Ticket says "2235A2 TCM update", part number 38700-TZ7-A02

 

Mike, which dealership did you get it updated?

 

That is the update I had done on my TLX on February 23rd, 2015. Apparently, an old update. Hopefully there is a new, permanent one soon.

 

After catching up on the last two weeks of posts in this thread, I have a few observations based on my own experience and that of various posters on this thread:
1. The 1-2 shift is fine most of the time, particularly when the car is warm, and when one ceases to hyper focus on it;
2. The 2-3 shift improves as the engine warms up and is sometimes smooth and sometimes "notched" as aptly described by another poster here. There are times when it is as smooth as silk, perhaps correlated to our attention "shift" to other things;
3. Driving in Normal seems, to some of us, to be the mode that optimizes shift performance. However, jury is still out;
4. As for fixes, many of us are now leery of what might be available now, as in trying to tweak these first two shifts it may adversely affect the overall performance of the tranny. I will leave my name on the list with Acura Canada/dealer in the hope that a long term tested fix will be made available. Otherwise, I will continue to enjoy this car as is.
5. I must add that as I consistently get fuel economy in the city that is at or below the rated number, and significantly better than similarly powered other brands, I do appreciate how the 9 speed performs in this area.

 

Mac Churchill in Fort Worth.

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I hope that if or when a real fix happens, we will start a new thread instead of it being buried in this one.

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Day 4 since the update. Not a single bad 2-3 shift yet. I am very satisfied with the results I'm seeing so far.

Before the update it was nearly embarrassing to have someone ride along in the car for fear of them commenting on (or being victim of!) the harsh shift that occurred so frequently after a start from a standstill. 1-2, not so bad but the next, regardless of how easy or hard I would be driving, felt like someone still learning a stick shift and manual clutch.

I don't expect the first few shifts to be as imperceptible as the later overdrives, and indeed they are not. However my car is now shifting much more smoothly. YMMV.

 

My VIN ends in 0102, so I'm guessing the 102th TLX built?

 

I think each trim has its own vin range so your is the 102th V6 Advance but there were also 102 of the V6 Tech, etc.

 

My car is in for its first oil change today. I printed out the service order on a previous page mentioning the hydraulic relearn, they said this wasn't available last time the car was in so they'll check to see if it applies. Also they're looking at the uber-annoying VCM vibrations yet again. Fingers crossed.

 

Looking forward to seeing what you hear. My car is at 10% and I've been holding off going in for the A1 until there's something definitive on the harsh 2-3 shift.

 

Keep us posted about the VCM. I tried to replicate at dealer but could never find a good stretch of road to show it on. Plan to get it addressed at my next oil change.
Not related exactly but how many miles does your service go between oil changes? The dealership recommended every 5k but I was at 50% oil life at 5k miles.

 

Dealgirl, dealerships tend to do a lot of "recommending", but you can't go wrong with Acura's recommended maintenance: change oil when your TLX maintenance minder tells you to, but at least every twelve months. For example, if you're at 50% oil life and six months, don't change it. If you're at 50% and twelve months, time for a change.

Just my opinion, of course

 

I agree with wlkeel. I'd just stick to what your car tells you. If Acura thought it needed to be changed every 5K, that's what your car would tell you. Dealership is just trying to sell you something you don't need. At the rate my minder is going, I suspect that the change interval is probably more like 10K under normal driving.

 

Got the car back after 2.5 days. All they did was a PCM update. Nothing for the trans, nothing for the VCM. Nothing about the PCM update seems to have affected my other issues in a positive way. I am disappointed.

 

I would try a different dealer. The TCM update that I got in Feb has actually shut me up. 75% of the time, the 2-3 shift is as good as the rest of them - especially if you're pushing it. the balance of the time, it's just a very small bump - not the neck jerk of before.


Along with the update, as I mentioned in an earlier post, the VCM vibration is much better. The problem before was that the tranny was going into too high a gear and simultaneously cutting cylinders. Now, it's still there, but almost bearable. I'd still like to have this fixed.

 

I was driving next to a V6 the other day, and I could see the car vibrate when it shifted 2-3. It seemed to be getting up to speed quickly and shift fast, but I could see the car physically shake.

