madhudasari

I have a 2.4L tech and VIN is with in the range.

I gave my car to dealer for the updates. He told me that he will do what ever mentioned in the TSB. Will update you guys, once I get my car.

-Madhu

nebula

Yes please keep us posted, out of curiosity does your car also clunk from reverse to drive? If it does let us know if the update fixed that problem.

JonB

I found the bulletin on line everyone on this board is raving over and emailed it to my Acura dealer. I too had the 2-2-15 update. My dealer replied by informing me that this update (my VIN is in range BTW) IS a newer update than the February update. They said "Very positive reviews" and I'll be "very pleased". Yes, they told me that before. But maybe the second update is a charm??? The first update seemed better but the improvements faded as time passed.

I'll take it in next week and let everyone know…eventually. I am going to wait a month or two since that was the time frame my first patch went from "better" to "mostly same 'ol same 'ol".

I wish everyone luck with this update!

Nomad346

Unfortunately, I was too busy this week to visit my dealer and inquire about the update. I plan to do so next week and will let you know what happens. What is your VIN range, mine is in FA801500 block.

The warmer weather seems to have soften the effects of the issue. I still get some mild jolts while stopping at low speeds, but they are not as bad as when the weather was colder. I'm afraid the service guy is probably going to say, 'cannot duplicate' and do nothing about it.

colohusker

Well this latest software had better work. I thought with the warm weather I wouldn't be experiencing many issues until November cold roles back, (by then thinking they'd fix it) but I Woke up this morning to the famous jarring reverse to drive slam. I haven't had this for a while now, didn't know if last work done in mid March fixed it or it was the warmer weather. But today, it was back in full force.

I was finally on the ball enough to run in and grab my camera and make a video. Obviously most of this issue is something you have to feel to fully get, but the video is pretty good as you can really hear it and see the jolt go through the car and my arm in the video. Video is going to client relations and dealer right now (even though my dealer has already experienced this plenty with my car).

I'd be happy to post it here if someone could guide me on how. Perhaps you could use it to convey to your service dep what's happening.

weather

^^ Could you upload it to Youtube and include the link here? I would love to see it....

madhudasari

@Nebula, it happened few times in the past but I don't notice it nowadays.

madhudasari

Guys, I got my car on Friday. I drove 30-40 miles on Friday and Saturday and the good news is I am mostly satisfied with the update. I don't see lunging/lurching forward before coming to complete stop and no jerky shifts at low speeds. I will keep you posted next week, whether it behaves same or not.

I just want to clarify you guys that this is the latest software update available and different from that of Feb/March update. GO get it from your dealer and I hope it works for you as well.

nebula

As Cheesey Poofs McNutt said when in reverse and going back to drive stop in neutral for 1 second then go to drive it takes the clunk away. I tried it this weekend and it works as a temporary solution. By no means do I think it's acceptable that we have to do this though, there needs to be a permanent fix for this problem.

nebula

So I take it that it clunked before the update and after the update your not noticing the clunk? Are you letting the car warm up or starting it up and driving normally without the clunk?

nebula

Now that there is a TSB issued, does that mean cars in the vin range will be contacted by Acura to let them know about it?

JonB

I contacted my dealer here in Atlanta because of what I read on this site. I suggest you contact your dealer too. I sent them an email with the TSB attached! They told me that they found out because of my email. I had the update installed yesterday. My TLX rides far more tame than it did pre-April 13th update - especially at the lower gears. But as the I've learned from the previous update, only time will tell if it's a permanent fix or not.

nebula

JonB, did the new update fix the clunk from reverse to drive? I can't believe you had to tell your dealership about the update. Acura should have somekind of communication to dealerships about TSB's.

xiaosongz

I went to the Dealer today, I told them there is a software update, and they said they never heard about it. I found out the transmission issue right after I purchase the car last Aug, and today they told me I am the only one complain about this!!! Sounds like I am a tough customer that making trouble for them.

nebula

I guess it's possible for some service departments not knowing yet, I think it's only been out a week ( in my opinion they should know). There is another thread about TSB's go there (sorry I couldn't link it) and download the TSB, print it out and bring it to your service department. Infortunetly some dealership's are better than others.

CheeseyPoofs McNut

While that may be the case I suspect they're trained to say that to customers.

blacktsxwagon

Print it out and take it with you, show it to them on your phone, etc. They know what a TSB looks like...

Dealers are the worst...

Tecra

I bought a TLX 2.4 on Sunday with 9 miles on it. On the drive home I noticed three issues:

1. Long 3-4 second pauses going from P-D, N-D, R-D etc.
2. When I stepped on it *sometimes* it would pause and seem to hunt for gears.
3. Then slowing to a stop the car would *sometimes* lunge forward.

