orgnlprankster7

i have had a problem for a few weeks now and im not really sure what it could be. when im crusing at highway speed i usualy have tohad my foot off the gas completly and coasting then when i press my foot on the pedal again to pick up a little speed usualy like 5% throttle i feel a vibration almost a thud thud thud for a few seconds. then its smooth throughout the gears. its not somthing other people in the car would feel since it feels like a few bumps in the road, but since i can recreate it everytime i think somthings wrong. anyone have this before?

01tl4tl

Check all the motor and trans mounts

orgnlprankster7

i just had the front and side replaced,but didnt do the rear because it was to expensive to get installed at the time. maybee needs to be done. oh and where are the trans mounts located? i poped the hood but failed to pinpoint them

01tl4tl

Did a tech SAY you needed more than the ones you replaced-
there are 5 total I believe- may vary by year and model- disclaimer disclaimer!!!!!

orgnlprankster7

yea theres 3 egnine and 2 tranny mounts i belive. the guy said the rear one was old but it didnt matter because its only needed when going in revers, which i found hard tio belive. i wish i went to a better shop, i got the feeling they dont work on imports that often.

01tl4tl

One of those- we hate working on your car- it will be fine- go on a long trip somewhere PLEASE!!!!!

orgnlprankster7

hmmm on the way home from work today i payed really close atention and i noticed that the rpm jumps a tiny tiny bit when it does it then comes back down, only a tiny movment but there. could the mounts effect the rpms at all? i wouldnt think so, it better not be my friggin tranny going again i dont have the money to pay outa pocket

01tl4tl

As an odd thought- how are the battery cables and connections?

orgnlprankster7

uh lol they seemed fine last time i poped the hood, just a little white crappy stuf on the pos terminal, the battery will prooly need to be changed within the year. why?

01tl4tl

White crappy stuff--uhhh that woul be corrosion that inhibits transmittal of electrical energy to the various hi power draw things like fuel injection
and the stereo
If your battery is more than 4 years old it may be on the way out

Mix a cup of water with baking soda and pour on white stuff

owwwwwwwwww science class at work!

remove terminal and clean with sandpaper or proper tool
replace terminal
reset radio security code
see if that helps
take it to parts store for free electrical system test

orgnlprankster7

i always slept in science class. should i use 1000 gritt sand paper? also remove both terminals i asume? wanna make sure i dont kill myself

orgnlprankster7

oh can i use baking POWDER instead??

01tl4tl

I'm old, be nice to me

The box in the frig says Arm&Hammer baking soda-
isnt powder for cakes not cars?


Make sure you know the radio security code
Unbolt the NEG cable first
Use some serious scratch the metal bare sandpaper- think 150 not 1000
or a wire brush if that helps the visual
Clean the post and the inside of the terminal
Do both neg and pos
Replace Pos cable first
Replace NEG cable last


sometimes its the simple things that screw up the car!

SatinSilverTypS

iTrader: (1)

01tl4tl is correct, use baking SODA.

here is a good little chemistry explanation about the difference between the soda and powder ---> here

autozone also sells a little wire brush thing that is made for cleaning battery terminals. it's a once in a lifetime purchase that is worth the few dollars.

prankster - i am having the same problem but my battery is clean. after looking around more today i think it may be a bad coilpack that isn't throwing a code. i plan on buying a new one tonight and just swapping it between all the cylinders and driving until i'm convinced i found the bad coil.

i actually experience it every day in my normal commute. i've learned to compensate for it a little but it's kind of embarassing when you have guests in the car.

i will throw a thread up this weekend if it solves the problem.

Bob

orgnlprankster7

hye thanks, yea its really noticeable to and from work on the highway. it also makes stop and go traffic a nightmare. i think it might even be a plug, when i installed my iridiums i scraped the tip on the last plug, it wasnt the part that makes the spark but the metel piece sticking out. didnt think it would make a difference

fsttyms1

What do you think it makes the spark to? If that piece is bent in and to close the gap is off and it will fire sooner than it should simply pull that one out and see if the gap is correct or not

SatinSilverTypS

iTrader: (1)

actually now that you mention this i might even pull my plugs out to make sure they guy that did my 100k gapped them properly. although he is an ex-honda mechanic, so i would hope he did the job right, not to mention i had this problem before my 100k tune up as well.

mdavisii

Are you experiencing this symptom only in overdrive (4th gear)? If you are feeling this in 4th and at speeds over 50MPH, the torque convertor could be what you are feeling. It may be going in and out of lock. A quick way to find out is to put your car into SS mode, and try the 5% throttle from 3rd gear.

orgnlprankster7

well i just changed out the 2 plugs with new ones and retourqed all the plugs, and my idle problem( that i wasnt aware i had lol ) is solved. my idle is a smooth 750( it was 1000ish, didnt even know how rough it was untill it became smooth.
oh mdavisii it does feel very much like the tourqe converter locking, it just seems more pronounced than it did in the past. altho i havent taken it on the highway yet today maybee the plugs solved it because the ride is much smoother.

dnd2984

iTrader: (6)

How can u tell its only 2 plugs

orgnlprankster7

because those are the 2 i damaged when putting them in.

