Hey all,

Im unsure if it's just the cold weather, but when I'm switching from park to reverse, or drive or vise versa, the car shakes. I'm guessing a mount, but any idea which one?

It also does a this but lighter while driving and shifting up and down.
How smooth should my 2012 TL be at shifting up and down on the road?

Any info helps. First time acura owner and trying to treat it right.

 

It's hard to determine if it's normal or not since shaking and jerking are subjective. Yes, there's a noticeable engagement when shifting from park and naturally a lurch when the gears shift. It's more pronounced in the TL than most other cars I've driven but not that different. The TL's torque converter tends to lock up pretty quickly as well, which can result in more transmission "feel" than one that keeps the TC unlocked for a longer period of time which would normally smooth out some of the shifting transitions. But I also use Valvoline Maxlife ATF which has resulted in a bit more pronounced shifts than the DW-1 fluid that Acura recommends. A lot of people have complained about the feel of the transmission but I personally like it. It helps performance because you don't have as much wasted energy from the TC, which is essentially a fluid coupling. Early lockup also results in less heat. I have 245K miles on mine and it still shifts like new. I purchased at 58K and immediately had the software update done.

What I'd recommend is that you make sure the software is updated by going to the dealer and showing them TSB 18-047: http://www.urvi.net/forumfiles/SB/B18-047.PDF I'd consider printing it off since dealers can sometimes be oblivious to some TSB (which kind of blows my mind). That software update is specific to the behavior of the torque converter. It will improve the feel and also extend the life of the TC. It also contains the ATF change info, although you may also want to show them TSB 14-049 which includes an ATF drain/refill and the ATF filter change. http://www.urvi.net/forumfiles/SB/B14-049.PDF Those should be free services since they're technical service bulletins, but I've heard of some dealers trying to charge people.

If they do an ATF flush or drain/refill then great. But if not, consider getting it done - either doing it yourself or taking it somewhere. It's easy to do. It's about the same as an oil change. Just a drain from a bolt at the bottom of the transmission then a refill of 3-3.5 quarts of DW-1 ATF, which you can get at a Honda dealership. Honda transmissions seem to be pretty sensitive to dirty or worn out fluid so refreshing it with some new stuff can really help.

I swore I'd never get a Honda product with an automatic transmission since they've been junk for much of the last 20 years. But they've improved them quite a bit over the last several years. Still, I treat them like glass, both the one in the TL and my wife's Pilot. #1 is to keep the fluid clean and change the filter periodically.

 

Hey sounds like you might have the 2012 TL?
Could you answer a few questions?
1) Could you please tell me what the normal idle RPMS, and average RPMs while driving is?
I feel like mine could be strangely low, my idle RPMs is between 700-800, which seem normal to me, but while driving even highway driving my RPMs only stay around 1000-2000 most of the time. is this normal?
&
2) when hitting the gas hard, i do see the RPMs go up, but the speedometer does take a second to kick in to speed. no more than one full second delay, but not immediate. Is this the transmission slipping/is it supposed to be immediate?
I just drained and filled tranny fluid with acuras DW1 from the dealership. no change.

Any info helps..

Thank you so much for your knowlege, i really want to take care of this car.

 

Yes, I have a 2012 FWD.
Idle at full operating temperature is approximately 680 RPM. RPM while driving varies of course, depending on speed and what gear you're in. I tend to keep it below 3000 just for economy purposes but I open it up now and again and push it to redline

So if you're 700-800, you'd actually be a bit high. If you're in park or neutral then I'd suspect it would be between 700-800. But idle with the transmission engaged it should be <700 since your torque converter is engaged at that point. You shouldn't have excessive vibration, even at 680 RPM unless there's something wrong with your TC or the motor mounts are worn.

Highway driving at 75MPH in 6th gear is only about 2100 RPM. So yes, it's normal.

If you go full throttle the torque converter will slip just a bit then drop back down. We're talking 100-200 RPM if you're in 5th or 6th. And then of course, without much torque (if you're in the lower RPM band), it's going to take a minute for the speed to start increasing. Sometimes the RPM won't drop back down to what it was originally but that's not a big deal. It shouldn't jump more than a few hundred RPM though. If it jumps like, 500 or so, that could be a problem.

Based on what you're saying, it doesn't sound out of the ordinary. Like I said, the AT in the car acts a bit differently than most other cars I've driven. But after 250K miles, mines still trucking just fine so I'm assuming it's normal. And it acted like that when I bought it at 58K. No real change in behavior since then.

 

If you want to make sure the transmission is working correctly, you can use a calculator to confirm.

https://spicerparts.com/calculators/...rpm-calculator

The ring/pinion ratio is 3.73
Tire height depends on your tire size. 225/55/17 are 26"
The 6th gear ratio is 0.556

At that point you can put in the RPM and see if your car is going the correct speed at that particular RPM.

 

Wow, you are crazy helpful with a wealth of knowledge! Yea I have that same 2012 FWD. Currently at 101k miles. And it's great, by what you said and understanding the vehicle a bit more it does seem like it's running normal. I've never gotten close to red lining it, only because its Minnesota Winter here where it can be icy and -10 degrees out like today, so I wont push it until summer. But one more thing I notice is a hum when I'm at the lower rpms of each gear. Such as when I'm I'm getting up to speed and passing through 1500 rpm, theres a hum that slowly fades away as I pass into about 2000rpm, than it's basically gone. I'm guess it might just be the resonate frequency of the car and the engine, but that's pretty much the only other thing that's caught my attention. The hum sounds similar to a cell phone vibration. It does this at ever gear until I pass those low rpms.