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All cars after about 100,000 miles have to replace timing belt and other components that wear down. If it's a moving part, it's going to wear and tear.
Transmission never gave me problems. But I think I know how I avoided the problem. When the car was only a year or two old I noticed sometimes the car would jump into gear going from Reverse to Drive shift if I pushed the accelerator as soon as I shifted the gear into "D". From that point on I just shift to D and wait. Then I would feel the car gear engaging on its own and after that I would push the accelerator. That only takes a second or two. But not more than 2 seconds. From then I never had the car jump into gear. And it still drives fine.
And as long as it drives I'm saving at least $500 a month for new car payment to purchase a comparable car.
My mdx just went out of warranty in January 2013 which is only at 45,500 miles. 2009 year model.
#1 They convinced me that my moon roof leaks in the car wash because it is water proof but not air proof so that's why now every time I wash the car water drips on the driver and passenger. Okay Acura. Why didn't this happen before the car went out of warranty?
# 2 The check engine and transmission light came on and trouble code p0847 came up. Acura wanted to charge me $125.00 to run a diagnostic which I declined and told the service manager this can be related to a letter I received a few months back about software or repairing a torque converter which Acura extended the warranty on. The software was done then after we picked up the mdx and drove for about 20 miles the lights came back on. I started to google the issue and come to find out many complains about 3rd gear pressure switch and some people having issues with TC on older models. I do not understand why this is not covered under emission which in some states Acura gives 80k/8 year warranty on or why isn't it covered by the power train 70k/ 6 year warranty if this is a common issue. I see some dealers doing the repairs under the power train warranty and others are making the customer pay. My dealer is telling me now I have to pay the $125 to run it to find the issue when they know what the issue is by the trouble code and telling me it may not be covered by the warranty for the power train.
I was the original poster of this thread over 5 years ago. It's amazing how time flies
I still own my '04 MDX, now running at over 110K miles. I have been having a very slight shudder/grinding sound of the car at around 35-40 mph. This has been happening ever since 60K miles. However, I've chosen not to do anything about it, and it's been running perfectly fine ever since.
However, I noticed when driving at "D4" on the transmission (meaning, just using 4 gears), the shudder is completely gone. I did some research online, and I see that 35-40 mph is a "trouble spot" for these transmissions, as the car is confused when to downshift or upshift.
But at "D4" the car no longer attempts to switch gears at this speed range. I now drive with D4 in town, and D5 in the highway, and the car drives beautifully.
I recommend everyone to try it out! The Acura MDX truly is a beautiful car, and I still have faith in the vehicle. I plan on selling it for a 2014 model soon , but I will be sad to see it go!
Overall I have loved this vehicle even though I havent loved it with regular maintenance and taken it to some pretty crazy places on some rough roads. The only problems I have had with it are the altenator, A/C went a long time ago, and the stereo is dead, and not the transmission. I feel that all cars have their issues, some manufacturers more than others but I still love my Honda/ Acura and will probably try to stick with them when I can. Sometimes you get a lemon and that cant be helped. Obviously the Transmissions on these dont have a long life but from most of these posts Acura has been good enough to offer something to help with the cost. Good luck trying to get that from any other business after the waranty runs out. Go try that at Future Shop and tell me how that works out for you! LOL. For a top end car they are beautifully made and decently priced. You cant beat that! And compared to a Chrysler transmission they are much better, not much of a conparison though. Im sure they have done their homework and the new MDX probably wont have this issue.
Love my MDX! ">
Can u please let me know what dealer said about your Mdx problem. I do have exact problem on my 2013 MDX. I just got and noticed that when going on uphill it does not accelerate beyond 70 mph, no matter how much we push the pedal. All 4 cyl cars are passing by me.
Has anyone tried putting Mr. Tranny transmission additive in their MDX to see if it fixes this problem?
First, make the dealer call the CA Acura office and get them to pay it. If that doesn't work, file a complaint with Better Business.
Second, Don't buy another Acura, we swithed to Lexus and love it!
Thank you to anyone that can help me asap
We won't buy Acura anymore and just bought a used Lexus. Much better car all around!
Check the air filter. It might be restricted with something, thus starving the vehicke of air.
The air intake is at the bottom of the vehicle. Mine pulled up a plastic bag that got stuck inside and had the same issue.
Acura is going downhill.
Any advice?
There's some tips here:
The Secret Warranty
Last resort is to file a complain with your local Better Business Bureau, but don't expect them to do much. It will just be a recorded complaint on the dealership's record. I'm assuming that the failure wasn't due to negligence on your part.
If all this fails, an independant transmission shop can rebuild it for $2500.
I'm told, too, that the shift pattern can be changed, but Acura won't authorize the dealer to do it.
It's very maddening to find this in a vehicle that is supposed to be high end. Between this, and the fact that many of the electronic stuff doesn't work in our Canadian winters, it's time to go back to Subaru, I think.
referring to my post in Sept 2010. (transmission replaced at 112K miles)
We finally traded in the MDX for a Ford F-350 - an MDX cannot tote a truck camper. :-)
At turn in time, at had 186K miles and the replacement transmission was starting to make the same noises the original one did at around 100K. The good news, I guess, is that I got about 75K miles out of the rebuilt transmission. The bad news is that if the transmission had not been showing signs of giving up, again, I would have kept the MDX and traded in the 2001 MBenz.
I suppose it is telling that instead of designing their own transmission, Acura bought one from Garbage Motors.
