should replace, We did not have any input on their bad chose.

 

rkilian,

Can you tell us who you talked to? I think I'm going to replace the tires. if Bridgestone hooks me up with a favorable deal, I'll buy a set of Potenza RE950s. If not, Pzero M+S. I'll make sure they know it too.

Any info about who, what number, when, anything you said to help seal the deal, please let us know. I want to get rid of this vibration issue ASAP.

Thanks.

Ryan

 

Tommorrow Friday is my last shot at Acura.

Acura District Service Manager is visiting my dealership. I told my dealer I want an answer from District level one way or the other on replacing Bridgestones.

Either yes or no is all I want not maybe just wait a few months etc.

I faxed a lettter with posts on how new tires fixes vibration from a number of forum users.

If that fails I am off to Bridgestone Tire Dealer to see if they will honor warranty.

I think we are all going to end up going to Bridgestone Tire Dealers for this. Hack I think is right - When it comes to tires they are going to point finger big time away from themselves.

 

Yes, they will point at the tire manufacturer, but they certified the tires for their application and should facilitate replacement of them. If that means they need to work it out between Bridgestone and themselves, so be it, but the consumer should not be left with the potentially defective product.

If you bought a Dell computer and the Seagate harddrive died inside, (which, mind you, is mechanical and is subject to failures all the time!) would they help you replace it or point you to Seagate? They'd help you replace it and then submit the defective drive for warranty replacement from Seagate.

In any case, my point is that Acura does have some responsibility in this issue, even if it's just to help the customers get satisfactory resolution. They can't disclaim liability for a piece of their product that does not work to specification, even if it is a product not generally covered under warranty due to its wear and tear characteristic.

 

Lore,

I completely agree with you on an ethical level, but my sales guy specifically told me that the tires were the only part of the car that Acura doesn't warranty (typical of all vehicles), and thats why we always get the little tire warrantly pamphlet with the car.

I think it is in Acuras best interest to help their customers, but the problem is with Bridgestone (although Acura should have been smart enough not to put these schit tires on their new car).

I don't mind going after the tire people, but I want my DEALER to make sure that I know for a fact that the problem is the tire and not something else before I do that. I need them to do due dilligence on the car first, and my dealer sucks.

Ryan

 

FYI, before I bought my Pzeros online, I visited my local Discount Tire location. They offered me $200 for my Turanzas if I purchased my new tires from them and they installed. I didn't feel comfortable letting Discount Tire monkey with my brand new car so I purchased online and had the dealer install them.

The Turanzas are sitting in the garage waiting for Acura / Bridgestone to swap them out. If that doesn't happen they will sit on eBay until a sucker comes along who doesn't read tire reviews ;-)

Ryan

 

Finally got some answers from service today (going on 11 days now since it's been in the shop) for engine vibration.

They tell me the torgue lockup selernoid (I'm sure I butchered the spelling) needs to be replaced. Also, they are questimating that this is the problem. They added this may not solve the issue and that they will test drive the car after installation.

Anyone out there with real info that can answer:

1. What is it?
2. What is involved in replacing. Do they have to take the engine apart?

Thanks!

 

Got this from another website...looks like a tranny issue :wow: :wow: :wow: :wow: :wow: :wow: :wow:

: : My 95 Transport is having problems with the torque converter lockup clutch. It is noticable when driving on the highway and you start up an incline in the road. The whole dash will vibrate and shake as you can feel what sounds like rubbing or slipping. A tap on the brake will disengage the lockup clutch and the problem goes away. I am a do it yourself mechanic for many years but I have not replaced one of these before. Do you have to pull the trans to get to it? Is is a valve body problem and not the clutch ? How do I determin and fix ? Thank You.

: It could be a faulty TCC solenoid. Its a really common problem and you can replace it by just dropping the pan. Check the computer for transmission trouble codes.

: We had 3 trouble codes. 740 , 361, 321, One of them we were told was the cam sensor (18x sensor). I replaced. Another was Est Toggle Problem. The other codes is for Torque Converter Lock up problem. My wife was reading this information to me over the phone from the mechanic so I do not know which number belongs to which problem.

 

The torque lockup was the problem that caused my tranny to die with only 30k miles on '01 CL-S. Replacement of the tranny did not help that much, had the same problem with the new tranny that was supposedly the new design put in the '03 CL-S.

