While maintaining speed or light acceleration, my car sometimes stutters/stumbles. Im not sure if it is a misfire or what, but it happened about 5 times on the way to work today. Anyone else know what this is. I dont want to take it in until I know the problem, because I dont want to get screwed by a mechanic. I drive an 02 type s.

 

It's called "your tranny has gone to the crapper. "

 

But no lights have gone off. Would it be the torque converter, or the actual tranny?

 

the lights do not necessarily have to go off, when my tranny went, no lights went on whatsoever.

 

Well I guess I'll take it in for the recall. Do you think they provide a rental?

 

my car did the same thing...it might be dirty fluids..change ur fluids.....after i changed my tranny fluid it got better

 

This is a known "problem" that is not related to the tranny. My car does it sometimes, as have many others. Bottom line is, don't worry about it.

 

Here is a thread on this:

https://acurazine.com/forums/showthread.php?t=38940

 

Man, don't scare us with this stuff!

 

So,
can someone tell me what was the reason of that... tranny or something else?

 

Well, being it is so common (I know what you are talking about and feel it in my car too) I wouldnt worry about it being a malfunction. It could be the engine/tranny anticipating your next move and getting ready. Usually when you are cruising and you step on the gas it is so you can pass, and depending on the intesity, the car will decide if a down shift is necessary.
I want to say my old Taurus did this too. Its a slight hesitation when you slowly press the gas. You left there going..."um hello, can we accelerate here?... oh there we go!" Kinda feels like the "toe in" you feel in a lot of Mercedes cars, so that you can almost rest your foot on the gas pedal and not rev the engine, but for when the car is moving along. Kind of like a buffer so the car wont accelerate when you are adjuting your foot or your ass in the seat.
I dont think until we find some engineer that helped design the power train config. for this car, we will never get a solid answer as to what is going on. But I have a feeling it has to do with the lockout in the tranny locking in once we step on the gas (hence the rpm reduction). Can someone aid that theory?

 

Just take the car back to the dealership. The '02 trannies have that 100k warranty. Don't bother with 2nd guessing yourself with the problem. Too many people here have already experienced tranny problems.


just my 2cents.

 

Does it happen when you're driving in SS mode?

I know right around 40mph, the car will constantly lock and unlock the torque converter and upshift/downshift from 3rd to 4th ... If you maintain your speed, the car will try to conserve gas and upshift into 4th, and lock the torque converter ... then as soon as you step on the gas, it unlocks the torque converter and downshifts into 3rd. This process sometimes repeats back and forth if you're going back and forth with your speed. The feeling is kindof weird and a lot of people mistake it for a problem with the car.

If you use SS mode and hold 3rd gear and it doesnt happen anymore, then this is most likely the 'problem' and its completely normal for the car to do this.

 

when i had this problem i took it back to the dealer...they told me that my fluids were dirty.....so i i changed my oil and tran fluid...never had the problem again...i posted this solution ^up there but it seems nobody wants to listen...try it

 

also, try some gas treatment

 

What kind of stutters? Can you feel them throughout the entire car, steering wheel, seats, etc?

My first guess would be a broken engine mount. Under acceleration, the engine's vibrations would be transmitted throughtout the car, instead of being absorbed by the engine mounts.

Or it could be a bad torque converter, failing to engage/disengage properly.

If no OBDII codes are showing, then it most likely is something that the OBDII can't detect. .02

 

It could possibly be the converter. Engine mount is not likely. It generally does not stutter on acceleration, only while maintaining speed. I would imagine it feels about like when your car runs out of gas, but the feeling only lasts for about 1 second. The RPMs drop a little while it is acting up, and then go back to normal. Sometimes it happens 5 times in one trip, other times it happens once a week. Apparently after reading other posts, this is a common problem which nobody seems to know the exact cause. As long as it never gets worse, I can live with it.

 

Does this happen at around 40-45 mph? If so, then it's "normal" according to Acura. It's just the torque converter engaging and disengaging. I've gotten so used to it that I don't even feel it anymore.

 

Ive noticed it on the highway at 70 before, and also at around 30.

 

I agree, happens to me while cruising at 40mph ... feels like a hicup or trans slip. I took mine in when i first noticed it and they cleaned trottle body, replace EGR valve (dont remeber what its called) but it was still happening. I just don't worry about it anymore.

 

Yep, most likely the torque converter locking and unlocking. Like I said before, try keeping it in SS mode and holding 3rd gear around 40mph. See if it keeps doing it ... If it doesn't then its almost definitely the torque converter locking/unlocking.

You can also keep it in D4 during city driving and prevent the torque converter from locking/unlocking. Some people have even gone as far as saying you should always use D4 in city driving since 5th gear is only meant for highway cruising but the ECU tries to upshift to 5th gear as early as possible to save on gas, so you end up upshifting/downshifting a lot ... causing unnecessary wear on an already weak tranny.