When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
My attorney states that in order for a class action to be successful, the majority of owners need to experience the same issue. I doubt this affects all of the 9 speed transmissions. I still wonder if newer builds have these same issues.
I have a 4/15 build SH-AWD Tech. Not experiencing any of these problems.
My attorney states that in order for a class action to be successful, the majority of owners need to experience the same issue. I doubt this affects all of the 9 speed transmissions. I still wonder if newer builds have these same issues.
This will be the problem - that our experiences vary. It will be made worse by the fact that the car adapts to our driving styles and certain styles could minimize the effect where others expose it.
I bought a 3'15 SH-AWD on July 31st and have brought it in twice already to try and "fix" the 2-3 shift issues. Going to take it in once more this saturday to try the newest service bulletin. I'm extremely disappointed in my purchase so far. Can't believe Acura expects owners with this issue to just be okay with the performance of the car. If this latest TSB doesn't work then maybe I'll just resort to spamming their twitter or something on how they can sleep at night continuing to sell this defective car...
After I had the 15-040 update applied, my car drove much smoother in Sport mode (but Normal mode was still the same).
That update was Friday, and now my TLX has gone back to shifting the way it was before. There is no difference at all anymore.
I truly hope you and others have a different experience. My TLX's build date is 12/2014.
The entire transmission is shifting poorly now; not just 2-3.
Same here. Picked up car last night after the dealer had kept my car for an extra 4 days to test it so as the system can complete the learn process. They actually asked permission for a certified tech to take the car home with him and use it as I would... I did give permission and sadly, on my 7 mile drive home back from the dealer i felt the issue almost on 3 occasions. And then this morning to work (28 miles) in freeway bumper to bumper i noticed it quite a few times.
I will be on the lookout if any of you are planning a lawsuits, please feel free to PM me and I will cooperate with you guys. As for now, I will just stfu and keep driving this for the remainder of my 31 month lease. This sure will be the last ACURA for me.
Thats kinda silly....why not design both vehicles around the same DCT, so you dont need yet-another-transmission offering
Keep in mind this is the internet so take it with a grain of salt. The NSX and the TLX have two very different applications. The NSX with its hybrid system the TLX FWD (ok and SH-AWD). I think the NSX is longitudinal mount, the TLX transverse.
Keep in mind this is the internet so take it with a grain of salt. The NSX and the TLX have two very different applications. The NSX with its hybrid system the TLX FWD (ok and SH-AWD). I think the NSX is longitudinal mount, the TLX transverse.
True, forgot about that.
I just think its nuts if Honda/Acura are making 2 or 3 different DCTs when the one in the 4 cyl TLX is their "first try" at something like this (its still a hybrid of a clutchless and torque converter based auto, after all).
Its nice to see they are making headway on ironing out the issues in the TLX, but what happens when they hook them up to more powerful engines? Which is presumably the reason they went to ZF for V6 applications.
And with the ZF being such a compact unit, whats to say Honda can even make a DCT that fits in its place?
TSB 15-040 was done on my car yesterday. There's barely any difference. The only thing that was "fixed" is after the Februray software update power would drop off the instant before the 2-3 shift, that is now normal again but the shift itself is still hard. Additionally, downshifting while braking is now more noticeable. (this after the dealer called me and told me to pick my car up because 'this update you found on the internet doesn't apply', which I promptly educated them on)
After driving a new MDX which shifted fine I can't believe they can't get it right on this car. I'm very disappointed in Acura and am looking forward to getting out of this car. I used to be scared of German cars for reliablity issues but now I'm thinking, what's the difference between taking a BMW in for service versus constantly taking my TLX in for software updates that don't fix anything? None really. At least the BMW should feel better in overall drive and not vibrate (VCM) or shift hard (9AT).
My baby is back!
Picked it up yesterday, after 2 days in the shop; tech wanted to re-educate, the 9Speed.
Anyway, 75-90% better; quicker acceleration, off the line; negligible 2-3 shift "parachuting", or hesitation; much more responsive
I'll circle back after a weekend of real driving; so far, so good
thankful, for that!
My baby is back!
Picked it up yesterday, after 2 days in the shop; tech wanted to re-educate, the 9Speed.
Anyway, 75-90% better; quicker acceleration, off the line; negligible 2-3 shift "parachuting", or hesitation; much more responsive
I'll circle back after a weekend of real driving; so far, so good
thankful, for that!
