"Textured Soy Protein" (texturedsoyprotein)
04/16/2015 at 17:36 • Filed to: None
6
28|
"Textured Soy Protein" (texturedsoyprotein)
04/16/2015 at 17:36 • Filed to: None | 6
| 28 |
My friend Alex drives a 1999 Acura 3.2TL, and recently hit 300,000 miles. "Ok, so lots of cars hit 300k miles," you might say. But this car, with Honda's notoriously crappy V6 transmission, has made it 230k of those miles on the same transmission.
The second-generation Acura TL, along with other Honda V6-equipped products from the same era, has a transmission that is, shall we say, less than reliable. Most owners have gone through multiple transmissions. Lots of them sued Honda. After a couple of class-action lawsuits, Honda extended the powertrain warranty to 7 years and 100,000 miles, and then later extended the warranty by another 9 months and 9,000 miles.
Alex bought his car in December 2005 with 64k miles on the clock. Two months and about 6k miles later, the transmission decided it wanted to grenade itself, but first it was going to slip and bang into gears, then light up every possible warning light on the dash. Alex limped the car to the dealer, and thanks to the freshly extended warranty, he got a free replacement transmission.
Unlike most TLs and their siblings that have had their transmission replaced at some point, the replacement transmission in Alex's TL pictured here in all of its snow-covered glory, has successfully avoided exploding for 8 years and 230k miles .
What sort of witchcraft is this? Maybe it has to something to do with the Chinese restaurant Alex's parents own? Perhaps the aura of so many orders of General Tso's chicken has blessed the brittle transmission with some extra life?
The special, slightly overkill sauce that Alex uses to preserve his transmission is to drain and refill the automatic transmission fluid every other oil change. His oil change interval is 7500 miles, so that's an ATF change every 15k miles.
Alex does the fluid changes himself, and inspects the fluid, the magnetic drain plug, and the underside of the transmission for any leaks, to make sure nothing major is going wrong or looks like it might soon go wrong. He used Honda Z1 automatic transmission fluid until it was discontinued, and for the past 50k miles has been using the newer Honda DW-1 ATF.
Acura's !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! says to change the ATF every 90k miles, or every 30k miles if you're following the "severe" maintenance schedule.
So there you have it. If you have a vehicle with a Honda V6 and a transmission that normally has about as much endurance as Godfather III-era Marlon Brando running the Boston Marathon, all you need to do is change the transmission fluid 6 times more frequently than recommended by Honda (or "only" twice as frequently as the severe maintenance schedule).
Hey, at least it's cheaper than a new transmission.
RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
> Textured Soy Protein
04/16/2015 at 17:56 |
|
Same thing to a degree works with the notorious Dodge/Chrysler minivan transmissions.
Manwich - now Keto-Friendly
> Textured Soy Protein
04/16/2015 at 18:00 |
|
I was initially confused by this statement:
"Alex bought his car in December 2005 with 64k miles on the clock. Two months and about 6k miles later, the transmission decided it wanted to grenade itself, but first it was going to slip and bang into gears, then light up every possible warning light on the dash."
But then I thought about it and the car got 230,000 miles on its *second* transmission, correct?
And yeah... if a given model is known to have a fragile transmission, the solution that almost always helps is to increase the fluid change frequency as well as going to a bigger transmission cooler.
I think the main reason why Honda had transmission problems in the early 2000s was because the vehicles they were putting them in got bigger/heavier and the engines they hooked them up to became more powerful.
|
Manwich - now Keto-Friendly
> RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
04/16/2015 at 18:25 |
|
With Chrysler transmissions, there have been cases where people wrecked them with the wrong fluid as well because there was some wrong info printed in some of the owners manuals that said the cheaper ATF fluid was okay.
With the Chrysler 4+ speed automatics, it's very important to have the correct fluid. And if you load down the vehicle with stuff or tow anything, it's highly recommended to add an oversized transmission cooler and change that fluid more frequently as well. And sometimes a 'dead' transmission isn't really a dead transmission. Sometimes it's just a bad sensor, solenoid pack or loose ground strap/electrical connection.
http://www.allpar.com/fix/trans.html
And then there is the factor of doing a complete fluid change on a transmission. Draining what's in the pan only gets out 1/2 of the fluid. To get all the fluid out, the fresh fluid has to be sucked in while the old fluid gets pumped out while the car is in running and in drive. Also the filter needs to be changed too. I wouldn't be surprised if some dealers were not doing the transmission fluid changes properly.
|
Textured Soy Protein
> Manwich - now Keto-Friendly
04/16/2015 at 20:02 |
|
Yes, 300k miles on the car, 230k on the second transmission.
Nobi
> RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
04/16/2015 at 20:11 |
|
AreYouAWizard,jpg
Honda should give him a new car for that.
hambone41
> Textured Soy Protein
04/16/2015 at 22:11 |
|
I bought a 2005 Honda Odyssey with 1 mile and now it is 10 years later with the same transmission, and a 175,000 miles, and the transmission still feels strong.
dogisbadob
> Textured Soy Protein
04/16/2015 at 23:05 |
|
Misleading! Are you running for Congress, or trying to get a career in the media? :p
No really though, that doesn't count, because it's not the original transmission. Of course the new one will be better since they likely redesigned it. The title would make people suggest that the original lasted 230k.
