I talk to other appraisers, dealership used car managers and auction sellers/buyers. Everyone I know in my circle is aware of the TL transmission problems, and appraisers set the tone for a car that is either "soft" or "hard" in the market.
These TLs are not a complete "walk-around" (don't buy), but they get scrutinized much more than before. That has to, and does, effect market position and percieved value.
Please don't think I'm being arrogant here - consumers have little or nothing to do with how used prices are set at auction and trade-in - just at purchase.
I'm not in the used car biz so I'm not qualified to comment on what you posted. I'm also NOT saying you're posting misinformation on purpose. It's just that I find what you're describing regarding TL's hard to believe. I mean, if TL's are so stigmatized, then is there even a market AT ALL for used Chrylers, Fords, BMW's, Audis and, in fact, any European brand you care to name?
A Dodge Neon usually draws $2-3K back of book. A Taurus, $3K; Kia Sephia, $3-4K, Mitsubishi Galant, $4-5K.
When I'm talking about the TL being soft, it just means that instead of pulling a strong book price as with most other high-line imports, you're not sitting as pretty. Instead of wholesale book or $500 over w/s, you may draw $500-1000 less. In light of the way some others get beat up in the market, $500-1000 is cheap, actually.
...and now I am worried after reading these posts (21,000 miles). When my car is in park or neutral, the engines revs itself. It's like someone is pumping the gas peddle - not a continuous rev. When I'm driving and I pull up from the gas pedal, the car is kind of jumpy. When I brake, I can feel my car lurch at points. Today, my Check Engine light and TCS light came on when I was stopped at a light right before I got to work. The manual says that the TCS light may come on when the brakes overheat. It sometimes feels like I have to really press on the brakes to keep my car from going forward. The dealer can't take me until Tuesday but he said it wasn't dangerous to drive with the engine light on. He said it common for engines to have high revs in cold weather (didn't mention any transmission problems!). I said I didn't think it was high revving (2.25 isn't really high). Do you think this is the start of my transmission woes? Any advice for when I take it to the dealer? A link in the earlier messages to an article about Acura transmissions is no longer available.
It doesn't sound good. I think others who have had tranny problems have also reported some of the dash warning lights coming on. Does the D5 indicator also flash. I would avoid driving the car until you've had a chance to get it checked over.
so hopefully it is a sensor. What is the D5 indicator? When I start my car, the maintenance required light flashes and then goes off, but I thought that was because I was due for an oil change. The Check Engine light and TCS light just started to come on. I haven't noticed any other indicators. I bought this car when my old 93 Toyota Camry needed a new transmission at about 85,000 miles. I thought I'd buy a new car rather than spend the 4K on a transmission. I was hoping my Toyota would have lasted me 10 years.
I have a 2001 3.2 TL with 58,000 miles on it and began experiencing transmission problems. I would proceed with caution. Unfortunately, I can't afford the money or time to wait and see if the car will be fixed. Good luck!
so it wasn't my transmission, thank goodness! I did have to get my rear brake pads replaced. I have 22,000 miles on them. Does this seem like excessive wear? I picked up a loaner from the dealer and was amazed at how differently it drove. I just had to touch the brakes.
I bought my 2001 TL in march of 2001. I really love this car. The power and performance seemed great to me for the price. There was the wind noise problem but I can deal with that, especially since I drive fast :P.
When I researched this car it had nothing but good reviews and rated high in CR. So I purchased it and had no problem until the tranny. As so as the problem occurred I researched it and found that Honda was having a problem with it. I took it into the dealer ASAP and had them replace the tranny under the warranty and they gave me extended warranty.
Other than that I'm still happy with the TL, I planned to keep it until it reaches 150k then I might get a new car.
P.S. If you don't already know, the remote for the car is defective. If you haven't already had it replaced, check with your dealer.
Currently, we have two cars: a 2000 Honda Odessey and a 2002 TL. We got an extended warranty notice from Honda on the van. I have never liked the transmission on the van. My wife now wants to get rid of it at 25K miles. My TL has been perfect. It has 9600 miles on the 5 speed automatic.
We got rid of a 95 Windstar with a bad trans/bad head gasket problem to get the Oddesey and paid up for it.
When the trans blew out, did it give any warning signs?