Good Luck CPR ! I hope it stays that way and doesnt go back but I hate to remind you all the points you have mentioned are similar to a ECU reset or The erase and re-learn process that all these Acura dealers have been doing for the past year... But still I hope it works out for someone
I have not had any updates and I have found significant improvements since I got the car in November/14, as I have posted before. I still sometimes was getting what has been described as a bit of a notched shift from 2-3 and a minor variant of that for the 1-2. Regardless, I stopped worrying about it as it was minor and within reasonable standards. That being said, it would always be nice to eliminate any notched shifts, if possible.
Most recently, I have discovered something interesting that seems to work, for whatever the reason. I changed my default setting to Eco and drive the car in eco for the first few minutes and initial stops and starts, which are usually from my garage, or parking lot, etc. I then change to normal, and will use sport if I hit an open stretch of urban road. Doing this, I typically have either not experienced any noticeable notched shifts, or maybe only at the first stop and start. I then forget about the shifts, let the car do it's thing and enjoy a silky smooth ride.
For the record, I have never noticed any lurching when slowing or noticeable hesitation when accelerating at higher speeds because of downshift issues.
I have one of the early build TLX v6 and the transmission issue did not affect my car until I took it in for an oil change and my service advisor says, "hey they just released a new software update... something to do with the transmission" oh how I wish I knew about this thread before I said sure go for it. The car has been back twice and the problem persists. The last trip involved a 20 mile transmission training procedure described as a drive as if a cop was in the passenger seat with the tech. I am not happy about the situation. Not looking forward to visit 3.
I have one of the early build TLX v6 and the transmission issue did not affect my car until I took it in for an oil change and my service advisor says, "hey they just released a new software update... something to do with the transmission" oh how I wish I knew about this thread before I said sure go for it. The car has been back twice and the problem persists. The last trip involved a 20 mile transmission training procedure described as a drive as if a cop was in the passenger seat with the tech. I am not happy about the situation. Not looking forward to visit 3.
Someone awhile back posted the Chrysler re-learn procedure for the ZF 9 speed, which would be impossible to do properly unless you had a private test track/road. It makes no sense to require a procedure that cannot be done in the real world. I hope Acura does not have the same or similar undoable re-learn procedure.
Someone awhile back posted the Chrysler re-learn procedure for the ZF 9 speed, which would be impossible to do properly unless you had a private test track/road. It makes no sense to require a procedure that cannot be done in the real world. I hope Acura does not have the same or similar undoable re-learn procedure.
Unfortunately, it pretty much is the same. And then you have to hope the tech driving has the same driving habits as you. This is probably why it never really works well. You'll see in various threads here that sometimes the SA will ask owners to let the tech drive the car home or around for the day for the relearn.
Driven the car for about 50 miles, and I did about 30 stop and starts between commuting and just experimenting in my neighborhood. New TCM and SB 38 and 40 have been applied.
There's still an issue with the 2-3 shift hesitating. What I see happening is the engine actually stops accelerating for a fraction of a second right before the shift, drops into 3rd, and continues on. It's this brief "hold" at a certain RPM that causes a noticeable "bump", because the car stops accelerating (just for a very brief moment) while it's holding at a certain RPM before shifting.
However, it only happens sometimes but I think I've figured it out when. The issue seems tied to the RPM when the 2-3 shift happens, and that depends on how fast you are accelerating.
At very modest acceleration levels (if you were in slow moving traffic), the 2-3 shift seems to happen at or below 1800 RPM. This shift is largely undetectable with no hesitation.
However once the 2-3 shift happens at 2K RPM, this is when the hesitation is worst and very noticeable. It seems to get less severe as the shift point rises to say 2400 RPM. By around 2500 RPM it goes back to being undetectable. However you have to be accelerating "briskly" by then for the shift point to move that high.
I think the problem is that a "normal" acceleration puts that 2-3 shift right at 2K RPM - that seems to be where the transmission really wants to shift, which is where the largest hesitation seems to be.
Outside that range the shifts are smooth and undetectable. The 1-2 shift is near perfect under all conditions.
Still not happy, still could be better, but overall I believe its something that will fade into the noise over time. I'm noticing it a lot now because I'm trying to pay attention to it. On the whole I'd say it might be slightly better than before (from the stand point that low or higher RPM shifts are in fact very smooth), but because that hesitation sits right at "normal" acceleration we're going to hit it often I think.
