Blown Type S Transmission

Please forgive if I'm beating a dead subject, but I just found this forum and I'm soliciting feedback on the subject of the manumatic tranny...

I purchased my '01 CL-S this past Christmas, as of Sep. 10 it had just under 11K mi. on it. Then cold death struck a blow to the transmission.

If it had a clutch, I'd swear it was slipping. The thing could not find a gear it liked and it would slip into neutral before shifting hard into the next nearest cog. I barely managed to get it home before the check engine light came on.

The car has been in the shop since the 11th. On the 13th I was told by the shop manager that the entire tranny had to be replaced.

Flash forward 2 weeks...I was just informed on Friday by the dealer that it might be another month before it's finished because Acura is back ordered on these transmissions 185 units... Fortunately(?!?), the GM test drove my car and determined it was the worst of the several (!) CL's they had in for the same transmission service. My car got knocked up to the head of the waiting list.

I just wanted to know if anyone else experienced this problem. This sounds like an engineering defect, and all owners should be notified that this could happen to their cars too.

Has anyone heard whether Acura is issuing a recall? If this happened to half a dozen cars at one dealership inTampa, Fl. -- I'm sure it's happeneing elsewhere. Just curious, and very pissed. Thanks in advance for the feedback.

(This experience has made me regret the decision to buy Honda, and I'm turning the car in for a new 350Z in July'02)

I've heard of this happening with the CL's. I'm not sure if they are or already have issued a recall. There is a member in here called "GOD" who just purchased a CL Type-S and he said the same thing. It hasn't happened to him and plus he doesn't use the manumatic shifter much except in racing. But he said that he heard about that same problem happening to those cars. You should keep informed about what happens to your car from here on out.

This really really sucks !!!! It seems like just about every week or so I hear of an Acura CL type S owners tranny going out on them :( I really don't think that acura is going to recall this unless alot and i mean alot of people report it or tell the NTSB (National transportation safety board)
And From the looks of everything I'm considering getting rid of my CLS when it reaches 50,000 miles or in 3 yrs when my car is paid off :( I never knew that acura had this kind of problem but apparently there have been ALOT of people having there tranny go out . You should go to www.acura-cl.com when the server comes back online but when ever it does you should report this to them b/c there taking a list of owners that have had there trannys go and reporting ALL of this to the NTSB to see if there can be something done about this . Acura's reputation is going down the drain and I hate to say it but it's true unless they do something about this . The people that have been having a problem with there cars don't seem to use there Sportshift alot except once in awhile and this car is meant to be pushed a bit hell its got 260 horses . But I'll keep you posted on this and also alot of owners changed there transmission oil out at about 12-15 thousand miles even though its not recommended till 30 thousand ...it's just a peace of mind and I think i'm gonna get my changed out at around 10,000 . One last thing did you drive your CLS hard ?

I knew you were going to see this. That is what I figured. I believe if there are anymore, you're going to be hearing a recall shortly. I don't think it will impact them that much though. Not like Ford that has a recall like every other month. I haven't heard much of Acura's having too many recalls. And usually when they do, it's something relatively small. But, then again, I'm not totally immersed in the auto industry.:)

I can honestly say that this car was never driven hard. Yes, I gunned it a few times, just to see what it could do, but very rarely did I even use the autostick. I would say though I was in 4th gear more often than overdrive. As a matter of fact, 3 months into owning it, I actually took the "S Type" emblem off the trunk lid to avoid the onslaught of teenage idiots in Mustang Gt's who wanted to race me light to light.

But c'mon this car never even came close to seeing the redline. I didn't buy this car for the horsepower, I bought it for the level of refinement. That plus I didn't want to pay 43K for a BMW 3-series will all the ad-ons... The interior, the sound system, the fit and finish, etc. All are way above average, plus every conceiveable option on it is standard. Above all else, I fell for Acura's reliability reputation.

This transmission fell apart on me after I deliberately "babied" the car for 9 mos. I had a '79 Dodge Aspen in high school that I bought for $700 used I drove into the ground after 200K, I never so much even checked the tranny fluid, let alone change it...

I'll wait for the new "Z" in July and take the hit on the CLS when I dump it. Thanks for the feedback GOD. I will be contacting the NTSB soon!

I'm sorry dude :( I really truely feel for you it seems that the people that don't really get on it seem to be having more of the tranny problems and the people that do get on it are having less . I'm almost up to 5,000 miles on it i've been doing alot of driving :D and I've also have been racing way too many people I'll just cross my fingers and hope nothing happens :) Keep me updated on when they put in your new tranny and how everything goes . Also that website I told you about just go there and see how many people are having transmission problems it isn't even funny the amount of people getting new ones .

The URL is still down, but I'll keep trying.

I did open a case report with Acura customer service in Torrance, CA.
They informed me that a manager will be contacting me directly to work toward a possible resolution in 2-3 working days.

