elvir89

My car is having this issue for a while. At around 25 mph the car hesitates. Took it to deal twice the checked the transmission and said that everything is fine with the car, technician drove it around and noticed that same issue that i was having, but still they did not make the effort to fix it. Called the support line, no luck there.

If any one is having the same experience or a solution it would be nice to here from you.

JTS97Z28

iTrader: (4)

I had a surging during normal acceleration issue with my 2008 TLS 6mt. During constant cruise it was perfectly smooth so my issue was only during acceleration. Might be different from your issue. Not to scare you or anything but I went through hell and back trying to fix my car. Did tons of stuff myself, took it to the dealership 5 times, called the Acura hotline and got no help whatsoever. They all said it was normal. Moral of the story....you are out of luck from Acura if you want the problem fixed you have to buy a different car. With mine I was never able to figure it out so I sold the damn car and bought another TL basically the same thing. I couldnt be happier, problem solved :-)

elvir89

I really like my car so far and I was thinking that maybe there is a easy solution for it. I am not sure if I will buy another Acura just because of the poor service.

JTS97Z28

iTrader: (4)

Well its not necessarily poor service im talking about here. Its the fact that the problem could not be fixed. Dealerships could not figure it out and neither could I. Basically it was either you live with the problem or sell the car. The issue drove me nuts so I sold the car and bought a different one. If your issue is as stubborn as mine then do not expect the issue to get fixed from the dealership, especially if they are already told you they cant find anything wrong. So from experience im saying get used to the issue and hopefully you can live with it.


Since the dealership is not going to help you here is a list of the most common things on a TL that will or can cause hesitations.

-plugs
-coils
-EGR
-IAT sensor
-knock sensor
-APP sensor (throttle position sensor common issue on TL's)
-02 sensors

Be sure you are running ONLY premium fuel in the TL. These cars do not like anything lower.

Im sure there is a lot more than just the things I mentioned but these seem to be the most common. They are all pretty easy to swap/change if you dont mind throwing a little money into the car.

james

I hate cars

Can this stutter be felt? If you shift through the gears in manual mode, trying to keep rpms about where they would be in auto mode, does it still do it? It's probably the transmission or torque converter. Have you replaced the switches and swapped in a good aftermarket fluid?

bcrand

My 08 TL 5AT had a stuttering problem at around 25mph. It only happened when slowly accelerating and everytime it was just after shifting into 3rd gear. I did the 3 x 3 tranny fluid flush and the problem went away.

The dealer checked it out on multiple occasions and could not find anything wrong.

umakemekissu

^ what ATF did you use? and did you change any switches?

cjTL

iTrader: (2)

I know there are a million threads on this, just thought I'd chime in. I've been noticing my TL shudders after the car has been running for a while and when its hot outside. I replaced the switches last month, still isn't good. The downshifts feel very jerky, and not in a good way. I actually just received 9 qts of Redline D4 today so I'm hoping the fluid will make all the difference.

My poor TL is subject to ~90% stop and go city traffic. Murder on the transmission and brakes.

I hate cars

If it's already shuddering, Type F is a must.

Are you sure you put the switches in the right place, jerky downshifts and shuddering are classic of a switch problem.

cjTL

iTrader: (2)

I'm certain. The shifts actually improved quite a lot after changing the switches. But for some reason after I've been driving my car for a while in the heat, the shifts just get sloppy/harsh again. The shuddering isn't too common of an occurrence.

I hate cars

That's the problem with a heavily friction modified fluid, the FM can actually get "more slippery" when hot. It's a bad cycle, heat causes more slippage which causes more heat. The D4 should be a good improvement since it has less FM and a higher quality FM than Z1 but if that doesn't work, Type F will.

dece207

Let me ask you this since you mentioned good aftermarket fluid. If having a new AT put in an 08 TL; when Acura installs it, will they, in your opinion, use what is best for the transmission or whatever they have in their 250 gallon tank?