They still have a lot of room to improve this IMO.
I took my car to the dealership on Monday, got it back on Tuesday, advising them of the hard shifting from gears 1-2 and 2-3. Of course the service advisor told me the VIN didn't show any updates or recalls and they can't do anything. I did have the TSB print outs in hand and told her just have the technician look at it anyway because I am experiencing the issues noted in TSB 038 and 040. She complied and I received an ILX loaner car, which sucks compared to the TLX, but just my opinion..
Fast forward to when I got the car back, I immediately noticed that shifting from 1st to 2nd gear was greatly improved and hardly noticeable. 2nd to 3rd was still noticeable driving normally in sport mode. But the biggest improvement was the "parachuting" braking feeling, that was completely gone. I actually forgot to mention that when I took it in, but the car seems to not down shift randomly at low speeds anymore when braking (in sport mode).
So back to the shifting issue, testing it further while driving around, I started noticing that shifting from 2nd to 3rd below or above 2000 RPM would be a lot smoother versus when the car shifts at 2000 RPM. I know it's the complete opposite from 1Louder's experience, but I will check back in with results after a week to see if anything changes.
p.s. here is what the tech noted on my WO. Feel free to comment!
"ECM/PCM Reprogram: S/B: 01-038, 05-007, 06-013, 06-023, 06-027, 06,052, 06,043
744 2235A2A, 125517 Defect 03214
Test drove vehicle and verified hard shifting from 2nd to 3rd gear. Note initially IDS was in sport, switched to normal. Performed TCM update and Idle Learn procedure. Idle Learn was not within specifications and was needing PGM-FI update. Performed PGM-FI update and cleared all codes and finalized Idle Learn procedure. Performed second test drive and shifting has dramatically iproved compared to known good loaner vehicle."
Sorry can't figure out how to edit my previous post! Forgive me..
In regards to the comment about 1Louder's post, I misread the post..
I can agree that when shifting from 2nd to 3rd gear at 2000 rpm, it's rough and very noticeable. Shifting under 2000, and at or above 3000, seems to shift fine for me.
I forgot to mention my tests were in Econ and Normal, however I'd offer that mode should not have any impact on this. The modes seem to mainly adjust throttle responsiveness, but if the issue is shifting in the 2000-2400 RPM range it won't matter what mode you're in.
I took my car in August for TSB 15-38 and the hard shift between 2-3 was lessened but still noticeable. I then took it to the dealership on Wednesday to have the TSB 15-40 version 2 applied. I waited for 1 hour. I was then told by the technician that my TLX did not have any new updates related to the 2-3 hard shift. He mentioned that the update mentioned in the TSB 15-40 has already been applied in August. He did still do the idle relearn and applied another unrelated update, my TSB 15-41. I'm sad to say that the problem was not fixed. In fact, it is a little bit more noticeable.
I finally got back in town and drove mine since the update.. no change. The 3-4 shift is still very hard pronounced. I haven't tried it under all conditions but on light, gradual acceleration, it slams into 4th. Not cool at all.. but.. I expected no less
I just picked up my AWD Tech today and spent about an hour on secondary roads. I didn't notice anything unusual, but I have been driving a stick for 15 years... this is my first auto in a long time. The most noticeable is the dog clutch changes... they feel very much like a standard. Other than that, nothing really to report but I'll keep updating everyone as I get more time behind the wheel.
I finally got back in town and drove mine since the update.. no change. The 3-4 shift is still very hard pronounced. I haven't tried it under all conditions but on light, gradual acceleration, it slams into 4th. Not cool at all.. but.. I expected no less
Seems to me there is something uniquely wrong with your transmission. It doesn't seem to be following the pattern of the common 9HP issues. I think if it wasn't for all these software updates Acura would have seen yours as a faulty transmission and replaced it already. They are treating yours like all the others assuming it is the same issue, but I think it is a different issue.
I finally got back in town and drove mine since the update.. no change. The 3-4 shift is still very hard pronounced. I haven't tried it under all conditions but on light, gradual acceleration, it slams into 4th. Not cool at all.. but.. I expected no less
I agree with Rocket_Man that your issue is quite unique. It's not a dog clutch shift (4-5, 7-8), nor is it the 1-2 and 2-3 oft mentioned notched shifts. I wonder if the updates have created the issue…as in fixing one thing and creating another problem? I also wonder if the observations about the 2-3 shift being an issue in the 2000 to 2400 rpm range (which may well explain the variance from smooth to notched) is also at play here? That being said, I have never had any issue with the 3-4 and up shifts. Something is definitely amiss!
