I was in a local Acura dealer picking up some power steering fluid for my annual drain and fill of the reservoir. I inquired about pricing for a case of automatic transmission fluid, stating that I drain and refill the transmission on our 2000 TL four times a year to avoid the notorious failures of the early TL transmissions. The counter guy said "The new TLX is even worse than the early TL." and said many TLX vehicles are coming in for free replacement under warranty. Free or not, who needs that? What's the word in the Community? Or am I dealing with a disgruntled employee? His comments really dashed my hopes of buying a new and improved Acura.

 

Did he mean the 10AT, or the ZF9 that was problematic on the outgoing TLX?

The 10AT on my RDX has been problem-free (knock on wood), but it definitely had some "teething" issues when new. It wasn't the smoothest transmission by any stretch. I saw on the Accord forums of people getting theirs replaced under warranty, but it wasn't rampant, and a lot of people were stating that the transmission simply needed to "break in". I found that to be the case with mine as the transmission shifts perfectly smoothly now.

 

The 10AT definitely needs a few thousand miles to break in.

It smoothed out on my 2018 Accord noticeably. I fell the 10AT in the TLX is better than the Accord variant, it feels smoother to me in comparison.

 

I'm only aware of a possible leak from the steering rack due to a known issue but this is the first I've heard about AT fluid being an issue. I hope this further dampens the vaunted "Acura reliability" that so many are hiding behind.

This is possibly the reason why my dealership was pressuring me to finance my TLX instead of leasing it. I never had a dealership experience where they were so unsupportive of a buyer's decision before that one.

 

He wasn't specific about which transmission, or for that matter, which generation is involved. I'm surprised the ZF transmission was a problem. ZF has been making transmissions for high end cars for years.

 

For high end RWD and RWD-based-AWD vehicles : Yes, and ZF is very good at it.

But for near luxury (= Acura) FWD and FWD-base-AWD vehicles : Not a whole lot of experience and has fucked up the 1G TLX application.

 

I own a 2015 TLX AWD with the 9 speed dog clutch transmission. Mine was an early build off the line in late 2014, and most of those early transmissions were crap. Mine was replaced in late 2015.

I’ve had no transmission issues ​​​​​​since. Had lots of other issues but the replacement transmission has been fine. They extended the warranty, and since I know I can’t sell the car and get anything for it (that model year is worthless), I’m driving it.

Only have 53K original miles on it, so I’ll probably get sick to death of it before it dies.

 

Hey folks - I have a 21 TLX Advanced AWD and I've been noticing some transmission quirks developing. I have had car 9 months and clocked 13.2k miles so far. (highway miles)

A couple of times when coming out of my driveway and turning left, the car has stalled, lunged, stalled and then recovered. Not huge lunges but felt like a stall, recovery, stall and then normal. Only happened twice but both times in same spot coming out of driveway. Anyone with similar experience?

Also, when going into park and then taking foot off brake, the car rolls forward or backward quite a bit. I've not had a chance to actually measure but I feel I could actually roll into a car in front of me. (I'm probably being over dramatic) If I had to guess, it is at least 6 inches of roll before the gears lock in park. This only started once I had over 10k miles so hoping this is not early indication of transmission problem.

Any shared experiences / insight much appreciated.

Thanks.

Moses

 

If you put the transmission in PARK, and car still rolls forward/backward (on level ground) after you have taken your foot off the brake pedal, there is something serious wrong with the transmission. You should go to the dealership ASAP and get the transmission fixed or replaced.

 

Yeah - it does not always happen but enough to warrant some concern. More noticeable on an incline. Thanks for the feedback! I'll hit up my local dealer.

 

Please note that if the car is parked on an incline, after you activate the Park button and release the brake pedal, it is normal to have the car roll downhill a bit. In this case, there is nothing wrong with the transmission.

Only if the car roll forward or backward on level ground, then the transmission is at fault.