SatinSilverTypS

iTrader: (1)

ok, well my problem isn't solved yet. i put the coilpack in one of the cylinders last night and still had the issue so i moved it over on my lunch break. we'll see if it comes up on the ride home.

the funny thing is that acura actually gave me a defective coilpack at first and when i put it in the car got really bad and was misfiring like crazy. i brought it back about an hour later and the guy began insisting i had another problem even though i explained to him everything was fine once i put the original coilpack back in. idiots

this weekend if i can't find it i'll just pull my plugs and replace them as well. ::sigh:: seems like i'm just dumping more and more money into fixing this car now.

SatinSilverTypS

iTrader: (1)

just an update, i bought a new coilpack and rotated it to every cylinder to no avail. (perhaps it's multiple failed coilpacks but i would find that unlikely). i still get the shudder once in a while when going uphill between 25-35mph. my RPMs flutter a little when it happens and i've had it when i was WOT in 1st gear as well, so i'm still thinking it's in the ignition system. this weekend i'm going to check all the plug gaps just to be sure. if that doesn't pan out in my favor then i'll just have to assume the worst and that it's the transmission. although a failure like this is a little different than the usual. we'll see.

FamusFace

My car does the same shyt but I haven't had a chance to look at it as yet. My tranny shifts fine according to the Acura dealership. B/c its under warranty I think they don't want to look at it. My friend has a 99 and his shifts completely smooth, while mine shifts like a rusted old bucket. Although there's no slipping, it shifts really rough and takes about 1.5 sec.. for the tranny to engage into gear

I'm going to change my plugs to NGK 1X this weekend and see if that solves the shudder problem on the highway, if not then I'll be looking at the torque conveter to see what the problem might be

SatinSilverTypS

iTrader: (1)

i bought some NGKs last night as well and hopefully i'll get them in today. i was beginning to wonder if it was my motor mounts because i reinforced them with poly but i can't imagine that would cause any kind of effect like this.

SatinSilverTypS

iTrader: (1)

ok, so another update. i put in the iridium plugs and it did not help. i don't know whether i should swap my reinforced front motor mount for a stock one or just call acura and insist on driving the tech around until it happens again.

any opinions on the motor mount? i brought the car to acura late last year with this problem and they told me it was the motor mount. i bought a new one and filled it with poly and put it in, but now i'm wondering if it's possible this is causing any of my issues. i doubt it but maybe you guys can chime in anyway.

Bob

SatinSilverTypS

iTrader: (1)

no comments on the motor mounts?

FamusFace

Got my Iridium 1X plugs today. Gonna install tomarrow so we'll see if there's any difference in performance or reduced shaking at low throtle....

FamusFace

I finally got my NGK's installed and the performance is alot better. The throttle response is much better throughout the RPM range. However, it still didn't get ride of that slight vibration/jerking at high speeds when you tap the throttle...

ANYBODY HAVE ANY IDEAS AS TO WHAT MIGHT BE HAPPENING....????

SatinSilverTypS

iTrader: (1)

after having my mechanic friend ride in the car i'm convinced my tranny is slipping. also when i'm at constant speeds my RPMs will now fluctuate about 250-300RPMs without the speed changing, so i'm even wondering if my torque converter is messed up and locking/unlocking repeatedly.

Daveact

I have a 2002 Type-S with 106k that has the same problem. I notice it in 4th or 5th gear, when using 5% throttle to hold a speed in the mid- high 30s mph range(4th gear), or mid to high 40s (5th gear). The rpm's jump upand down 200-300 rpms, and it feels as though the torque is going on and off a couple of times very quickly. I feel it happening through the pedal and steering wheel, but passengers can not feel it.
I did just take it into the Acura dealership to only have this problem addressed. They ended up saying both the EGR Valve and Idle Control Valve both failed diagnostic tests (although no check engine light ever came on), and replaced them for $521. As you can guess, the repair did not fix it. After reading other comments, the torque converter guess seems the most promising to me.
I returned the car and had them refund my credit card, although I am not sure they still won't try to charge me for the EGR and Idle Control Valves since they claim both failed the diagnostic check. What are your thoughts? Should I refuse to pay for the failed work? Has anyone had any luck fixing the torque converter? I saw a few of you felt you had good results from replacing the spark plugs Does that seem to be the fix and does the description of my problem match that of those cars fixed with the spark plugs?

