Unless it comes with the extended warranty, I would totally avoid it because of the tranny issues. If it comes with the warranty, get it and drive it like it was meant to be and just get a new tranny when you need one.

 

It's actually kinda dangerous. I wouldn't advise "just dealing with it".

These transmissions are known to have metal shavings fall onto part of the transmission that causes it to slam down into 1st gear, regardless of what the vehicle's speed is. What you can do to prevent anything bad from happening is either pushing it into the sportshift mode or popping it into reverse, but you gotta be pretty quick to react.

 

From reading the replies I think I will pass on it and keep looking

Thx everyone,

jonny

 

Lately I have been looking for a car to buy for my girlfriend. After searching through every possible car I thought I found the perfect car in the 99-2003 TL... until I read about the transmission issues. I can't believe Honda would allow a problem like this to continue, and just keep slapping in the same piece of junk transmissions without actually doing a re-design of the tranny to stop problems in the future.
It is true that when these cars reach the 7 year, or 100,000mile mark...they are going to be worthless. Because of this I will be looking for a 97+ ES300 for her.

Sorry that you had to learn about this unfortunate issue DX3, the cars are amazing value otherwise...its really very sad about the transmission problems.

 

i had a 02 tl-s, with the same crappy tranny as that on the cl-s. i drove the car for a yr and sold it at 19k for my is300 and never looked back. go figure. tons of people on acura boards blew their trannies

 

Just a note. I know for the year Acura in question this does not apply, but for at least 2006, and maybe even 2005 models and earlier, Acura offers the same basic and powertrain warranty as Lexus. Both to my knowledge are 4 year 50K and 6 year 70K powertrain warranties.

 

The vast majority of 99-03 TLs and CLs do not have any kind of transmission issues. I think it was only 1.6% of cars possibly affected and many of the blown transmissions I read about were from modified and abused cars. The drivetrain warranty is extended to 100K miles. If people are really needing 3 or 4 transmissions replaced I think it is more incompetent mechanics not installing them properly then the transmission design itself. Although there was an issue with some transmissions it has been pretty blown out of proportion on the internet. I know alot of people with TLs and CLs including some that are modded and driven very hard with 50K+ miles that have never had any kind of transmission issues. My parents have a TL and CL and they have been extremely reliable and never had any kind of problems with them. My Lexus GS430 has more issues then these 2 cars like door actuator failure, rough idle, squeeks, moisture in the headlights, suspension groans which are known decects and problems that Lexus has ignored and never addressed with any kind of warranty extension or recall. With any car you buy used you run the risk of having problems not just an Acura TL and CL and you need to have the car inspected and need to focus on having the transmission looked at. My parents and everyone I know with CLs and TLs love the cars and are pleased by the high quality materials, reliability, and all the standard options they come with.

 

See the real problem is that even though Honda covers the tranny for 100K, the replacement units are not redesigned, they are the same faulty units. So while you car under warranty, you're ok, but after 100K you will be replacing trannies every 20K at you own expence. On top of everything, these transmissions tend to shift into 2nd gear at 80mph. Just stay away from that car.

 

that's so wrong.

on acura board, i have seen all kind of blown trannies on the tl and the cl. from people with highly modified cars, to people with stock cars. and also people with just lowering and wheels (don't tell me that affect the tranny). it's been surveyed and discussed tons of times and results show that blown trannies have NOTHING to do with how you modify your car.

the number that honda gave out was under 2%, but in no way would i ever trust that. both acuraworld.com and acurazine, they are big enough of communities as a statistic sample, and i have definitely seen more than 2% myself. i wouldn't say it's big like 10%, but it's big enough to the point that i am not surprised to see another blown trannies.

not to mention the people with the 4th or even 5th tranny in their car, i can't even make any sense out of it. also, the same tranny is used on the accord, odyssey, and also mdx, and those cars also have blown tranny issues too. you don't see people modding the mdx and odyssey right? in fact, one of my good friends (also a member here on clublexus) with mdx just recently blew the tranny on his mdx.

worst of all, honda never FIXED the problem. they had a recall, but that was for one of the two tranny problems. the other one is still up in the air and no one on acura boards think they will ever fix it. that's just lame. it's not something like the moisture in the lexus gs headlights, it's tranny, it's safety issue out there when the car down shifts from 5th to 2nd at 80mph.

don't get me wrong, i am not completely against acura, people know that. heck i am even a moderator there. but people also know how much i hate honda for not fixing this problem. 2 yrs ago when i sold my tl-s (tranny slipping) people called me idiot, but these days people are doing what i did 2 yrs ago. we have several members in the gs forums with tl before.

the tl is a pretty decent car, for the money i think it's a good bang for the bucks. however this sole tranny issue is more than enough to keep me away from the car forever.

just my 2 cents

 

Sorry bro, its much bigger than that. I also affects MDX, Odyessy, Accord etc. Its a huge problem and they covered it up for as long as they could. They still NEVER issued a recall, only extending the warrenty.

If it wasn't for the LA TImes editor who got in an accident when their TL slammed from Drive to 1st gear, they probably still woudl deny it.

For you to even say they have high quality materials, destroys your argument.

 

I so smell a class action suit coming in a year or two unless Honda issues a recall.

 

ALL 01-03 CL's and ALL 00-03 TL's are covered on the Tranny for 100K miles. No questions asked unless the car is a salvage.

Acura discovered the problem which had to do with the coolant return line in the transmission. All trannies that are CURRENTLY replaced have this issue resolved. Whoever said that Acura still puts falty trannies in has NO IDEA what their talking about. At first, honda/acura did not know what was causing the problem, but after it was discovered, Acura fixed the issue.

The CL-S your talking about has 40K miles, which means its covered for another 60K miles. It's also at a GREAT price. I had a TL-S and I loved it. Great car and an even more amazing engine.

 

That is a lie. Because I know 2 people who are Techs are different dealers and different states. They have at least 20 cars a week for tranny he said!! They can't even keep up with the work load.

It is all the 5speed automatic transmissions in the ODY, Pilot, CL/TL, MDX that have the issues. The 4 speed autos in the early TLs were fine.

If it wsa only 1.6% Acura would have not had released there extended warranty nor would they have gotten sued so many times.

I had a 2002 Acura CL-S, loved the car, hated the transmission. It went through one in 15k of miles. almost a 2nd one before I got rid of it.

 

This is untrue. And the coolant line had nothing to do with it.

It was a problem with the 3rd gear clutch. It was getting way to hot or something a long those lines. This is why they installed a new sprayer in the drain plug to spray on that area to keep it cooler to help the problem. It doesn't SOLVE IT. I had a tranny cooler installed on mine hoping to prevent the problem, it didn't help at all. Even with a 10k fluid change to help.

 

Hmmm....why do you thing the 3rd gear clutch was getting so hot