Acura TSX 2007, A/T, 5 spd MCTA , "bad bearing" like sound, under light load

[D1184]

Make

Acura

Model

TSX

Year

2007

Miles

138000

Engine

k24

Hello,

I am looking for some suggestions of what might be going out..or already is. Car is Acura TSX with A/T, 5 spd MCTA type, 138k miles, i am second owner. Bought it at 123k, did the 3x3 fluid change, with OEM Honda one and A/T filter. What i drained the first time, wasnt very bad but clearly an old fluid,darker than usual Car was driving fine before even replacing the fluid. I have been keeping an eye on the fluid level, always check it on level surface, hot. after a drive, it shows full, although i get exactly the same reading even if the car has been sitting all night, just fluid`s color is more vivid pink. Recently i noticed that as soon as the fluid warms up, under very light load , think 2nd/3rd gear, 1-2k RPMs, i can here a bad bearing type of sound coming from the transmission, a rotating part(at least that is how i explain it to myself).It is not super load neither a whine sound,more rotating. As soon as i let go off the gas, it stops..that probably eliminates my initial guess of being the shaft/axle bearing, that one probably would be noisy all the time since shaft is rotating no matter what. After i accelerate above 3k RPMs or take off rapidly i don`t hear it anymore, same applies to higher speeds, although road noise is a big factor. Shifts are smooth, with NO issues whatsoever, transmission responds good to both slow or aggressive driving,kickdowns, up/down shifts etc, manual mode also works fine,it pretty much drives like a normal honda transmission, sometimes delays up-shift..but they all do. I would appreciate any input or suggestion. Thank you

 

[nickb2]

Hi, first off, I want to welcome you to BAT.

Second, plz dont hate me for rest.

Third, I am NOT an AT specialist, BP is our Guru on that one.

I think you should know who I am first. My day job is a diagnostic tech, and I have been doing this job/trade for 28yrs.

So, that being said, sadly these acura tranny's have been a plague. The reman centers for these were overloaded for while. I suspect the torque convertor but they don't really whine so much, they shudder, but to confirm, I would need to have a scanner hooked up to it.

There are several tsb on this, but the most common one I get is torque convertor, it is shows up on live data. In this past year, I have sent 3 of these tsx's of same vintage to our rebuild guy. Sadly, all three needed a new torque convertor, as well as a reman of rest also, which hikes up the bill.

If you know someone who has a good scanner, such as an autel, launch, or even better, an i-HDS, try to follow this tsb.

So here is me cringing at your response, but yeah, these trannies suck. Again, the reman centers when these were still under warranty were overloaded, the following pdf's I provided should give you a good indication of what is going on, you are definitely not the first one.

Download or just read these on line, do a few google searches, there are even forums that talk greatly about these cars and their trans. Don't get me wrong, these are great cars, drive real good, engines are awesome, but somehow, honda f ed this one up. Usually, all the other platforms are bullet proof. Sadly, not the tsx of this era.

So, here they are from my data base, you decide on what you want to do. If you can live with it for awhile, start saving up.

So download these, read a bit, do some internet searches, it will probably end up in a reman unit. Sorry.

I still welcome you to BAT.

 

[nickb2]

Oh, forgot to mention, your first post here was very concise and to the point, wish all newbies were like you.

That way we don't go into weeds, you have already eliminated the obvious, such as wheel bearings etc.

I hope BP has better advice than me, but he is probably overhauling one as we are writing.

 

[nickb2]

Of note, they have reusable container for shipping, this can be read in step 9 of second tsb, when you see something like that, you know they are aware and prepared. Also, good luck finding a used unit, they are becoming quite rare, better to fix the one you got.

So good luck, and plz don't hate me, I just flushed my GF, don't need that aggravation right now, and we got hit hard with a huge snow storm, I just finished shoveling my toyota out of a snow grave, I am bushed.

So jokes aside, keep us posted of what you find.

We like it here when ppl post back on the how and why, we mostly like if our advice helped you, sadly, in this case, I don't think this will happen, but we always hope.

 

[grcauto]

The pump may be starting to have a problem but it could be other transmission parts or something else in the driveline.

 

[D1184]

Thank you for the quick and detailed response. I was expecting something like that. I love the car, so i will save up for a used low miles unit, or even rebuild. I have owned multiple Hondas and never had problems, i love everything about them but i guess some models have their issues. Obviously i didn`t own the car since brand new, so not sure how exactly was maintained, but overall its in really good shape for a 07 car. It drives/shifts good as of now so i will keep driving it. I will drain the fluid i a few thousand miles and see how it looks like. One thing i remember doing wrong, was putting a little extra fluid on the first of the 3 drains, like 3.8 qts, which showed on the stick, so after driving it for awhile i drained it and started with 2,6-8 qts and topping off as needed after. I dont know if that is that much of a deal, its never been starved tho. I would definitely keep you guys posted. I appreciate your hospitality. I am looking forward of seeing other opinions as well. Thank you

 

[nickb2]

If you lurk a bit around here, you will find I am huge advocate of toyota. I call them sewing machines.

But I have had my eye on a 2008 tl. I`m just waiting for the old lady to croak. Gosh, that sounded right in my head, but on screen, seems quite callous of me. What I meant to say is, this lady has her husband car now, (dead now) and she is blind as a bat, so if I can get that tl, full equipped (yes, it is a type S btw) with the first gen nav thing and all those bells and whistles. I don`t know if she even how to work half the shyte in the car, and she says getting an newer one is confusing, she says to many buttons. So I will wait and see.

But I feel I would be betraying my mantra. I like crank windows. I am on my third echo now, man those things just sing like a singer sewing my grandma had, won`t stop.