That said, DW1 is much better than the Z1 they used to use.
One thing though, Honda was trying to chase ze Germans with Acura, and they certainly got there with this trans!
|
dogisbadob
> Textured Soy Protein
04/16/2015 at 23:05 |
|
icicles are awesome
|
dogisbadob
> Textured Soy Protein
04/16/2015 at 23:05 |
|
VTAK ZONE
Skirmich
> Textured Soy Protein
04/16/2015 at 23:18 |
|
1999 TL had a 4 speed transmission.... Which was Excellent compared to the 5 Speed notorious suicide trans which your Article is all about.
Steve in Manhattan
> Textured Soy Protein
04/17/2015 at 00:12 |
|
So the car has been to the moon (240K) and is on its way back, and the transmission is almost there. You might have to be stoned to get that one ....
AthomSfere
> Manwich - now Keto-Friendly
04/17/2015 at 00:24 |
|
Agreed, and they were really new at the whole V6 thing in general. I really liked that gen TL...
And, at least that V6 fared better than the i5 in the Vigor
NotUnlessRoundIsFunny
> Textured Soy Protein
04/17/2015 at 00:35 |
|
My 2003 TL Type-S was a really good car, except for the whole unfortunate "I'm really a bunch of random metal shards trapped in a transmission's body" thing. The first one decided to give up the facade around 80,000 miles, but a friend's went more than 200k.
Statistically, I guess a few of these had to make it longer. But it sounds like Alex is doing what he can to improve his odds.
V8Demon - Prefers Autos for drag racing. Fite me!
> Textured Soy Protein
04/17/2015 at 02:17 |
|
Acura's maintenance schedule says to change the ATF every 90k miles.
Well, there's a large portion of the failures right there..... 90K?! Seriously? That's ludicrous. I had a "sealed " transmission on the wife's now gone 2000 Mercury Cougar V6. You could change the fluid, however there was no filter, only a wire screen assemblt that acted as one that was meant to last the duration of the car. Lemme tell you that they make this thing a BEAR to change/service. There is an access panel for it, but to get to it, a lot of of front end stuff needs to come out. I serviced it on the wife's car at around 75K (changed the fluid every 30K).... I wish I had done it sooner.
tommywayne
> Textured Soy Protein
04/17/2015 at 07:05 |
|
Speaking of Transmissions,, I purchased a 1994 Mercury Marquis in 2002 with 100,000 miles on the odometer. It now has 300,000 on the odometer and still has original running gear, including transmission, motor, rear end, + starter, catalytic converter, exhaust system, brake master cylinder, front wheel bearings, original interior (which is still good for it's age) , etc.
I bought a 1995 Lincoln Towncar in 2011 with 58,000 miles on odometer. It now has 150,000 trouble free miles. It, too still has it's original running gear, and like the Marquis on road trips, it gets between 24 and 25 miles to the gallon, with 3 passengers (adults) and a trunk full of luggage.
Both of these cars have the 4.6 V-8 engines
One might save a few dollars on fuel when driving a Honda over what I spend in fuel for the Lincoln and Mercury, but what ever money they save on fuel is quickly eaten up on transmissions and other repairs.
Yes, after reading this, I know many of you Honda owners will slap yourself on the forehead, and say just think, I could have had a V-8.
|
tommywayne
> Manwich - now Keto-Friendly
04/17/2015 at 07:11 |
|
Pending approval tommywayne AtlasM
Follow tommywaye for oppositelock
Unfollow tommywaye for oppositelock
Speaking of Transmissions,, I purchased a 1994 Mercury Marquis in 2002 with 100,000 miles on the odometer. It now has 300,000 on the odometer and still has original running gear, including transmission, motor, rear end, + starter, catalytic converter, exhaust system, brake master cylinder, front wheel bearings, original interior (which is still good for it's age) , etc.
I bought a 1995 Lincoln Towncar in 2011 with 58,000 miles on odometer. It now has 150,000 trouble free miles. It, too still has it's original running gear, and like the Marquis on road trips, it gets between 24 and 25 miles to the gallon, with 3 passengers (adults) and a trunk full of luggage.
Both of these cars have the 4.6 V-8 engines
One might save a few dollars on fuel when driving a Honda over what I spend in fuel for the Lincoln and Mercury, but what ever money they save on fuel is quickly eaten up on transmissions and other repairs.
Yes, after reading this, I know many of you Honda owners will slap yourself on the forehead, and say just think, I could have had a V-8.
|
tommywayne
> AthomSfere
04/17/2015 at 07:12 |
|
Pending approval tommywayne AtlasM
Follow tommywaye for oppositelock
Unfollow tommywaye for oppositelock
Speaking of Transmissions,, I purchased a 1994 Mercury Marquis in 2002 with 100,000 miles on the odometer. It now has 300,000 on the odometer and still has original running gear, including transmission, motor, rear end, + starter, catalytic converter, exhaust system, brake master cylinder, front wheel bearings, original interior (which is still good for it's age) , etc.
