It's actually not as expensive as it has been, it's harder to find them than anything else.
2nd and 3rd gear do not get proper lubrication and they overheat and eventually the transmission fails.
Honda recalled it and installed squirters to those gears but it still will eventually fail. It's just a bunk design.
Problem is they tried to take a gearbox made for a 4-cylinder and use it on a car with V6 torque.
oh, I know all about it. one of my accounts was the local acura dealership, so I got to hear people bitch about it all day long. plus, my dad has a '00 Av6 sedan, so he got his class-action notice in the mail.
I thought it was first gear that was overheating :dunno: but yeah, I know they used the 4-banger gearbox. bad thinking, but what auto company doesn't fuck up....