madhudasari

Hi Biggie_B,

I still notice jerky upshifts out of first and second gear and the occasional jerky downshift from second to first when coming to a stop. ---> yes, it's happening to my car even after the software updates. Doing the software again will hurt the car? Anyways, I am going to call Acura clients after the holidays.

Are you still having the issues?

Thanks,
Madhu

Nomad346

I've had my 2015 TLX for 8 months now and currently approaching the 20K kms. mark, here's a quick update on my DCT issues.

Originally, when i first received the car in late March, I was experiencing similar issues to everyone else, with the most serious being:
The car was built in Feb. 2015 and I haven't applied any transmission software updates yet. I wanted to, but the dealers in Canada seem to be clueless of the American Honda updates or are unwilling to apply them. So I just waited it out. As temperatures got warmer, issue and 1 and 2 started becoming less frequent, and issue 3 disappeared.

I was worried that with the dropping temperatures they would all come back again. So far, 1 and 2 have not come back (fingers crossed still), but the clunk from R to D has returned.

For issues 1 and 2, I'm wondering if simply driving and putting more distance into the car has an effect because of the "learning" nature of the transmission. Perhaps, it's not a good idea to apply the updates constantly without driving it for a certain period?

Although the R to D clunk is not ideal, I can live with it, but the first two are unacceptable. As long as those two don't return, I'm going to leave it be and not get anything updated. It's also unknown or debatable whether the R to D issue can be resolved simply by software updates.

nebula

I also had those issues, in August I had the update done and issues 1&2 were better after the update. Not totally eradicated but better, issue 3 like you said returned with the cold weather. In January or February I will need an oil change, I had mentioned the clunk to the service department a couple of weeks ago, but I'm waiting till my oil change to really address the issue. I think it will be consistently colder in 1-2 months, I'll ask them to keep the car and drive it in the morning so they can replicate it ( hopefully they are honest and say they feel it, and that's it's not normal or some bs answer that it's within specs). If any others are still getting the clunk could you guys lets the rest of us know, thanks.

Biggie_B

Nomad, can you describe the "clunk". I feel the car (or transmission) jerk after shifting the lever from P to D or from R to D. The jerk happens a second after the lever is shifted. Nebula says that he also hears a sound, which I don't. I also feel the car jerk when changing gears from P to R, but it's not as noticeable as shifting to D and on some days there is no jerk at all. I don't believe Nebula gets this symptom. I'm wondering if we are all talking about the same thing with varying degrees of symptoms.

On a slightly related note, does anyone else notice vibrations in the seats when the car is in gear (R, D), but not moving (at a stop light)? The vibrations vanish as soon as the car gets moving and I'm wondering if this has anything to do with idle. The vibrations aren't bad, but noticeable, especially coming from a TL with little to no vibrations. I'm wondering if this is 'normal operating procedure' for the TLXs.

nebula

Biggie_B, I believe your right we are all experiencing the same thing just describing it differently. I not only hear the clunk but feel it as well, it is 100% weather related as the clunk disappears with higher temperatures.
As far as any vibrations I can't say that I really notice anything too bad maybe ever so slightly.

Nomad346

Biggie_B, there is a "clunk" sound and slight jerk when the car moves from P to D quickly. I don't feel anything going from P to R. As others have described, the clunk is mitigated if you pause, even for half a second, at N before going to D. That is why some people probably don't notice it. If you hesitate or are slow on the stick then there is no clunk. I usually move the stick quickly so I can always reproduce the clunk first thing in the morning when I drive off. Also, if the car has been previously driven and is warm or if the outside temperature is > 10 degrees C, the clunk will not manifest.

TlxDriver

Even after all software upgrades, cold engine / cold weather hard shifting is still randomly occurring.
Does anybody have any further suggestions or can share experience of having this problem fully 'resolved'?

weather

^^ I think the best way to resolve the issue is DITCH ACURA....Spread the word

nebula

I believe those of us that have the hard shifts are stuck with it. The update fixed 90% of my problems, the one thing that annoys the heck out of me is the clunk going from reverse to drive on cold start ups. The update made the clunk less severe but it's still there. It started acting up in November once the cold weather came, and will probably disappear in a couple of months. Personally I think the only solution is for Acura to replace the transmission that have the clunk, considering not all of us are experiencing problems tell me some tranny's are defective, my two cents.

nebula

I figured to update my experience with the reverse to drive clunk, still there in cold weather. My service department says its normal operation. Any others still have the clunk?

youngTL

nebula, I have a 2016, and it doesn't really have a clunk, but the Drive->Reverse will be a slightly abrupt shift if you do it too fast because stuff is still moving in the other direction. Reverse->STOP->Drive, or Drive->STOP->Reverse. This is how I used to drive my manual TL-S as well, and every other car. I always come to a complete stop before changing directions because it's better for the transmission and the driveshaft hypoid gears. You don't want the gear teeth smashing together quickly.