This is really annoying. These cars are my second and third Honda's, and nearly everyone in my family has been buying Honda's based on my wonderful experience with my '91 Accord and my brother's experience with his '94 Accord.
mechanical problem with these Acura transmissions, I knew of a couple of people who in 89, when the Acura Legend came out had to go for a replacement transmissions. A friend of mine who ran a garage which strictly serviced only Honda's and Acuras said that the tranny's were not at fault.
The problem was with the lubricant used it could'nt take the heat and allowed for accelerated wear on the tranny.
All his customers who owned Acuras and still do. Had recieved a recall letters for their trannies, however none of them saw the need to take advantage of since none experienced any of the issues related to these transmissions.
Their trannies were all using a high quality synthetic oil and these cars were well in excess of 170,000 miles. Quite a few had 220,000 miles and more, could very well be the lubricant cannot withstand the heat excerted by the transmission and its lubricating properties diminish well before it should, whereas the synthetic lubricant has a higer tolerance for heat and extra additives needed for the cleanliness.
The fluid is the lubricant. In an automatic transmission there is a fine line between better lube for the gears and too much lube that causes the clutches to slip. Your dealer might be correct that is there is no fluid your toque converter has no oil and therefore no fluid couple. Also with out fluid the clutches cannot actuate and if it isn't in gear it can't get into gear. If the tranny is in gear (direct power no converter) or a manual lack of fluid will destroy the transmission.
Just bought 98 Acura 2.5TL w/58,000. Too bad I didn't know about this website sooner.Mechanic detected hesitation in transmission which "could be" future problem. I thought the trans shifted a little rough. If you know, is this the start of a big repair bill, or is it normal for this vehicle. Was there an extended warranty on 1998's? What's the history of '98 transmission problems, recalls etc.
Responding to message 125, I have a honda Odyssey, and the owner's manual calls for Honda's proprietary transmission oil. Dextron III can be used for temporary only. It is not too comforting to hear all these transmission failure in Acura and Honda, even though I receive 7yrs/100000 miles extended warranty. I would swicth to synthetic transmission oil if I found Honda equivalent transmission oil. For now, I am replacing the transmission oil at every 20,000 mile with draining and refilling twice for each 20,000 miles service. For $4.29 a quart, it is a rip off from Honda. I hate propriety products. It sucks.
"For now, I am replacing the transmission oil at every 20,000 mile with draining and refilling twice for each 20,000 miles service. For $4.29 a quart, it is a rip off from Honda. I hate propriety products. It sucks."
Why would you replace transmission oil that often??? Acura TL requires this to be done at 60K miles and then every 30K miles. I doubt that Honda Odyssey requires significantly different schedule, if at all different. It seems to me you're just throwing away money and increasing your chances of having something go wrong with the transmission. My feeling is that the more you let mechanics tinker with your car, the higher the chance that they'd do something bad to it.
Well, the way the failure rate on Odyssey, I am not taking any chances on my transmission. I am changing the fluid my self. When you drain the fluid, only 3 quarts comes out. The rest are still sitting in the torque converter. So I drain and fill it, drive it for a week drain it refill it again. I know I can't drain it completely, and I don't believe in the flushing method. You should see the stuff that the magnet on the drain plug attracts. AT 20K miles, I can see a thick fine powder like metal on the drain plug magnet. I even took a photo of that. From what I have seen, I am even more convinced to change at 20K mile.
If anyone was wondering if Acura had fixed the transmission problem for the 2003s, the short answer is NO. I have about 25,000 miles on my car and the transmission finally gave out.
The problem started small at first. Sometimes the transmission would slip for a split second but then recover. Then it slipped for a longer period of time but still recovered. Then it slipped and took an incredibly long time to recover. Then it was like driving a manual transmission that you don't know how to drive. It was horriffic. The whole process took about two weeks or 600 miles. Anyhow, you'll know if it's happening. But the VSA exclamation point light comes on along with the VSA malfunction light, the Check Engine light and the D5 indicator blinks--oh, and the car doesn't drive all that well...
Does anyone know if the new Accord is having any of these same transmission problems? If it isn't, maybe that's a sign that Honda/Acura has finally solved this problem. If they have, maybe they decided not to worry about the current TL since a new one is coming out so soon.
I have my 2001 TL for two years, and up until a couple of days ago everything was perfect. But at 31,000 miles the transmission failed. I was accelerating from a stop at a red light. Without warning at about 20-25 mph the car just died. I was almost rear-ended by the vehicle behind me. I was able to creep along at a slow speed, and went straight to my Acura dealer. The dealer said the transmission is defective and will be replaced. It will be a couple of days until Acura ships a replacement transmission, which I understand is a refurbished unit. Basically it is a transmission that failed on someone else’s car, which was sent back to Acura to fix. Does anyone know if Acura has isolated the transmission problem and know what they are fixing? The messages on Edmund’s Town Hall seem to say the refurbished unit will have some heavier parts, but does that address the issue with the defective transmission?
