2002 Acura TL 3.2 TLS from North America - Comments

I had the 2000 TL for about two years with 147000 miles and bought used, not know how many owner before. Now it had the Check engine on, TCS light on by itself, and blink D5. I just read all of this comment and know I may run into trouble for this trans problem. I checked it is out off warranty. But my car still driving fine right now. The question is how long it will give me trouble after blink the D5 and TCS is on? Also some guy mentioned if put into manual shift right after start the car, D5 will not blink and TCS will not on. I tried. it is true. Is this going to avoid the trans problem or not? any people try it before. If so I will drive it in the manual mode always. What is my other option? I do not think I can sell the car like this way.

To the person who posted at 4th Jun 2008, 16:24 about the whining transmission, what was Acura's exact diagnosis? Did you have to go higher than the local dealership to get the transmission replaced? As I said earlier, I described the same noise over the phone to the service manager at the local Acura dealer, and he tried to convince me that it's normal for a front wheel drive car.

Does anyone have any idea of:

1. What percentage of '00 through '03 TLs have actually had transmission problems and.

2. What percentage of the rebuilt replacements fail.

I am buying a Acura 2003 3.2TL, and I put deposit already. The current owner is the only owner of the car, and showed me all the service invoice and paperwork. They also showed me the recall letter of the transmission and they did get it replaced. However, I checked the VIN# in www.hondatransmissionsettlement.com, and found out that the vehicle is not covered under the settlement!

I am so confused, why would a dealer send the owner the recall letter even the car is not under the settlement. Is that site only good for US vehicle? or we can check the canada vehicle vin# there too?

The car currently at around 163k, and the extended warranty on the recall letter said it covers 7.75 year and 175km. I am planning to go to dealer and ask them to do a checkup for me, and force them to replace a new one for me. Any of you think it's possible?

Thanks.

I posted about the transmission whining (and now it is slipping) in second gear...

I went to the dealer - after a test drive the service manager said they would have a rebuilt trans for me next week, and I would get a loaner car while mine was in the shop. They were very professional about it.

I was still concerned by the stories of rebuilt units failing, and did some additional research. Initially, Acura was rebuilding the original transmissions. In 2005 they started using a redesigned case for the rebuilt transmissions and these seem to be much more reliable.

I own a 2003 Acura 3.2 TL (129,000 ml) and I am also having some transmission trouble.

I took it to a dealership for them to perform the recall test. He told me the trans was "fried" and it would cost me 4,400 to replace it.

Came to find out, he never even performed the test. When I called him back, he said he didn't need to do the test because the trans was already gone. My point was that, if the trans is gone it, could it be a result of the recall that had never been performed, (which I just found out about.)

I made a second trip (80 miles to the next state) after calling "Customer Service" and talking to the service manager just to get the recall done. And it was as I suspected they would say, it was not the 2nd shift recall, but the 2nd gear was slipping because of 2nd gear clutch pressure failure.

I'm not saying that that is not the truth, but I am a little skeptical after they gave me the run-a-round about doing the recall test in the first place.

Does anyone know how I can find out if what they said is wrong with my trans is not caused by the 2nd shift recall?

To the 15th Jun 2008, 17:18 poster - can you remember where you read about the redesigned case on all transmissions fixed after 2005? I've seen this on Wikipedia - which, as a librarian, I don't find to be a reliable source. I've scoured the internet for more information on this and would like to read more. Please post some websites if you can. Thanks.

I brought my 2002 Acura TL on 5/08. With only 74.477 miles on it. So far I have not had any problems. I have put about 3,000 miles on it. If something does go wrong I will be sure to let everyone out there in car survey. org and Wells Fargo who gave me around 10,000 for the car and were they can pick it up because I am not paying 4,000 dollars for repairs and still have to make payments.

Wow, I was preparing to purchase a beautiful 2003 TL-S with 112,000 miles on it. The CarFax was clean but my test drive was short. Thank you for saving me! I guess I will keep the old Accord EX and Prelude SH a little longer.

Thanks again!

John.

I purchased a 2002 3.2 TL in December 2007. In early June 2008 my transmission started slipping and the engine was making a whining noise. The TCS light was on as well as the check engine light. I took it to Acura the next morning and was told by noon that the car needed a new transmission. The car had 99,000 kms on it. Acura replaced the transmission at no cost to me ($2,400.00 + labour. It worked out to $3,048.81 taxes in according to the bill). I asked questions about the transmission because I came across a thread like this where people were discussing their transmission issues, and was told by Acura that when they redesigned the 2002 TL they changed the gear set-up and moved 2nd gear higher and it wasn't getting the fluid necessary. They added a jet pack to shoot fluid up there, but that didn't work so great. Acura told me that I have a totally redesigned transmission with reconfigured gears, so the 2nd gear thing no longer happens.