I hate cars

Acura will not recognize there is a problem so they only use Z1 or the new DW-1. There are many techs out there that truly believe the trans will fail the second you put it on any other fluid. I've got 103k with 83k of that being on a non recommended fluid.

dece207

I see. Would you recommend when I get the car back from Acura with the new transmission that I swap out the fluid? In your opinion, does the new DW-1 even fall short when put up against some of the other offerings out there?

Elvir, can I ask why the tech did not make an effort to fix it? I had shuddering, and slipping on two occasions. My tech ended up taking my car home to his house with his diagnostic tool hooked up while driving to and from. It was during this extended road test that he was able to get a snapshot of the transmission acting up which was the golden ticket for Acura signing off on replacing it. Perhaps if he had the car longer something may point him in the right direction. Is there another dealer close by you could try? What is your warranty situation?

I hate cars

DW-1's primary purpose is to meet new fuel efficiency guidelines, specifically cold start and cold climate areas. It's thinner, close to GM's Dextron VI. To get acceptable wear protection it has to use a better base oil so that's a plus.

However, it's not the base oil that causes the majority of the problems, it's too much friction modifier added to the fluid. It becomes too "slippery" and excessive wear is the result. Shuddering is just the clutches slipping in an auto. Taking the FM out of the fluid will increase dynamic holding power by about 50% and static holding power by about 100%. Shudder will disappear with a Type F fluid due to the added holding power.

To answer the question, if I were forced to run a factory fluid it would be DW-1. There's reason to believe it has less FM than Z1. A Dex III fluid (there are many out there under different brands) will have about half the FM of Z1 and Type F fluid by definition has no FM.

Auto trans clutch packs are not designed to slip. Slippage during a shift is measured in miliseconds. One or two full seconds of slip is enough to fry the clutches. This is why shudder is so bad.

The other problem is the 3rd and 4th gear switches go bad over time causing the same issues but in a different way. As they fail, they cause low apply pressure which also reduces clutch holding power. They also cause harsh cold shifts and harsh downshifts.

You can imagine how a "slippery" fluid coupled with low clutch apply pressure is a recipe for disaster. Shudder is just the second warning sign of a failure.

New switches with a type F or Dex III type fluid will make it shift better than new. This isn't something you can wait on, the trans usually fails very quickly once the shudder starts.

Switches start going out of calibration after about 2 years regardless of mileage. I'm getting ready to replace my second set. It should be a normal part of maintenance.

Acura still hasn't accepted this but a little searching around will show how effective it is.

dece207

Thanks, very interesting.

Favor to ask and if you'd rather send it to my e-mail that's fine. I'm not sure what the term is but I feel like I've hijacked Elvir's initial question. Even though this seems like good knowledge for all.

Can you tell me precisely what I need to purchase in terms of AT fluid and switches. I have two 08 TL's. Mine is getting the new AT. My wifes AT runs fine right now and I'd like to keep it that way. Even thought we have Acura Care for 7/100K if I can heed your advice and keep her AT intact I'd like to do so.

If you have already spelled out the specifics somewhere then please point me in the right direction. Otherwise it's dece207@aol.com Thanks.

andreythedon

sorry to bring up an old thread. but my car does the exact same shuddering between 3rd and 4th...just around 30 mph if I'm slowly driving the car with the tach around 1700. It only does it when the car is cool as well...I hadn't noticed any trouble with it till the weather cooled down...and now I only notice it in the first 8-10 minutes of driving. Frustrating since i have 98800 miles and coverage ends in 1200 miles. i have not changed the fluid or done any switches. Besides i don't know what switches anyone is talking about. Other than that tranny works great. i dunno!

austinm000

Well it ended up being the Vtec solenoid as i expected since it did happen when vtec engages both times once at 3500 and again at 5500. Thank you all for the help! Finally got my TL I have been wanting!

austinm000

wrong forum sorry yall