I ask because no cars I've ever owned in my life have ever suffered from heat soak like my 07' TLS does. I've been given a loaner car from Acura when my TL was in for service and they each ran great. My 98' Accord V6 ran better in hot weather. My TL just bogs down like a dying sloth and goes no where until about 4500 RPM's. Then there's that pathetic ECU which I have to reset every 3 weeks just to keep the transmission shift points proper. Yea, I've heard it already many times "You have to do spirited driving to keep the ECU from going into grandma mode" I've done it and no matter what it falls back into it. Acura engineers knew about these problems but rushed the car and let it go into production anyway, there should have been a recall for these problems. Too late now of course but these two problems cannot be resolved. My friend who is a Honda Tech took the car home and was shocked by the lack of power. He even suggested I call Acura and see if there's a service advisement or upgrading the fuel system. He thinks there could be a software upgrade for the ECU.

 

Interesting; first I've heard of these issues. I'm thinking if this is a wide spread issue, you wouldn't be the only one reporting them. Said another way, I'm thinking there is something very wrong with your particular car and not the general population of 3G TLs.

 

His problems are typical.

Nothing you can do about heat soak, save for removing all the plastic covers above and below the engine... that is, if you don't add other shit.

You could also add an oil cooler, you could change the thermostat that opens up at a lower temp, you could figure out a way to vent cool air into the engine bay, I dunno...

As for the shift points, as you said, the car learns your driving habits. Stay on the throttle more if you want them the shifting to remain sporty. This isnt a problem... rather, the car was designed to have this, for economy reasons, likely. Other than that, I dunno....

 

Really? Wow. Are they pretty much isolated to cars with automatic transmissions? I ask because there have been a number of days well over 90°F here since I bought my 2006 TL and even with the A/C on Full-tilt-boogie mode, I haven't noticed any performance issues.

 

https://www.google.com/search?q=site...hrome&ie=UTF-8


There's been a few threads on AZ. I wouldn't say "common" per se.. but also not a one-off...

 

out of the 5 vehicles from my short driving career, the TL is the best vehicle I have ever owned!
vehicles will always have quirks and out the 5 cars ive had...the TL is the least quirky. I've only owned used 90's vehicles.

one of the quirks; is that it makes full peak power above 4500 RPM.
if you are below that, you're chugging along at like something stupid...like 120hp/120TQ. and of course, heat exasterbates that.
Acura sold 50k TL's PER MONTH. certainly didnt rush it

 

Thanks for the link...

I just skimmed the posts in that thread and my takeaway is it is the 2007 (and maybe 2008) TL-S automatic cars with the issue. Does that sound correct?

 

Interested in hearing more.

I redline my 06 with the AC on in 90 degrees without any issues. Maybe I shouldn't...

 

lol, redline is MADE to be hit!
i live in vtec!!!

 

If I recall correctly, your 2006 TL is endowed with a 6-Speed Manual; yes, no? In my scan of the thread in the link from above, I didn't see a single report from a driver of a 6MT car.

 

ive felt it in my 2006 6MT.
but it's expected...hot air has less air density! right?
so, sometimes my pedal isnt as peppy as it should be - and this is where 4cylinder eco cars shine! the go pedal is tuned to be very jumpy and peppy. where as I have to depress the pedal more in the TL

I daily a '12 Kia Sportage with the 2.4l N/A engine

 

Why would this thread be the reason you would stop doing that?

there's nothing in this thread that points at redlining the car in hot weather to be a cause of a problem....

 

It's been a while since I have read some of those older threads, but IIRC, one of the solutions or seemed to help was a new battery. I can't remember who the AZ member was but they had some some experimenting and felt a new battery helped solve some of the perceived heat soak issues.
If I get some time - I will see if I can dig out some of those threads.

****Edit - Found it - https://acurazine.com/forums/third-g...eather-859713/

 

another point is; this car was ahead of its time. it was running a high compression ratio before other cars started to do so.
high compression + heat = Knock! maybe the ECU is retarding timing to save the engine.

 

Hmmm, are you implying some of the folks complaining of the poor high heat and high humidity performance are running Regular gasoline? I suppose that could well be an explanation.

 

no, the ecu can scale down timing if it detects abnormally high temps.
there's the IAT sensor and a few more other temp. sensors.

 

I have not felt heat soak this summer, but i havent been driving the TL at all, lately.

 

I guess that was kind of my point; take two otherwise identical TLs on a very hot day, one with Premium in the tank and one with Regular, it would seem logical to me the car running Regular would be much more susceptible to experiencing retarded timing.

 

good point! although, doesnt explain what I've felt. Always 93 octane. (feelings are subjective, I know...and I dont have quantitive data to back up my claims)
at times, the little kia feels stronger and potent at stop and go speeds than my TL. but I know, once I get into around 4K, bye bye kia!

 

I always use Premium, spark plugs changed at 100,000 miles, Air filter replaced every 15,000/20,000 miles. I just spoke with Acura dealer Service Rep. So far he sees no bulletin being issued by Acura but will speak with Sr. Tech.

 

I can assure you its the heat soak, during rush hour traffic my TL spend 80% bumper to bumper traffic the heat soak pretty bad. I almost lost to a 2012 TSX special edition but at night he can see my tail pipe all night. Noted my TL had new APP every maint is up to date and yes all Acura I ever owned get nothing but 93 octane fuel. Any car listed "premium fuel" within my house got fill up with 93 Shell V power.

