shifts smoother than the legend did . Using mobil 1 is a mistake in the trans because its to slippery for the syncros. Tried that in my legend and it shifted poorly!

 

Ah, the elusive TLer with Redline MTL in the gears.... I know that you alll are out there but the GM stuff is predominantly what is talked about. I didn't use Redline since "all the talk" was about the GM friction modified.

You say "I still feel that slight hesitation going into third from time to time". Perfect description and that's exactly what I have completely eradicated by switching to the GM stuff. It used to be that I was always timid about 3rd gear. You know... is 3rd in or not? Can I let out the clutch yet? Is the clutch all the way in ? Can it be my fault after driving MTs for over 25 years?

But after a good 3 to 4 weeks of not one problem I finally feel 100% confident that 3rd gear is engaged every shift. Vindicated...it wasn't anything I was doing. I still catch myself occasionally thinking about it as I go to shift into 3rd but it's always smooth now. I still can't understand how there could be such a big difference, but there is.

06si6spd, it's unlikely you will get a dealer to put in the GM Friction Modified fluid. (There is one in CT that does) If you are used to doing work on your cars then this is a pretty easy thing to do. There are plenty of posts on how to do it.

 

My '07 TL-S and my daughter's '07 Accord EL-X V6-6MT both have the third gear problem. She described it well when she said "sometimes it feels like there's a rubber band across the third gear gate, pushing back at you."

The funny thing is that it is totally random. Most of the time it shifts great, which is probably part of the problem. It usually only takes a light touch to shift into any gear, so that "rubber band" give just enough resistance to hold a light touch back while we're letting up on the clutch expecting it to have slipped easily into third.

The Honda dealer just refilled her tranny with the "improved" Honda MTF. We'll see how it works for her.

 

I really don`t think 3 to4 wks is a long enough period to evaluate a mtl! I have redline in my 06 tl for about 4000 miles and it still very rarely hangs up! Also cold weather has not effected its perfomance!

 

I was puzzled when I read the work order showing 3 Qts of Mobil One 5W30. I just stopped at a Chevy dealership and purchased 3 qts. of the Synchromesh. I am just bothered that after all I spent on this car I now have to pay money out of my pocket and take the time to drain the transmission fluid. How does Honda/ Acura get away with all of these problems? Thanks again for the replies. I would love to show this to some of their techs. Who knows, after this third time they will probably want to tear down the transmission and replace the 3rd gear set.

 

I agree. I'm not "dissing" Redline MTL at all. I'm just saying that so far there has not been one hangup into 3rd. Not one! I agree it's not a particularly long time but it's remarkable compared any of the Honda/Acura MTF experiences I've had. Redline may in fact hold up longer but other members comment that things are still good with the GM stuff with well over 10K worth of driving. Ten Kmiles is more than I do in a year and since it takes me about 1/2 hour to change the MTF I won't really care if I need to do it annually.

We think they know but can't go around agreeing with us. Some dealers "quietly" offer Redline or the GM stuff.

You got the "Friction Modified" stuff...right ?
This stuff (per DMZ's post here)

 

I have had the 3rd gear grind for quite awhile now.Took it to the dealer only for them to typically inform me that they were unable to reproduce the problem. Well since i drive the car every damn day of the week I notice it EVERY DAMN DAY. Basically you have to do it yourself because they really don't care. I now have about 16k on the car and to this day the dealer has not been able to reproduce anything i experience daily. Including the rear pass clunk. I had a Jeep for ten years the I trailed with, worked on and got this car so that i would't have to do these repairs anymore. What a joke on me.