finalcross

iTrader: (3)

This is scary because it is around the 3rd gear. Sometimes when I am on a bridge or on a slow highway, I feel like my revs drop slightly when I press the gas. I don't know why but I noticed it around 35-40 mph. I hope its not my transmission. I press the gas pedal lightly and I am watching my revs drop just a little bit and then go back up a little. And if I really want to speed up I have to press the gas pedal harder down and make it jump directly to like 2.25k revs to speed up. But when it is like between 1.5-2k revs, my revs would drop slightly and go up slightly when the gas is pressed. Is this a sign of transmission failure? I don't think I am getting any slips.

jdjohn84

Leave it in 3rd gear and see if it happens. You may going back-and-forth between 3rd and 4th, and 4th gear sucks in these cars. The gear ratio goes to an overdrive situation in 4th, so RPMs drop and it sometimes feels weaker. When was the last time your transmission fluid was changed? Some fresh fluid might help with shifting.

01tl4tl

the trans is hunting for overdrive -5th gear-

Best thing to do in slow trafficper the book- below 50mph is leave it in D4, not d5
that will stop the hunting effect and still give the normal shifting of auto mode

Ck your trans fluid level and smell= burnt or not are the options on smell

to see if its slippage - at 25 and 35 mph in D5 light throttle cruising down the empty road-
Stand on the gas and hold it to the floor
trans should do a series of positive downshifts into 2nd and launch forward
If it revs without catching a gear or revs after it gets a gear,,,guess what

01tl4tl

final- did you make sure the external oil jet kit has been installed- that was the recall on the trans
call 1-800-238 3382 x5 with vin if not sure
register as owner there-

finalcross

iTrader: (3)

I keep stalling. i gotta call them soon to tell them. If the car is registered under my dad's name should I tell them that the owner is me or my dad?

And Yeah, once I get to 4th gear I feel like the car's acceleration slow down like crazy. If I leave my foot at the same place, in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd, it will speed up good. And once it gets to 4th gear, I look at my revs and its moves soooooo slow. But I don't want to step on it cause gas is too expensive.

01tl4tl

ownership is not important,, unless in your case- they may dick with you because you are young and they try to bs you
Also you cant get a loaner car based on age--

dad can take the car in and get loaner- you can drive dads ride and be legally insured in it

its normal for 1-2-3 gears to pull hard- they are power gears
once you hit 4th and 5th you are behind the power curve
Ask anyone who has taken a TL to the roadrace track- 3rd winds out and 4th slowly gains mph into the 100s

Have you done the slippage test I posted- it varies slightly on speed between years but in basic test- full throttle in D5 at 25 and 35 mph will produce a full load on the trans- if its going to slip thats when it will~

You can also go to an azine meet and have a few members drive your car- you drive theirs to see if problem is normal for acuras

at dealer:
they dont need a call except for the appointment time to drop off.
BEST if you go meet the service MANAGER now, ask if the head trans tech can go for a ride around the block and tell you if this is normal or a problem
When its hard to find prob/symptom- letting them test drive it without you is a recipe for `problem not found`

finalcross

iTrader: (3)

Thanks man. How do you know so much? When I put it in D5 and go full throttle, I don't feel any slipping, but after like 2 seconds it goes to lower gear and revs up but I let go of throttle to let it shift around 4.5k cause I don't wanna kill my tranny. And dealer is too expensive for me to go to. I basically put all my money down on this car and I have no job and my family wants me to find an unpaid internship instead of working for money for the summer which means no cash flow.

01tl4tl

Its an automatic- dont let off the gas for it to shift- its all programmed to take care of itself
Under light throttle it will shift at 2500 to save gas, full throttle shifts just before redline in each gear --without any rpm rising but car not going faster at same rate
Should not have to let off gas to make it shift !!

The test I am describing needs you to stay full throttle in D5 from 25 and 35 mph-
It will downshift into 2nd and rpm raise up high-the car moves forward with great enthusiasm--dont let off the gas-foot the the floor (computer wont allow overrev dont worry)
The test is to put max load on the system and see what it does
The test itself wont destroy the trans- just tell you if its already hurt

Depending on year and miles you may be eligble for a free warranty trans- especially if the `recall jet kit` was never done on the trans
Do you know if thats installed on the top of the trans?
call acura and ask if not sure- need cars VIN number in hand- 1 800 382-2238x5

01tl4tl

I know so much because I am old...and can read...and worked on cars a long time

Vman159

is your car a type s or no? just wondering

finalcross

iTrader: (3)

nah its not type-s. I wish it was.