 

Its ashame all of these "features" that are added to gain that last 0.5mpg are causing bigger issues.

All the while our 2003 TL with 120K miles on it still gets 20mpg city with its 5 speed auto and 3.2L engine.

 

My 2004 TL that ended up with 246,000 miles on it was getting between 21 and 23 mpg on the drive I'm getting around 24-27 mpg in the TLX. Not to mention the ride is a lot better on the TLX. No rattles, either. lol. Are you on your first transmission in the 2003?

 

Nope, 2nd.

First one went out at 65K miles and the car was 8 years old (while we were driving in a funeral procession!), so technically outside of the extended trans. warranty.

Honda covered 95% of the cost to have it done at our Acura dealer, so I give them props for that, but I vowed I wont have the car if/when it needs another trans. I even swore off Honda/Acura completely, but after looking at whats out there and realizing that our 03TL has needed little to no other work in 12 years, we keep coming back to Honda or Acura.

 

I had a TCM update in Feb. I'm guessing it was the same one or the latest available. It did nothing.

 

Seriously?

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Or, just maybe, bumps in the road?



Id be more interested to know how you can tell what gears they were in while outside the car, in motion.

 

If you were driving next to it, how can you tell what gear it is in?

 

^Maybe trolling along beside it.

 

guys relax, I was making an assumption based on what I read in this thread and what I saw. It seemed to buck and then lurch as it shifted a gear. Yes it is anecdotal and I don't mean anything by it.

 

Just read this and got curious. So I put a couple TLX's together: One built in December 2014 and another one from March 19, 2015.

I drove my car vs these two cars and here was my observation:

December car: Cold Start. 1-2: slight transmission shock at low speeds. 2-3: noticeable transmission shock.

March car: Cold start. Clean 1-2, light, unnoticeable transmission shock from 2-3. Performed very well.

My Car: She drove like the December car earlier in the day. Then I ran the test. I gave my car a go after the first two cars and surprisingly- it drove better than the March car. What gives? She only likes to perform warmed up?

Okay so... my car is making this slight high pitched noise while idle; so that might be a variable in all this. I also normally get massive transmission shock transitioning 2-3 on sport + (paddleshifting spiritedly) on the cold start-- like something is hesitating. This was not the case while it was warmed up, it shifted amazingly during this test.

I'm sorry if this is confusing, I'm just as confused and concerned. I know there are updates you guys have mentioned. I'll inquire about this and get that noise checked. I have a Master Certified Tech ready to go tomorrow. I don't know what is going on with my car. She's freaking bi-polar.

 

Now you understand the difficult challenges faced by the backroom engineers. So many variables involved in trying to select the optimum setting, e.g., performance (4 IDS modes), fuel efficiency, temperature (extreme cold, warm, hot, normal operating temperature), learned drivers shift points (casual, aggressive).

Its warm now and my early production build is running fine, maybe with a slightly noticeable change from 2-3 before the car is up to normal operating temperature.

 

I haven't really felt much of this hard shift, but i do feel the engine hesitate often. When I'm slowing down but don't make a complete stop, as i gas up the engine lags a little bit in gear 2 or 3.
Or sometimes even when it drops to gear 1 and stepping on the gas before a "complete" stop. Experience this hesitation in stop n go traffic.

 

I posted my workaround as a separate thread HERE, so it wouldn't get lost in this long thread.

Might want to look at it.

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I'm getting more and more bothered with my TLX's transmission issues, and Acura's inability to fix them.

I own a 2015 TLX FWD V6, 9AT, purchased in Nov. 2014, with the same problems commonly mentioned here: jerky shifts from gears 1-2, and (especially for me) from 2-3. I've been calling my local service department for a while now and I get different answers every time, but never anything definitive on a fix. Since many of you seem to have had success with the TCM update and idle re-learn process, I finally took the car in and had those two procedures done. The tech said he thought everything was fine afterward.

Nope. The car is shifting worse than ever now, no question about it.

My 2000 Maxima that I sold to buy the TLX shifted as smooth as butter in every gear. There's no way a $43K car should shift like this...they are material, noticeable jolts -- yes, sometimes worse at times than at others -- but almost always there.