I let it go for another day in case this was some kind of "break in" thing. Tuesday morning my wife drove the car for the first time to the store and back. She said, "the car jumped forward when I stopped once on the way home and startled me". Needless to say that was it, so I took it to Acura service center near my house that day (The dealer I bought the car from is far away) and was there for 4 hours while they "update the transmission firmware and did a break-in procedure twice". This unfortunately did not do anything, so on Wednesday I took it back to the dealer where I bought it and they gave me a loaner. The next day (Thursday) got a call from them saying they were able to reproduce the issue and caught it on the computer they had hooked up at the time. The problem was I had the most current firmware (released last week I guess) so they sent all the data collected to Acura engineers and were waiting for a call back.

Seeing all the posts about transmission issues on forums and even a class action lawsuit in the works I had enough and did not want to be a guinea pig for Acura. Called up the sales guy and after talking with the manager they reversed my purchase and I bought the V6 AWD version due to the different transmission. I can thankfully say I don't have any of the issues with the new car, I know this does not help those with the 2.4 version but wanted to share my experience and hopefully the data they sent to Acura helps them get a to a resolution soon.

Nomad346

Finally had time to take my 4 week old vehicle to the dealer today to inspect the transmission issues (occasional lunging at stop and jerky low speed shifts while in Sport mode). Well it turned out to be a waste of my time.

As I feared, the techs said they could not reproduce the issue after a 25 minute road test and the computer diagnostics reported no "DTC errors". They also entered a comment that the "car drives more aggressively in sport mode". I almost laughed when I saw that note.

I showed the service manager the TSB and he said: 1) it was issued by Honda America, not Honda Canada, and 2) was not applicable to Canadian VINs. He said the techs called the Canadian office and they said there has been no equivalent TSB issued for Canadian TLXs. Therefore, they cannot apply any patches.

This is frustrating because some people clearly were able to get these applied, even in Canada. I'm not sure what to do now. Call Honda Canada, go to another dealer? I just don't have time to spend on this. My experience with Acura has been great up to now, which is a pity because I still think they produce cars that are of great value given all the standard features.

What I have noticed is with the warmer temperatures the issue happens less, which is good, but it doesn't resolve the problem in the first place, and they'll be back with a vengeance this winter!

JonB

It's been warm here in the south…so the clunk hasn't been a problem for a month or two. I'll have to wait until the first cold day in October or November to really find out. This morning it was in the 50's and there was a little clunk, but not the scary one we've all come to dread…

Time will tell I guess.

jeremyw

Lucky you. I hope I read this thread before my purchase. When I discovered the problems, it was already out of the 'normal' return/exchange window. If I trade in my car now, I would lose 15% or $5400. Now I just hope the latest TSB will resolve the issue.

xiaosongz

Thank you for your advised, I went to my dealer yesterday, I told them the No. of TSB and they found and applied the TSB 15-021 for my vehicle. They seems pretty busy this week, and they told me they only received a email from Acura that notice them there is a new TSB for TLX coming out, but among hundreds of other hundreds of emails from Acura it's understandable that they do not know at the first place.

Anyway, after the upgrade I would like to say it is significantly improve the hard shift from 1-2 and 2-3 and eliminate the jerk & clunk when come to a stop. The delay from N to D is still there, approximately 2-3 seconds; but the R-D delay seems been reduced by 1/2 down to less than 1 second. In the morning, the shifting at low speed is became more noticeable but is not hard anymore, I think this is the sacrifice we have to pay. I will be update more information next week.

nebula

I'm glad it worked out for you. I see you noticed the time delays going from gear to gear which I can live with. One question though, did it help with the hard clunk going from reverse to drive? That to me is just unacceptable and probably over time going to harm the vehicle, as it is very hard especially on cold days.

xiaosongz

I am not very clear what kind of clunk you are talking about, it is the same level of clunk appears when come to a stop? Because that is a hard one, Its feels like been rear-ended and made large noise at the same time.

My car never clunk that hard when shift from R to D, but if I don't keep press the brake when shift from R to D, the power from engine will be delay about 2 seconds and a sudden surge for about .2-.3 second and then back to normal. Based on my own experience, no large noise is appearing during the shift.

After the upgrade, the R to D delay is significantly reduced, and the surge also been moderately suppressed, but I can still feel it.

nebula

xiaosongz, consider yourself lucky if you don't know what the R to D clunk is. When you go from reverse to drive on a cold start up going from R to D the transmission clunks so hard it literally feels like the transmission is jumping out of the car. I will say that the warmer weather makes the clunk less severe to a degree. I have about 50-60% of oil life left either I will wait for the oil change to get the update or maybe wait a couple of weeks to give my service department enough time to realize there is a TSB.

JonB

I was going to wait a month after getting the new "patch" to report in - but why not just level with you after a week. After two days of pleasant driving, the old slipping and lunging at low speeds is slowly returning more and more every day. In the end it may be better than what it was before patch #2. Still, the intuitiveness of the vehicle's response to the drivers command's is generally unacceptable. To me, common sense dictates that the 8 speed duel clutch transmission system Acura thought was the future was most likely pushed to market before its time. I could pursue lemon laws - or I can just wait a little over two and a half years when the lease is up.