This is one of the main reasons I went with 6MT in my '04 TL. Too gun shy. I hope like hell this is not the problem you have.

Ryan

 

I'm not sure I want my car back at this point. A brand new car and one month later - driving a car with re-built transmission!

Ironically, the reason I sold my 99TL was that I had over 100k miles on it and was afraid that my tranny would fail and out of warrantly. Bought a new 04TL and less than month later, tranny problem.

It would be slightly funny, if it wasn't happening to me.

 

I'm meeting with the Service Manager at Nalley Acura in Atlanta, GA. today. I'm going to produce the problem for him and ask for replacement tires to be set up however he wants to do it. My question is...is this the problem or is it the tranny??? Does anyone REALLY know?

 

Lets hope acuraaddict is correct.

See his post on another thread.

We should all have new tires shortly!!

As they say though "I'll believe it when I see it!"

 

Rest assured that a new TCC solenoid is anything so invasive (or comprehensive) to think of it as a rebuilt tranny. All of your soft parts remain untouched, as does everything but this one little switch (okay, you probably get a new trans pan gasket, but that doesn't count!).

Think of the TCC (torque converter clutch) solenoid as a switch that the computer can turn on or off to lockup the torque converter at highway speeds. Replacing it likely involves nothing more than dropping the trans pan, removing the old switch (which is probably about the size of your thumb) and swapping in the new part. Ask them to save the old one for you if you're curious to see what it looks like-- always fun to have a few car parts around. It might also be helpful to know if they used a new part number.

Given the number of cars seeing this problem I'd be more suspicious of the software that controls the TCC solenoid and not the hard part itself, but I hope it works!

Scott

 

Scott,

Thanks 4 the info. Still not too comforted by the fact that my tranny has to be repaired (any type of repair) for a car driven less than a month.

 

 

I work at a delaership in sales. I have not heard of any issues (yet) with vibration. I have noticed some myself, but always thought the soft tires may get flat spots quickly. This topic is very insightful and I am glad to hear owners thoughts. Whenever something is wrong, we never get the answer until customers see it through. I will be on here a lot to hear if any of you have other issues. Good stuff here! Are any of you in Florida, if not Clearwater Florida?

 

Ryan:
My Potenzas are not the 950, they are the new 750. I'm sorry if in my post I mentioned the 950. These are not winter tires they are in fact "ultra-high performance summer" according to the Tire Rack. The tires are not M+S construction so I have no doubt they would also behave really bad in snow.
What I can say is that the 50 mph vibration is gone. The car drives much better. Both agressive driving (cornering) and cruising. It is stiffer but still ratains the supple bump soaking capacity that upgrading to 18" or 19" wheels would remove.

I have no doubt in my mind that Acura messed up with the tire selection. If they wanted an all weather tire, they should have gone with a Nero or a Pilot M+S. The Nero M+S is in fact cheaper (at least in retail) than the Turanza EL42. Additionally, I put the 245/45/17 which makes the car feel significantly better planted than the 235. When the installer took out the Turanzas, I actually compared the two. The Turanzas where incredibly soft on the sidewall and the thread compared to the Potenzas. I couldn't believe that Acura matched this car to such a soft tire (OK for grandma's Cadillac) but not for a performance sport sedan.

Hope this helps. I'm not sure that changing the tires will solve everyone's vibration problems but it did solve my flatspotting vibrations and made the car a true sport sedan. Very confident in hammering through corners and stopping now.

 

Finally got my car back from dealer who had it for almost 2 weeks now to fix the vibration problems at 52 mph. They could not fix the problem. It seems the Acura techs told them to adjust the engine mounts but after a few such tries the dealer gave up. The dealership has told me that they can't do anything more to fix the problem and asked me to contact ACS.

I contacted ACS and they told me that, since most cars seem to have this "feature", that is how the car is designed and that they can't do anything about it. The ACS guy kept insisting that I take it back to the dealer, but when I told him that the dealer has told me that they can not do anything more to fix the problem, he told me that I may to just live with the vibrations then :wow: The ACS guy didn't even want to note my complaint and I don't think Acura will do anything to fix this problem (till next year's model is released with redesigned stuff). The only complaint he was acknowledging is the vibrations caused by the lousy tires and not the kind of vibrations I see at 52 mph (which goes away when you downshift to 4th gear).