At any rate, the whole experience of owning a 2005 MDX has been a positive one with kudos to Sunnyside Acura Customer Service.
Dave
I have the 2003 Acura MDX and the transmission has gone bad at 150,000 miles. This is a car that I've always serviced at the Acura of Tempe dealership. They are quoting me $5200 for the repair. Other smaller Honda mechanics in town are around $4200. I've made my plea with the dealer to help me out since we've been so loyal there. I didn't know there were so many problems with 2003 transmissions until I came here! Wonder if the Corporate Acura route may help me.
Well, I am victim # 4080 to the faulty 03 MDX transmission issue. I have never had my car serviced anywhere except the dealer and now, without ANY warning, my transmission is out. Completely gone and need a new one. Yes I have 160K, but check this out. My car started leaking oil so i took it in to get the leak fixed. I was told it would be close to 1k to fix, since it was leaking from the rear main. They woud have to take the transmission out and move the engine to get to the part to fix. I said go ahead and fix it, since I felt pretty good about my car (I've given it to my son) They fix the rear main ($800+) and two weeks later i now have bad motor mounts. Tehy never told me the mounts were bad when they removed them (since they had to remove the engne) nor did they tell me when they put them back on. ($400 to fix) So now that i have new motor mounts and a newly repaird rear main, a month later the transmission gives out. My son was driving it and it just stopped accelerating. No slipping of the trany, no pulling, no lights, no nothing -as a warning. The car would not drive in D5, D4 or D3. I had to drive it to the dealership in D1 and it would go in reverse. They looked at it and said $5200 for a new tranny. I got on here and read all the post, I called Acura in CA ( they claim to know nothing about 02/03 tranny issues in MDX's) and offered NO help. The dealer (since I'm on my 3rd Acura with them) offered some help (about 1/2) but I dissappointed in Acura overall. They have an issue with 02/03 Tranny and are turning a blind eye. If you own an MDX 02/03 and have not had this issue.. GET RID OF IT NOW!!!!!!! you will be posting on here at some point.
Just read 7 years of posts, lol, WEEW! Unbelievable!! After being a lifelong HONDA driver, I decided I'm almost 40 now, time for a nice "Luxury" car, ACURA! the "High End" HONDA, LOL! Boy was I surprised, this seems to be the most poorly designed car by Honda ever. Purchased a 2003 MDX, drained and Filled the Trans 4X, did the Transfer Case, Rear Diff, Oil and Filter, Air Filter and Cabin Filter etc... Seems Amazing; then 1,000 Miles later, CEL comes on and guess who "P0741". Car has been driving and shifting amazing ?
I am so angry at everything I'm reading about this vehicle, the radiator fiasco, Torque Converter BS etc... I mean c'mon my 2002 CR-V had a timing chain, for shame... I thought I was moving UP, lol. I have already begun sending full page letters in email and snail mail to ACURA Client Relations, in case I need to get this fixed, I will not give up, even if it has 140k and I'm the second owner, this is bull.
Quick Question, can I really drive like this and ignore the CEL, or will it eventually fail ? Should I drive around town in D4 ?
Here's some info if anyone cares:
Acura Client Relations
1919 Torrance Blvd.
M/S 500-2N7E
Torrance, CA 90501-2746
acr@ahm.acura.com
Phone: (800) 382-2238
Fax: (310) 783-3535
I originally started this thread nearly 10 years ago. It is staggering to see how many people have posted their responses over the years. Not sure why after 2014, there was a sudden stop to the posts though!
I just wanted to update - I still have the 2004 MDX - it currently has about 130K miles on it. It DOES shudder between 30-40 mph when cruising gently on D5 setting. The rpms dip quite low when allowed to shift up to D5, and when you accelerate, the car "grinds" and tends to lack power.
Driving in D4, you don't hear the noises at all. The transmission shifts at all the right points. At this point, my MDX isn't worth much - and I don't feel it's worth it to spend $2.5K-3K + on a solution that isn't even permanent (most of the people I've seen that replace their torque converters end up having the same problem 30-40K miles later).
I've been driving in D4 for the past few years, and the car has held up great. Yes, the fuel economy has suffered a bit (~13 in the city, ~19-20 in the highway) - but it never was great to begin with (don't recall getting more than ~15 mpg in the city ever...). With gas being as cheap as it is today, it is definitely worth the fuel economy hit versus replacing the entire torque converter.
So...my advice to y'all owning 2004-2006 MDXs is to drive in D4. By this point, many of our MDXs are probably in the 140-170K mileage range or more - at this point, we should focus on squeezing out the most miles remaining in these cars without spending significant $$$ in them. For those owning 2003 and lower models....I don't really know what to recommend, as the problems seem to be more in the transmissions themselves, rather than the torque converters.
For now, I intend on driving my 2004 MDX up until it starts causing problems in other areas, and these problems start costing amounts that aren't justifiable anymore. But for now, I can say, that my MDX has had basically zero problems with anything, asides from the rumbling issues when driving in D5. Just regular oil changes have been the main source of maintenance for this car - being a 13+ year old car, I give kudos to Acura for that.
Thanks,
tpulak
When i reversed, it was taking jerks and give same msg again. I tried to check in internet i couldn't get any solution. So thats what i did:
I checked the transmission fluid and it was low, i added around more than half litter and then it was given me engine light on, then i open gas cap and close again, then i put the key on number 2 position and push the gas paddle for 35 second and start the car.
Everything was good after.
Hope it will help someone.
Please check transmission fluid before go check you error code.
Thanks