mossman77

I've been having this issue for quite some time now, but have been living with it. I thought maybe it was just the nature of the vehicle, but I'm thinking there may be an issue. When shifting gears under hard acceleration, the car hesitates for a split second before it continues to accelerate. It's as if someone is tapping the brakes in between gear shifts. It is not a smooth transition like I am used to. I can't imagine this is normal. It isn't as noticeable at more gradual rates of acceleration. I'm not overly familiar with how/when the lockup clutch engages, but it kind of feels like the torque converter is locking up between each gear shift then releasing again to continue accelerating.

Another possibly related issue is when I'm coming to a corner and braking to make a turn but not fully stopping (let's say 10 mph), when I press the accelerator to increase me speed, the car will downshift upon pressing the accelerator at which time the car will abruptly slow down (again, like someone tapping the brake) before it accelerates. It isn't a nice smooth gear shift. Again, it's like the torque converter is locking up. It's enough to cause my upper body to shift forward.

The third thing I've noticed, is that it seems to take a while for the transmission to engage when switching from reverse to drive. I typically like to come to a full stop before switching to drive, but with my TL, I have started shifting to drive as I'm still rolling backwards so that by the time I come to a stop, the car is in drive and ready to go forward when I am. Other vehicles I have owned have been pretty instantaneous.

Otherwise, there is no shaking, shuddering, overheating, or slipping.

Do these sound like torque converter issues or transmission issues? I have four more months until the extended warranty period ends to replace the torque converter free of charge, so I'd like to act sooner than later. Although I want to love this car, this issue has been driving me nuts and I'll likely part ways with the vehicle if it doesn't get fixed. I'm also dealing with the excessive oil consumption thing, which makes my decision that much easier to get rid of it.

mossman77

...can't edit my previous post, so adding another post...

Yet another issue I've been having is I can floor the pedal in certain gears and at certain speeds and the RPMs do not increase as rapidly as I feel they should. For instance, I can be in Sequential Shift/Sport/S mode in 3rd gear at 3,500 RPM, going 45 mph, floor the pedal, and the RPMs increase about 100 RPM per second. Extremely slow if you ask me. I was on a country road the other day on a slight incline in 3rd gear traveling at 45mph, floored it to make a pass, and it was a complete failure. I had to abort and pull back into my lane. Pretty pathetic. Not what I would expect from an AWD sports sedan with 305 hp. My 2004 Infiniti G35 would have done it no problem.

BobsUrUncle

This sounds like a gas octane issue. Sounds like it is missing/knocking and the ECU is retarding the timing to eliminate the misfires. Try a different gas station, and Fuel Injector cleaner?

mossman77

It doesn't matter what gas I put in it and I've tried fuel injector cleaner (I usually fill up at ExxonMobil). Plus, the engine revs nice and smooth when not in gear. BTW, I've also done a 3x3 drain/refill on the transmission, which hasn't helped the issue between shifts. Could worn coil packs be a cause? The previous owner had to replace two of them because of stalling issues.

Anyone know the stall speed for the 2011 Acura TL with 3.7L engine? Maybe a stall test could shed some light on the problem.