hey guys just wanted to touch on something, I had a lot of loaners since my TLX and I made sure they were all V6. I noticed that some TLXs drive more aggressively than some, normal and sports mode. some feel instant response and some just drive ehhhhh. these were all 2015 models. Do all Models have the same mappings for throttle and response? I recently had a loaner this week and noticed it shift very quick and aggressive and response was good and it was a 2015 build. My tranny was replaced and the shifts are nonexistent and sooooo smooth  now I can’t tell with the response time anymore since it drive like how a car drives but sometimes it doesn’t feel like it aggressive. Now on the highway its takes off since I put my lightweight pulley on, its super smooth and can’t even tell when it downshifts at all. I want to know if ECU’s and programing is different or is the transmission control module that does this.

 

I believe our ECU learns our driving patterns. Depending on how you 'learn' the ECU when you got the car or when the ECU was relearned, it will try to follow those patterns.

 

Yeah they should really stop that since my 2002 TL that existed was a real pain lol. But I noticed before some cars were more agressi even than some I'm thinking maybe the Tcm unit has different maps for the different grades of transmissions they had?

 

I also noticed that actually. I had a late 2015 build loaner with mild 2-3 shift thud and its throttle mapping compared to my 2016 is different. Needless to say, I was so excited to get my 2016 back. The throttle response on my 2016 was better in my opinion. But I could be biased. In the 2015 loaner that I had for a week, the IDS was always set to sport just so I could make the mapping a bit more aggressive. In my 2016, the IDS is always set to normal and I believe mine is just as aggressive compared to the 2015 in sport. As for the reason why? I am not too sure. In my opinion, it is a lot of work to have different mapping for every different grade of transmissions especially for a mass produced vehicle. But I can see them having different mapping if they actually had hardware upgrades in the transmissions of late 2015s and 2016s.

 

Yup that is what I use to feel thing is my 2015 is soooo smooth now it's so hard to compare but I know that is a difference between cars. I think this will be my last Acura this is out of this world that some car shift better than some and then some drive differently as well

 

Is the Tcm causing this sluggishness or is it the ECU?

 

TCM. It's learning the slower driving style of some people. My throttle response has sharpened up a lot after awhile of driving the car like I stole it.

 

Can we customize the TCM programming without voiding the warranty? I'd like to associate different customizations with the different "Dynamic" driving modes (Econ/Normal/Sport/Sport+).

 

I want to normally drive around town with a fairly conservative application to the throttle, not using a lot of gas, and not in a hurry. But sometimes I would like to have a little fun, and for it to be fun, I want (no, I require) zero throttle lag. I don't want to convert the throttle into a 100% switch, I don't nesc. want more throttle faster, I just want it to give me what I ask for, when I ask for it. If I push the throttle down 25% I want it to move to 25% at the same speed as my foot. Not a slow "smoothed" out motion (like the way a second hand moves).

 

that's not the engines characteristic. it wasn't made to have torque down low. it reaches peak torque at 6750RPM, or somewhere close to this.
this means, you need to rev the living hell out of the car to make power.
this is because Honda had invested in the VTEC technology, where the cams have two different lift profiles...one for lower speeds and one for higher RPM range. when in vtec, which starts about 5000RPM, the cam profile switches to a higher lift profile, which is basically WAAY more aggressive than the lower speed part of the cam. a more aggressive lift profile, means more air, more fuel is being delivered, which the valves in the head are working in concert to make 250something ponies at redline

 

OK, so, I'm new to Honda - thank you for explaining to me exactly why I should welcome the way Sport+ works, and, embrace it [and it's higher RPMs] for those times I'm looking to have fun and not so much just trying to get the kids to school without wasting gas.

Acura lists the rated torque @4500 RPM though?

 

I have an older j-series motor, a 3.2l, which makes peak torque higher in the rev band.
most likely, through revisions of the motor, they have lowered the threshold for "vtec"


most v6's now use this kind of technology and require the user to rev to the high heavens..
funny story about the Jeep Wrangler's pentastar v6....a user on the wrangler forums thought the new pentastar v6 operated like the old and couldnt understand why he was getting less power, even tho the new engine is rated for more power.. he just wasnt revving the jeep high enough.

 

Same deal Christopher 4500 is high. Mine is rated flat from 1800RPM up. Low end torque is what the turbos are all about. My COBRA is N/A does not have V-Tec but functions in a similar manner with the 4 camshafts under computer control. In my case I programed the engine to move the torque curve up to take it out of the bottom end because the car is so light to much torque will just spin the tires That also pushes my maximum horsepower up in the RPM range so I am shifting at 7200 instead of 6500.

Most all small displacement N/A motors have very soft bottom ends naturally. What V-Tec did was allow them to grind a high torque profile on the camshaft that would normally have limited the engines ability to rev. The second grind is a high performance grind that basically has a very weak bottom end torque but generates way more horsepower in the upper RPM range. V-Tec switching from low to high around 5000 rpm was a best of both worlds solution.

Most of the other manufactures copied it or created a functionally similar system for their N/A engines. Different trade names like VANOS & DUAL VANOS but the same overall process.

Back in the day when I was racing N/A engines before computer controls we use a spring loaded system on the camshaft drive gear that would retard the cam at low engine speed (torque) & let it advance at higher engine speeds (horsepower). Not much new just better implementation.