I agree with Rocket_Man that your issue is quite unique. It's not a dog clutch shift (4-5, 7-8), nor is it the 1-2 and 2-3 oft mentioned notched shifts. I wonder if the updates have created the issue…as in fixing one thing and creating another problem? I also wonder if the observations about the 2-3 shift being an issue in the 2000 to 2400 rpm range (which may well explain the variance from smooth to notched) is also at play here? That being said, I have never had any issue with the 3-4 and up shifts. Something is definitely amiss!
I will try to pay more attention to RPM at the shift points to give better info. That said, I was driving in NORMAL mode yesterday when I posted the hard shift issue. This morning, I switched to SPORT and did not feel the same jolt as a slowly accelerated to run through the shifts.
At this point, I have no idea what to expect with the shifting.
Another odd thing I noticed this AM was that the idle stop kicked in and shut off the engine at any of the stops I made. I had not turned it off. *shrug*
It has been a week now since I had Version 2.0 of TSB 15-040 installed. My dealer did not notice any leaks, therefore 15-039 was not completed. My car has not locked into a gear, so 15-041 was not completed.
That said, I think in all, there have been 3 actual updates installed on the car, and about 7 or 8 idle relearns.
I am experiencing very similar symptoms to Stew. My 2-3 jerk is still present, and while watching the RPMS, I experience the jerk or hesitation more between 2,000 and about 3,100. The transmission is still very much unacceptable.
The thing I am more frightened with is the 4-5 shift (Stew, I wonder if yours is 4-5 or 3-4 that you are feeling.) I have used the paddle shifters to go from 4-5-4-5-4-5 and each upshift, there is a clunk. It is not always there, but it is most of the time.
I am afraid that soon, the second dogclutch will start to become noticeable.
From what I gather, the more subdued the 2-3 shift is, the harder the 4-5 is. The harder the 2-3, the less the 4-5 is felt. (I have spent countless hours observing this.)
I have successfully tested one theory three times, and it works, for whatever reason. When I first drive my car, after it has been off for more than an hour, if I get onto a straightaway and FLOOR it, where the revs reach close to 7,000, and then I let the car coast to slow down (therefore naturally and slowly downshifting), for the rest of my drive, the transmission is darn near perfect. NO shifting problems. No jerks, or surges, or clunks, or awful downshifting. I have no idea why.
The problem with this is I can't always access a straightaway right away where the speed limit is 60 miles an hour, therefore letting me floor it like that.
Has anyone else tried this or noticed this? Try it this holiday weekend. Maybe it is just my car.
Meanwhile.... FCA just built their 1,000,000th 9HP. A million. Acura has sold how many V6 TLS's? 20 to 25k? I wonder what percentage of these have gone back in for service.
Meanwhile.... FCA just built their 1,000,000th 9HP. A million. Acura has sold how many V6 TLS's? 20 to 25k? I wonder what percentage of these have gone back in for service.
I just read a few but my favorite was, "Soon they'll celebrate the first dozen that work."
Over the weekend I send a complaint into customer care. Interesting to see if they bother replying.
Once more on Sunday I experienced what I would consider a hazardous level of hesitation. I was slowing to make a left turn and moved into the turning lane when I realized I needed to go straight. I had plenty of room to go right, but I was going like 10 mph and needed to be going 40 very quickly. I hit the throttle pretty hard and started drifting right - not flooring it but close. Nothing. Absolutely no response by the car, and by then I was half way into the right lane with cars coming up fast. Then the car launched like I was drag racing. I'd say the delay was a full second if not a second and a half.
I know I was on the "it's not too bad" side of the fence for a long time but not any more. I will gladly give this car up when the lease is done and never even consider another car with this transmission.
I had both the 40 and 41 TSBs applied, and the 2-3 shift (and all the others) is now smooth as buttah. Hopefully it will stay that way! :-)
Just curious.....still buttah? Hoping to see that some are getting relief from the latest update. This is just so strange that some are going through hell while others have no problems at all.
08-24-2015, 02:36 AM