In my mind the class action lawsuit is justified. I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I believe honesty is the best way to communicate. Bottom line: Acura owners who were counting on a reliable, comfortable to drive vehicle were screwed.

CheeseyPoofs McNut

This is sad news indeed - makes me wonder if we need to find a way to stop the transmission from "learning" and adapting to our driving habits as it seems that may be where the issues are coming from.

As one who likes to look on the shiny side I should remind you that it took Honda two TSB's (over the course of a year or so) to remedy the CVT judder issue some experienced with the 9th gen Accords and the new CVT.

Given what they have riding on this powertrain I find it hard to believe they will throw up their hands and give up while issues exist. This is pretty complex stuff which may take time.

weather

I am puzzled as to why they can't solve this, yet the same tranny and engine in the ILX is OK.

Quandry

Maybe it is too soon to pass judgement on the ILX. From the reports it seems that even after the software update the electronics transition into a bad mode. Not sure if there any reports of it being bad as soon as they are driven off the lot, and maybe the problems start weeks or months after. This could be why there are few (or any) test drive reports of problems. This continues to be a perplexing problem with some problematic units and other that are just fine. A nightmare situation for the technicians.

madhudasari

@Nebula, I am not warming up my car. Sometimes(very few times), I am noticing clunk(only when changing gear from P to R).

madhudasari

Here is the update from my side after driving my car for 1 week after the latest software update.

No lunging/lurching forward before coming to complete stop, this problem is completely gone.
But sometimes, I still notice delay in acceleration and jerks(minor but noticeable) at lower gears but it is manageable till next software update.

jeremyw

As much as I am frustrated with my TLX's DCT transmission, I wonder if anyone has driven a car with double clutch transmission from a different brand, say Audi or BMW. How do their DCTs feel like? Apparently, only some of the Audi and BMW have the DCTs although Audi puts it in more models than BMW. Please share your experience but make sure you have driven one with a real DCT.

newfly

Got my car in for the TSB update. So far so good.. but it seems like the car is not shifting as smooth as it used to be. Maybe just a psychological thing, who knows. The weather also warms up a lot, so its hard to tell if the TSB fixes the hard shifting when cold problem.

Still very happy with the car overall. Did my first oil change (didn't go for synthetic).

Buzz1317

I sent this TSB to the service writer at the dealership I have had the first update done at. She talked with the Technician and he said it is the same update that they did on my car back in the beginning of March. And that there was only one update ever.
Does someone have proof that there is more than one that can be shared?

Also... seeing that there is a range of VIN's would that not tell us that there is something with those vehicles ... either what parts are in them or something done differently after those VIN's that make them think that they are problem vehicles?

CheeseyPoofs McNut

I would think that range of vehicles have the older software version.

I read somewhere that some of the early "updates" were dealers doing a reset on the firmware - which was why it would seem good for a period of time before it began to "learn" the bahaviour of the driver and slowly go south again... We don't really know that for certain though - only the Honda techs who post here can verify how many updates exist.

xiaosongz

On the top left corner of the TSB 15-021, it clearly state that it had been release on April 14,2015. How can your dealer got this update 1 month before Acura release it?

CheeseyPoofs McNut

It's possible they have had multiple updates but only *one* official update.

a77

So what oil did you use? all 0-20 is synthetic (or fake synthetic). and why not use synthetic? extra cost is peanuts.

nebula

I'm starting to get a headache from how many updates exist and which particular one fixes the DCT and which ones didn't. Is the official TSB an old update made official that may or may not work. Come on Acura get your **** together. Sorry I had to vent.

ZAXDude

I haven't really chimed in on this thread about the transmission issues plaguing many TLX owners. I have counted myself among the many, but decided to sit back and manage the shifting issues until my A1 service rolled around.

A1 came today. I talked with the service advisor and they were at first unaware of any update. They all kept saying there was a "beta" released about a month ago and it proved to not work. I pushed it and told them there was an update released in the past couple of weeks and I wanted them to check on it since my VIN was included in the range on the TSB.

Thankfully they looked into it and was able to apply the most recent update (I hope it was the most recent update!). They also applied the updates to the radio, navi and the cross-traffic alert when in reverse.

As for the transmission update? Well, I haven't driven it that much since picking up the car, but in the 45 minutes or so of driving it was smooth as silk. I don't recall it shifting that smoothly on the day I purchased it. There is still a lag of sorts when shifting to D from P, but it isn't as long as before (maybe cut in half?). Coming to a stop also smooth. So for my 45 minutes of driving I am pleased!

Now I've read a couple of reports that the problems seem to return. Time will tell if thats true for me. I hope it doesn't because it sure was a nice drive on my way home from the dealer!