The dealer says the refurbished unit will be great, and that the TL transmission failures are small in number .only 1% of all the TLs. Judging by the number of posts here and at the NHTSA web-site, it appears the TL transmission issue is huge. The Consumer Reports car issue is out in April. It will be interesting to see how the transmission is rated on used TLs. I expect to see the red dot change to black.
but here's some excerpts from my automotive expert reports concerning remanufactured parts used in vehicles. These pertain to lemon law and breach of warranty cases that I investigate and perform appraisals for "market value" damage.
I confirmed through comparison of the part number used in the transmission replacement that, in fact, a “new” transmission was not used in the replacement operation – a “remanufactured” transmission was used and several points come to light on this issue: - The only transmission housing source for a remanufactured transmission is from a known defective component – new transmission housings are not built for use with used/remanufactured components. - A remanufactured transmission’s internal components are usually only replaced if they are “out of specs” with a certain requirements - obviously not the same wear and tolerance specifications as a new transmission. - A vehicle with a remanufactured transmission, especially a newer vehicle such as this, bears the burden of “not being in original condition” and subsequently assumes a loss in value of at least 40% - considering there are no other contributing factors as is not the case on this vehicle. - An educated consumer or used car manager, upon having the ability to compare this vehicle to one that is similar but is equipped with the original transmission, would choose the original vehicle. Even if the mileage on the vehicle with the original transmission was more than on the remanufactured unit, a buyer can be certain the original transmission is built to tighter tolerances and constructed by the vehicle’s manufacturer – not an “aftermarket” transmission-rebuilding factory.
While Acura may be within their rights to install a remanufactured transmission, account must be taken for the financial burden this places on the consumer.
An appraiser has no concern over whether the manufacturer has the legal right to use remanufactured parts. An appraiser simply looks at a large number of vehicles and chooses the most desirable – a vehicle with a remanufactured transmission is not desirable and pales in comparison to vehicles with their original components. The appraiser must also consider other major component damage during the failure or because of the conditions, like abuse or neglect that led to the failure.
I received my extended warranty for the transmission one week before my transmission went out. Before I had ever heard of tranny problems on the Acura, I always thought my car downshifted funny when slowing from highway speeds. The transmission felt as it was downshifting too roughly. I did not experience the normal slipping associated with transmission failure except the day it actually failed. It slipped 5 or 6 times and then went completely out. I bought the car in August 2001 and it had a little less than 28K miles at failure.
At first the dealership told me they would put in a brand new transmission... When I arrived to pick it up I asked if a new transmission was installed. They replied it was remanufactured. I was not happy about that. They told me that the remanufactured transmission solved all of the problems and that it is as good as new. I have a hard time believing that remanufactured is as good as new. What can you do? When I tried to inquire about what caused the failure, the service rep was vague. I also asked how common this was... once again vague response. It has left a pretty bad taste in my mouth. Although the remanufactured tranny seems fine (2K miles since replaced), I constantly question every shift...
We bought a 2002 TL when it first came out in March of 2001. Today, 3/05/2003, the transmission wasn't working well and the dealer will replace it. Since local dealers don't rebuild transmissions, a remanufactured transmission will be shipped and installed. The car has 38,000 miles on it. It had a couple of yips a few days ago, then was OK for a few days; then today it had a couple of big yips and I headed for the dealer. Fortunately, it's under warranty and they will give me a free loaner car for the duration (1 week or more).
I drive a 2000 TL with 46000 miles. I recently drove in 2nd gear for about 7 miles in snow...didn't go above 30mpr. When I put the car in the garage I noticed a burning smell. I this an indication of problems or a normal condition?
Study of the 2000 Acura TL transmission in the Service Manual discloses that 5th gear and reverse gear use the same engagement clutch. There is a hydraulically operated sliding selector which connects that clutch to the appropriate gear train.
If the selector sticks in the reverse position, the car will operate normally until it attempts to shift into 5th. If 5th gear is not called for until freeway speed is reached, the result will be even more radical than a downshift to a lower forward gear.