 

So my engineering brain is curious as to why some cars never seem to have the issue.

 

I've never experienced any in our '04, but if one were to google various cars for heat soak, you'll be surprised what comes up.
I googled, BMW, Cadillac, Mercedes, Audi, Corvette, etc. and they all have problems with heat soak, at least that's what the owners state.
The only car that we have had a problem with is our RX7 Turbo (purchased new) that in extremely hot weather with A/C running, on restart it will idle erratically until maybe 1/2 to 3/4 throttle is applied, then fine.

 

I drive hard an 07 335i at lime rock race park, couple time lap during summer time. After couple hot laps the engine and transmission going into limp mode while watching a N/A 4 banger Miata running circle around me.

 

These two sum it up. Quite a few cars suffer from this same issue. Cars that are generally lower performance and/or not pushing the limits of the engine and packaging will have less noticeable impact. I'm sure there are ways to engineer around it all...it just adds cost, complexity, and/or generally some other trade off. Every car will suffer in heat soak conditions. It is just a matter of how noticeable it is to the driver when it happens and how often/easily it happens.

 

That's pretty much expected with the rotary, they produce a lot of heat. You are lucky if that is the only issue, mine experienced many quirks and def did not like to run A/C but it did work and that car never let me sit. I had an N/A. That is really awesome that you have a Turbo 2 that you bought new. I am totally jelly. If Mazda put out another turbo rotary I would buy it in a heartbeat.

 

Got that right! We 6MTers don't have those problems.
.
.

 

Works for me.

 

No call back from the dealer, quite honestly I wasn't expecting one. There's no money for them to make unless I bring it in, drop it off & they run diagnostic testing for probably $500. Ohh well.

 

I got heat soak with my 2006 but mitigated it in several ways. Ceramic coated pre-cats were probably one of the best investments. I modified the grille to let more air in, removed all the plastics (which made the car a bit noisier but cooler). I even removed the plastics by the wipers, exposing the "gutter" that collects and drains water from the windshield and hood. It opened a huge gap for air to pass. Not all of those are ideal fixes but they made a significant improvement in heat soak.

For some reason it doesn't seem to be as bad on the 4th gen. Maybe it's just more of a disconnect from the drivetrain going from a manual to an automatic. I also don't push my 2012 like I did the 2006. I drive much more conservatively since my accident.

 

Are you saying you had heat soak issues with a 3G 6MT?

 

I live in Florida and I have an 08 TL-S. I have not heard of any heat soak in these cars, nor have I ever experienced this.

 

I've owned a base and a Type-S and the only time I ever experienced "heat soak" was when it was 95 degrees + and I was stuck in bumper to bumper traffic for extended periods of time, which has only happened no more than a couple times.

 

I never experienced heat soak in my '05.

There is no software update. None.

Make sure your intake boot isn't torn. Do you have a stock intake? Have you kept everything with the intake piping and intake chamber stock?

Cool air and proper coolant is going to greatly determine what your vehicle perceives as 'heat soak'.

 

Just to clarify, this is not exactly true. There are a few ECU flash updates. Check the TSB page, but I don't know if any of them apply to '07 or if they would alleviate the "heat soak" issue.

FWIW, I lived in Shreveport, LA for 3 years and never experienced heat soak during the summer....

 

Certainly. 100F days in Utah, there was definitely a difference in pickup at low RPM's.

 

There should be, but that has nothing to do with heat soak, instead it has everything to do with the air density. In Utah the combination of the altitude relative to MSL combined with the heat will equate to a significantly higher effective altitude which us pilots call a "Density Altitude" (which factors in physical altitude, OAT, and humidity). Case in point, if you were in Salt Lake City, official altitude 4,265' MSL, and the OAT was 100°F, your density altitude would be equivalent to roughly 8,000' MSL. Said another way, your car would perform the same in Salt Lake City on a 100°F day as it would driving through Independence, UT (official altitude 7,979' MSL) on a 59°F day (also known as a "standard day").

One final thought, factor in the A/C you are most likely running when the OAT is 100°F (and wouldn't be running on a 59°F day) and even the above example is insufficient as the A/C will draw enough power from your engine to equate to another thousand feet or two of altitude.

 

Eh my A/C always running regardless of summer or winter here in TX.

 

Maybe so, but up at nearly 8,000' MSL in Independence Utah, I strongly suspect the vast majority of folks who live there rarely turn their A/C on, if ever. The thing is, even in Texas, just because the A/C is enabled, that doesn't necessarily mean the compressor is drawing power from the engine; certainly that's true during your winter months. Of course then you have what you folks call "Summer" (what us folks up here in New England call "Hell" ), I suspect your compressor is operating 90% of the time the engine is on.

 

^^^ Negative sir, my RL does not suffer from heat soak issues despite it using the same engine and almost identical AT to my TL(s), both of my TL will suffer with heat soak and like I said traffic mean bumper to bumper. My avg mph is 22 according to the car computer during summer months when kids went back to school my average mph drop down to 19 mph and when I was living in CT my average MPH is around 25 - 27 MPH.