CheeseyPoofs McNut

I've never had a clunk going from R to D. I used to have a long R to D delay (about 3 seconds) which was improved with the software update. I still get a little bump when shifting from 1 to 2 on cold days but truth be told it's minor and I don't notice it anymore. I also haven't had the massive jerk when coming to a stop that I had a couple times prior to the software update so it's likely that has gone away too.

Although truth be told I work from home now and can go weeks without driving the car so it's getting much less time in the cold weather this Winter as opposed to last.

nebula

Thanks guys, for now at least the winter months, I will keep waiting two seconds going from reverse to drive to avoid the clunk.

TlxDriver

I have had another conversation on the phone with Acura, and they told me that transmissions in 2016 and 2015 TLXs are identical. That tells me that even trading 2015 TLX for 2016 TLX is risky. According to the dealer's service manager, an Acura representative, who visits the dealership monthly (I am not sure about his official title) basically said there was nothing Acura will do, even for the customer whose family owns four Honda products, like me. What's 'interesting' too is that based on their web sites, the two Acura dealerships in our area combined still have 'very slow moving inventory' of over EIGHTY 2015 TLXs, and Acura does not seem to care much about it either.

loved my old acura

my 2016 ILX is going to get me killed have logged over 20 something issues in the last month. today i was driving up a slight grade on a business driveway that connects to a very busy street and when i was close to the end of the drive i started coasting my foot was not on the brake nor gas yet, my car surged so hard it went forward 3-5' I had to slam on the brake to keep from flying the traffic. the car goes to the dealer again on Thursday they cannot find an issue? what to do I am scared to death to even drive it

EricInMaryland

At some point you have to get a lawyer involved. You will never get the type of response a lawyer gets. I'd say there is enough evidence out there that Acura knowingly sold defective cars, and have decided to classify the issues as normal to avoid liability.

EricInMaryland

What are your lemon laws. 20 times and no resolution is certainly complaint worthy. Tell them you are filing a lemon law complaint.

I presume you are USA. If not get a lawyer.

loved my old acura

interesting the Acura rep wil be in town Monday and wanted to drive with me in my car only problem is he cannot meet me after work and if I eave work I will get docked so more loss funds. Acura is calling me Monday to try an work out a schedule they did order a part to fix the radio and wallpaper features. I have a TLX loaner and it drives much smoother than my ILX. no jerky stops or surges at least not today anyway. I am US. It's a shame I never even considered any other brand car because my last one was so great

aggybong

I have a 2016 TLX with about 600 miles (purchased late March 2016) and I also have the jolt\jerk\whatever when crawling at low speeds\coming to a stop. Rarely it will also happen when accelerating from a stop.

The worst part is that I can't re-create it. I...lucked out...and had it happen with someone else in the car and they had the same wtf reaction. To them, it felt like the car almost stalled and then kicked back to normal RPMs.

Not knowing this was an issue, I contacted the dealer and they said to wait until 1,000 miles before bringing it in, just to see if it's a break-in deal or something wrong with the car. Would they apply any TSBs before selling a new car (or shipping a new car from place of manufacturer), or do they always need to be applied post-sale?

Other than that and a rattling dashboard, the car is pretty good. I'm coming from a 2008 TL which is the best car I've ever owned, but it was reaching 180k miles and I wanted a change. Jury is still out on the TLX!

JonB

Wait a thousand miles? Really - that's what your car dealer (a breed of the most trusted people on the planet) told you? That'll take about 30 days. By then you can not legally return the car...without it being a hassle and doing the whole lemon law thing. Dump the vehicle now if you can. That's what I'd have done if I were in your shoes. The issues will not be resolved.

I have had issues with my '15 TLX from the day I drove it off the lot - with it's random, rough shifts in the lower gears (I suspect this is due to the company's release of a duel clutch transmission that was rushed to market). They claim its a software issue that can be fixed with a patch. It works too...for about a week before the car is up to it's old tricks again. That said, I know exactly when my issues will be resolved - right to the day.