I definately will not live with this problem and may have to consider alternative routes to get this issue resolved. The other thing that I felt was strange was that even though I distinctly think it is "vibrations", the dealer kept referring to it as "humming" and not vibrations! Humming implies that it is only a noise issue but I can definately feel strong vibrations from gas pedal and floor. Which term do you all think is more appropriate - "vibrations" or "humming"?

 

I think you're on to it. I experience it when I drive the car hard, keep the throttle open and the VTEC engaged. Its a subtle, high frequency, very low amplitude vibration, right through the chasis. Doubt if its a tire problem - maybe its unique to my car, and maybe some may never notice it.

 

I notice that my car vibrates in the seats as I accelerate from 50 mph to 62 mph and then as I brake from 65 down to 45 the vibration is even more profound. The car has been up tp the dealership 4 times in the past two weeks, with no real progress. I am calling Acura service today to talk to them about the problem and maybe turning the car back in if the problem exists. Two many beautiful cars out there in the mid $30's to be dealing with this bullshit!!!

04 TL silver
A-spec upgrade
also 2001 GSR race ready

 

Turning the car back in? Can you explain what you mean?

 

Not sure if I can revive this thread or not, but I'm wondering if anyone ever figured out what this engine vibration was being caused by and if there is a fix. And does it get worse and lead to other undesirable things? I have an '04 and I get the vibration at about 50 mph in 5th gear, but downshifting to 4th manually or giving it a little gas instantly stops it, so it's definitely the driveline issue described by some posters, not a wheel balance issue. I just drove my son's '04 tonight and his definitely does not have this issue. I hope this is not a problem because mine is obviously way out of warranty and I'm about to dump a bunch of money into the car.

 

there is a TSB for this issue. you need the dynamic dampener. ill look up the link for you

 

http://www.in.honda.com/Rjanisis/pubs/SB/B05-017.PDF

 

Awesome - thanks! This really takes a load off my mind. I thought it might be tranny problems. Now I wonder if Acura might still provide goodwill

 

keep us updated.

 

I get the vibration at ~50mph and ~1,500rpm on the tachometer. Someone pointed it out that it's the torque converter being stuck at low rpm. It's the opposite of a sweet spot for the engine :-) (sweet spot is like 5,000 rpm)

Give it a little extra gas to get out of it. I usually do 60-65 on highways (for fuel efficiency). And go around 45 in the city (non-highways).

Lots of vibration at 70 - 80mph = definitely needs a high-speed wheel balance and maybe alignment (if it's alignment issue - you'll feel it at around 50mph too). I just had mine re-balanced. It was only off by about half an ounce.

See this: https://acurazine.com/forums/3g-tl-problems-fixes-114/review-driveline-vibration-after-tsb-applied-576661/

 

See fix here:
h t t p : / / www. a cu ra world.com/tsb/3gTL/b05-017.pdf

 

I have some of the same problems listed throughout this post in my newly bought 05TL a/t. Shuddering occurs in both 4th and 5th gears at the 1750-2250 or so rpm range. It is very noticible as I drive up a 3/4 mi uphill onramp to the highway. As it shifts into 4th the car starts the shuddering. It does the same when it hits 5th. This is all under normal acceleration (if I punch it the shuddering appears to go away). I also notice it between 55-65mph when crusing on the highway. If I am above 65 and slow down into that range, the shuddering begins.

Now I don't think it's the tires as you should feel unbalanced tires vibration through the steering wheel. This vibration I am describing is felt throughout the car and in the gas pedal.

I have done alot of reading on this site (thanks all) and it seems I'm getting more confused. I've read to do a 3x3 drain/fill-did that, no change. I've read to clean the egr valve with carb cleaner. I havealso seen to replace the 3rd and 4th gear pressure switches. Now I see a service bulletin about installing a dynamic damper.

Now to the questions: Should I mention all these as fixes to the shop as I am bringing it into the dealer on 12/28 (Honda-where I got the car from) Also, I understand that the manufacturer warranty is until 70k mi (I'm at 69500), if the Honda dealer looks at it and says they can't find anything, as long as it's noted, would Acura fix if I went over the 70k threshold? I'm feeling the buyers remorse due to this shuddering and it's killin me...........

 

i too have noticed this vibration in my 6mt 08 type s....dealer visit tomorrow!

 

Maybe its normal because i have it in my 03 6 Speed CL. Shakes around 60mph.

 

Check the motor mounts