6spMike

Have them show you why they are bad; I'll bet they can't. But they probably tossed the old parts by now, too.

FamusFace

You should really persist and getting at least half of your money back b/c they didn't fix the problem that you had ask them to address. I think it all depends on what you signed for on the work order. Although they found those problems when they had diagnosing the it didn't have nothing to do with what you have originally told them.

TAKE IT BACK AND MAKE THEM FIND THE PROBLEM AND FIX IT. With all my experience with mechanics they never know what the problems is off hand, its like they just throw a stick at it and guess what the issue might be....

Anyway just my too cents. SPARKS PLUGS DIDN'T DO SHYT EXCEPT MAKE MY WHIP RUN A HELL OF ALOT BETTER

SatinSilverTypS

iTrader: (1)

they will only argue that they have to exhaust all possibilities before replacing the trans, but to me this is a poor excuse given the existing failure rate.

just insist firmly but not rudely that the transmission is the issue and i think they will agree.

Daveact

After returning the car the dealership was not able to re-create the problem. They asked me to come down, and with the mechanic in the car I recreated it and he could feel the hesitating/stuttering sitting in the passenger seat and see it on the tachometer. The mechanic working on my car is their "transmission specialist" or some BS and he said he worked on a car once that did the same thing. Apparently he replaced the transmission and it was solved. He said if I kept driving it, it would eventually get so bad that it would end up reporting gear ratio errors or something like that, and considering that I was within a couple thousand miles of being out of warranty, they would replace it now (it was replaced once before at 62k miles, before the Feb '05 transmission). It should be complete by Thursday of next week, and I will let you all know if it fixed the problem. Needless to say, I've read a couple other threads on this site that may suggest it is a a normal function and you should drive the car in D4 since the car has trouble determining if it should be in 4th or 5th gear at 45-50 mph, but I think that is total b.s. It is clearly a design flaw. The new Acura's don't do it, my 98 Accord never did it, my work '06 Charger doesn't do it. Since I've only owned this car for 1k, I don't know if it did this when brand new, but we'll see if the transmission fix works.

Daveact

Well the new transmission is in and I can't say the problem is solved. I'm starting to wonder if it is just that 5% throttle isn't always enough to get the car to realize what I'm trying to do, and that it is trying to decide what gear to be in since it happens at 1400-1500 rpm. They did find metal shavings and dirt in my transmission fluid, which I'm sure didn't help, and the fact that the EGR Valves and IAC vavles were a little sticky didn't help either. As some of you know, the torque converter is also replaced with the transmission work, so that rules that potential fix out as well and I did just have the timing belt work done so the engine is running great and new spark plugs. This problem may remain a mystery, or we'll have to chalk it up as the way the vehicle is designed to perform. For the rest of you out there with Type-S TL's, try getting your car up to 47mph on a flat road in D5, let off the gas, and then give it a little to keep at speed...does yours act a little funny too at 1400-1500rpms?

SatinSilverTypS

iTrader: (1)

well i know my problem wasn't intended in the design because it had never done it before i hit 98k miles.

i know from my ford days that the idle air bypass would cause hesitation and that a clogged EGR port shouldn't cause the car to shudder/stutter so hopefully when i go to the dealer tommorow morning they won't try to get me to buy more stuff that i don't need

SatinSilverTypS

iTrader: (1)

just an update. i went to the dealer and they couldn't reproduce it. i talked to the service guy for a few minutes about what was going on with it and he said he would talk to the mothership to see if they could still replace it for free. so i'll just have to wait and see.

he also said my car was not included in the "5% odometer" issue, so technically i'm 1k miles over warranty. i have to look and check on that myself though. even if they don't agree to pay for it i'll bitch to corporate until they do since i had it in when the warranty was still good and they insisted it was my motor mounts.

overall though i'm glad the dealership is trying to help. DCH heart acura of wappingers, ny if anyone is interested in knowing.

Mp3

i've been having a shaking problem..i've had a couple people mention the cv axles/joints. I had my car checked out this morning, my front passenger's side has way more play in it than my front driver's side. The mechanic said this could cause the shaking in the steering wheel and throughout the whole car, that is what he recommended to fix. Has anyone replaced these and noticed a difference?

Mp3

btw he did balance all 4 wheels/tires before hand and checked air pressure