EricL

The latest build of replacement transmissions are supposed to be installed with an updated PCM. If you received an updated tranny (slushbox) replacement that came with the updated PCM, could you indicate how many miles you have on it.

Would you mind filling out the poll?

If the tranny crashed and burned, could you describe how many miles you got on it; any comments or other information that would be helpful to other members?

Rod

I'm coming up on 12K miles with the new tranny and I'm starting to feel the occasional erratic shifting already.

[DWI]

I'm around 6k and something doesn't feel right, and I had one of them right before this one that lasted only 1,200 miles WTF

Cruz_msl

That's not good news

greyjhu

I had an '03 with the "improved" tranny, and that went at 26,000 miles. I'm at 30,500 now, and it's running just fine-

VeeralS05

I'm @ only 1200 miles and my tranny is jerking arnd 2nd and 3rd...but sometimes it wont jerk...its a off and on thing...

pdxmac

My 01' Type S is in the shop for a "new" transmission. It's at 24320 miles. It was shifting hard in and out of 3rd gear, and would miss 3rd altogether sometimes, and would just freerev, good times. The dealership said that the transmission is the "new updated one" from the factory. Can anyone tell me what that means? Thanks guys

markcot

My first tranny crashed on my 2001 Type S (although I bought it july 2000) @ 49k miles. The dealer replaced it and then I received a notice to have my PCM upgraded. I did @ 87928 miles and 4k miles later...my "new" tranny crashed. These trannys suck and Acura should provide restitutution to CL buyers with this problem.

2001 CL Type-S
Nighthawk Black

blazincls

My tranny died last monday 3/2/04 w/ about 46,000 miles. Took it to acura next day, they said it was the trannyk, which was pretty damn obvious and gave me a 2004 tsx (which I thought was disappointingly slow I must add). I was then told they had to order a part for the tranny and it should be ready by friday (yeah right ).
Gave my good ol' acura dealership a call on friday and come to find out they said it was ready. But after looking at this site I saw some posts about brakes wearing unevenly and vibration felt thru steering wheel at highway speed, which I had noticed and had them look them over. I was told it would definately be done on saturday. So I called em back and I must have talked to the mechanic who was working on it cause he was as dumb as a brick (I will explain later), and said it wasn't ready.
So I call on monday after leaving 2 messages with no call back I call again and talk to a manager who informs me that my car was in fact ready saturday with two new front rotars and pads. Very disappointed at the miscommunication I leave work early again to crawl totaly across town at rush hour and pick up my car, since the service dept. closes at 6:00 because they work soooo hard all day long fixin piece of shit trannies .
I start the drive home everything feels fine like it used to, so I think it's fixed. I drive my girlfried home later that night and on the way home my good old friend the engine light comes on again along with the troubles we all know to well.
So I leave work early ONCE AGAIN and drive 1 hour across town and drop it off. This time I guess because my tranny lasted a record long 6 HOURS I get the VIP tsx, which is exactly the same with VIP loaner on the back winshield. And that is where I am now driving a tsx in wait for my CL. I feel acura MUST do something about this, rebuilding is just not working and the more I read this site the more I feel like just vomitting all over my beautiful leather seats. Well anyway hopefully my 3rd tranny will last longer than 6 damn hours. But from reading about the rest of you I wont count on it lasting.

pdxmac

Yeah, it is definately disconcerting to KNOW that at some point my second tranny will go, just as the first did. I figure I've got a good 25K before this one goes T/U. There's a brighter side, You dont have to ever change the fluid in the transmission, just have the whole thing changed, every 10th oil change...hey! throw a tranny in her too while you are at it, and oh, I think the washer fluid is low too. thanks.

EricL

Boy, that is depressing...

The lifespan on the "rebuilds" just gets lower by the day...

Brutal... A new record....

pdxmac

Hey guys I pluckd this off of the Acur site. Sounds like thoe guys are having trouble finding enough people to lodge complaints...I emailed him, you should to.


