Honda Car Forum

I want to purchase a TL but i heard that it had the worest transmissions ever, was this ever fix if so what make and model was this addressed?

It was the CL that had the transmission issues more frequently. The CL was discontinued in 2003. And yes, Acura fixed their transmission issues in 2004. There have not been nearly as many issues since that model year.

I am an 2008 Acura TL owner and love the car!!Absolutely no transmission issue to report.Where did you hear about this issue? What model year was covered?

Yes. The ones 2005 and later had better transmissions.































www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov

I have an '06 TL AT w. 14K miles...haven't experienced any problems. I'm active on a couple of Acura/Honda websites. It appears that the original problems existed from years 1998 thru 2002 (a few 2003 TL/CLs were affected). I do read of sporadic issues with the Third Generation TLs (2004 & newer), but they seem quite rare...couldn't call it a trend. The '07 &'08 TL AT versions are now outfitted with the Acura RL automatic transmission, which is even more robust still...

It was with the TLs and CLs before 2005...Trannys should be fine now

Yes, and they had a recall for Honda and Acura transmissions in some models. The recall was 3 years ago. They fixed it for free because it was a recall.

the older models had problems but the newer camry's also have transmission problems.

My recommendation is to avoid the 2003 and older TL's. The 2004 and newer have not had problems other than sporadic ones. The MDX, Pilot, Odyssey, CL, TL and Accord V-6 are all affected, some to 2005 model year and going all the way back to 1998.Honda claims the problem relates to a gear in the transmission not getting enough oil, so it locks up. The fix was to run a line to the gear and spray oil on it (all internal to the transmission). This was not the solution, because many cars had the retrofit and the transmissions still failed. Honda is an excellent company and they provided warranties to 100,000 miles for all the cars with the "problem" transmission. If you had the retrofit done, they typically did not honor the 100,000 mile warranty, so be careful!I feel that a Honda/Acura should last for 200,000 miles with very little problems - that's why we buy them. Since this transmission is not reliable, I recommend keeping away from these cars.Greg

Great question and one I'd like to know the answer to. I own an 01 TL - bought it in Aug 05 with 48k miles. Replaced the trans in Jan 06 with 55k miles, replaced it again one week later - all on Acura's dime. Now I have 78k miles and trans is smooth as silk...for now.According to hondatransmissionsettlement.com 99-02 TLs and the 2 dr CL (01-02) have bad transmissions. This settlement extended the warranty for these vehicles to be 7 yrs 9mos. or 109k miles on the powertrain.But I can't seem to find for sure if the replacement transmissions fix the problem or not. According to wikipedia all transmissions after March 05 include a redesigned 3rd gear clutch to FIX the problem. But there is no citation for this so who knows where it came from and if its true. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acura_TLHere's a message board that might be of interest to youhttp://www.carsurvey.org/viewmorecom...264_6.htmlThis is for the 02 TL type S, but others have posted, too. My advice is if you are planning on buying a 99-03 TL - Don't waste your time. But if you already have one, like me, then its your personal choice whether to keep it or not. I just put a $700 set of tires on mine yesterday - I'm in it for at least another year. If you are thinkign of buying an 04 or later - then go for it - I've seen nothing saying these have any trans problems.