scjones

Been searching for a car for weeks and went to look at a Toyota, which was no good, then I asked about the TL, I drove it, I bought it. It's 2002 type s with 100057 miles. What do I need to do to let this magnificent car do it's thing for another 200k? It's completely dry as far as leaks and i didn't see any silicone or evidence that the transmission was removed or replaced. It shifts really smoothly, third kinda hits hard under throttle, but I noticed from a stand still with full throttle it will get lost between first and second. Other than that the engine sounds and feels perfect and all the electronics work perfectly. I'm really happy with this car and want to help it live a great life so I'm asking what should I do to ensure that? Take it to the dealer and have them go to town? Thanks in advance for any help.

Cord

Congrats on the purchase.....

If you havent noticed/read up on, our 2nd gens have a major issue with the transmission thats the hard shifting that you are currently experiencing. So.So in order to over come this (and most economically viable solution) is to swap in an Accord V6 transmission from either a 2006 or 2007 MY. Besides that the car's rocksolid when taken care of,with regular maintenance.

MarcDavidoff

What do you mean by "it gets lost between 1st and 2nd"? Do you mean it slips? How does the trans fluid look? First thing you would want to do is a drain and refill 3 times over.. Search on here for what we call a 3x3.
Also, any record of the timing belt being done? If not you may be able to confirm with local acura dealer where the car lived to see if they have any service records. If not done yet that is due

Dabu

Assessing the condition of the transmission is probably your first priority and the water pump and timing belt are due for replacement at 105k I believe.

01acls

Look for a timing belt service sticker on the right front shock tower in the engine bay. If it's been done at a repair shop other than a dealer it will be there. It's about 3"×3".

MBP 03

7 years or 105K miles is the recommended service interval.

01tl4tl

I will put money on the fact the 105 is not done yet and its 7 years or 105 whichever first
that's a grand+++ at shops, a major reason these cars go up for sale!!!!
just the parts for diy run 350+

your trans- look at bolts attaching things to top of trans and the bolts from trans to engine
is there BLUE paint on the bolt heads = warranty unit = that's a good start!

go to acura dealer with the cars VIN and ask service to run it for all recalls, there are a few recent ones, and if trans was ever warranty replaced and when

use only Honda dw-1 atf, gravity drain and fill only- not power machine flush!!!!!!!!!!!
trans only gives up 3 of its 7 qts capacity at a time

stop using full throttle in lower gears
read owner manual , free download here Acura Owners Site | Exclusive Knowledge, Service, & Benefits

scroll thru this - the main thread section- and the problems and fixes section for all the things to watch for
the dealer is the last place to take your new baby!!!

its due for brake fluid flush, ps fluid flush, and probably on the original coolant, which is only good for 7 years max then deteriorates and ruins radiator

how good are you at diy? we have a diy for everything~
look in phone book for smaller ad- from private owner shop specializing in Honda and acura, other places don't know our secret tricks

you are also due for egr port and passage cleaning inside intake manifold, not in the book but we know its needed every 75kmiles

ready for new spark plugs at 100k, 8$ each NGK are the specified plugs,
don't use 2 buck anythings!!! they will not survive the high voltage of our coil on plug ignition.

do use seafoam fuel cleaner at 1 can to half a tank- do that twice in gas for tune up in a can that really cleans all the important parts (on sale at oreillys 2 for 16$)
Use ONLY 91 octane or higher- it needs it!

welcome to the forum, sorry to be the bearer of expensive news but you are about to invest in this car

Also watch the HID powered low beams, major problem with moisture inside the housing lens leads to ballast burnout
kits are available from 60-200$ for all the new parts to replace the aging stuff
totally worth it!
do not buy a used OE part and think it will fix anything

again, scroll thru thread list to see what to look out for
and welcome to azine- we are nuts about our cars!

01tl4tl

did it come with a warranty???

Skirmich

That "get lost between 1st and 2nd" is normal it depends on how much you are pressing the gas pedal.

scjones

How do I know it's time to swap it? Will it just fail catastrophically?

scjones

All the way. Someone else mentioned to not do that, so I won't do that anymore. Why is it normal? What's happening?

Skirmich

Do what? The trans is Automatic it does it by itself.
Its part of the "Grade Logic" system which tries to get the best gear for the load given.

scjones

Floor it in lower gears.

scjones

I can get one that lasts to 175k. Don't know the cost, would you recommend it?

01tl4tl

when it slips between gears- revs without forward motion relative to the throttle input same as manual trans with bad clutch, or the D5 light you have never seen before flashes on the dash- usually when hard on it in 2nd-3rd= trying to beat a semi when getting on the freeway, extra points for excitement factor there~
or it will stop shifting and must rest 30 minutes, then drives fine for another 15-30 minutes and once again wont shift
those are all clues to imminent failure

01tl4tl

have a place that knows the TL inspect it and make your warranty decision on those findings
If high deductibles involved for each problem, calculate that too

Skirmich

Well a lot of people will tell you that since the DREADED trans issues.