-Our law firm has filed a lawsuit against American Honda Motor Co., Inc. regarding defective automatic transmissions. The complaint alleges that these transmission failures are a safety hazard because they can cause the vehicles to downshift abruptly and without warning, at any speed, and cause sudden deceleration, loss of power, wheel lock, loss of control, and collisions. The vehicles involved, at this time, include 2000 through 2003 Acura 3.2 CL (including Type S); 2000 through 2003 Acura 3.2 TL (including Type S); and 2000 through 2001 Honda Accord, Odyssey, and Prelude. We request that anyone who has experienced these or other problems with an automatic transmission in any of these vehicles, including but not limited to property damage or personal injury, contact us with details of your experiences at hondacomplaints@pkns.com

jkatt

2003 Acura CL 3.2 (not type s)
i am at 57,500 miles, i bought this thing a few months ago,
at 55,000 miles, has anyone out there have problems with
their 2003 models? im not sure if the dealership would tell
me if they replaced the transmission in this before.


thanks.

EricL

Look here: http://www.acura-cl.com/forums/poll....lts&pollid=223

You should be able to call Acura Care's hotline and give them your VIN # and find out if you have an "early" '03 or a late '03. The early '03 models were covered under the extended warranty program (7yr/100k miles) and you need your VIN to see if you’re included or excluded. (The VIN #s are also included in the site here too.)

AND, in the "Could we get a list of YourName, Town, State from people who've had trans replaced?" thread that is sitting in this very forum:

"Bob Schneider
Atlanta GA
2003 TL Type S
8400 miles, just replaced on Feb. 18, 2003 by Ed Voyles Acura"
...

"2003 cl type s
jason mellblom
san diego, CA
tranny replaced at 17k"

"2003 CL TYPE-S
Will Cox
Ft. Myers Florida
1st tranny replaced at around 8000 miles
2nd tranny replaced at just under 12000 miles (new ecu)"

"2003 CLS
S.R.
Chandler, AZ
Tranny #1 at 19K (not related to reported issues)"

"2003 CL-s
Grey E.
Washington, DC
1 failure @ 26,600 miles"











There have been a few problems, but I can't tell you if the '03s auto trannies that failed were from the newer or older batch.

EVANCRUZ

My wife's 03' (late model) tranny was replaced at 9000 miles.
her car now has 11900 on it and has some bugs.
1. car is slow as hell! no where near the get up and go it used to have.
2. it's starting to shift eraticaly again. soft 1st to 2nd shift then hard 3rd to 4th shift. inconsistent....
3. when already moving lets say 50mph, if you the floor it to pass it downshifts very slow and then has no power until 6000 rpm's and then still feels weak.
4. after the tranny change i noticed a roughness in the drivetrain under acceleration.....
5. some metalic rattleing (possibly an exhaust heat shield).
when you go over any rough black top.

we have compared our cars a few times from a dead stop and from 65mph+. when they were new there was minimal difference in 0-60 performance and a fair difference 60mph+ due to the tranny's 6spd vs. auto. now after the tranny change my wife's tl-s it's no quicker then the last generation 200hp accord. not to mention un-reliable.

This is un-acceptable...
if enough people get together on this they will have to do something...

EricL

EVANCRUZ:

And so what do the "brilliant' Acura people say about this?

And what does you dealer say about this?

Slipping and abrupt shifting are not good signs. The tranny needs to be replaced again.

Check out the LA Times. There is a section that comes out Wed (Thurs?) and it's called Highway 1. Try calling them or just try calling the LA Times main phone number and ask to talk to the Highway one guys (if nothing else, get the e-mail address).

Leave them the details and make sure you tell them you have a later model '03 transmission.

I don't know if this is "a sure thing", but if more people started calling papers, etc -- it would put a fire under Acura's butt to at least supply a rebuild (or possibly new replacement tranny) that was as reliable.

And, I get to say "Pathetic" again...

wytman

I can tell you about a friend's experience with his Accord. His transmission - like so many others before it - died at 64,000 miles last autumn (2003). Fortunately for him, he had an extended warranty he purchased seperately from Honda when he bought the car. He went through 2 trannies - not just one. The first one was wrong from the moment he picked the car up at the lot - so he turned around and got a second one. As of now, that second one is still strong.

So a month back he was thinking of trading in his second car (an aging Mazda Protege) and getting a used MDX or Honda Pilot. He researched and discovered as many already know - similar transmission problems exist in those products as well (at least prior to the '04 model year). He then decided to write a very courteous and professional letter to Honda with his concerns about buying another Honda product. The good news was that his letter apparently evoked a strong response as they called him within a week to discuss his concern. The bad news was that essentially, he was treated poorly over the phone. Honda claimed the problem was very limited, and that he was only speculating any future purchase would also have problems. He was really looking for some sort of admission that their were issues, and that their new design ('04 TL, MDX, etc etc) was vastly improved and wouldn't show these sort of problems. Basically, he wanted Honda to say they fixed the problem - all he got was a weak argument that there never was a problem.