01tl4tl

done the test procedure for slipping yet?

finalcross

iTrader: (3)

I was going too but then by the time I was on the highway after the ramp I was already at like 35 mph cause there were cars behind me. I'll def do it tomorrow though. I'll go on a different bridge with more lanes and less cars. But I feel my car running worse and worse. I think my mounts are dying big time. I'm waiting for my friend to bring it to a trusted shop for me so I can save on repairs but he can't til next week cause MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND. you know everyone is going to be out playing.

finalcross

iTrader: (3)

I just caled Acura and they said that the oil jet kit was done in 04 and I don't have any other recalls. My tranny got changed in 08. They don't have service records and I don't know where the work was done on this car do I guess I'll never know if the timing belt was ever changed.

01tl4tl

it wasnt..
plan on that, and if you get the t belt covers off and can see that new parts are already there--put the cover back on

new trans in 08 is good sign!
do you really need a shop to ck the mounts- didnt we cover that already--testing
Have you pulled a spark plug to see if there is new or dead plugs in it
run seafoam thru half a tank of gas yet?

no - they wouldnt have any service records- only you can enter them on the cars acura.com account- they can tell you what city the car was sold or owner register with them--what city--or carfax for that and call dealer in that city

nothing major needed till 105- look things over- replace fluids along the way--use common sense
Do you think someone dropped over 1000 dollars on the tbelt job and then sold the car?

finalcross

iTrader: (3)

Yeah that's why I feel like it wasn't done. Yeah imma get new mounts for sure and tell them to check my spark plugs. If they aren't good then imma go buy the tools and plugs to do my first real DIY job. I don't wanna buy thr wrench and stuff to find out that they were already changed. And I don't wanna risk seafoam. I hear it can mess your car up too.

jdjohn84

Uh-oh...now you've done it.

piggylover1985

You're not old.... well maybe ... older than some of us.

01tl4tl

me Dirt and Tree's are among the elders ~

seafoam fixes many things and wont hurt anything if you can read and follow directions even somewhat close to how they were written

If you ask the shop/dealer to `inspect` the spark plugs- you are going to be told it needs plugs and charged a diagnosis fee for it!

buy the basic few tools you need and diy- the plug price differance between kragens and dealer will pay for the tool set!

or ck the Meets section for your area and find a ziner who will come help you for beer

01tl4tl

dealer will be very costly for motor mount replacement- high hourly rate
do get the parts there- or one of our sponsoring dealers listed in vendors
they all give better than retail price

again-for labor to DIY- reach out and find some new ziner friends
I have helped other members do brakes and minor work on their car, and they have helped detail mine
get a few people together for a day of timing belt changes for everyone!--assembly line style

get the mounts fixed then we can sort out your probs
I going to assume you have vac boosted mounts so a vac leak has caused lean condition in the engine causing plugs to burn up
suggest you DIY seafoam or pay a shop 100 dollars to do it for you using a machine that runs on----gas and seafoam~

finalcross

iTrader: (3)

I dunno my friend knows the shop. Last time I had them check out a few problems and they only charged me for fixes and not for the things that were checked out. I think one of my headlights is dimmer than the other. Luckily its my driver side so I think I can do that myself. I'll see.

But yeah I finally did it. I waited to be the last one at the last light before going onto the bridge. I stayed at 25 mph so the other cars so get ahead so I can speed up without anyone blocking me. I stepped on it and I guess I was on the right gear. It just revved up. No downshift or slipping. Went straight to redline and shifted at about 55-60 mph to next 2 gears smoothly as I slowed down cause there were cars in front of me. Man, this car is fast. I didn't expect it to be that fast. I'm starting to really like it now. But it is still nothing compared to my sister's 03' BMW 330ci that I used to drive around. I'm glad I have a good transmission.

jdjohn84

Won't beat everything on the road, but faster than average for sure. As you can tell, these cars LIKE to be driven fast, so when the transmission drops into 4th or 5th gear at low speed (i.e., less than 60 or so), it may feel like something is wrong, even though it's really just the tall gear ratio at a low speed making the car feel all-of-the-sudden wimpy.

