I was driving on the highway earlier and needed to change lanes. In order to do that, I needed to accelerate. When I asked the car to go faster in a hurry, it chose not to. I put the car in neutral and coasted to the shoulder, quite embarrassed.

Still in neutral, I revved to 2500-3K two or three times and listened. No noises to be concerned with. I put it back in Drive and it moved. Went to accelerate to merge and it fell on its face. Still on the shoulder at 30mph. Light throttle and a large break in the action in the slow lane and I was able to merge.

I managed to make it to Autozone without further incident. Trans fluid was a half quart low. 8 bucks for a quart of ATF (Castrol with Honda printed on it). Free use of their 17mm, ratchet, extension, and funnel.

Off the highway and on a lightly traveled road home, I tried again to floor it. Flat again on its face. Gentle acceleration wins again. Third times the charm? Nope. I am sure by now that if my car had an actual nose, it would be all kinds of mashed.

I limped home, doing my best impression of an octogenarian, to investigate.

Here's what I found:
No CEL, but I don't have an HDS
No pending codes, again, no HDS
No flashing D
No VSC light
No rev when spraying vacuum lines with carb cleaner, so no vacuum leaks.

Answers to questions you might ask:
06 Base w/Navi, if Navi matters
237000 miles
Yes, really.
Bought the car at 70K. 3+3 at 100, 150 and 200K.
I've had the clutch go out in a MT before, and this isn't the same. Attempted at 45mph, it will downshift, RPMs go up to 3500, and it just stays at that same speed and RPM range. Like leaving a dead stop in sport shift and bouncing off the rev limiter at the end of 2nd gear, just without the power. Once I let off the pedal and ease into it, it goes.

I'm thinking APP or TPS. But without 2108, 2118, 2122, 2123, 2127 or 2128, I cannot confirm that. I looked for a recalibration procedure in my service manual from 11-326 to 11-388 and couldn't find one.

Am I looking at having to buy an HDS?

 

Hav eyou always used Castrol ATF? I'd flush it out completely with Honda DW-1.


Sounds more like a fuel injection/throttle body issue than a transmission, why did you jump to transmission?

 

I've always used Castrol fluids, except for power steering fluids. Never had an issue. It should be mentioned that I have an 02 Odyssey with 245K before I parked it and an 08 MDX with 110K that replaced the Oddy.

The reason I jumped to the tranny is because it went out in the Oddy twice before. Honda replaced it under HondaCare at 103K the first time and had it rebuilt 48K later. This time, however, no flashing D light and no codes.

 

will the service manual give troubleshooting tips?
i know that it shows test on how to see if brakes are working, correctly....wondering if it shows how to diagnose a tranny problem


i can give a look later when i get home this evening, but if any one has it or has the scans can look before me

 

I have a service manual. I found Symptom Troubleshooting, but no test to isolate the APP without an HDS.

 

I thought there was a thread that included a voltage test for the APP sensor, but haven't found it.
Since there is no CEL, check on the accelerator cable slack per this thread: https://acurazine.com/forums/problem...-doing-830989/.

G/L.

 

MUCH APPRECIATION to Will Y for pointing me in the right direction. Pulled enough slack out of the throttle cable to move the cable sheath nearly 3/8 inch. I made a video on the way home and posted it to YouTube , hoping someone will have seen this issue before. Now that I no longer need a solution, maybe someone down the road will remember having seen this and help someone else. Or... I shot the video, so you get to watch it. Take your pick.
Thank you again, Will.

 

You're very welcome!


Glad my WAG helped...

 

OK. So I've been blessed with overtime and have been working 65-70 hrs a week the last month or so and I finally got a chance to fix my car.

Like I said earlier, I pulled damn near 3/8 inch of slack out of the throttle sheath. That was not the solution. Got the APP sensor in last Tuesday and put it on today. While the engine is cold, full throttle acceleration is what I am accustomed to feeling. However, after about 20 mins of driving at operating temperature, the acceleration is just like in the video a few posts above.

I'm thinking TPS, which is conveniently not available separately. Marketing bastards!

The last thing I want to do is throw parts at the issue and see what sticks. My justification this time around was that it would have cost about the same as the APP to have Honda hook up an HDS to tell me where the issue is. I figured I'd rather spend $130 than $240 to end up in the same place.

I searched again and have yet to find an instance of this issue that the APP did not fix.

