| Otto191 |
| I have a 2002 MDX and received the "2nd gear inspection" recall notice at the end of July. Currently have 32,000 miles on the car. I haven't noticed any xmission problems so I'll wait until I return home in Sept. to get it inspected. |
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| BaldEagle |
Welcome to the forum, your first post.
Just had mine inspected and the kit installed at about the same mileage. The service supervisor said that inspections resulting in transmission replacements were rare and they have only replaced a few so far.
With that said why wait? Is there an Acura dealer close to where you are? |
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| BlueStreak |
Having an '03 I'm keeping a close eye on the tranny performance. I'm also reading other sources for reported problems and we have nothing compared to those folks. From another forum:
'99 TL:
The original transmission was slipping, so the dealer replaced it. The second transmission slipped worse than the original did, so the dealer replaced it.
As I was pulling out of my driveway, the third transmission lipped so bad I had to rev the engine to 3000 rpm before the car would move. I was driving down the street and the transmission made a "clunk" and drove fine, as if something was frozen (it was 30 degrees this morning, but that would have nothing to do with it). I drove the car about 20 miles and the check engine and TCS lights came on. I pulled to the side, and I found nothing visibly
wrong. I started the car again and both lights came on. I drove another 10 miles to get on the highway. About 1 mile on the highway, after getting the car to 75 mph, the transmission couldn't find a gear. It downshifted so far that the engine revved to about 6500 rpm, then it would upshift and drop it to about 1500 rpm. It rapidly cycled like this so much that I now have
concern about my engine. At the same time, the cabin filled with a lovely white smoke and a burning oil smell. As I pulled to the side, I looked at the lady's car that was behind me, and noticed that it had a nice shiny oily look to the front end. The transmission blew oil all over the underside of my car and gave the lady behind me a nice oil bath.
I'm almost afraid to pick my car up when they fix it this time. I'd like to trade it in, but IMHO the new TL's, TSX's, and RSX's suck. Maybe an RL is in my future, or a new 350Z. I'm losing faith in Acura.
And I'm sure there are others reading horror stories about TL problems.... |
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| wckitty1 |
If you have had transmission problems with your Acura MDX, read on. If not, this will be boring.
In January 04, my 2001 MDX with 54,000 miles had major transmission problems. The gears began to slip, and rpm's went down fast while driving on the freeway. The Car almost cut out.
This lasted for a few seconds, and then it drove fine. Five minutes later, gears started slipping, rpm's dropped, and it was making some strange noises. It was was clear I was loosing my transmission. This kept happening every 5 minutes or so.
Thank God I made it home and drove it to the dealership (or so I thought).
When I brought my car in to my Acura dealer in January 04, I was unaware of the transmission recall defect. And in fact, I don't think it was announced until March 04. The dealer said I would need a new transmission, and since my car was out of warranty. I would have to pay for the new transmission (approx. $2,500) and labor $1,000. He thought the problem occurred because I missed my Service interval. (I MISSED ONE SERVICE INTERVALS SO MY CARS TRANSMISSION GAVE OUT.....RIGHT) I immediately disputed this, saying that I was just out of warranty and that I should not have to pay for it. The dealer was nice enough to call Acura (the manufacturer) and they conceded by giving me the refurbished transmission at no charge. I did pay $911.00 in labor.
Well, In March, I was at a wedding talking to a few folks about how pissed I was that my MDX's transmission crapped out at 54,000 miles. The person I was speaking with had an MDX also, and heard about the recall.
After the wedding, I immediately called my Acura dealer and told them my car should of been covered under the transmission recall. At this point, the dealer agreed, but they told me that I had to go directly to Acura to recoup my labor costs. This is where the fun began. And, as I understand it, there are many of us out there. People who are trying to recoup out of pocket costs due to the transmission recall. And I also know that Acura is denying most of them.
Acura is claiming that my transmission failure had nothing to do with the recall. In fact, no one is really sure why the transmission failed. The dealer said that I missed my service interval, and therefore that could of been the problem???? I almost threw up on him. But then, when I heard about the recall in March, he changed his story and said that it was the recall defect.
My dealer told me to submit my labor bill and some paperwork to the manufacturer. Which I did in April. They kept saying they were working on it, and that it was being reviewed. Finally, in October it was denied.
I have since come to find out that Honda/Acura sent special transmission diagnostic equipment (Specifically to diagnos this problem) to all of their dealers on April 20th, 04.
The letter stated:
"The kit contains a digital camera, a camera mount, a
laminated A/T gear inspection guide, and everything
else you need to take photos of the gear."
I have a copy of this letter that I found through DMV. If you need a copy please let me know your fax number.
I was sure that my car was not properly diagnosed in January by my dealer. The letter from Honda to the dealers goes on to state:
This is a direct quote from the letter:
------------start
For vehicles over 15,000 miles:
"Inspect the second gear through the countershaft
speed sensor hole, and take five clear photos of the
gear using the camera and equipment in the supplied
A/T gear inspection kit. Then view the photos on your
N workstation, and compare them to the gear color
levels in the supplied A/T Gear Inspection Guide"
> If you determine that the color of the gear in your
photo matches gear level # 1 on the A/T gear
inspection guide, install an A/T Oil Jet kit.
