My car is a 5AT. I was driving home tonight in S and had to pass someone going around 60, so I pulled the left paddle to go to 4th and gave it some gas. The car accelerated and I saw the RPM needle move up but right at about 4k RPMs the needle stopped and went back down before going up again. The car started accelerating, stopped accelerating, and started again.

I was disturbed by this so I waited until I had some open road ahead of me to do some testing. Going around 60 MPH and in 4th gear, I stepped the gas pedal all the way down (WOT, right?). I was shocked by what happened. The RPM needle started *crawling* up and the car barely accelerated. It was kinda surreal, actually. All the time I've had this car I've never floored the pedal all the way because I was afraid of the power () that might erupt. I never expected basically nothing to happen!

Is this the VSA kicking in or was I going too slow to be in 4th gear? Unless I'm driving crazy I try to match D when I shift in S and it seems like 60 and above is 5th gear territory when in D. Also, even if I was going too slow, wouldn't flooring it cause the RPMs to increase quickly?

I think I'll try driving with the VSA off for awhile to see if this happens with VSA off, but in the meantime, I'd like to know what you guys think.

 

when VSA kicks in, the VSA light blinks/flashes; even if its for just a split second.

 

ttk5, thanks for the info. I checked the manual and you are indeed correct. So, this is not a VSA issue.

Based on the manual I would also say that my speed was OK for the gear I was in.

I am now wondering if this was the drive-by-wire system not keeping up with the sudden stomping of the pedal. I don't think it makes sense though because what if you're in a dangerous situation and need to floor it?

 

ive noticed when going WOT in 3rd gear, theres a lull in torque between 4-5K RPM. The car accelerates good then it hits the lull where it accerlates slower and then it gets back up to speed once vtec kicks in. This was confirmed in the dynochart that was posted in the "basline dyno run thread"

 

yes the drive by wire in our cars can be quite disruptive. I dont know how it is in the A/T but in the M/T i feel its quite sever. Good that you figured everything out though!

 

what does WOT mean?

 

WOT = wide open throttle

 

On my 6MT, mid throttle isn't proportionate to WOT. From 0-50% throttle, midrange rpm, it feels like a V6. WOT is like stepping in a mud puddle, there's very litle difference felt in increased power there.

I find it more responsive to leave it in 6th and roll into the throttle to pass someone on the highway rather than the whole dramatic downshift & all.

The part about the drive by wire that annoys me the most is the hang time between gears. If I'm rev matching in smooth acceleration, I want it to almost be at idle before engaging the next gear. It takes forever for it to come down between gears.

 

i know what you mean

 

thank you, was wondering as well lol

 

Now that you mention it, it is rather dramatic, isn't it?

Fascinating!

 

The Civic Si had the same issue with the rev hang. There was a fix if I'm not mistaken, might want to look into that.

 

I had forgotten about that, I had an 07 Si for about a year and I do remember that being a PITA too.

Thanks, I'll look into that, or if you have a link handy I'd like to read it.

 

yes ive noticed that the drive by wire does make it difficult to rev match. Would be nice if they jsut attatched the pedal to the intake mani with a metal cable!

 

Yeah, lol, it's a plot against the cable manufacturers, no more clutch cables, throttle cables or speedo cables. The parking brake will be next on the list.