December 14, 2017 - the day my lease is up.

I'm taking my business elsewhere on that glorious day. I am disappointed in the Acura brand and the sales people who say they "believe" my concerns, while simultaneously claiming the car works fine. They go so far to say they are true fans of Acura's duel clutch transmission. You think they're going to admit a premature development issue? They have inventory to move...it's the car business.

If you can return the car as a brand new purchase by all means do it. I wish I had bought mine less than 30 days ago - If I knew then what I know now I'd have returned it in a heartbeat.

Best of luck!!!!

aggybong

I am not sure what you mean by a 30 day return policy. Is that per dealer, or something Acura offers?

I was thinking of using a lease trade site in 6 months if I still hate it, but if I could just return it now, that would be tempting.

EricInMaryland

You cant transfer Acura Leases.

I leased for the first time 2 months ago. Its a prison with no real benefit. You are locked, and stuck with no recourse other than a lawsuit. At the end, you face the possibility of a fight on residual value and also excessive wear and tear.

I will never lease again.

NRS78

You may be right that you cannot transfer an Acura lease, but it is pretty easy to get out of one. I traded my 15' TLX in on a new 16' Mazda 6 GT. I even had $800 in "equity" from trade-in value over the lease payoff applied to the new car (your trade-in value may vary of course).

I have leased many vehicles and have never gone full term. I just trade it in on something else when I am bored (or fed up as with the TLX). Unfortunately, with the negative press on the TLX the residual values have been lower. Used car trade in values may not be great, but you can cut your loses if you are really frustrated, and get out of a lease by trading it in on something else.

westlx

Anyone have the shifter not go into reverse yet? Have 7000 miles on it and it started acting weird the last two months. Every time I went to back into my garage it would not want to go into reverse. I thought I wasn't pulling the trigger hard enough on the shifter. Nope, the last week it would not go into reverse about 75% of the time.

Dropped it at the dealer.
Day one report- Acura never saw this before however they think it is the shift cable.
Day two report- Acura has seen this before and ordered a new shift cable as the current one is damaged.

I asked how this was damaged and I was told they don't know.

First a cracked head liner and now this, so far not feeling the love. And Acura client relations is a joke, they don't give a crap about their product or customers.

aggybong

I haven't had that issue (and hopefully never will) but I only have 1200~ miles on the car. The transmission continues to be...unpredictable? unless I'm in eco mode where it's all slow enough that it doesn't matter.

I miss being able to quickly go in to the equivalent of Sport+ by slapping the shifter over like in my TL. Having to toggle a button between 4 different settings really kills it.

Overall, I feel like this is all a step down. I should have went for a 2014 TL or a different brand altogether

TLXVanquish

So how are fellow 8sp DCT TLX owners doing with their trannies?

Mine was issue free until around the 10K mile mark... it acted up for a while until I brought it in for a software update. After that, plus a fresh oil change and not repeating that 1 time I filled up a tank of gas at an inferior gas brand, shifting has improved slightly.

Hard shifts are most prevalent in the mornings on a cold engine... and the occasional slowdown to a STOP sign. Pretty annoying. How about others with more miles - improvements? Same?

wlkeel

Still no problem with mine - about 12,000 miles.

joshuco

I get the slight jerk when slowing down, but I still have summer temps so it'll only get worse the colder it gets.

aggybong

Same as always, surging\hard 1-2 shift when the engine and\or transmission is cold, random feeling of being rear ended as the car almost stalls when coming to a stop. It's a shame because I rather like the car, but the first issue I experience daily.

Slice101

can someone please tell me what's the part number for a 2008 Acura TL base model transmission pressure switches 3th and 4th thanks in advance

TLXVanquish

How often are you experiencing the "feeling of being rear ended as the car almost stalls when coming to a stop"??

I'd say I experienced that maybe twice in my 11,000 miles or so...

nebula

I have 17,500 miles on mine, had both updates done and still the tranny acts up. I get surges, clunk from reverse to drive ( only in winter on initial start up), slowing down its jerky(sometimes), the feeling of getting rearended(guesstimating once every 4-6 weeks).All I can say is that the updates helped but did not resolve all the problems. Took the car in and had 2 service techs and the service manager drive it, but the problems ofcourse don't present themselves at the time. I find the car to be more clunky/jerky in cold weather. These issues don't present themselves all the time but enough to get me frustrated.

wlkeel

nebula, based on prior discussions and threads, It seems to me that you have a bad transmission. Unfortunately, it does happen, even with a decent design. So many owners have had no problems, or minor problems, that yours seems to be outside the acceptable range.

