I was interested in buying a used tl, but I'm concerned with the reliability. I know that, 2003 and older had fatal transmission problems. What should I be aware of and concerned with when purchasing one? Headliner and rattles? Thanks.

 

I just bought an 04. Supposedly there was also some minor flaws in the 04 trans but nothing like the 2nd gens. 04 they finally put a trans filter on it but the pressure switches can go bad. Mine has a slight hesitation when shifting im gonna do a trans flush clean the filter and replace the switches. Granted it does have 129k on it now. My buddy did it on his and it shifts like new

 

I just purchased an 04 back in August with 168000 KM. The transmission fluid in it was pitch black so i flushed it out and put oem fluid in it. I still did notice a slight hesitation when it was changing gears and a big lag when in tiptronic. About 3 days ago I was driving to work, stopped at a light, put it in neutrel when stopped. I went to put it in drive and it just revved. No movement what so ever. it showed no signs of failure, it just went. I rarely drive this car harshly. So now it needs a new transmission, thats the only complaint i have about this car, it may just have been due to the previous owner not maintaining it though.

 

Bump for you..

I'm in the market too wondering the same thing. What year are parts interchangeable from too? Tail lights, etc.. Where do people buy aftermarket parts at? How much did you guys spend on your cars 04-05ish? TIA

 

Alot of the exterior parts are interchangable 04-08. I would check out Acurazine has far as what parts are available.

 

My mother drives an 05 TL and it is unadulterated crap. It's the car that reaffirmed for me that Honda as I know it for EG's, DC's, BB's, CD's, etc is dead. My parents have an extended warranty on it that expires next year and it'll probably be tossed before then.

If you want an excellent Japanese four-door, do yourself a favor and get a G35. If you want the most excellent reasonably priced four-door, nothing tops a 3-series.

-Engine mounts fail before 50k.

-04-06 trans have a death sentence from the factory. 2nd gear inadequate lubrication, supposed to be fixed with recall. 3rd clutch pack weak and eventually fails. Crap oem ATF didn't help them. Torque converter is on it's way out in mom's car at 60k if the weak trans wasn't enough on it's own.

-Steering rack on it's way out.

-Engine is gutless for a V6. Nothing below 3.5k. Honda probably has one of the worst V6's in the industry. Still no VTC equivalent. They publish high hp figures for marketing but it's useless in the real world. It's a TL, not a B16 Civic, needs some ***** in the useful rpm range.

-This much power/torque and FWD = fail (at least in this car). Also the one to make me realize my BB6 will be my last fwd car.

-Worst stock damper tuning of nearly any car I've ever driven.

-Weak chassis.

-Rattles galore. Cheaply built interior.

-Steering wheel off center from factory.

-Many owners have experienced dashboard cracking.

-Nav control unit on mom's car failed. $2k part from Honda. Thankfully Alpine will fix them for $180 flat.

-07-08 Type-S had issues with detonation.

None of these issues are particularly rare.

+ points are that it's a good looking car. Interior ergonomics are second to none.

+Cousin has an 08. Damper tuning much improved over the 04-06. New trans design in 07, supposed to resolve the previous Honda V6 trans issues, don't know if they did.