3rd Aug 2009, 14:23

2003 TL Type S here. I'm on my 4th transmission. Only have 79,000 miles on the car. Driving down the road and I lose all power. The car goes in neutral. Hit the gas and it jerks back in gear. Take off and it jerks hard. Acura said nothing was wrong with it. They REFUSE to fix it.

I've taken the car to a couple of mechanics and they say from what I am telling them that it sounds like the Torque Converter. A $200.00 part. But the trans. has to be dropped to replace. You spend about $800.00 in labor. Still cheaper than a transmission though. Mechanics indicated that you can change your fluids and that helps. The converters can also do this for years with no problems.

I hope this helps some of you out there. I haven't replaced the torque converter yet but will be doing so in the near future.

So after replacing the torque converter the problem seems to be fixed for now. I wonder if this was the whole problem all along instead of transmission issues. I've been told by a few mechanics that they mimic one another. Your car starts jerking and pops out of gear or just goes into neutral. So hopefully this helps someone!

7th Aug 2009, 22:35

I bought a 2002 Acura TL S Type 3.2 in January 2004, it had approximately 28,000 miles and as of August 2009 it has 81,000 miles and the transmission has gone out.

I purchased the car from an Infiniti dealer and purchased an extended warranty. The car is currently at the Acura dealership in need of a new tranny. The extended warranty is offering to provide a used tranny with 77,000 miles and provide a warranty until Jan. 2010 -- the end of the 6-year extended warranty period or contribute $1,350 towards the $3,600 for the re-manufactured tranny the dealer will install with a 3-year/36,000 mile warranty.

I checked with a couple of Acura specialty repair shops and they informed me this TL generation is "infamous" for tranny problems. They suggested take the dealer re-manufactured one and get rid of it after the 36 months. One AAMCO shop manager said he average 3 to 4 TLs per month with this same problem.

I am really saddened because I was a really loyal Honda customer -- I have a 1992 Accord with 181,000 miles and it is still going, but I don't think I will buy another Honda product. The dealer said they will request a goodwill payment from Honda/Acura for the difference that I will have to pay, but did not think I would get a positive response. This is really disappointing for me to see what seems to be a "corporate rip off" of innocent customers. I will keep you posted on what the results are. I am glad I found this site.

14th Aug 2009, 12:54

I have a TL 3.2 that I bought brand new from an Acura dealer. The car now has about 84,000 miles and the transmission was changed 3 times (with one of them lasting just a few days). So counting the original one I have used up to now 4 transmissions!! I am starting to think of a new car. Guess what I am not going to buy.

18th Aug 2009, 17:00

Well I was going to go test drive a 2002 TL this afternoon. Thanks to this site I will just drive home, I already owned a Dodge Stratus and don't need to be able to right books on "What not to buy". Thanks to all who have posted!

28th Aug 2009, 18:37

We purchased a 2002 Acura TL new.

Our first transmission was replaced at 12000 miles, the second at 65000 miles and Acura covered all costs. Each time we were assured by the service manager that the replacement transmission was a new design and would last the life of the car.

The car just turned 113000 miles and the transmission is slipping again and in need of replacement. The dealer quoted a replacement cost of $4000 however, after appealing the overall situation, Acura reduced the cost to $2700. The corporate warranty rep wouldn't discuss the case and referred me to the manufacturer's warranty book for info on continuing our appeal. What a way to do business!!

We will never, ever buy another HONDA product!

24th Sep 2009, 10:26

I purchased my 2003 Acura TL Type S from a private owner in June 2009 just under 100k miles. He as the original owner and does his regular scheduled maintenance and oil changes. That's the primary reason I bought the car, because I know it was taken cared of.

Well just my luck, the tranny started to jerk and slipped on my just last week. I took it to Honda dealership close by at that time and they confirmed it was the tranny. They quoted me $3600. They also said that my front, side and rear engine mounts needed to be replaced soon. They called and confirmed that my model year was not part of the extended warranty on the tranny. I called Acura myself and they too confirmed this information. Just my luck, tranny broke down 101,000 miles. I wasn't gonna pay $3600 to Honda for the tranny work when all they are going to do is to refer the work to an outside vendor. But, I did let Honda replace the engine mounts since I was going to let them replace my timing belt and water pumps. It was due for a new timing belt anyways...

Back to the transmission issue. Luckily, I have a friend whose brother specializes only in Honda/Acura transmission work. He does only tranny rebuilts and most of his business is from Honda/Acura dealerships. Honda/Acura charges $3600 bucks to the customer, takes it to 3rd party vendors to do the work for half the price.

He had my tranny rebuilt in 3 days. He said that the clutches were all burnt due when he opened it up. Also, when he took the tranny apart, he noticed the 3rd gear clutch was smaller than the others and thought that was kinda weird. So he swapped the smaller clutch and replaced it with a clutch from a Honda Odyssey. He said that my car is going to have a better kick when I get to third gear with the bigger clutch. I got my car back yesterday after he had worked on it for 3 days. I haven't really tested the gears yet because he recommended that I break in the new tranny for a week before I start hitting it hard.

But, after driving the car for the first hour, I did feel the tranny to be a lot smoother between gear changes. I am so happy to have my car back, it's a great car and drives really well.

My tranny mechanic recommend to have the tranny oil replaced every 6 months and only to use Honda tranny oil. Also, if your tranny need to be rebuilt, I recommend taking it to a tranny specialist, because your tranny is only as good as the last person that worked on it.

BTW, it cost me $1500 to have my tranny rebuilt.