Hello,

First off I would like to say thank you to everyone on this forum. A lot of good advice and tips!

History:
I got a very nice 05 TL about 3 months ago. It has an awesome car fax report. The transmission had been serviced twice at dealership. It had 144k miles on it when I bought it. Being a honda product the mileage didn't bother me to much. Until I found this forum and seen all the issues people have with there transmissions. The trans. Seemed ok to me when I bought it. After really paying attention to it I did notice a bit of a "lunge" to it when it shifted.(I was driving a 2000 jeep Cherokee with 200k miles before,so the Acura seemed fine on test drive.) So for preventive maintenance sake I changed the pressure switches. I did a 1x3 dw-1 drain and fill (no difference felt). Two weeks later I did another 1x3 dw-1 drain and fill (felt a big improvement in shifts). Then two weeks later did a 1x3 redline d4 drain and fill. I seen a lot of hype on this stuff after I did the the first two changes, and seen that they are compatible. Anyways shift quality got worse. It's shifting like it was when I got it maybe a bit worse even. Did I do something wrong? Should I have stayed with the dw-1? Should I do 2x3 with redline d4? A 1x3 with redline racing type f? I know there are a lot of threads on tranny fluids ( which I have read), but none just like my situation. Not sure what to do. I just know I don't want to trash this tranny I love this car! Any opinions, advise, or tips would be greatly appreciated. Thank you and God bless.

 

Just a quick reply. You'll find that the TL trans is unique, unlike the Jeep trans, in that even when new the shift is far from soft and smooth and you'll have the feeling of the car lunging depending on various conditions e.g. speed, acceleration.
Before you bring it up, the trans is also slow to engage gears when shift lever is moved to another selection, P to D, D to R etc. normal.

 

I can second on the slow shifting (from P to D or D to R). It gets me nervous sometimes but it seems normal

 

Thanks for reply turbo nut,

So your saying that a "lunge" shift is ok.
I've seen some posts of people saying they
Can't even feel their car shift. Also it still worries
Me that my shifting got worse with redline.
Should I let it ride or go back to Dw-1?
Or put more redline in?
Thanks

 

Don't know how one can't feel the shifts especially with the OE fluid as just starting out normally when the first shift ocuurs it is far from soft, but this is with the OE Z-1 fluid. Never needed to change the fluid so I've not used the DW1 to see if any difference in shifting.
Always been an OE guy, but the D4 is a recommended replacement, according to Redline, so it in no way should harm the trans, but certainly could change the shifting pattern.

 

I feel better after talking to you. Your exactly right on it will shift differently in different conditions. Sometimes it's smooth and sometimes I can feel it. I think I was just freaking myself out. As far as the fluid I'm going to leave what I have in. Then on next oil change I'll do a 1x3 with Dw-1. I'm usually a oe guy too, but it seems like everyone is on the redline train. Just out of curiosity how many miles are on you car turbo nut that your still using z1 fluid.
Thanks turbo nut !

 

'04-88,000 miles

 

I switched over to the new Honda fluid when it first came out, made a noticeable difference. Trans had malfunctioning 4th gear pressure switch. I replaced it and so far all is well in the 1K miles that I have driven it I drive a 02 CL-S which has the exact same trans as the 04-mid 05 TL

 

Your going to become one of the people who watches the needle everytime the cars shifts and gauges how the shift felt....don't worry your not alone.

As for redline D4 I've had a bad experience with it, but I assume the tranny hasn't had a drain and fill till I bought it with 143K on it. I didn't notice issues with my tranny until I completed my third drain and fill with redline D4 ( I also did switches). Again, these transmissions seem to be very sensitive. I believe it all depends on the state the transmission has been left in to determine whether or not using redline d4 or maybe even Dw-1 is good or not. You might even be better off just riding it out with what's in the tranny.

I know IHC (I hate cars) was going to make a thread discussing Redline with its ups and downs.

Your situation may not end up like mine did having to get my tranny rebuilt, like I said every situation is different.

 

Yes you are correct. I'm a needle watcher. I'm big on maintaince. So that's why I bought the car I did. It had an awsome carfax. Over 80 service records. It had the tranny serviced twice. It didn't notice any problems with transmission just the slight "lunge" I was talking about. I hope my tranny lasts. I've seen posts that a tranny rebuild can run 4k! I only paid 6,500 for the car. I'll probably stick with Dw-1 in the future though.

 

Yea I was in the same ballpark I paid 7k for mine, but paid 3,200 for a rebuilt tranny. So it's added up quite a bit It all depends on what shop does your rebuild and during the warranty period you should be paying CLOSE attention to any symptom that occurs.

I've put 1k on the tranny so far and it seems that I still have a slight shudder shifting from 1st to 2nd. I will make sure this is taken care of because I'm not letting 3,200 go down the drain. But overall shifts are great, I used to get a delay if I was cruising at 50mph and hit the gas. It felt like the car was winding up and eventually it would take off. I don't have that anymore feels way more responsive.

 

Thanks for jumping in due diligence. I was happy to see that the tranny was red when I changed for the first time. My brother just had a 99 civic that tranny just died at 280k. That's what Honda is about. I wish our trannys were made that good. I got my fingers crossed . How many miles were on yours when it died. Also what fluid are you running in your rebuilt tranny?

 

That's def a good sign. I'm hoping to get another 100K out of the tranny which shouldn't be a problem if it was rebuilt correctly. Mine died around 147K, I want to say it was about 300-400 miles after completing my last drain and fill I felt my first shudder when shifting from 1st to 2nd.

When they rebuilt it they used Valvoline Maxlife and put in some Lubeguard friction modifiers. Although Valvoline isn't the greatest product adding the lubeguard puts it up to pair with OEM (I was told). But later down the road I'll convert to OEM (warranty issues)

The thing is after 1k on the rebuild I believe I'm noticing the 1st to 2nd shudder at very low speeds usually sitting in stop and go traffic. So I want to be sure its there and take it back to the shop.

I wish you well with the tranny