When I’m in manual mode and in 5th gear, if I’m driving at a constant speed, then open it up past about half way, the RPM’s jump up about 750 rpm (say I’m at 2k, floor it, now I’m almost at 3k), just like it downshifted, however it didn’t downshift because the display still says 5th, and if I then manually downshift to 4th the rpm’s will jump up even more (like they should).

I guess my question is…..What is this jump in RPM that I’m seeing without ever shifting? Is my tranny going bad, or is this just an Acura thing?

If all Acura’s do this, sorry for the dumb question, but this is my first Acura.

 

wow, what a question. everytime u press the gas the rpms raise to give the car more power to accelerate. if they didnt jump that would be a problem.

 

thats the torque converter unlocking

 

bkzJimmy - normally a car doesn't jump up almost 1k rpm's instantly before actually accelerating(at least no car I've ever driven), I'm talking about cruising at 70 mph at about 2k rpm's, I hit the gas, the rpm's jump up to 2750 before the car starts to accelerate, without it actually downshifting. I've never had a car that did that before.

fsttyms1 - So this is just the torque converter unlocking, and is normal for the TL?

 

it's just you pushing on the gas. Even if you were in normal mode and in fifth gear and you pushed the gas (not so hard where it'll downshift to 4th) then your RPM would increase due to the depression of the gas pedal.

 

Some of that could just be tranny lag. You don't get instant power...

 

4th gear does it..along with 3rd...its just the torque converter...try this next time you are accelerating...goin about 40 mph in 3rd give about 25% throttle...then once at about 45mph...give 100% throttle..the rpms will jump about 750-1000 rpms...

 

I believe that's called "tranny lag". When you depress the gas pedal, the engine speeds up and pumps more fluid into the torque converter to transfer the increased torque to the wheels. The time between the engine revving up and the actual power transfer through the torque converter is the torque converter's turbine spinning up. To improve efficiency, modern torque converters "lock-up" and both sides of the torque converter spin at the same speed. This usually happens when you're at speed and not accelerating. In order to accelerate, the torque converter must first unlock.

Here's an interesting read: http://auto.howstuffworks.com/torque-converter.htm

 

It's the torque converter unlocking, that's all. There is no grand theory to this. It's normal function, happens in all automatics I've driven that I can remember.

 

I guess in previous cars I always just thought it was downshifting, but now I know it was the torque converter.

Thanks for all the answers guys.

 

it most likely was a downshift in the old car. when you are in ss it doesnt automatically downshift. so you notice things like that.

 

It happens in SS mode because 5th gear is an overdrive. The RPM's will still jump up because you won't be able to accelerate in 5th gear. It only does it when you are in 5th gear if you are in SS mode I believe.

 

It does it in my 4th gear (99) tl also, on a nearly brand new transmission (8k on it or so). Torque converter unlocking like they all said.... Damn I miss having a manual tranny