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Acura MDX Transmission Problems

967 messages,  Last post on May 06, 2013 at 9:22 AM

You are in the Acura MDX Forum.

What is this discussion about? Acura MDX, SUV


 
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Messages Page 11 of 98

#96 of 967 Please help! by gugy68

Sep 30, 2009 (7:45 pm)

Hi,
I think I am the latest victim of this transmission issue with Acura. My 2003 MDX has 88k miles and I took today to the dealer and they said I need a new transmission and they offer to charge me $3600 for it as being "nice". They said they would charge me only the cost of it I had repair warranty. I have to say that now learning this issue is so common they looked and sounded awfully suspicious to me.
I read several posts here but I am still confused. Is there a possibility to have this repaired for free or at least much cheaper than $3,600 because of the several transmission issues with this car? My warranty expired at 50k, so I no longer have it.
Is any good contacting Acura North America? Would they be any help?
How some of you approach the dealers regarding this?
My dealer is Kearny Mesa Acura in San Diego.
I appreciate with any of you can give me any guidance on this headache. Thank you very much!

#97 of 967 Re: Please help! [gugy68] by madmommy3

Oct 02, 2009 (7:50 am)

Replying to: gugy68 (Sep 30, 2009 7:45 pm)
Gugy68, good luck. We ended up going to a local tranny shop and changing it for $2500 for 3 year/3K warranty. when they opened it up, there was metal or something in the radiator so that needed to go as well for another $350. They tried and tried flushing to no avail.
The dealership knows all about it and yet they smile and deny. But, the fact that they made a good will offer shows the issue is clear. Let me save you some frustration. First, we declined Acura's "offer" to fix at an inflated price. They put on the paperwork "customer declined goodwill offer" to cover themselves. And, they did not put in our paperwork for a customer service survery afterwards like all dealership do. I had to fix the SRS sensor the next week and took it to a 2nd dealer. i told them they needed to fix it and not report other "issues" they somehow stumbled upon while fixing the SRS. The service manager called and i explained the entire issue with the other dealership and tranny. She said I was mishandled and told me to file a complaint with Acura in CA. Acura in CA said that it was a dealership issue since they are owned and operation independently of Acura. She said she would not my complaints in a file/complaint to the dealerhsip and that (after much prodding) it would basically amount to nothing and I would not get any feedback or closure. I told her why waste my breath and blood pressure. I gave up. You can ask to speak to the regional director who is over your dealership for the area. You may be able to talk him into more but don't hold your breath.
I guess many traded their cars just to get out from under the problem. If Acura does the repair, don't be surprised if other things crop up while they attempt to fix it. And get maximum warranty if you are keeping the car. The new tranny doesn't fix the old tranny design issues. some are on their 3rd tranny. Good luck!
To the person who asked if the cars had been babied or not, mine was babied. it took some road trips from TX to FL but never hauled anything and has been our 2nd car and garaged 85% of the time. It is treated better than me! So, it doesn't matter. they have issues and we are stuck with it.

#98 of 967 Re: Please help! [gugy68] by lynslaw

Oct 02, 2009 (2:22 pm)

Replying to: gugy68 (Sep 30, 2009 7:45 pm)
Please file a complaint with NHTSA (National Transportation Safety Administration)so that they can get enough complaints to start a recall. If the vehicle is recalled, we either do not have to pay for the repair or can get our money back for repairs made. It is easy to file complaint and you might be able to get something out of it.

#99 of 967 2005 MDX by jmceneany

Oct 02, 2009 (3:04 pm)

My car was experiencing an unusual grinding sound while accelerating slowly to about 40MPH. It has about 75,000 miles on it but the noise was noticed much earlier than this but could not be detected by the dealership until now. I was told that the torque converter needed to be replaced. Fortunately I have a warranty that was purchased at the time of the sale and so I did not incur any expense. It was replaced last week and then the D2 light started blinking while driving. I called for service again and was told that the 4th gear pressure switch needed to be replaced. Supposedly this was replaced last week when the torque converter was put in but the part must have been defective. It was replaced yesterday and so far the light has not come back on. My concern, after reading these blogs, is that my trasnsmission might go. Any advice?

#100 of 967 Re: Please help! [madmommy3] by gugy68

Oct 02, 2009 (6:52 pm)

Replying to: madmommy3 (Oct 02, 2009 7:50 am)
Thanks for the advice.
I will take my car to an independent shop to double check the transmission. I just have a really bad feeling about the dealer.
I did contact Acura Care and they said only the dealer could help me, so they were not of much help at all. I mentioned that I heard many Acura's were recalled due the transmission issue and they denied my 2003 being part of the ones with this issue.
Then the dealer did contact me back and offered reducing the transmission job to $2500 and if I decide to fix my brake pads plus rotors they would do the whole thing for $3k.
I am not sure if I am going to do this. Since I lost a lot of confidence on the Acura brand. I just do not want to be in the vicious cycle of fixing one thing and another problems waiting to happen in a car with expired warranty.
I am weighting my options at this time but I feel I should move on sell the car and buy another brand WITH warranty. We'll see.
 
Thanks for the feedback!

#101 of 967 changing ATF every 30,000 miles? by kobbe

Oct 03, 2009 (4:04 am)

OK, so what's different with acura's trannys that they require atf change at 45,000 miles, then every 30,000 ??? Or is it a CYA (cover your ---) strategy? Most of the others I checked on are good for at least 100,000 miles. Any comments or opinions out there? Thanks....

#102 of 967 Transmission and front end by mdx_cpa

Oct 06, 2009 (5:23 am)

I own a 2002 MDX and experienced transmission problems around 50,000 and kept getting various codes until around 70,000 I finally went to Norris Acura in Ellicott City, MD. Their wonderful staff worked with me and contacted Acura North America who agreed to give me a new transmission. I still had to pay the labor to install (around $650) but at least I have a new transmission. Now at 110,000 miles my front-end is loose and starting to make clunking noises when I make a hard turn. I've realigned and balanced but the car still has a shake to it. Anybody know what that could be? Also anybody have issues with the SRS light? Mine has just turned on but I haven't made a trip to the dealer yet.

#103 of 967 Re: Transmission and front end [mdx_cpa] by madmommy3

Oct 06, 2009 (5:52 am)

Replying to: mdx_cpa (Oct 06, 2009 5:23 am)
you are lucky you got a new tranny and they weren't jerks like they were to me. the SRS light had a recall a few years back. Call your dealer and check. I just had mine fixed. The light means you have no side air bag in a crash so you will want to fix it. The dealer told me there are about 8 or so reasons for the SRS light failure, only one of them covered under warranty. Mine wasn't covered but because I told them how sensitive I was to the transmission issue and how another dealership treated the issue, they needed to tread carefully. So, they called and said it was a "grey area" but would fix it at no charge. You can google and find the SRS recall on line. Can't help on the other clunking issue. Good luck!

#104 of 967 Re: Please help! [gugy68] by gugy68

Oct 07, 2009 (2:38 pm)

Replying to: gugy68 (Oct 02, 2009 6:52 pm)
Yeah,
Acura won't budge, they are basically saying they would take care of my transmission for $2500. I asked for a better deal, since I am appalled that a premium brand car with less than 100k miles need a total transmission replacement. They seem not to care.
 
I guess, I will just move on and trade it and say bye, bye to Acura brand forever.

#105 of 967 Re: 2005 MDX [jmceneany] by kobbe

Oct 08, 2009 (3:03 am)

Replying to: jmceneany (Oct 02, 2009 3:04 pm)
Did your new torque converter come with a warranty?? If so, how much, how long? Thanks

Messages Page 11 of 98

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