In September 2003, I purchased my first Acura (I have always had GM products up to now). I purchased a 2003 Acura 32TL type-s. Right away I noticed a couple of intermittent problems that are bugging me.

#1 - Typical Scenario is as follows .. your driving along say 40-60 mph, just cruising at a steady speed...all is good, then car will hick-up....in other words car will jerk. This can happen a few times a day.

#2 - Scenario is as follows ... your sitting at a stop light... foot on brake.... all of sudden car will lurch forward.... This happens daily too.

Car now has 3000 miles and continues to have this unacceptable behavior. Took car back to dealer recently. They said we can't find anything wrong... no surprise there.

Ideas?

Unhappy 32 TL owner........ (TLONTHEBEACH)

 

I purchased my TL-S about the same time as you do.

I have the #1 problem too, but only at 75-80MPH, only few times.
At 6K mile right now...

 

How big of a lurch; all TL's have the "creep" when the AC compressor cycles on and the brake is pressed at a stop. Your kind of like "woah, did I just move??".
Try turning the AC OFF and see if it doesn't go away.

 

I'm not totally sure about the first one... you may want to check and see if it does it when you set the cruise control. I've noticed that for a period when I first got the car, that my gas pedal is pretty sensitive/touchy (compared to my old car), so any movement in your foot (especially any forward movement - pressing the pedal down) makes the car jerk. My last car was an old Honda and it's pedal was pretty numb (it also didn’t have 225 hp) - so I didn't realize I was moving my foot around as much as I was until I got my TL. When I set cruise in the TL, the problem went away, so I figured it was just me driving like $hit when I first got the car and not something mechanically wrong. Also, now that I've learned how the car drives, it doesn't jerk any more.

As for your second question: I've noticed this too, but figured I wasn't pushing the brake down enough (my car did it a lot during the summer when the AC would turn off/on and the rev's would jump causing the car to lurch if I wasn't pressing the brake hard enough). Now I just apply a little more pressure and the car hasn’t lurched again since.

 

1st problem is a tranny sensor....had to have mine replaced to get rid of that problem.

2nd problem is when you have the climate control on. It's using the a/c compressor to keep the car and the temp you selected. So when the compressor kicks in the car lurches forward a bit.

 

Yes, keep in mind that this car is no GM product of old. The A/C "creep" is normal. The tranny issue sounds like it is minor if defective at all. Not to worry.

 

The A/C deal can be adjusted at your dealership ...

 

I have problem 1 .... took to dealership last week and they thought it was the EGR valve. They replaced it and cleaned the throttle body. But problem still exist, although it feels to be more responsive when i give it the gas. Not sure I want to waste my time at the dealership for this issue again unless it gets worse. BTW, i have 2003 TLS 18K miles.

Problem #2 as mentioned before is the AC kicking in.

 

Hmmmm , I got #2 as well , didn't know what was happining,
at first I'd check my rear view , thinking the guy behind me
was giving me a nudge. Good name for it ' AC lurch '.

 

If you do a search on transmissions, there is a very long, comprehensive thread on each topic...

The first is common in that at the 40-60mph, your transmission is 'deciding' what gear it should be in (4th or 5th). It varies often between these speeds especially when on an incline/decline or when your cruise it right around the computer's shifting point (somewhere around 45mph). It is perfectly normal 99% of the time (and if I can remember correctly, related to the torque converter)...

The second issues is indeed the AC compressor engaging and straining the system. Simply depress the brake a bit harder with the AC on when stopped. My mom's new Benz does the same thing as did my old 4Runner, Probe, etc...

 

the first problem is in my CLS-6 speed .. so I doubt it is the tranny .. my hunch is that it is in the engine management software .. my dealer does the standard 'we can't reproduce it therefore you have no problem' .. I just call it yet another Acura 'quality feature' .. but this one will cause me to become an Acura "lost repeat customer"