The manual does not mention an interlock to prevent this from happening. In fact, the manual discusses the problem of the car moving forward when reverse is selected, and mentions sticking of this selector in the forward position as the probable cause. Sluggish movement of this selector probably causes the delay in engagement of reverse which has been mentiond by several owners.
If this is the explanation for the radical "downshifts", the car can be driven safely after transmission problems become obvious so long as D4 is selected rather than D5.
Acura has undoubtedly studied the transmissions which have failed. If this is the failure mode which leads to the sudden downshifts, they should notify all owners of the safe procedure for driving to their dealership for repair.
I have written several letters to Acura regarding this possibility. They refuse to comment on my question.
Perhaps additional letters to them would result in a comment on this suggestion.
Now this is scary!!! Makes me glad I traded my TL.
"I have written several letters to Acura regarding this possibility. They refuse to comment on my question."
For those of us who've had trannies fail and attempted to contact Acura... the above response is a typical experience.
I suspect that your explanation may be one reason for the highway lock-up's, but there's a lot of owners who believe that the tranny issue is overblown, and will need a TON of proof before they believe anything negative about their beloved TL's. I was one of those faithful owners until my tranny went south.
Not sure of your background/expertise, but it will surely be questioned.
Check out the Consumer Reports April auto issue. They continue to give the TL transmissions their highest rating for reliability except the 01 models to which they give their second highest rating. Also, they named Acura the most reliable brand overall. Is this Tranny problem a bit over blown or is Consumer Reports wrong?? They also continue to reccomend the TL as a good used car purchase.
I'm not sure what methods Consumer Reports uses for evaluations, but based on my own experience I don't trust them anymore.
While investigating mini-vans around '94, I read good reviews in Consumer Reports on the Dodge Caravan. We bought one. We went through 3 transmissions in a few years. I checked the internet and found many, many people with problems, lemon-law cases, etc. I checked with a trusted mechanic and he said it was a known problem dating back to the late 80's. I have heard since then that Ralph Nader had listed it as a serious auto problem for consumers to watch out for.
I'm new to this board and was wondering if anyone who's had transmission failure could say something about his/her driving style.
My son has a 2000 Acura TL bought off-lease with 32k miles. He drives very sensibly and generally babies the car but there's still concern about the tranny problems occurring regardless of usage.
On the issue in general, I'll grant that no mechanical device is perfect but do regard as critical the manufacturer's manner of addressing the defect.
I was wondering as well - the TL tranny is the one with 'regular' drive setting or 'sequential sport shift' setting. Did using one or the other mode lead to problems? The few times I've used the sport shift setting, it's run, well,yes, 'sportier', but I wonder If i'm putting more stress on that all-important third gear. Comments?
Also - Honda claimed in Sept. '02 that 16,000 trannys failed out of 1 million - but some think they watered down the failure rate by including models that did not experience greater-than-normal problems. Anyone know what the current failure count is and how many 00-02 (problem years?) TL's and TL-S's were manufactured? Zeus - you seem to consistently have informative posts - any idea where one can find the truth as to how many trannys have really failed and percentages? (Honda could be understating the problem). Thanks in advance.
P.S. My own experience: '01 TL, 32,000 miles, love the car, always noticed occasional 'hiccup' and hesitation on downshift, am now slightly nervous.
I've only seen one Accord (V6) and two Odysseys with transmission failures. This is based on reviewing 4-5,000 cases (reporting on 2,300) over the last two years.
I've yet to see an Acura with a transmission problem in PA, NJ and DE.
You bring up something I never thought of - could these Acura problems be occuring in certain areas due to climate (heat, cold, humidity?) hilly terrain, or because certain 'batches' were bad? Just a thought - although just today (I'm in NY) I ran into someone who had a '99 TL who had the tranny replaced at 36,000 miles (Said it never was right shifting from 2nd to 3rd, not 100% happy w/ replacement but has 68,000 miles total.) I was amazed cuz I just found out about this reading Edmunds the last few days.
thing as far as the weather is concerned, but that certain cars had a certain series of transmissions (maybe different in some ways) between the east Coast and west Coast or through a model year or two makes sense.
Comments
These TLs are not a complete "walk-around" (don't buy), but they get scrutinized much more than before. That has to, and does, effect market position and percieved value.
Please don't think I'm being arrogant here - consumers have little or nothing to do with how used prices are set at auction and trade-in - just at purchase.