I now have few options:
1. Bite the bullet and spend some OT earnings at Honda for use of their HDS.
2. Hope to get lucky and someone reading this lives near Cincinnati has an HDS and invites me over.
3. Take a chance at a $325 throttle body being the root cause.
4. Try my luck with a used throttle body.

 

Did you replace your spark plugs at 200,000 miles again? Checked that they're all tight? Also imagine you'd be burning a lot of oil with that mileage. VTEC won't kick in with low oil. Sounds stupid, but did you (do you) check the oil level? FYI - No codes for low oil either.

 

Sorry to hear the throttle cable wasn't the issue.

Did you disconnect the battery when you changed the APP sensor?
If not, try disconnecting it for 30 minutes before reconnecting.
You'll need the radio & Navi codes, and the car may go through the idle relearn again, but see if that helps.

 

Spark plugs are new at 200K. They were tightened according to NGK's instructions. I would imagine any issues would have revealed themselves in less than the 37K miles since replacement.

I always check the oil before I drain it during oil changes. I lose less than 1/4 qt every 3000 miles. When I adjusted the valves at 200K, the valvetrain was a golden honey color with no buildup in the front head and just a little darker in the rear.

The battery was dead when I went to change the APP. I think I'll bake the HFL. So I changed the sensor and then jumped it and let it do the idle relearn procedure before attempting to drive it. Owners.Acura.com keeps my radio and navi codes handy for me.

I should get lucky and be able to get to Honda Friday after work. At this point it will be worth the $100 to find out exactly what the issue is. Less expensive than a new throttle body and worth knowing the root cause is.

Will keep you posted.

 

2006 TL 6-speed manual.

I had a very similar problem at 58K miles, but the car actually stopped delivering fuel to the engine and my dash lit up simultaneously. Thankfully it was late at night, no cars around and 1/4 mile from my house. Towed to dealer (under warranty) and it was throwing a code indicating the Accelorator Petal Possition Sensor went bad. Replaced and all is well. $306 at the dealer (warrantied).

Incidentally, this also fixed another inconsistent annoying problem I had been having for a couple years... pushing the accelerator pedal actually caused a 250-400 RPM drop before increasing RPMs. No codes on that one and dealer couldn't figure it out. I say that because the sensor could be going bad without throwing a code.

Good luck!

 

It was the fuel pump AND the third cat.

IF YOU DECIDE TO READ ON TO FIND OUT HOW I FINALLY GOT TO THIS SOLUTION, PRESS THE PAUSE BUTTON, GO PEE, AND GET A FRESH DRINK. IT'S OK, I'LL WAIT... READY? HERE WE GO.

Last we left, I was nearly going to replace the throttle body.

I called a few dealerships within driving distance (for me) and found one an hour away who had a troubleshooting special for $49.95. Courtesy Acura in Lexington KY. Dropped it off on Saturday and told them they could have it for the week. Tuesday, the service writer left a message saying he has a few issues he would like to address.

Front and pass side motor mounts busted. All brake pads at 3mm or less needing replaced. Brake fluid dirty. Trans fluid dirty. Rear main leak. Both axle shafts leaking at trans. Oh, and by the way, trans pump making whining noise. Estimate total? Go ahead and clench, I did. $9858.79.

I thanked him for the information and asked him to park it on the lot and I would be back to get it the following Saturday.

I started shopping. Got OEM mounts, EBC greens and USR rotors, rear main seal, and Hondabond from Amazon ($675). A reman trans from Transtar ($1800). And since it was tore apart and because I had 240K on the stock parts anyway, I got Tein Street Advance from Autoplicity ($600). I also flushed the power steering and brake fluids, and re-sealed the oil pan, the misdiagnosed rear main leak.

I took a vacation day or two so I could have a really long weekend and waited for everything to arrive. Four days and almost a case of beer later (I'm a great boss when I am my own employee), I rolled out of the garage damn near new. Or at least -ish.

I gave the trans a few days to make sure nothing made noise. And on the seventh day, I got on it. Same edited thing!

So I took it back to Courtesy Acura. Shook hands with the same service writer, who asked if I had decided to get that work done. I smiled a little and explained that, no, the work had been done, and I was having the same issue.

Got a call today telling me that the issue is a compound one. At WOT, the fuel pressure falls to 19 psi or so. That, combined with the temp after the third cat being lower than expected (no parameters given), is why my car falls on its face after warming up.

Tonight, I am ordering an OEM fuel pump and an XLR8 test pipe. Saturday, I will be driving like an idiot again.