Now, I just screwed myself, I was bushed from shovel the echo out, got tired to early, slept in my computor chair writing here, banged my head and woke up and some shawarma, (new Lebanese joint that just opened up across the street) then proceeded to watch the ufc fight from last night, it was in my hard drive and I completely forgot about, so spoiler, jones is still in the game, wow factor, very talented in his job. My father would be proud to have him as student.

I think, what you are experiencing is quite normal, and it will be fine, even if you put a few pints more, that would only resulted in minor issues. Who knows, if it drives fine, crank the radio up, forget the noise, it will probably go for a few. I was just trying to relate, these are problematic trannys, at least from my up north experience that is.

I have never worked for honda, but do go to tech classes with some of them and they all told me, back then, lifts were full of these car going for trans. When I was working for mopar back in the late 90`s, the mopar tranny was a bread winner, we were working three sifts, sometime till three am.

I was the guy who went and got last case of beer. (I was apprenticing back then, I was the goat gofer, part of the job back then)

At three am, you mind is not on another dam diff pin flying out the case again scenario, I was doing three or four a day back then.

Anyway, like I wrote before, I just screwed myself, lebanese food, and ufc = I ain`t going to bed before 2 am, my ocd is in full on mode. So, again, welcome, just by two responses of you, you seem to have your shyte together, I don`t foresee any babysitting you in the near futre.

 

[nickb2]

Forgot to mention, that tl is pearl white, smashing looking car I would be scared to drive, I would be more worried about the paint. With my 200$ echos, I really don`t care.

I fix way to many cars a day, really don`t have time to fix my own, so I just buy the cheapest most reliable thing, and nascar tape it if I have to. I did love my 89 accord. That too also had bells and whistles for the day. Sold it to a guy for under profit, told him he needed to swap a ball joint, riding home back from work in my old 84 gt stang, saw my old car on side of road dead, guess what, fender dented from inside, ball joint came out, and I was happy I wrote as is on the slip, but mostly proud that I also wrote, front left ball joint upper arm NEEDS to be replaced.

The dude actually light up my pagette, 911 he said, I said go f yourself, you were told, you got ride cheap, I was unloading, never page me again type deal.

 

[nickb2]

So, before I eat the rest of that HUGE sandwich, I will leave you in style I like, I always include tunes to go with how I feel. Now I am feeling like this one, since I remember that 89 accord deal. It had the blue tag,

I have to deal with an issue at work, and right now, this is what I am thinking if this guy don't get in line.

 

[nickb2]

oops, ocd kicked in again, step 10 of second tsb is VERY revealing. Why do you stink honda wanted the cores back WITH fluid in it? Analysis of course. known issue, but you got to give it to honda, they stepped up way more than I have seen. Mopar also was hemorrhaging money and good will was not enough, now, look where they are at.

Worst thing I have to fix daily, cuz for some reason ppl actually buy these POS. Is a RAM pro master 3500hd.

HD?, nothing hd about it, it has a grand caravan tranny with a freaky 3.6l fiat design. (you can't shove a 3.6l in a 3500hd frame and think it will haul ass like a cummins) How is this going to end well with the tech stuck with it? That pseudo truck is a design mess from get go. You think sprinters are hard to deal with, fix a newish ram pro master, master, my arse!! But since it is my day job, got to fix these POS and smile? No, I don't smile, but you can be sure I crank it out as soon as I can. These are not just an eye sore, they literally are the worst trucks I have ever come accros. They just plain suck, NOT meant for our climate, merchandised to the wrong crowd, guys that own these things hate them, cant wait to kill them, and will never buy that type again. It is NOT a work horse. Fill that sucker up with plumbing equipement, truck is first off unstable and horrible to drive, the drive train is way under powered, and you wonder why we are open what normally is at least a 300km engine/drivetrain at 120k km's. Not normal. There are still two chargers left in the police interceptor cars I fix at work, cops kick them hard, the awd is rare, but still, it is a viable engine, but for gods sake, and I am an atheist to boot, who in their right mind would buy this do do contracting stuff etc.

Slap a fridge in there, a bed, a stove, maybe a generator install, you got a great compact camper. This is not a truck, it is at best a recreational vehicle.

And somehow, I just hijacked another thread. Might be the indian reserve smokes, maybe they put something funny in there.

 

[bp042665]

ok I have seen a noise on the 2/3 shift under med throttle turns out to be a gear whine no big deal seen them go years after that

 

[grcauto]

I would just drive it. Like bp said this is not uncommon.

 

[D1184]

Well that is a relieve! I was assuming it could be something like that, because the driveability of the car has not changed. I will for sure keep driving and maintaining it by the books, and see what happens, i love the car. Thank you all for the responses i appreciate your time!

 

[billr]

Even if it is a serious problem, sometimes "wait and see" is the most practical approach at the beginning. Otherwise, you could take half the car apart chasing for where an elusive noise is really coming from.

 

[D1184]

Bringing that up since i am due for an ATF change. Last time i put 3,4 qts, which happened to be enough for the fluid to get exactly to the top mark. Acura/Honda says it takes between 3-4 qts. The noise has remained the same in my opinion, or slightly increased, but drive-ability and gear shifts are good - no problems at all. Anyways, since i am due for a change i decided to add 100-200ml (which roughly totals the amount in the trans to 3,6qts), of ATF and see if that would make any difference(since when the car is still cold, there isn`t any noise) , and surprisingly the knock became much less noticeable, still present though. However when checking the level, it is of course over the top mark, if it reads properly that means the case is overfilled? My question is should i pour a little extra this time since that calmed the knock a bit, or don`t push it?