> If you determine the color of the gear in your photo
matches any gear level other than the number one on
the A/T Gear inspection guide, submit a completed A/T
order form, with your digital photographs, to RPO tech
line, RPO will either cancel your A/T order and let
you know you need to install an A/T Oil Jet kit, or
proceed your A/T order so you can install a re
manufactured A/T.
-----------------------End
In January, when I brought my car to the dealer, they had not received any diagnostic tools from the manufacturer. I realized that my dealer had no photos of my transmission gears so how can they properly determine that my car was not part of the recall?
There are a few things you can do if you are being stonewalled by Acura and feel that you are part of this recall:
1) E-mail the Better Business Bureau with a complaint:
http://lemonlaw.bbb.org/
2) Send an e-mail to your dealer. You can find this by going to www.acura.com (sign up for the web site), go to the owner section (you will need your vin# to register). Then it will pull up your dealer info and e-mail. Or you can call your dealer and ask them what their general sevice e-mail is.
3) Send an e-mail to the Center For Auto Safety
(This recall qualifies as Safety issue, so all cost of repairs should be paid by Acura) The e-mail address is: complaints@autosafety.org and cmdiii@autosafety.org,
These guys respond quick. They called Ed Cohen, Vice President
Government & Industry Relations of Honda North America. And he immediately e-mailed me saying he would re-review my case.
The guy at the Auto Safety Organization sent the following e-mail response to me, and I quote:
"I called Acura/Honda's VP of Governmental Affairs on your behalf and asked them to call you. If they don't pay the labor on recall 04V-176, please provide me whatever reason they give you. I will then see about getting a class action started because auto companies are obligated to pay all repair costs for the remedy specified in the recall notice"
-end quote
They are now looking at my case again, and again, I am now waiting to hear from Acura. I am going to contiue to plead my case, and may take legal action. I believe that my car was never properly diagnosed in January (How could it, the Dealer did not have his equipment until April) This has been very frustrating.
If anyone has a better idea, please let me know.
4) Lastly, the guy at Honda/Acura that is helping me with my case is Ed Cohen, Vice President, his e-mail is Edward_Cohen@hna.honda.com.
The dealer does not make this process easy. Vague answers, and dead ends are common. Good Luck. |
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| csimo |
Why not just file a Small Claims Court case against both Acura and the dealer? Very simple, you will probably win easily, and it will be all over in a short period of time.
You seem well prepared to present your case and Acura will probably pay you off before the case ever gets heard. It would cost them as much to defend their position as it would to pay you off, and they know they are not in a good position to start with.
In Small Claims the rules of evidence don't apply. You could present hundreds of postings from this board about the transmission failures as backup.
Best of luck. |
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| cbarry |
I still haven't gotten my transmission recall notice. I guess I should take my MDX in anyway...
I had forgotten until now...
-cbarry |
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| DaleB |
wckitty1 :
It seems they were not sure if it is related to the recall or not. Acura published some history on the recall, stating the failures have been few. And a fair number of people on the forum had 'other' tranny failures even after the inspections, jet kits, etc.
In any event, they handled your situation badly and should make amends. Best of luck!
cbarry:
Yes, if you bring it in to the dealer, or even call them and give your VIN over the phone they should be able to tell you immediately. |
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| JimH |
| Finally took my 2002 in for the oil jet kit warranty recall w/ 30,000 miles on it. Mine was fine, but the service manager did say that approximately 6 % of the trans recalled were being replaced. |
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| mgmdx |
Decided to stop procrastinating and took my '01 MDX with 46,000 miles to the dealer for a 2nd gear inspection. It checked out fine, and the oil jet kit was installed.
I normally do most of the work on the MDX myself (except for warranty work), but decided to have the dealer change ATF this time since they already had the car for the day and it was a reasonable $70 for the job. Got home and later noticed some AT fluid on the garage floor. Checked the torque on the transmission drain plug and it was fine. Turns out the old transmission fluid got all over the chassis when they were draining it, and they did not even bother to wipe it off. That's another reason I almost never take the cars in to the dealer, and prefer to do most work myself.
On a positive note, while the car was in the shop they gave me a loaner. I was hoping for a TL or TSX to test drive, but they were all out, so I got a rental Camry that they paid for instead. They also washed and vacuumed the MDX.
Although it was a decent experience overall, I still prefer to do the work myself. This way, I know the job was done right the first time and there's no need for rework or additional cleanup. |
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| SuperTech |
The recall campaign 04-013 adds an oil jet to provide lubrication to a gear, not the clutches. This campaign addresses only one type of failure of the transmission. The countershaft sproket teeth overheating and causing a noise, or just flat out breaking off teeth locking the transmission up. Any kind of slip, flaring, or harsh shift conditions are just part of the much more common pattern failures of the 5-speed automatic.
The recall exists because it could cause the transmission to lock and cause a loss of control of the vehicle. Potentially killing people will always get a manufacturer to issue a recall. Otherwise they'll wait till they're threatened with the possibility of losing a huge class action lawsuit before they give any recourse for the other type of failures. Hence the warranty extension on some of the other models. |
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