Morning everyone,

I am in the middle of some transmission swap headaches here. I my old tranny in my 99 Acura cl 2.3 was slipping and throwing a code. So I decided to do a tranny swap and get one of these imported trannys from Japan with "low miles". I believe the specifc model number for my tranny is F23A. Now one thing that myself and about 4 different mechanics I have talked to is the lower right hand side wiring harness. I have had about 2 "tranny specialist" tell me that this part is critical and is responsible for shifting. While other tranny "experts" and telling me no you can just ignore the wiring harness it wont do anything that the solenoids are responsible for shifting. Everything will just work its fine if you dont hook it up. So I am a bit confused here and I would hate to have my mechanic mount this tranny up and we run into shifting problems. Also as a side note when I go to ebay or craigslist and type in F23A tranmissions almost every single one of them have the wiring harness at the bottom of the tranny. However my original one does not. I have attached pictures to highlight what I am talking about.

 

I'll admit I'm too lazy to look up the parts diagrams, but here is what i know.
97-99 Acura CL chassis is called YA1, or YAA, I forget. However, the 97-99 CL coupes are basically 94-97 Accord 'CD' coupe with a Prelude like roof line and 'Euro' Accord looking nose.
It's a transitional model where it is based on the older CD chassis but uses the newer drivetrain from the 98-02 'CG' Accord in the 98/99 models. '97 used the F22B1 engine like in the 97 Accord.

90-97 Accord had the shift selector switch mounted to the shifter inside the center console.
98-02 Accord had the shift selector switch mounted to the side cover of the transmission, like on your imported transmission.

Albeit since the interior is the same as the 94-97 'CD' Accord, most of the electrical is going to be as well. You most likely have the shift selector switch inside your center console mounted to the shifter directly.
You will not need that switch that is mounted on the imported transmission.
If it wasn't on your original transmission then you won't need it.

F23A is the name of the engine, not the transmission. 'M6HA' is what the transmission on 2.3 AT cars is called. I would also suggest verifying that the switches and solenoids are the same from your origianl transmission to the imported one as JDM imported units of the M6HA tend to have different sensor and connections that will not work on the USDM models.

Hope that clears things up.