The "expert" service adviser I had been talking to wasn't there the day I took the car in, but I'm going to go back to him and start a more direct discussion and escalation. I want to drive a few other same-model TLX's (new) and see how they feel, although even if they exhibit the same behavior, that's still unacceptable.

(By the way, check the TLX list of complaints on carcomplaints.com...transmission issues currently comprise 80% of the complaints: http://www.carcomplaints.com/Acura/TLX/2015

 

I just went in and got TCM update 2235A2 done as well. I'll update you guys later today.

 

Tcm update apparently completed. No real noticeability. Maybe during 1-2. But honestly. This is getting stupid. No offense to anyone.

 

I have been speaking with one of the vice presidents at the dealership I bought my TLX from, as well as one of Acura's district parts and service managers ("dpsm"), about this issue and how it is affecting my car--since early April. The dpsm told me this week that there is some software that has come out and that the dpsm wants to personally oversee its installation in my car. That appointment is set for mid-July. He advised that if that does not resolve the problem, Acura will be installing a new transmission in my car. I have advised Acura that if this problem is not resolved soon, I will be filing a lemon law lawsuit.

I will let everyone know the results of my July visit next month.

 

^ You may be familiar with the lemon law process, so if so ignore this. If not, I have some recent experience with it.

I had a friend very recently try to use the lemon law with a Ford Focus where CVT would actually just stop working at random times. No acceleration at all for 5-15 seconds. This happened in intersections, the highway, etc. Most folks with the CVT have this problem. Long story short, even under such an obvious lemon law condition it was still extremely risky for him (financially), and very time consuming for him to get it resolved (and he never did). You have to pay a lawyer a lot of money, and you are liable for their fee if you lose (in most cases). If you go without a lawyer, Acrua will keep you tied up for years. Meanwhile you are making payments on a car you are trying to get rid of while the value of it goes down and down. And if you can drive it safely - well then it's not really a lemon in their eyes. So now you need to figure out what else to drive, while you still own the Acura. Short answer is the lemon law is not quick, easy or cheap. Dealerships know this.

Maybe your transmission issue is more catastrophic which will help your cause. But automakers just don't hand over refunds. They'll fight you a long time over it, especially if it impacts a lot of cars. They will be very slow to acknowledge and pay out for an issue that may impact thousands of cars.

Anyway, the real point of my comment is I think if Acura is willing to cooperate and even replace the transmission that's a good thing. I'd talk to a lemon law lawyer if you haven't already so you know the details behind what you are threatening. It has a lot of loopholes and conditions to be aware of.

 

^^^

Good advice!

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I wish I could report that the above still applies 4 weeks later, but unfortunately it does not. The hard shift from 2-3 is slowly returning, becoming more noticeable with each trip. Sometimes I still get that silky smooth shift that I experienced non-stop for a couple of weeks, but no longer is it consistent. Guess I'm in the boat with everyone else.

 

Seriously, folks - all they need to do is adjust the programming so there is a momentary reduction in throttle just before the shift to 3rd. With fly-by-wire throttle actuation, that should be a breeze.

I'm convinced the issue is that the throttle position forces a harder shift by keeping the transmission (torque converter?) under slightly too much load at the moment of the shift. SURELY their programmers can alter the throttle map to back off a tiny bit to allow the load peak to drop before completing the shift.

I'm beginning to worry that there's so many TLX's being sold that re-programming all of them is getting to be too big an expense/time expenditure for Acura.

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I noticed that if you accelerate through the 2-3 shift that it's always smooth. In other words, if you are gradually increasing the amount of throttle from before the shift begins until after it occurs it's extremely smooth. Unfortunately, traffic in front of you doesn't always allow this. Upon light throttle, with the accelerator held constant, it usually jerks. The absolute worst is if you have to let off the throttle right when the shift is occurring.

 

Continue to be disappointed by the absence of a solid fix. I've been holding off on scheduling my A1 service, but can't wait any longer. I set it up for next week but not sure I'll even mention the 2-3 shift for fear they'll make it worse. May just deal with it for now and await something more definitive.