Acura has looked at my car on three different occasions and can't seem to figure what is wrong with it. About 35k miles ago I put a cold air intake on never gave me problems til now. When I drive keeping a steady speed 55-70mph its lunging (starving for gas or loss of power) if I use my cruise control it doesn't do it. No check engine light is on. Someone help

 

Welcome to the forums. Now you're doing the best thing you can do, which is ask for advice and help and I'm sure you will be getting some soon.

I realize you are anxious about your car not running right, and if you don't get it fixed soon we should be able to work something out about your asking for parts.

You should provide some more information, such as mileage and anything you tried. Also, are you up to date on maintenance items like spark plugs and air filters?

 

Yes spark plugs are changed. Also throttle body was cleaned and find a gas treatment

 

fgentry:

Total miles on vehicle, how many of those miles you have owned the vehicle, what you know about the maintainence history, 6MT or 5AT, why you believe it's starving for gas vs other possibilities, how the situation evolved (sudden onset and what happened before that, like maybe cleaning the throttle body, or slowly worsening), what Acura has said each time and what they checked.

Answer these questions and you'll be more likely to get a useful response.

 

I think the fact that it doesn't act up while the cruise control is on is the key. Sound like a DBW glitch to me.

 

I bought the car with 23k miles and I have always brought it to Acura dealerships to get serviced. I lived in Pittsburgh for two years and it just started randomly doing it. Over time the lundging got worse. I put a falcon cold air intake on it around 72k and now it has roughly 102k miles. Acura says the car feels like a miss fire. They hooked it up to a HDS computer to diagnose but its not giving any data. I had Bosch plugs in it for about 2k miles thinking my plugs were bad. So I went to AutoZone and they sold me the wrong plugs. Acura changed my plugs to the iritiam plugs that mny car calls for. Acura wants me to purchase a new factory stock air intake but that doesn't make since to spend 430.00 when they don't even know that the problem is. Hope this helps!

 

What's a dbw glitch?

 

dbw is "drive by wire" and refers to the electronics that interpret the accelerator position and translate that input in throtte movement.

So, to summarize:

"Lunging" started BEFORE you changed to a Falcon intake?

Plugs are new and correct?

What did Acura mean by the HDS is getting no data, error or no faults?

Has anyone messed with the airflow sensor?

 

Lunging did not start til after the install of the cold air intake. I had the air intake on for about 30k miles before it started. No air flow sensors have been messed with because Acura says "it will throw a code." Acura states my car feels like a miss fire. The HDS computer reads live data within the car and its not miss firing or loss of fuel pressure. The plugs are correct at this point and I have to drive the car for a good 35-45 mins on the highway before it starts the lunging. If I turn the cruise control on it stop immediately. When I use the petal it starts. I asked Acura what the DBW glitch was and he said it doesn't sound like that would be the problem because the APP (accelerator petal sensor) would throw a code and put the car in fail safe mode and it really wouldn't drive... My car will go with out question. Just the lunging makes the car not ride smooth and impossible to trade in.

 

I wanted to buy a cold air intake I just do not have access to the black market just yet. I'm looking to see if anyone had this problem before so I can fix it. I love this car and I want to keep it.

 

OK, by lunging, you mean that it jerks and stumbles, such that it seems the gas is being intermittently stopped to the engine?

Does it only happen at freeway speeds, and at a certain RPM or range of RPMs? I know you mentioned 55-70, but does it have any symptoms at any other speeds?

Acura is right that the APP should throw a code, but some dbw issues have occured without codes before. Perhaps the problem is between the pedel and where the cruise control input occurs...I'll have to try to look that up.

 

I only does it at highway speeds. ROMa around 2500-3700 anything above or below it will not do it. The car is not jerking just slightly hesitating while driving on the freeway. It feels like I let me foot off the gas for a second or two the depress again.

 

It only does it at highway speeds. RPMs around 2500-3700 anything above or below it will not do it. The car is not jerking just slightly hesitating while driving on the freeway. It feels like I let my foot off the gas for a second or two the depress again****

 

OK, now it's a hesitation we're dealing with, and only in a small range of RPM's at highway speeds. You're certain it won't do that at 3000 rpm tooling around the neighborhood?

Is this a 6MT or a 5AT?

The description is very much sounding like the dbw system is closing the throttle in response to a signal that you're off the gas. The quickest check in that case is inspection of connections at throttle body and from throttle body. Also, those are the most likely to have be nudged during the air intake changeover...perhaps an intermittent connection is the issue. As I see it, an APP sensor would not throw a code if it believed it was responding to input or a lack of input.

What confunds me on this is that it only occurs in a small range of speeds and rpms.

 

It will do it within a certain RPM range. My cars is on the highway everyday. I don't live near a place where I drive my car at 30-45 mph. My car is a manual 6speed. I found a tsx that has been wrecked and I am going to try changing the throttle body. But will the dbw fail only when the car has been driven after a while? When its cold it will not hesitate.

 

Changing pieces is an expensive way to do it. The intermittent fault makes it more likely to be a temperature related electrical gremlin. As the temperatures rise under the hood, metal expands...something that makes OK contact when cold then makes poor contact when hot.

Being a 6MT eliminates the transmission as a problem on this.

Make sure and get the APP sensor(s) as well, if you can get a good price.

 

Is it ok to get that used?

 

The reality with electronic components is they don't fail just because a car is junked, they fail because of exposure, damage, age, etc. If they are willing to let it go cheap, they might now warrant it, but it might be worth the try...IDK.

 

ok thanks for all your help... I am going to try to change a few parts. The throttle body new is $800. I found one used for $95. I can order the APP for about $160 and I will have acura install it for me. Acura said they have to do an idol reset on it. Is that true when changing the throttle body? They are wanting to charge me $180 for labor and the reset. I was going to do it myself but if a reset needs to happen I can not do that.

 

try going back to stock and see if it still does it

 

Throttle body replacement REQUIRES an HDS computer. You can't fudge that one.

If the throttle body isn't throwing codes, it likely isn't the fault.

The APP sensor is more likely, but what did Acura say when they tried?

Otherwise, schedule an appointment with Acura or an independent Acura specialist...drive for an hour and then take then on a test drive to demonstrate the issue.

 

Acura has driven my car and had it for over four weeks on two different occasions and they dont know what is wrong with it. They keep telling me it will not be the app sensor because it will throw a code. they tell me they dont know what is wrong with it.They are telling me to go back to stock parts and then they can diagnose the problem better. So if you know anyone that has a stock air intake for sale let me know. I do not have access to the black market yet. I can not see myself paying 500.00 for a new air intake when I do not think that can be the issue.

 

I do not have the stock air intake for my car. if you have one i can buy it from you if you want to sell yours.

 

I had the same problem bro..I bought a used air intake and the filter was dirty causing my car to lose speed and to jerk around..once i changed the filter it seemed to be just fine..I would try that before you spend more money...

 

have you tried plugs and fuel filter?