I also sent a certified letter to the Office of the State's Attorney General in Talahassee. Florida has some of the strictest lemon laws in the country, they requested a "motor vehicle defect report" to be sent to the manufacturer and to them.

If the car's in the shop past Oct. 11th, they will be required to either provide a replacement vehicle or refund me the $$ I put down on the car. (Of course, the first thing they'll try to do is offer to fix the tranny---yeah as if).

I keep you all posted after Acura calls me back.

IT's a funny thing how shit happens sometimes. At noon today I get a call from an analyst at American Honda Mediation Group. He says that my statement of motor vehicle defect lands on his desk today, which prompts him to make the obligatory phone call.

All goes well with him.

Not two hours later, the Svc Mgr at the local dealership calls to tell me that they received the new transmission and my car "should be ready by friday". Oh really --- what a coincidence.

I'm not so sure that this is over yet, and this is where my rights under the Lemon Law get pretty complicated. I may decide to arbitrate to get out of the car and the lease. I'll keep you posted....

Good luck with everything man, sounds pretty messy.

My cl-s transmission failed after just over 1-year and 31K miles. As with other posts I have seen here, I saw the same symptoms. On Wednesday, I noticed the car wasn't going into drive right away after I backed out of my garage. It repeated this on Thursday and Friday so I made an appointment. By Friday night, the car was slipping out of gear while driving and the engine would rev up. I believe it would occasionally settle on too low of a gear. The car completely failed on Saturday morning on the way to the dealer.
The dealer has told me that they are seeing this problem a lot.

And this is the reason I'm getting an S2000 :D

Why don't you chill on that S2k until you've had a chance to test drive the 350Z. I'm not a big fan of whiny hi-rev engines with no torque

Yeah I'm just gonna get the S2K and have fun with it for awhile and then see what comes out when i'm ready for another car :) . I love my CLS but I'm not gonna go through the BS that alot of other people have gone through and if i'm gonna be paying for a car it better not be sitting tha god #$@ shop :mad:

Sorry but if you know how to drive TORQUE is not a problem on S2000.

I have a Cl-s and had trans problems also. At about 20000 miles. The transmission started shifting badly, sometimes looking like the clutch was slipping. I brought it to acura and they said it was back order.

They kept the car 1 month total. At least they rented me a car while I waited.

anyone knows if the corrected the problem... I'm hoping the trans I got is flawless. I use the wonderful manumatic a lot and I really use the car to it's full potential... but isn't what a car is suppose to be used for... especially when you pay extra for a type s

But besides that love my car, and would never want another.

The original +4 !! and heading to #5!! The client rep blew me off & failed to call on Friday.........he thinks because he got hubby to bring it in for #4 that I'd go quietly away! NOT!! Though I'm gullible & slow to realize it.......after 3 failed I went l;ooking (should have done it sooner!)

The #4 tranny now has a grinding................I can't believe this is the luxury car I wanted!!

Also shame on Acura for all the lies!

Any advise on dealing with these sleeze..........*&^%$#! I really want to

:flipa:

[email protected]

I've had the same thing happen to me at about 1 year and 21000 miles. The tranny started to slip. Then the next day I almost didn't make it to the dealership. They fixed it rather quickly 3 days, and gave me a rental. This was in August.... Lets see how long the new tranny last..... CL-S 2001. Miami, FL

That's why Honda/Acura is not rated high in the customer service department:(

On the plus(?) side, anyone try the actual manual transmission?

My 2001 CL S type has now just failed for the third time, so I will be receiving my 4th transmission in under 3 years this week. I have filed with the BBB and hope to just get out of this lease.
This type of product should be outlawed, recalled, whatever.
A recall would only work if they are able to fix the problem - for me 3 strikes and their out!

This IS bringing up an old thread, and sorry about that guys...but I was looking around for people with transmission problems in their Hondas and Acuras because I am compiling a list on AcuraWorld.com and see that you guys have your own horror stories. Hopefully with enough of these in a unified list we can do something, so if any of you are interested in sharing any information at all I know I (I was almost killed by mine) and everyone else would appreciate it. My email is [email protected]. Thanks guys,

Austin519

I'll let you guys know that Acura does know there is a problem with their automatic trannies. I work for a kinda small Acura dealership in the North East, we have 8 full time techs so we're not too big, but we go through about 3-5 trans changes a week on 99-03 TL's and 01-03 CL's. As of right now there shouldn't be a wait on remanufactured transmissions, we've been recieving ours pretty steadily at 2-3 days after an order is placed and a total turn around time of about 5-7 days for the car. I also know American Honda has extended the powertrain warranties on certain years in order to cover the transmission replacments, so be sure to ask a dealer even if you think your car is out of warranty.

I have a 99 cl 2.3. replaced noisy engine at 60.000kms (canada)I s noisy again at 80,000. tranny is acting strange also (automatic) any one else had troubles.