On another note, I read that the 2002 TL have long lasting platinum tip spark plugs (170,000kms) and timing belt. The timing belt is supposed to last to 105,000 miles. Not sure what that is in kms I think 155,000 kms? This is according to the recommended service schedule the previous owner gave me. They got it from the dealer.

The comment above me just isn't true. I purchased a beautiful 2002 Acura TL type S with 116,000 miles. I bought this car on Thursday and on Friday on my way home the Transmission broke. It had the recall done on it at 86,000 miles and the transmission was replaced... The timing belt was replaced, water pump, rotors, brakes, and tires.

I'm waiting to see what Acura is going to do about it because it's definitely nothing I or the previous owner did to the car... learn how to manufacture a reliable product!

The car was taken care of. The New Transmission is the same as the old... a bunch of nothing, the Air conditioner motor has been replaced, the 6 disc dash CD player is broke and the SRS light is on!

I just got rid of a 99 Lexus ES300 with 189,00 miles on it and everything worked on it and I've never had to fix or replace anything... it was a perfect and reliable car and will be my next car if I can get rid of the scrap of metal.

If I had known that Acura was going to be an expensive broke down go-cart, I never would have purchased it in the first place!!!

I sent Car Survey two post. 4/10/08 and 6/30/08. after the purchased of my used 2002 Acura TL. with only 74,000 miles. while I was driving my Acura. my check engine light. and my TCS light was on also. I took my car to the Acura dealership with only 78,488 miles on it. they told me that they have to replace my old transmission with a new one. for free with a 1yr or 12,000 miles warranty and they will give me a rental car while they finish working on my car. I would like to know is the new transmission better than the old one.

I have a 2001 TL with 141,000 miles and now the tranny is shot. I took it to the dealer (unaware of the chronic tranny problems with Acura). The dealer told me it would be $5400 to replace the transmission!!!

What should my next course of action be?

I'm late posting this comment. My bad.

This site helped me tremendously with regards to the transmission failure. I have a 2002 TL Type S. Great car except for two points.

1) The transmission failed as everyone indicated (for me at 63,000 miles) in Dec of 2007. The transmission and the power-train computer were replaced by the dealer at no cost to me + loaner no cost to me. THANKS TO THIS SITE, I MADE SURE THAT I HAD EVIDENCE THAT I HAD THE TRANSMISSION FLUID CHANGED PER THE MANUAL.

2) The in dash BOSE 6 disc hanger jammed because I did not know that the BOSE unit would not be able to take "home recorded" CDs. The dealer indicated this is a freq problem with the BOSE... repair is $330 at the Acura specified stereo store here in Greenville SC or it can be sent off by the dealer for the same cost. But the same BOSE failure will occur if I forget the detail related to the CDs so I will replace the BOSE unit. Will go with an MP3 compatible unit. BOSE CD changer problem is something about the thickness of all CDs not being uniform, esp related to CDs that can be recorded at home (meaning not prerecorded).

SUMMARY: after the computer/ transmission swap the car shifts more smoothly. I did have to pay for the replacement of two ball joints and they suggested replacing the axles. That was not covered... who knows if that was related to the prior harsh shift quality that has now been eliminated. I did the ball joints for $400. Axles later next year.

I liked the sporty shifts prior to the transmission/ computer replacement, but if the "shift-shock" prior to the tranny replacement had anything to do with the tranny failure, then I don't mind the smoother shifts. Dealer did indicate that the warranty goes to 109,000 miles.

Good news: the dealer played fair and was very upfront even though I was new to the area and did not buy the car from them.

I am seriously considering selling this car when at either 109,000 miles or max @ double the original failure 126,000.

I had the same problem with the Bose but you don't need to replace it. Get the CD out with a pair of tweezers and reset the code. You'll find the code in the front cover of your manual on a business size card.

My transmission (2002) went in May and Acura agreed to pay half. I have 110,000 miles on the car. Ramsey (NJ) Acura was the first dealer I called ($6,400) but when I got other prices, Acura decided not to pay half anymore.

I got 3 prices from 3 different Acura dealers. One for $6,400; one for $3400; and one for $3,200.

They claimed that they could only pay half of the $6,400 because that's where the paperwork was started. After 3 months of phone calls and letter writing, I just gave up and paid for it myself.

This will be the last Acura I buy. Too bad because I did like the car.

I would suggest a class action law suit, but it looks like that's already been done.