01tl4tl

final-
as I said before- you must be CRUISING at 25 and 35- LIGHT THROTTLE
and then stand on the gas in D5

We want to put it in max loading condition to ck for slip

finalcross

iTrader: (3)

what? I thought u said 25 then max throttle? And what do you mean stand on the gas? I always cruise around 25 to 35 in the city and I don't have any slipping or rev jumping at all so I should be fine.

thug lyfe

i think you're fine buddy. i had my tranny rebuilt last january when i got the car from my dad so i wasn't sure how the car drove before since i didn't drive it periodically. but i noticed the exact same thing a few times and it pissed me off cause it felt like the car is trying to NOT accelerate as i give it more gas and wants to lug itself...i haven't really found a solution for it other than give it more gas and let it downshift.

well actually, if you haven't removed your intake resonator box yet, removing that kind of improved throttle response for me so you might want to try that when you have some free time.

01tl4tl

ok final- one last effort to educate you and anyone who doesnt get this procedure
you have not tested anything yet-

driving on an empty road where you can play with this and not get speeding ticket or surprise other drivers:
While driving with light throttle- how you normally drive- thats cruising along with steady throttle- not using cruise control

With trans in D5
Now quickly push you right foot on the gas pedal till it reaches the floor and hold it all the way down--thats called stand on it or flooring it
At this point the transmission should downshift thru a couple of gears till it puts itself into 2nd gear and the car accellerates forward with great power
As it shifts itself -with full gas pedal still- into 2nd it will either rev up a bunch- more than 1500 rpm.. without much gain of actual speed--or it will engage 2nd gear
As it shifts into 3rd it will quickly engage 3rd and keep going even faster and harder,
or it will rev up and not engage immediatly

If you feel it slipping- rpm shoots to 5000, (like if you revved it in park- rpm goes up but car doesnt go anywhere)
If rpm shoots up like that..let off the gas all the way immedialty-you have clutch pack slippage !!!!!!!!!!
If good test so far continue:
repeat a few times starting speed 25mph, full throttle up thru the shift into 3rd gear then let off gas and apply brakes
Now at 35mph starting speed- full throttle thru shift into 3rd and then brake
do both those 4 times and report back on how it felt

This is a max load stress test as performed by dealer techs on test drive-
the starting speed varies slightly between model and year, but thats the general range-- and easy to tell if its clutch slipping or not

Hopefully now you understand the differance between the trans grabs/engages in each gear solidly and you go - or it slips... and you dont go faster?

go test and report

finalcross

iTrader: (3)

Sorry. I don't have time to do that. I have no idea where I can go to do that kind of test. I have to find like some crazy secluded area in New Jersey which I have to find first. But I'm pretty sure my tranny is fine. I don't feel any slipping. And trust me I know what slipping is and how a bad tranny is. I drove my dad's 99' BMW 740i with a dying tranny for half a year before the engine finally died on me (lol). It would slip in 1st gear like crazy which is annoying since I am in stop and go a lot and it would shudder like crazy around 25 mph. I just put it in manual mode and it was fine. I could only shift through 2nd, 3rd, and 4th but it was fun driving a manual without a clutch even though I had no 1st and 5th gear.

01tl4tl

the techs can do the cks I stated in the residential by the shop= I have ridden with them during the test
if you are concerned with the trans and need to test it- this is the way and is not tough to do, can be done anywhere- doesnt require huge speed etc etc

If you truely believe you know an acura trans failure in the making...which very few can do with out past TL failure experience..and say yours is fine
then why are you even concerned with the rpm REVS at shift?
You dont seem to want to test it to know for sure..so keep driving and guessing and wondering why it has a wierd shift to rpm issue...
Best of luck on that

01tl4tl

oh you are new- I forgot sorry- you may not know of the azine trans curse
Come on here and say your trans is perfect,,,starts the death countdown on the clutchpacks..
7 to 11 days later we see a new thread- why did this POS die without warning~~~~

finalcross

iTrader: (3)

Lol stop scaring me man. After I found this forum it made me scared to drive my "time bomb". I'll do the test once I find a nice long stretch of highway with little cars or I'll do it on the bridge. Can I do it like 4 different times in 4 different days. Or do I have to do it in 1 time.