When I'm talking about the TL being soft, it just means that instead of pulling a strong book price as with most other high-line imports, you're not sitting as pretty. Instead of wholesale book or $500 over w/s, you may draw $500-1000 less. In light of the way some others get beat up in the market, $500-1000 is cheap, actually.
I bought this car when my old 93 Toyota Camry needed a new transmission at about 85,000 miles. I thought I'd buy a new car rather than spend the 4K on a transmission. I was hoping my Toyota would have lasted me 10 years.
When I researched this car it had nothing but good reviews and rated high in CR. So I purchased it and had no problem until the tranny. As so as the problem occurred I researched it and found that Honda was having a problem with it. I took it into the dealer ASAP and had them replace the tranny under the warranty and they gave me extended warranty.
Other than that I'm still happy with the TL, I planned to keep it until it reaches 150k then I might get a new car.
P.S. If you don't already know, the remote for the car is defective. If you haven't already had it replaced, check with your dealer.
Check with your dealer ship. There is a service bulletin out about this.
We got rid of a 95 Windstar with a bad trans/bad head gasket problem to get the Oddesey and paid up for it.
When the trans blew out, did it give any warning signs?
This is really annoying. These cars are my second and third Honda's, and nearly everyone in my family has been buying Honda's based on my wonderful experience with my '91 Accord and my brother's experience with his '94 Accord.
The problem was with the lubricant used it could'nt take the heat and allowed for accelerated wear on the tranny.
All his customers who owned Acuras and still do. Had recieved a recall letters for their trannies, however none of them saw the need to take advantage of since none experienced any of the issues related to these transmissions.
Their trannies were all using a high quality synthetic oil and these cars were well in excess of 170,000 miles. Quite a few had 220,000 miles and more, could very well be the lubricant cannot withstand the heat excerted by the transmission and its lubricating properties diminish well before it should, whereas the synthetic lubricant has a higer tolerance for heat and extra additives needed for the cleanliness.
Thereby the fluid stays intact.
Why would you replace transmission oil that often??? Acura TL requires this to be done at 60K miles and then every 30K miles. I doubt that Honda Odyssey requires significantly different schedule, if at all different. It seems to me you're just throwing away money and increasing your chances of having something go wrong with the transmission. My feeling is that the more you let mechanics tinker with your car, the higher the chance that they'd do something bad to it.
The problem started small at first. Sometimes the transmission would slip for a split second but then recover. Then it slipped for a longer period of time but still recovered. Then it slipped and took an incredibly long time to recover. Then it was like driving a manual transmission that you don't know how to drive. It was horriffic. The whole process took about two weeks or 600 miles. Anyhow, you'll know if it's happening. But the VSA exclamation point light comes on along with the VSA malfunction light, the Check Engine light and the D5 indicator blinks--oh, and the car doesn't drive all that well...
Good luck to everyone else's transmission!
The dealer says the refurbished unit will be great, and that the TL transmission failures are small in number .only 1% of all the TLs. Judging by the number of posts here and at the NHTSA web-site, it appears the TL transmission issue is huge. The Consumer Reports car issue is out in April. It will be interesting to see how the transmission is rated on used TLs. I expect to see the red dot change to black.
I confirmed through comparison of the part number used in the transmission replacement that, in fact, a “new” transmission was not used in the replacement operation – a “remanufactured” transmission was used and several points come to light on this issue:
- The only transmission housing source for a remanufactured transmission is from a known defective component – new transmission housings are not built for use with used/remanufactured components.
- A remanufactured transmission’s internal components are usually only replaced if they are “out of specs” with a certain requirements - obviously not the same wear and tolerance specifications as a new transmission.
- A vehicle with a remanufactured transmission, especially a newer vehicle such as this, bears the burden of “not being in original condition” and subsequently assumes a loss in value of at least 40% - considering there are no other contributing factors as is not the case on this vehicle.
- An educated consumer or used car manager, upon having the ability to compare this vehicle to one that is similar but is equipped with the original transmission, would choose the original vehicle. Even if the mileage on the vehicle with the original transmission was more than on the remanufactured unit, a buyer can be certain the original transmission is built to tighter tolerances and constructed by the vehicle’s manufacturer – not an “aftermarket” transmission-rebuilding factory.
While Acura may be within their rights to install a remanufactured transmission, account must be taken for the financial burden this places on the consumer.
