So...had to replace the tranny in our 2004 TL auto. It’s got 120,000 miles. I think in that time, only one partial fluid replacement was done. The fluid though, when we replaced it, wasn’t burnt smelling, but was very dark.
Suddenly it wouldn’t shift properly, just spun in neutral. If it was cold, we could get the car to move, but not for long. We decided to replace with a rebuild from H and A Transmissions as they are the company American Honda uses and all the dealers use.

http://www.hnatrans.com/index.htm

About 60 miles after the rebuild though, it started acting up. Symptoms were dash lights all came on (VSA, check engine, exclamation point and gear indicator light flashing). Car wouldn’t do manual shifting. At freeway speeds, wouldn’t downshift with full throttle, after accelerating onto freeway, would stick in 3rd gear. If speeds dropped below 35mph, it would downshift properly. On freeway, wouldn’t upshift to 5th. Stays in fourth. From dead cold, it seemed to shift normally for about 10 miles. After turned off and allowed to cool a little, we could get a mile out of it before the symptoms.

So, it’s being looked at now, but based on this, what do you guys think? Tranny again? Computer?

 

You may have a broken flywheel.

 

It can't be a flywheel since it's auto,

 

Have you checked fluid levels and run the codes?

 

Fluid levels were fine before original tranny went out as well as after the replacement. The repair guy is checking codes as we speak.

 

maybe buy a Honda remanufactured tranny so that you know it's done right.

 

Honda themselves don't actually remanufacture the tranny's. They buy them from H&A Transmissions in SoCal. American Honda buys them from them, and then ships them to all the Acura and Honda dealers. This is were I got the fully rebuilt one.

I've confirmed this with H&A, several repair guys, and my brother in law who works at America Honda corporate in parts. Interestingly, he says that sometimes when they are out of stock on a rebuild they'll send a new one to a dealer instead!

 

The car needs to be scanned for codes. If you have any P07xx it is a transmission issue. Did they change out any solenoids or reuse the ones that were in it?

 

H & A is a great company, get in touch with them, tell them what's going on

 

Honda doesn't use H&A as their only rebuilder. Honda has a number of suppliers for their reman units. However, none of the parts people I have spoken with have ever received a rebuild from H&A.

When you installed the reman unit, did you have to reuse the original external sensors from the old transmissions? I ask that because it sounds like this is an electronic problem, not a mechanical problem. In fact, I wonder if your old unit really failed...

 

 

yeah, I just didn't word things right. I know they use other manufacturers. Perhaps they use H&A for a lot of west coast stuff.

I don't know about the electronics yet. I'll find out Monday.

 

dcrandon, out of curiosity, how much was the bill to replace the transmission?

 

Well, this first shop wanted $1050 for labor. I'm pretty sure he charges book rate. I'm a big hater of book rates by the way. The second shop charges by how long it takes to do a job, much fairer in my opinion. That was $500.

The tranny itself was $2000. That seems to be the MSLP. Both places priced it the same. The dealer wanted $2500 through the parts dept. That's about $200 more equivalently. What I mean by that is you can buy the tranny with various warranty's.

Base price of $2000 includes one year parts, no labor, no car rental. Add an extra $100 for one year labor, $200 for 2yr P/L, $300 for 3yr P/L $400 for 4yr P/L and $500 for 5yr P/L. This includes $65/hr book rate labor, fluids and 3 day car rental.

Add another $100 per year if you want $95/hr labor and 5 days car rental.

I opted for an extra $100, so I got the tranny for $2100, 1yr P/L, labor at $65/hr for the book rate time it would take to remove and replace and 3 day car rental at $35/day.

I can tell you that Honda doesn't make much profit on this part. I could have purchased it through a relative at Honda. Normally parts are about 30-40% off that way. That's what the dealer pays Honda for a part. But the tranny was only $250 cheaper that way. Honda sells it with the 3 yr P/L waranty if they put it in, 3 yr parts only if you buy it through the parts dept. Interestingly, if I did it that way, Honda would send a truck to pick up the core, but I'd have to get it from Honda to the repair shop.

 

They were great on the phone when I first contacted them. I actually put my repair place in touch with them. Normally my repair place does their own rebuilds, but they told me $1300-1900 depending on what needs to be done. I just wanted to do the whole thing to avoid any hassles down the road of other parts going bad inside.

 

Thanks for the response dcrandon. That answered my question and more. I appreciate it.

 

Well, it appears there was a bad solenoid. I don't know which one yet or where it was, but now the tranny shifts fine. They replaced it at no charge.

However, my VSA light and the exclamation point lights are still on. They didn't have time to figure out why before I had to pick up the car. These lights came on after the rebuild was put in and I started having the shifting problems, but the repair guys says it's a coincidence and they probably have nothing to do with the tranny. I haven't even checked the VSA fuse yet, so who knows, it could be that simple.

 

Glad to hear. I figured it was something simple electrical.