meuge

I've been driving my AT 2006 TSX since March. Yesterday, I was coming down from a bridge, and I felt as if the car downshifted and started engine braking, even though the RPM counter seemed to drop. Ever since, I've felt as if the car was just slightly less responsive. It sounds as if the engine has to strain in order to accelerate, not in any huge sense, but just a little. Also, if I let off the gas, the car seems to slow down rather fast, even if I do not touch the brake. This occurs at the same rate if I put the car into neutral.

Furthermore, the same feeling of general "stickyness" persists if I use the sport-shift mode and shift the gears myself.

It's very difficult for me to describe this more effectlvely than that, simply because the symptoms are rather subtle. Actually, I was wondering if my brakes were sticking (i.e. braking without using the pedal). However, I still attain about 32mpg on the highway, and I would think that if my brakes were constantly engaged, I'd have smoking disks and brakes after a 2-hour drive yesterday. The disks do get extremely hot, but there's nothing to indicate it's above spec (don't know how hot they're supposed to get).

So overall, the symptoms are just a general feeling of less "pep" to the car's ride... and relatively fast (>/= than 2mph/s) loss in speed when letting off the gas, and maybe a little strain in the acceleration. Maybe, just maybe I think the rpms drop too far when letting off the gas.

At this point, I have no idea whether there's something wrong with the engine, or the brakes. I don't think it's the transmission, because the same issues are exhibited within the same gear, and switching gears manually does not resolve the problem.

Thanks for looking, and I hope someone can provide some sort of a hint as to what could be happening.

P.S. The car has about 35k on it, and the last oil change was in march, using Mobil One synthetic. The car's also been through an accident that required changing the radiator and A/C (rear-ended and crashed into the car in front that was higher and squashed the hood and upper structures). The damage was largely due to the protruding spare tire on the car in front, and with a speed of <10mph, structural and engine damage was ruled out.

I also have (relatively) fresh front brake pads w. less than 1000 miles on them, and an ATF replacement that's about 2 months old.

P.P.S. It does roll forward at idle in (D), but seemingly rather slowly. Also, I considered that it could be a seized caliper, but I presume it would cause the car to veer, unless it was on both sides, and it still goes completely straight if I let go of the wheel, regardless of the speed.

Thanks in advance.

LuvMyTSX

At least part of what you were probably feeling is most likely the grade logic control kicking in. Grade logic control makes the car feel like it's engine braking when you go downhill. Nothing to worry about there. I had concerns as well until I found out about the grade logic control feature.

I'm not sure if the rest of it is just in your head, or if there is a problem. Sometimes you can be a little oversensitive when you think there might be a problem.

C25A1guy

Reset the ECU (pull the neg batt cable for 30 sec). See if you get some of your response and power back.

unity

Agree totally with this. I took my car into the dealer yesterday to have a fault code looked at and some engine noise. They cleared the code, reset the ECU, did the idle relearn, and the car feels much better.

meuge

Thank you for the tips. I am going to try doing that this weekend.

I seem to have been able to reproduce the problem. After leaving the car for a couple of days, it drove just fine, until I was coming down from a bridge, on a relatively steep grade.

Again, the car started slowing down, and from then on, it wouldn't really accelerate properly, even on flat ground it would feel like I am struggling against the car to drive it. I checked all the fluids, and they were fine... but that's as far as my car knowledge goes.

I am going to try resetting the ECU and then driving the exact same route, but in the meantime I made an appt with the dealership. I figure power train should be under warranty.

unity

My car is still responsive after the ECU reset, however, I am beginning to get a bit of a rough idle back again

meuge

Thanks for the suggestions!

So I tried resetting the ECU, and I thought for a couple of days that I fixed the problem. But actually it didn't. Not only that, but I have another symptom aside from sluggishness.

It happened twice now, that when I am at about 65 mph, my RPMs seem to get stuck at 2000. they don't drop below, but likewise they don't climb AT ALL, even if I totally floor it. So now I am pretty upset, because it appears as if not only is this a real problem, but it's also probably fairly serious.

Any ideas?

meuge

/bump

Any more ideas/suggestions?

I am taking it to the dealer on Sat, but I am afraid that either they'll laugh off my complaints, or find something that's not under warranty to replace and charge me, without fixing the problem...

C25A1guy

In that case, you'll probably have to have the dealer update the ECU rom. There's an issue somewhere. Just need to figure out where.