My car is also an 03 Tl type S, my transmission just went as well. I also have been told that I have a cracked engine mount and bad front ball joints, the tech said it is pretty common with these cars, I still think it's a great car but shesh, after paying 32k for the car brand new, this kinda hurts!
Have a 2003 TL-S that I enjoy driving immensely that has received all regular and recall maintenance. I had stopped taking it to the dealer for service because they constantly found some "add-on" that the service manual or an independent Acura service often found premature or unneccessary. At the 60K maintenance checkup, the independent service manager indicated that 2 of the motor mounts (front passenger and radiator area) had failed and needed to be replace at a somewhat substantial cost. Also, there are 2 others of similar design and indicated that this was not an uncommon problem on this car. Apparently, the company was aware of this problem because later models had superior designed mounts that don't fail. I notice that others have indicated they have had motor mount problems and before I went after the company, was wondering if anyone was successful in getting the company to acknowledge that this was a design defect that they would stand behind.
The trans on my 2003 TL S was acting up so I took it to my Acura dealer. I baby it and it only has 37000 miles. They told me today that they will install a new trans for free. They then told me the 2 front motor mounts are bad. One is cracked and the other is leaking oil. Didn't know motor mounts have oil. He said the regular price to replace both mounts would be around $775.00 but since they have the trans pulled they will do it for around $475.00. I love this car but will never buy another Acura and probably not a Honda product.
My wife needs a new car and I was probably going to buy an Acura. (very soon) Not now.
Only 37000 miles!! I'm very disappointed.
Also, my daughter has a 2005 Honda Accord and the trans has gone out twice (under 50000 miles)
I loved the VTEC motor and the options on the TL; but the car was quite frankly too trouble-prone to keep.
Areas I felt needed definite improvement were; weak air conditioning (even though climate controlled), weak braking (even with front and rear discs), and the handling at the high end 125 mph plus (done in a controlled situation, it was quite unstable).
There is plenty of great power, but hard to keep under control at speed and when cornering. I would have preferred rear wheel drive, like BMW, if it were available. Nonetheless, it was a nice sport sedan to own. The immediate throttle response made it a blast to drive.
I have owned Legends, and have driven an NSX perfectly balanced weight ratio (not mine, but it was great to drive on a few occasions). The TL has great hp, but the transmission is a weak point, and it is dangerous to continue to own.
Great seats, gauges, and options (especially the Bose sound system). I stopped buying Acura, however, due to the persistent trans issues. It can fail at very bad moments. I had mixed feelings moving on, as they are otherwise nice to own.
I now drive new 2008 domestics, and sometimes drive my sons' modified Viper RT/10 on some limited opportunities. I wonder how many individuals actually drive vehicles to their full potential, but I love handling and performance capabilities on my new vehicles. And durability...
If you plan on using the sport shifting gate mode much on the TL model, you will no doubt be in the shop soon. But I believe many have issues regardless, using that shift mode or not. I always dealer maintained and meticulously took care of ours, and yet they were in shop for various issues at low mileage. Wait until you have to buy a headlight bulb, tires, etc, plus you run 93 octane; not really an economy vehicle if that's your intent.
I have a 2003 3.2 TL and at around 75k miles, the transmission started slipping. I took it to the dealership and forty minutes later they told me they saw nothing wrong with it. I then took the technician with me on a test drive trying to get the error to come up but it wouldn't. I paid the $700 maintenance since it needed it anyway, which includes changing the transmission fluid, which according to the technician would be what could fix the issue. Today on my way home from work, it started skipping like never before (real bad). Am I screwed now and have to buy a new transmission? Does anyone know if Acura will own up to this and repair? Please let me know. Thanks.
I own a 2003 acura tl type s that I bought approx 3 yrs ago with 68,000 miles I now have put 108,000 miles on it and have had no problems what so ever except the cv boot which I damaged myself with the lack of knowledge I had on lowering my car so far I've lowered it put in a coldair injen intake and have done all my scheduled oil changes myself and one transmission flush and my car still runs great and I drive it hard the owner before me was a doctor from massachusetts so that would explains the high mileage as for everything else I couldn't have asked for a better car now I have a big tune up coming up with all the belts and plugs and so on etc and after iam done with that I plan on adding more mods with more than a few more yrs of fun btw the transmission was replaced only once from the previous owner and I found that out through acura myself from what I was told he went in for the recall but never had anyproblems with it himself!!! btw fyi the transmission is made in ohio and the engine was made in japan that's probably why there was that transmission recall the parts came from 2 totally diff locations as well as the americans are known not to make good cars that last as long as hondas or toyotas and other japanese cars.
I own a 2003 TL and have 203,000 miles on it. I serviced the transmission and timing belt at around 147,000 miles. I have nothing but good things to say about this car.
I bought the car with 70k and travel over 45k to 50k per year on business. I do have a broken front engine mount and will be replacing it. All the others seem fine.
The car gets over 30mpg and I do run nothing but high 93 octane gas.
I was planing on putting 300k on this car, but you guys have me worried. I have my own mechanic and don't take the car to the Acura dealer unless I have to. Just put new tires all around so I won't be selling anytime soon.