I hope they replace your transmission, or otherwise make things right for you. I'm sure it's frustrating for you.

cube1

If you have an iPhone, there is an app, aptly named "Accelerometer" that will log, so you could record every trip, and show them the anomalous behavior. You would not need to keep all the logs, just a couple of normal ones and the odd ones. I suppose android might have something similar?

joshuco

I get the surge maybe like once or twice a month, it's annoying but I can deal with it. I've already been to the dealership too many times, I just don't care anymore.

NickDiaz209

I have all the exact issues you have. I have 35K on my car (A lot of heavy traffic commuting) and at this point I have no real expectation there will be a fix. I've brought the car in at least five times and I get the same response..."that's how the car drives". Well yeah, it's not that bad if you're basing that on driving it around the block on a test drive. Drive it in stop and go traffic for 80 miles a day. Drive it while entering a rotary (at times I won't know whether I'll need to brake or accelerate on approach) and punch that accelerator (will rev and not shift gears) or brake and get that hit from the behind feeling. From a stop on a decline, slightly accelerate and feel that big clunk from 1 to 2. These are the real world driving scenarios that occurred after the first week and cemented the fact that this was the worst purchase I made ever for a car.
I brought my MDX in on Monday for recalls and the service guy who knows me by sight at my dealership goes "So how's the TLX going?". I said "The transmission is garbage". He said "Well, it's a first generation, they'll come out with a fix eventually". Lets just say I'm not holding my breath.

loved my old acura

My ILX is a piece of junk. The dealer has agreed to extend the warranty on the car at their cost but i have not gone back to take care of the paperwork yet life still happens and a lot is going on in my life right now. Buying this car was a huge mistake and a bigger mistake was paying cash!!! I am screwed in every direction. My trans slams, jerks clunks you name it. there is no quickly changing lanes in this car I would get killed it drags so bad from a start. I was told the same thing nothing wrong with the car I need to get use to it, whatever.
I am trade for an Audi next near

alpha2beta

Finally other people are speaking up more about this. I thought I was the only one with problems after the software updates. I would take a planetary transmission that's "slower" at shifting then this garbage DCT. God I wish they would of just put a 6 speed manual in this car I would be so much happier. I drove a 2016 RDX for a loaner, that 6 speed is nice, works great. It really opened my eyes to how bad the 8 speed DCT is in the TLX.

nebula

I too am glad others are speaking up, sadly I don't think Acura is going to do much (car is working as it should, standard answer). I feel like the car has 2 personalities 1 car is responsive and somewhat smooth. Car 2 is slow, clunky, and unresponsive( press on the gas and it takes like 2-3 secs for it to move). I believe car 1 is the dominant car in my situation, thankfully. I'll see what happens this winter with the cold weather.

smarty666

Hi Everyone,

Was hoping to describe something that happened today and see if anyone else thinks it is a transmission issue like I do. So I have a 2015 TLX 4cyl with the 8spd DCT. The car only has 15k miles on it. Today I was coming home from work and at first everything was okay. I was stopped at a red light. When I hit the accelerator the car had little acceleration to it, the engine moaned and the rpms stayed between 1-2 on the cluster. I then hit the gas pedal to the ground and the engine moaned and the rpms stayed at 1-2. I was able to accelerate, but it definitely was not like it usually is and the engine moaned and struggled to get up to speed.

I then stopped at the next light and same result from a complete stop. I then pulled off the road and put the car in park. I slammed down on the accelerator and the engine made absolutely no revving noise like it should be. I called for a tow truck but after being told I would have to wait over an hour, I chanced it and drove the car to the nearest Acura dealer. I noticed when I got up to speed on the interstate, the rpms were between 4-5 while the speed was constant, but every time I stepped on the accelerator it would shoot down to 1-2 rpms. I barely was able to get up a steep hill by the dealership so I'm lucky I even made it there. I checked to make sure I was in drive the whole time and nothing was blocking the accelator that could have interfered. I left it at the Acura dealer and was given a loaner car thankfully.

So this is a transmission issue correct or do you think something else could be going on??