2002 Acura TL 3.2 TLS from North America - All Comments

I have a 2003 TLS (no Navi) with 96,500 miles and it seems the tranny is gone. It's at the dealer as we speak getting diagnosed. I basically was coming back from work and the check engine/VSA/Exclamation lights came on and now the car gears doesn't shift properly (it actually stalled on me while I was going to the dealer in the middle of the road). I took it autozone and the check engine code was P0740 (Transmission control solenoid). I took it to the dealer and I know there is a recall for the tranny out there, but he told me the recall was already done on the car and is not covered.

I called acura client service and they told me the same thing - no extended warranty. I can't afford to shell out $3-4 k for a transmission, but from various threads on this post, I hear acura extended their warranty to 7 yr/100k for TL's with tranny problems. Is there any official documentation that says that so I can show it to my dealership??? Please help!

Check www.hondatransmissionsettlement.com and have you VIN ready to enter. It will tell you if your car was covered under this settlement or not.

I bought a 2003 TL S-Type brand new. In summer 2007 the transmission failed with only 23,000 miles on the car. Amazing. The dealer installed a remanufactured transmission - covered by Acura (even though I was out of warranty they were embarrassed to have a failure at 23,000 miles).

Well the new transmission never worked quite right - I took it back to the dealer twice and they said it was fine. They commented it was programmed differently to avoid future problems.

Well about 14 months after the replacement (3,000 miles) I noticed some wetness under the car - I take it to the dealer and they state there is leakage from the axle seals. I told them that was crazy since it is a new transmission - they claimed that the seals aren't new on a remanufactured transmission! That is BS -- it was a result of improper installation and damaging the seals while installing the axles. Anyway, they wanted to charge me $350 to fix their own sloppy work. I decided to just add fluid -- well after adding quite a bit I realized the dealer never put in sufficient fluid after the replacement --- now that the transmission is fully lubricated it works as good as new.

I just got the tranny replaced on my 2002 Acura TL Type-S today 12/30/08 at an independent mechanic (2nd). Got 1 year, or 12,000 mile warranty. Can anyone tell me if the new trannys are any good. Should I sell my car?

I don't think anyone can tell you to sell your car or not. It should be based on your financial and security situation. If you don't feel secure in that car and you are worried it will fail you at a bad time then trade it in. If you aren't worried so much about security then look at your finances and determine if you'd be OK trading it in or if it would create a financial hardship.

Personally I don't drive much, it's 90% local, and I'm willing to continue driving my car. I can also afford to pay for another transmission if mine fails or buy a new car if I desire. So I'm willing to take the risk and continue to drive my "paid for" Acura. But if I had kids or drove out of town a lot I'd be in a different car right away.

It's really up to you. I don't think anyone can accurately predict if a replaced transmission will fail. I've had my replaced trans in for nearly 30k miles now (3 years) - no problems - but I'm not confident it will last another 30k. I've read all the reviews and some people never have any more problems and some do - there is just no way to tell for sure.

I have a 2003 TL-s with navigation system. I noticed slipping of gear and car had some jerking shifting. The same day the transmission had slippage. The dealer said transmission needs to be replaced and will likely be near 4.6K (new york city). They indicated my VIN number was not covered. A lot of the comments in this site seem to indicate this is a similar finding.

Acura (central is reviewing) as I write.

Purchased a 2003 TL type S recently, the previous owner gave me a good deal, the car has 59000 miles, the 7 year or 100K extended warranty (which ever comes first) is about to expire in less than a month. Right now I haven't had any problems, but after reading many sites, I too, becoming worry about the tranny problems. I am going to bring it to the dealer for service when it reaches 60K. Does anyone know if the warranty is going to cover after 7th year even though the car hasnt reached 100K ?

Purchased a 2003 TL-S recently, previous owner gave me a great deal. The car has 59000 miles and I have no problems with it. 7 years and 100K miles extended warranty (which ever comes first) is going to expire within a month. I am going to bring the car to the dealer for servicing when it reaches 60K. Does anyone know if Acura dealer will cover the warranty on the transmission after 7 years even though it hasn't reach 100K miles???

My husband bought 2002 Acura TL in '05. We just hit 114,415 miles. He noticed the transmission slipping and acting up, jerking into gear etc. We took it to a mechanic friend who let us know about the extended warranty to where we then took it to the dealership.

Acura extended the warranty on the 3.2 TL and 3.2CL Auto transmission (dated 2/5/2008) If you purchased the car between April 13, 2002 and November 7, 2006 it is now covered for 93 months (7 years 9 months) or 114,450 miles whichever occurs first.

Covers: ALL 1999-02 3.2TL

2003 - 3.2 TL (except type S) from vin 19UUA5...3A000001

thru 19UUA5...3A019061.

2001-02 3.2 CL - ALL.

2003 3.2 CL - ALL models.

I hope this helps. We barely made it under the miles, not sure if they would have covered it or not. (I doubt it in this market Charlotte, NC)

WOW..WOW..WOW...so many comments on the Acura tranny. Did a google search on this issue out of curiosity and little did I konw how many owners have been affected! My 2003 TL Type S just failed (tranny) today, 57K. Towed to my house, Acura road side will pick up and take to dealer this upcoming week. I am covered as certified pre-owned 6yr/100K miles. I better not get hell from them b/c I will go prepared with the research I discovered here tonight! Wish me luck!

Thanks everyone for sharing your experiences. I was about to buy acura 2002 TL type S and I am so lucky that I found this website. I am going to refuse the seller now.

We have a 2003 3.2 TL S, and transmission just went out with 76,000. We took it to the dealership, and so far, they have only provided a quote and said that Acura will probably not be able to help. I have a call into Acura and they will look into it further and call me back... I hope they come through, this is the 2nd Acura that a transmission went out before 100,000 miles. Our 2001 MDX transmission went out, and we ended up selling it due to the trans, and was hoping they got better... I don't feel to confident about Honda vehicles much anymore...

Acura has trouble building a reliable tranny dating back to the 86 Acura Legend. I have owned 2, a 90 Legend and a 91 Acura Integra. I have looked into both before buying, both showed signs of tranny failure in the automatic models. Simply consumers need to do there research. Honda makes good cars and to see that a tranny problem hurts a good car bothers me. Why not try to find the 6-speed model?

I've got a 2003 3.2TL 128K and the tranny went haywire today out of the blue. Same lights came on, check engine light. 5th gear light blinking, and after all that, the car started stalling.

So my VIN number is covered under that settlement, but because I'm at 128,000 miles, does that mean theres nothing that can be done about it..?

I'm in the same boat... sort of. Have a 2002 TL, had the trans replaced by dealer due to slippage (under warranty) at about 70,000 miles. Now, with 175,000 miles, tranny just went bonkers and stopped dead. I called the dealer anonymously to see if they would do anything, and as expected they told me I was nuts.."after all, how could it be a bad tranny if it lasted 100K?" My next move will be to call customer support and ask for some kind of financial consideration, as a tranny should go much further, but I'm usually not very lucky with that kind of stuff. It's really too bad; I loved that car! I'll let you know if I do get anywhere. If not, it'll be my last Acura.