What kind of fluid did you use when you serviced your transmission at 140.000?
I had motor mount issues on my 2003 TL type S and wrote a letter to Acura client services in CA. My local dealer called me and replaced the broken mounts for free, probably because I've bought 3 Acuras from him previously. Nevertheless, it is a problem that Honda has tried to hide and seems to be getting away with. I have 65k on the car now and, so far, no tranny problems.
I just bought my second Acura TL from the 2000-2003 generation TL. Though I have heard from the boards many of the problems associated with the transmission, I thought I would chime in to try to make this series a little more balanced.
I have had very little trouble with my 2000 TL and have more than 230K miles. I got it with 56K and it has been relatively trouble free with routine maintenance (trans oil cooler mod put in free by dealer) but still going strong. There is literature on the NHTSA website concerning this. Timing belts replaced about every 80K, brakes seem to be a weak spot if you buy aftermarket rotors which warp under the heat of braking. A/C fan went out at about 159K. Struts and ball joints began to wear out around 200K and at 220K replaced the harmonic balancer ($450). Besides tires and batteries, that's it.
I drive it very hard almost 100 miles a day in rural hilly curvy roads and interstate straightaways, then city start and stop. It is starting to get pretty rough around the edges, but I am still keeping it.
I purchased a second 2003 TL S type with 71K miles and it is just a pleasure to drive all over again. It has firmer suspension for the twisties, and my big reservation was of course the transmission problems. I did the research and found that the transmission has been subject of a class action suit, which ultimately resulted in a warranty extension for the vast majority of owners. This seems too little too late in my case, so I dug a little further and found that the recall/lawsuit/only applies to Acuras through 2003 whose VIN number last five digits are under 19000. Thus it would seem that Acura finally resolved the manufacturing problem early in the 2003 model year, and the 2003 Acuras with VIN 19000 and above are good. I also read somewhere that the ongoing transmission problems only affected 2-4 percent of all Acuras sold. I don't know if there is any truth to that, but it is normally the ones that got burned who are the most vocal.
I might feel differently about the TL if I had gotten burned, but for me it has been a great car. Besides that, IMO the roominess, styling, and Bose stereo beat the next generation of ACURAs hands down.
I always took it to the dealer for routine maintenance and diagnostics, but had my private mechanic do the repairs about about 60% of the time. He charged me about 1/2 of what the dealer would have cost.
I will start off by saying that I am an employee of Acura. I am by no means a "company man".
Yes there is transmission issues on the Tl. With that being said, if you don't take care of any car and drive it over 100 mph all the time, it will break down. There is no car in the world that is perfect.
Acura owners are nuts about their cars. I have been in this business for 10 years at different dealers and independents, and have never seen people complain about the most ridiculous things as you folks. It's a CAR. IT WILL BREAK. No car will last problem free or maintenance free forever. NONE. Do your regular major service every 15k at the dealer (not Joe's garage) and when there is an issue then keep your cool and politely ask for help to pay the bill, and you would be surprised and the results. If you do all your work somewhere else, then why do you think that Acura will pay for a repair for you. Will your local shop guy pay for it? No. You have given him all your money and get nothing in return.
Car fax killed me, reporting all the replacement trans, otherwise a mint black in and out beautiful Type S. I am still glad we sold with young kids in the car. Very displeased with the depreciation hit due to Carfax saying it all.
Does anyone know if there is a special place to add trans fluid?
Having the motor mounts and the transmission on the 2003 Acura TL is common. There's a service tag/recall notice on the transmission. My TL Type S's transmission and motor mounts went as well.
But if you hear a rattling noise that sounds like a piece of metal hanging off your front end, it's the motor mounts. And again the transmission going and the motor mounts are a common problem with the TL.
I have to agree with the Acura employee and don't understand the venom for this car.
Mine: 2003 TL-S, 149,000 miles - original owner
Tranny: Replaced at 83,000 miles, after taken in for warranty.
Engine mounts - no issue that I know of.
Other than the tranny, I put oil at regular intervals. Nothing else - this car has been fabulous.
I'm looking to get a BMW due to the new RL/TL grill which I hate, but not due to the car.
When the tranny was serviced originally - They gave me a new RL as a loaner, fixed the dash light (out of warranty), net cost to me - $0...
When it was replaced - it failed (and it wasn't "scary" - I was doing 70)... I calmly drove the car to the side of the road, called AAA, got it towed to the dealer. If you can't handle blown tires or other road hazards, perhaps you shouldn't get a driver's license. The failure was far better than blown tire, timing belt, or other.
The tranny was replaced, even out of warranty, and I was given a loaner - new TL (not as roomy interestingly). Other issues were also addressed - it took 3 weeks to get the car back, but I had the loaner the entire time and my bill was a whopper - $0.00 - even I can afford that.
Take the time to talk to the dealer and/or the manufacturer. They will almost ALWAYS make it right. My wife had a Mountaineer that the engine seized on - OUT OF Warranty. After talking to dealer and FORD, and having records of oil changes, FORD paid for the engine - we paid for labor - pretty fair deal getting a new engine on an out of warranty car. Don't whine if you don't even make an effort to ask what they will do for you.