But the issue isn't on 1st or 2nd.. Our problem relies on the 3rd gear clutch pack not holding! so 1st (WOT) wont be an issue. But 5spd drop to 3rd might stress the shit out of the 3rd gear clutch pack. Try to avoid those..


I only use SS Mode so I usually hold gears to keep acceleration..
My trans is still going after 114K! That's a 1300rebuild original design trans.
But bear in mind I don't care if it dies, I have an AV6 Trans waiting in the garage.

Incinerary

As others have already said, these cars are known for bad transmissions. So my first recommendation would be to not give it full throttle redlining it. I rarely exceed 4000rpm because it's just not necessary to be doing on a regular basis. And as a result, I still have my original transmission (with the jet recall done to it) now with 210,000 miles.

But sometimes I really can't help but wonder is it really the transmission or the driver? Are they taking care of it and changing the fluids or doing the opposite? I've heard of people being on their third transmission by the time they got to the number of miles that I'm at. And a big reason for that is I'm thinking people don't take care of their vehicles and they just like to pound on their cars. Here's proof:

MilwaukeeDave: Yup installing myself. Trans died from years of my pounding the shit out of it everyday.
Skirmich: I hope this day comes too.. Got 5 years on mine and still the bastard doesn't die...
MilwaukeeDave: Gotta really pound it. Every green light is a race.

Why would you WANT your transmission to die? It would make the most sense to try and get the most out of the current one before blowing $2000 on a new one right away. That's the way people think unfortunately......

So as with any car, just don't beat on it and change ALL the fluids regularly and you shouldn't have much to worry about.

Cord

Few things...

-Sure, the driver has a part to do with the life of the transmission however, this transmission has an apparent design flaw which ,regardless of who drives and how,will eventually go.It's inevitable.Case and point.My aunt had an '03 Premium...and @ 55k the trans was replaced by Honda/Acura voluntarily ,then @ 70k we started facing slips and noise from the transmission.

- $ 2000? I would relax with that number,The trans shouldn't be replaced by the same one but the AV6 which shouldn't cost more than 1500$ including labor (if done by at a garage).

-The reason why you want the trans to go out quicker is 1) For a more relaxed/luxurious ride which the car was built for 2) To keep out the constant stress of when you really need the car to be reliable,it may not, aka Murphys law and I wouldn't want to trsut our stock trans with that.

Chojun

I think a big part of it really is the driver. The other part is luck.

On top of that we were only able to tell in hindsight after replacing our transmissions that you have to really keep after the trans fluids in this car. That is, 3x3 every 30K, which basically means a 1x3 every oil change (or every other, depending). For most cars that's unheard of as most drivers throw their car away with the original trans fluid still in it at 100K+ miles.

Plus, the TL is a sporty car and you don't buy one to putt around town like a gma/gmpa. There's a beast under the hood that really enjoys WOT but the trans isn't playing nice. So I have to imagine that if you change your fluid regularly and don't up/down shift at WOT (frequently) then your trans should last a long time.

Should.

Skirmich

^ Not really, A design flaw will be a design flaw regardless of being drove by a grandpa or a wanna be Bryan O´Conner.

That's why it doesn't matter if you Redline it or not! the Issue is with 3rd Gear Clutch Pack! If you really wanna take care of it don't stress 3rd gear (Don't redline 3rd gear or don't auto-Drop from 5th/4th to pass) EVEN THEN it doesn't do much, The trans will surely die.

Case in Point I only drive in SS.. I REDLINE MY CAR ON DAILY BASIS if possible because I also thought that is going to break my trans, almost 4 years later its still there and my AV6 is still sitting in my garage.. 1st and 2nd aren't the issues you can WOT from a STOP to your heart content. The issue is 3rd gear only.

YeuEmMaiMai

first off, open hood and look for blue bolts on trans housing, if you got them, trans has been replaced once. If so, you can call the local Acura dealer and POLITELY ask them when the trans was replaced ALL Acura dealers have access to warranty info even if they did not sell or service the car.

As for the design flaw, that was fixed in 2008 when a new redesigned case was made for the rebuild transmissions. The failure rate of those units are far far lower than the original rebuilt units before then.

01tl4tl

it was 2005 when the new case design with the recall installed external oil jet kit for 2nd gear went internal, and improved oil flow to the 3rd gear clutch stack was cut into the case oil passages

there may have been another design update after that but I doubt it, acura cared for as long as the court ordered them to~