Hi everyone. Back in the spring of 2000, my ex and I purchased a brand-new Acura 3.2TL with nav. It was probably the best car I've ever owned: smooth, comfortable, powerful and shockingly economical.

Five years later, I sold it to my dad, who wanted a replacement for his mid-90s Buick Park Avenue. He and his wife fell in love with it, and have kept it ever since. It now has 200,000 miles on it, and is on its second transmission.

My life circumstances are different now, and so are Dad's ... and he's offered to give it back to me. I don't really have a place to keep it now, but I can't turn down a reunion with my favorite car. Right?

Pictures and other details to come. Wish me luck?

 

Good luck, I hope the reunion lives up to your expectations!

 

looking forward to the reunion

 

Here it is!



Meet "Sandy." (Name explanation shortly) As mentioned in the first post, it's a 2000 3.2TL w/Navi. Purchased new at Muller Acura in Hoffman Estates, Illinois.



After five years of living in Chicago, it was bought by my dad, who used it as his primary transport to work from his home in Howell, Michigan to work in Flint. It replaced a mid-1990s Buick Park Avenue, and spent the last 15 years in a heated garage, and treated to fastidious maintenance largely at the hands of Acura dealer technicians. That maintenance includes a transmission rebuild and two timing belt services, the most recent just 20,000 miles ago.



Now ... 20 years and 228,000 miles later ... it's back in Chicago. As you can see, the body is in very good shape, with faded paint and a little clear coat failure on the right front door the only real obvious blemishes. Inside, the driver seat has a couple of tears on the side bolsters, but the interior has otherwise held up very well, and everything works ... even the navi system, which looks way more 16-bit than I remember when it was new.


Mechanically, the engine still sounds smooth and winds out very strong. Dad's replaced sway bar links and bushings a couple of times over the years, so it still feels tight and precise, with no slop in the steering. And the brakes have been well-maintained, and seem to work fine.

The transmission ... is less good. I drove it back to Chicago from Michigan last weekend with absolutely no incident ... until we hit stop-and-go traffic as we entered the notorious Jane Byrne Interchange (the confluence of I-90/94, I-290 and I-55). That's when the 2-3 upshift got really laggy and revvy, and the car instantly threw a CEL and a TCS error light. The TCS reset itself after cycling the power, but I haven't been able to reset the CEL (a FIXD OBD2 device is on the way). It seems to shift best when it's cold, but after a few miles of driving, the 2-3 gets wonky again.

Here's the deal: it's a free car, it's been in my family for 20 years, and it's still the best car I've ever owned. Plus, it's in really good shape apart from the trans. The economics of a trans swap make no sense, so my strategy is to change the trans fluid frequently (last change was <5,000 miles ago), drive it gently just around the city and near suburbs, and baby it along as long as I possibly can.

So, the name: "Sandy" was my dad's nickname when he was a kid, because his hair was blond. The color changed when he got older, but the nickname stuck. So, it's "Sandy."

Friends, what else do I need to do to keep this thing going? Is there a transmission hack I'm not thinking of?

Thanks for checking it out!

 

Welcome to the forum! Glad to have you join us. Forum like this is the best way to make new friends and learn something new about a passion that runs deep. Hope you stick around and find it useful!

 

Welcome, I too enjoyed a smooth driving 2001 Acura 3.2TL that I drove to 225,000 with a transmission replacement at around 40k miles.