Wires

Has anyone else noticed their '03 6 speed stumble after 5 minutes after a cold start?

You have to be driving to feel it, and sometimes it's quite pronounced. I'm guessing Acura has something off when the computer switches from open-loop mode to closed-loop mode. Never noticed it with the '01 we had.

Just curious. The dealers' solution is to "reset the computer". Yeh... Well that did squat.

EricS

Yeap, I've noticed it too. Once the temp gauge gets up to its normal spot it's fine. I've debated taking it to the dealer, but then again, I realize what idiots they are. So let me know what you find out...

Klamalama

Mine doesn't do it. I've had it since March so haven't encountered any really cold weather yet.

Kalin

I've had some little engine stumbles and I can feel the HLSD pull every once in a while.

Only bad stumble I had was from some horrible gas that I bought a few tanks back. Still getting a little bit of the aftereffects as the recent fill-ups are washing it out.

Wires

Sorry, I should have clarified. The weather isn't cold, it's just when the engine is cold (sitting overnight, or all day).

I guess I'll have to wait until they release new code for the computer to fix it.

jpatel

I've had that problem, same thing. Just after the needle gets to the normal warm point, after ~5 minutes, it stumbles, sometimes quite harshly. I took it to the dealer and they found something wrong with my throttle body and throttle position sensor, the fuel pattern was nonlinear when they connected it to the computer and ran it up. So they replaced those, and it got rid of the wavering power sensation I was getting (totally different thing). However, I'm still felt that one of the harshest stumbles yet a couple days after I dropped I got it back. I'll probably take it back in when I go back to school in a month and don't need it for a while and see what they have to say (unless it gets worse, god forbid). But for details, I've been noticing it around 1800-2200 at speeds including 40mph in 4th and I notice it more in the morning on the way to work that on the way home.

purplehaze

What exactly do u mean when u say STUMBLE? cuz i have a 6spd/....and i dont notice anything,,,what should i be looking for??

EricL

There's a member with an auto tranny version that gets on the freeway after only a few minutes and has some temp related problems.

The engine will run open loop for a while (and the water temp indicator can even come up and the engine can still be running in a less than optimal fashion).

The idle air control can cause issues, but...

Too bad we don't have a "sensor" display option on the NAVI screen to show the actual intake temp and other engine information!

The usual tries would be:

Gas change (or see if you got a bad batch)
Open loop problems
See if different warm-up times and/or morning temp impact the: how, when, and the severity of the problem.

stickman

I've had my car for about 1 month and I have 1200km on it, but so far I did not notice any such problem. I am very sensitive to car noises and engine response so I am certain that an engine stumble will get my attention.

But if anything comes up I will post.

Pappy

Yeah, I get that "stumbling" in my 2003 auto. Just a minute or so after a cold start (I live in FL), it stumbles only once...then it's ok from that point.

rick

I am the one who posted the complaint about the auto (http://www.acura-cl.com/forums/showt...threadid=78752). My best description of the feeling is that the engine stalls at speed for about a second, and roughly restarts (eg a jerk or two when it catches again). I've noticed it with air temps between 60 and 75F, but not when it was hotter or much colder. I've only noticed it with sheetz brand gas (93 -- some sheetz stations only have 91). I've used about 75% sheetz gas so its hard to correlate to the gas. Its happened exactly once per cold start, where cold start means its been parked more than 3 or 4 hours. I just put some chevron gas in yesterday, and did not notice the problem this morning after getting to speed quickly again (just the luck of making 4 of 5 badly timed lights). So far I've only felt the problem with the a/c on. I did not have the a/c on with chevron gas today. I've only felt the problem while easing on the gas after reaching speed, not while accelerating.

Since several people have seen this and it doesn't feel like its related to the tranny unless it involves the torqure converter locking/unlocking, I'm feeling much more confident taking it to canada in a couple weeks [the other choice is a dodge neon <shudder>]. I'll report back if I notice the problem with the chevron gas, or can correlate it more to some condition.

I might be nuts, but i've noticed that the exhaust sounds more "throaty" with the chevron gas than the sheetz, but that might just because i'm paying more attention.

Wires

I think it's a minor computer problem. I don't think it's related to fuel or temperature. What I've noticed though is that it's more pronounced at constant throttle (regardless of RPM or gear). If you're accelerating, then it's not as noticeable. Also, I can't feel it at idle.

I wouldn't worry about it on the highway (oddly enough, that was my initial concern too, until I correlated the problem to a cold start only.)

Hopefully somebody in Acura R&D are working on it, 'cause it's really annoying! >;]

As with the fuel, it is possible that it is more throtty with higher octane fuel. If the engine is run on lower octane fuel, it retards the timing curves, so you lose some of the raspyness of the exhaust.

mt6forlife

It happened to me cruising at 40 in 4th. Felt like it died for 1/4 second. Very disturbing.