I am currently writing a letter of my own to Acura about this myself - although I am not sure if anything good will come of it. I traded in a 1997 Z28 to get the '01 CL-S because it was an unreliable piece of crap that was awful in the winter. But, factoring in depreciation, financing, maintenance, etc - that unreliabile Z28 cost me $200/MONTH LESS than the CL - a car which supposedly would be very reliable with high resale value and a car that stickered only $6,000 higher than the Z28 did. Losing 50% of trade-in value in 3 years may be fine for a Chevy Cavalier - but not for an Acura - and this is, in my mind, completely because of the transmission problems. Extending the warranty is great - but I still am out about $6k or $8k in resale value - and I have zero confidence the car will drive on trouble free after the 100,000 miles is up.

lead_sled_dog

Wow ... my original tranny was replaced at 48,000. Did the PCM, as you did, last month at 76,000. Yesterday, tranny #2 bit the dust.

Badcls01

ALMOST 98000 AND NOT ONE PROBLEM. ONLY BEEN SERVICED ONCE AT LIKE 42000 SINCE THEN I RARELY CHECK THE FLUID LEVELS. I CAN REV IT TIL IT WON'T REV NO MORE PULL IT INTO DRIVE AND WATCH THE SMOKE FLY.(WITH VSA OFF).

wytman

That's great - but it's not revving or stoplight racing that causes the problems. It's lots of shifting back and forth around third gear. Basically, around 30 mph slow and go type driving in traffic, on the gas, on the brake, on the gas, on the brake, etc. was the problem for me. It's just the nature of my commute. See EricL's long post on the topic previously - drag racing doesn't really cause a problem because there is only one shift to third gear, and then your tranny will have plenty of time to cool back down running back to the starting line.

Eric

mikekoshi

Had my second tranny replacement at 57000....two weeks later (of which 10 days the car was idle), 300 miles, and the new tranny failed!

Eggplant-EX

I am the lastest member of the tranny Club with 50,500 miles. The car went on on Fri 5/21/04. Sucks to hear that the replacements are no better than the original.

Have e-mailed to notify them that I am certainly interested in any actions that may be taken.

hondacomplaints@pkns.com

juanscl

Welcome me to the tranny club, I have had my car since september of 03, couple of months later i need a new tranny, wtf?

wytman

Welcome to the club. Feels great doesn't it?

I tried to unload my CL-S actually and get a Mazda 6 or some other more fuel effcient car - but I can't get enough money for it any more to justify it. Blue book is at best 15k for mine. I did some checking - apparently you can get a custom tranny house to install a manual tranny in the CL - costs an arm and a leg. But, at this point, when I am passed that 100k warranty limit I may come up with the money and put in a stick. Anyone else look into this? I got a quote for a CL-S tranny with the clutch pedal assy, shifter assy, and ECU for $1,700. Anyone else?

Eric

efx

Just picked up my 2001 cl-s after getting the 4th tranny installed with the updated pcm at 49,600 miles. I asked for a New and not a Rebuild. I was told by the Service manager that it is a New one. Noticed on the bill the tranny was billed much higher than tranny #2 or #3. Am a little disapointed at the acceleration with the new pcm. Seems to have less torque or the timimg is changed and it shifts at different point than it used to.
Well see how long this one lasts.

jkatt

@ 64,000 miles, bought car at 54,000, erratic shifting 2nd to 3rd (in auto)
also the other day, at 45mph, the car decided to downshift to 2nd gear i
believe (was on D5), passenger thought i hit the brakes, Acura will be test
driving the car with me on Friday, June 11th 2004, will post what they tell
me then.


this SUCKS! i traded both my 94 Mitsu. 3000gt SL 187,000 miles and still running
strong, and my 92 lexus sc400 @ 154,000 miles.