An appraiser has no concern over whether the manufacturer has the legal right to use remanufactured parts. An appraiser simply looks at a large number of vehicles and chooses the most desirable – a vehicle with a remanufactured transmission is not desirable and pales in comparison to vehicles with their original components. The appraiser must also consider other major component damage during the failure or because of the conditions, like abuse or neglect that led to the failure.
At first the dealership told me they would put in a brand new transmission... When I arrived to pick it up I asked if a new transmission was installed. They replied it was remanufactured. I was not happy about that. They told me that the remanufactured transmission solved all of the problems and that it is as good as new. I have a hard time believing that remanufactured is as good as new. What can you do? When I tried to inquire about what caused the failure, the service rep was vague. I also asked how common this was... once again vague response. It has left a pretty bad taste in my mouth. Although the remanufactured tranny seems fine (2K miles since replaced), I constantly question every shift...
I just hope the remanufactured tranny holds up.
http://www.acurainspired.com/gallery/view_photo.php?full=1&se- t_albumName=album07&id=aap
Page 2
I hit 66430K in my 01 TL and the tranny bombed...waiting for a new one...told me 5 days for the turnaround..we'll see.
here's page 2.
http://www.acurainspired.com/gallery/view_photo.php?id=aaq
If the selector sticks in the reverse position, the car will operate normally until it attempts to shift into 5th. If 5th gear is not called for until freeway speed is reached, the result will be even more radical than a downshift to a lower forward gear.
The manual does not mention an interlock to prevent this from happening. In fact, the manual discusses the problem of the car moving forward when reverse is selected, and mentions sticking of this selector in the forward position as the probable cause. Sluggish movement of this selector probably causes the delay in engagement of reverse which has been mentiond by several owners.
If this is the explanation for the radical "downshifts", the car can be driven safely after transmission problems become obvious so long as D4 is selected rather than D5.
Acura has undoubtedly studied the transmissions which have failed. If this is the failure mode which leads to the sudden downshifts, they should notify all owners of the safe procedure for driving to their dealership for repair.
I have written several letters to Acura regarding this possibility. They refuse to comment on my question.
Perhaps additional letters to them would result in a comment on this suggestion.
"I have written several letters to Acura regarding this possibility. They refuse to comment on my question."
For those of us who've had trannies fail and attempted to contact Acura... the above response is a typical experience.
I suspect that your explanation may be one reason for the highway lock-up's, but there's a lot of owners who believe that the tranny issue is overblown, and will need a TON of proof before they believe anything negative about their beloved TL's. I was one of those faithful owners until my tranny went south.
Not sure of your background/expertise, but it will surely be questioned.
Shhh... listen.... the flames are coming.
I'm not sure what methods Consumer Reports uses for evaluations, but based on my own experience I don't trust them anymore.
While investigating mini-vans around '94, I read good reviews in Consumer Reports on the Dodge Caravan.
We bought one.
We went through 3 transmissions in a few years.
I checked the internet and found many, many people with problems, lemon-law cases, etc.
I checked with a trusted mechanic and he said it was a known problem dating back to the late 80's.
I have heard since then that Ralph Nader had listed it as a serious auto problem for consumers to watch out for.
Yet Consumer Reports gave it high marks.
My son has a 2000 Acura TL bought off-lease with 32k miles. He drives very sensibly and generally babies the car but there's still concern about the tranny problems occurring regardless of usage.
On the issue in general, I'll grant that no mechanical device is perfect but do regard as critical the manufacturer's manner of addressing the defect.
Also - Honda claimed in Sept. '02 that 16,000 trannys failed out of 1 million - but some think they watered down the failure rate by including models that did not experience greater-than-normal
problems. Anyone know what the current failure count is and how many 00-02 (problem years?) TL's and TL-S's were manufactured? Zeus - you seem to consistently have informative posts - any idea where one can find the truth as to how many trannys have really failed and percentages? (Honda could be understating the problem). Thanks in advance.
P.S. My own experience: '01 TL, 32,000 miles, love the car, always noticed occasional 'hiccup' and hesitation on downshift, am now slightly nervous.
I've yet to see an Acura with a transmission problem in PA, NJ and DE.
due to climate (heat, cold, humidity?) hilly terrain, or because certain 'batches' were bad?
Just a thought - although just today (I'm in NY) I ran into someone who had a '99 TL who had the tranny replaced at 36,000 miles (Said it never was right shifting from 2nd to 3rd, not 100% happy w/ replacement but has 68,000 miles total.)
I was amazed cuz I just found out about this reading Edmunds the last few days.