I bought a 1995 Lincoln Towncar in 2011 with 58,000 miles on odometer. It now has 150,000 trouble free miles. It, too still has it's original running gear, and like the Marquis on road trips, it gets between 24 and 25 miles to the gallon, with 3 passengers (adults) and a trunk full of luggage.
Both of these cars have the 4.6 V-8 engines
One might save a few dollars on fuel when driving a Honda over what I spend in fuel for the Lincoln and Mercury, but what ever money they save on fuel is quickly eaten up on transmissions and other repairs.
Yes, after reading this, I know many of you Honda owners will slap yourself on the forehead, and say just think, I could have had a V-8.
|
tommywayne
> AthomSfere
04/17/2015 at 07:13 |
|
Pending approval tommywayne AtlasM
Follow tommywaye for oppositelock
Unfollow tommywaye for oppositelock
Speaking of Transmissions,, I purchased a 1994 Mercury Marquis in 2002 with 100,000 miles on the odometer. It now has 300,000 on the odometer and still has original running gear, including transmission, motor, rear end, + starter, catalytic converter, exhaust system, brake master cylinder, front wheel bearings, original interior (which is still good for it's age) , etc.
I bought a 1995 Lincoln Towncar in 2011 with 58,000 miles on odometer. It now has 150,000 trouble free miles. It, too still has it's original running gear, and like the Marquis on road trips, it gets between 24 and 25 miles to the gallon, with 3 passengers (adults) and a trunk full of luggage.
Both of these cars have the 4.6 V-8 engines
One might save a few dollars on fuel when driving a Honda over what I spend in fuel for the Lincoln and Mercury, but what ever money they save on fuel is quickly eaten up on transmissions and other repairs.
Yes, after reading this, I know many of you Honda owners will slap yourself on the forehead, and say just think, I could have had a V-8.
jkm7680
> Textured Soy Protein
04/17/2015 at 07:52 |
|
It's like $30 a pop for Honda transmission fluid and if he doesn't do it himself, probably $60 total every time.
He probably could get a refurbished transmission for that, haha.
AcuraAlex
> jkm7680
04/17/2015 at 09:18 |
|
I paid about $6 a quart for it at my local dealer.
|
Textured Soy Protein
> dogisbadob
04/17/2015 at 09:25 |
|
Speaking only of anecdotal evidence, the replacement transmissions, generally speaking, aren't noticeably more reliable than the originals.
Rock Bottom
> Textured Soy Protein
04/17/2015 at 10:06 |
|
My family has a 2002 4 cylinder Accord with over 470,000 miles. The original trans shat the bed at 150,000, but the reman is still running strong with 320,000. I guess the 4 cylinder transmissions have a wide life expectancy range?
Fun fact: that car still has it's original dampers, ball joints, and tie rods. The AC clutch is a little wonkey, but other than that it runs like a top.
|
Textured Soy Protein
> dogisbadob
04/17/2015 at 10:26 |
|
Also, how misleading is it really when the title says the transmission has lasted 230k miles, but the first sentence in the post says the car just hit 300k miles? Obviously the 230k-mile transmission hasn't been with the car the whole time. ;)
|
Textured Soy Protein
> V8Demon - Prefers Autos for drag racing. Fite me!
04/17/2015 at 10:29 |
|
The "severe" maintenance schedule recommends 30k miles for ATF changes. I didn't spot that at first because I did ctrl-F on the severe schedule and couldn't find "replace transmission fluid." Turns out this is because the website misspells it as "relace transmission flued." I'm going to update the post.
VonBelmont
> Textured Soy Protein
04/17/2015 at 13:15 |
|
My dad had an '04 Acura TL from '04 to '09, and the transmission diededed at exactly 100k in 2011 (it became my brother's college/party car and racked up a ton of mileage from weekly clubcrawls). Lovely car, though. We'll see how long his new TL will last ;P
adam
> Textured Soy Protein
04/17/2015 at 14:12 |
|
I figured out the problem years ago its that the transmission cooler needed to be larger and redirected for better air flow, the cooler was so small it just burnt up the fluid and ran way to hot and burned up the clutches in the transmission that was most of the problems with with the odyssey and accord v6, my 99 Honda CRV has 207k on it always change ATF @20k the cooler on it is big enough to keep it at a good temp, my wifes 08 Odyssey i change ATF @ 30k it has over 120k on it now but i have checked fluid temp a few times and it was still pretty hot still think Honda still needs to go a little bigger on the coolers, my friend put a larger cooler on his 02 odyssey still ok @ 145k
Takuro Spirit
> Textured Soy Protein
04/17/2015 at 16:45 |
|
Pfft, I’m at 233k miles on the original trans in my Toyota ohwaititsamanual
AlexD
> Textured Soy Protein
03/07/2016 at 07:58 |
|
Just thought I would update. The car now has 318,500 miles and its still kicking. I plan to finally sell her this year.