jc

jkatt

2003 Acura CL auto. @ 64,000 miles. (manufactured date was 2002)

transmission was shifting hard, and at 70mph today it decided to downshift
to 2nd and the car almost came to a dead stop, a diesel almost rear ended
me, got the car parked, and went into a business, then came back out,
put the car in reverse and it did not move, then finally a loud crunch sound
and it shifted into reverse and i almost hit another car, it downshifted like this
3 more times before i got to the Acura dealership, the mechanic took the car for
a test drive with me and it did the same thing, downshifted, he said they'll have
to replace the transmission and that it was a known issue and it took Acura
about 6 months to find out what the problem was, he stated something about
'bearings'. Anyhow, they gave me a piece of crap 2004 TSX, the ride is very
rough and the engine is really weak (4 cylinder, go figure), my 'new' transmission
will be in Tues. and he said it will take about 7 hours of labor, also said it would
probably be a 'remanufactured' tranny to.

had the Acura secretary pull up a history on this, it showed this to be the first time
the tranny was replaced and also a recall for the 'cams' was done a while back.

i want a new car, the tranny lasted for 64,000 miles supposedly and after my 100,000
warranty im screwed if it goes out again, thats over $3,500 for the tranny not including the labor either. SUCKS SUCKS SUCKS!

jkatt

I got their loaner car, the 2004 TSX they told me, they might have to get
me to bring the car back IF something else goes wrong with other customers,
they'll get me an enterprise rental car in the meantime..........wtf??????????

Technique

The new PCM definitely sucks, I want the old one back... :-(

jkatt

Great, this is what i have to look forward too????????? im going to see about
trading the thing in, maybe complain a little, and they'll let me get another non-Acura
off the lot, just bought it a few months ago too @ 54,000 miles.

RUF87

I've actually looked in to trading it in . . . shifts like a little ol ladies car . . . that has whiplash and she needs a really soft shift.

BTW - check out the Hope Systems thread by scalbert. He's planning on doing a programable PCM for our trannies.

Ruf

TASacks

The transmission in my completely stock black '0l CL Type-S w/Navi went bad this weekend at 44,000 miles. I bought the car used at 39K and I just recently discovered this site. Now I'm wondering if the transmission has been replaced before, or how many times this will have to take place. I've been an Acura enthusiast ever since my mother bought a '90 Legend LS, which inspired me to buy a '92 Integra GS and log 120,000 miles on it without a flaw. The car is at the dealer as we speak and will be there for about a week, while I drive a rented 4 cyl. Altima which really makes you appreciate your Acura.

typeS_CLark

just wanted to share,
i've replaced my tranny at 47k miles and now it has gone out again at 94k miles, it's now in the shop getting replaced and they said that it has another 3 yr 36k mile warrant on the replacement. has anyone had any luck on getting a deal on trading it in? i think i'm done with my CL

wytman

I sent Acura a letter demanding a rebate on a new car or a further warranty extension beyond 100,000 miles because I fear a second transmission failure occuring at 100,001 miles. So far - I haven't heard crap. Three local Acura dealers would only give me another $500 in trade in price if I was going to buy a new TL. Everyone else is topped out at $14,000 on my 2001 CL-S with 51,000 miles. If I ever hear anything at all from Acura - I will post it here to let others know.

Rod

You do know that the new TL also has tranny problems?

EL_CLS

Can you give a detailed summary of exactly what's changed: e.g. shift points, acceleration, other issues?

EL_CLS

About 4 out of 200...

so, yes, but that's about 2%. Hmmm... that number sounds familar -- doesn't it!

TASacks

I paid nearly $20K for mine certified pre-owned at an Acura dealer. Given this situation, you may have better luck selling the car yourself given that the dealer is going to gouge you for the tranny problems that the majority of the end consumers will find out about after they own the car for a period of time, just like me. They had 3-4 CL's at the dealer at the time I bought mine and I paid a premium for the black. They had a silver and a gold CL Type-S with 50K on each (mine had 39K) that they would have let go for $17.5K that I'm sure the dealer probably paid 14K for.

AbMagFab

My first tranny started going bad at around 28K and crashed hard at 30K (I mean really hard, like undriveable). My second tranny started going bad 1,200 miles later (hard into/out of 3, free-rev).

I'm on my third tranny, and out of the gate it's shifting hard into and out of 3rd again. The free-rev isn't happening anymore. I'm hopeful that it'll work, but somehow I doubt it.

Paul

how do u knwo if the new PCM was put in? I just had my tranny replaced today. How can u tell?