quantum7

I believe that I heard that somewhere as well. I love the idea of great gas mileage (my daily commute is about 100 miles). Just hope that they can get the programming right to reduce the delay in downshifts, especially when needing to accelerate for merging/passing. The DCT might be the ticket.

acford

I totally agree about the delay in downshifts. I sold my 05 TL 6SPM for this 9SP Zf tranny in the SH-AWD Tech. I love the AWD but I just don't understand why the Acura engineers allowed this transmission to go to production. It just doesn't make sense. My car is in for service today getting the B16 service done (11k miles) and they are also applying TSB 15-34. I received a 16 MDX and the shifting is a lot better and more responsive. Why can't they get the timing right for the much lighter TLX? So aggravating.

acford

I signed.

jswift2000

I signed as well. I also posted messages on twitter to @Honda and @Acura. I would encourage all to post on facebook (I don't do facebook), twitter, etc.

Momyc

Done also.

jswift2000

Just a random thought as I sit hear and read through these posts - i wonder if any of the 2016's exhibit the transmission behavior. I'm sure Honda/Acura is working their tail off to fix the issue since this transmission is in the TLX, Pilot and MDX. Time will tell.

EE4Life

TSB 16-012 was released today. See the TSB threads for details.

https://acurazine.com/forums/fifth-g...letins-914607/

https://acurazine.com/forums/fifth-g...letins-936068/

9SpeedTran

It is somewhat annoying that this TSB does not apply to earlier 9ATs as well. Some have speculated that this is due to an actual hardware change in the 9AT during the spring of 2015.

jeich182

Son of a bitch. My VIN is before the range but does all of those things. So annoyed with Acura. They ought to volunteer to replace these things because if they don't, my next car WILL NOT be an Acura and maybe not the one after that, either...

technocrat

So my car threw Transmission problem while i was driving in traffic. Then another warning popped up showing BLIS not working. I pulled over after a few kms when I could do so safely. Stopped the car, waited for a minute or two and then restarted, the warning is not there anymore but that was worrisome.

Have booked an appointment for inspection tomorrow, lets see

Its a 2015 V6 SHAWD Elite which I bought CPO in end of July this year.

neoshi

Your problem is not related to this thread (9 speed). Yours is a 6 speed transmission. BLIS is the blind spot information system also.. so not transmission issue here.

HOWEVER, what exactly was your 6 speed tranny issue? Were you having like.. judders?

Rocketsfan

You did the right thing -- let them tell you what's wrong. There are too many cases on here of everything blinking all kinds of things and everybody seems to have some different solution as to how it was fixed. Often, the errors being displayed don't explicitly state what's wrong. Hopefully the dealership can get an error code.

Assuming he has a TLX, there is no 6-speed transmission in the TLX. All V6 TLX-es are 9-speed transmissions. The 4-cylinder TLX engine is mated to an 8-speed transmission.

neoshi

Oh crap LOL I thought this was the MDX forum!! Sorry!!

Rocketsfan

lol. I figured you were lost.

slimm1469

I agree with datadr below. This sounds like a lazy, disconnected dealer.

technocrat

So when i went to the service center they first told me they might charge $137 for inspection if I am not covered (this is the lamest thing I have ever heard) and then made me sign a document which stated the same(luckily in the end no charges were applied). I am still in the factory 4 year warranty and have bought 7 year CPO warranty.

The mechanic who looked into my car was really good. He checked the messages in acuralink but didn't find any active errors. So he started checking for software updates and found that there was a big software update for VSA/TSC (Big as it took him almost an hour to update, he kept coming to me to show the status of download ). After that he took a test drive where he discovered that I had some jerky shifts in lower gears(I didnt complain as I thought this is how its supposed to be after reading the transmission woes on this and other forums :|). So he did an idle reset(some elaborate process where the engine should be warmed at 90 deg and at some rpm etc etc). He said the car will learn my driving for next couple of days.

And boy what a world of difference it has done to the car, the low end jerks are almost gone, the car doesn't bog down on sudden acceleration as it did before and overall the transmission shifts are barely noticeable. The car has become lively compared to how dull it was before and is very enjoyable to drive now.

I would definitely recommend getting the idle reset done if you haven't already.

This guy was old school mech and really thorough in his job, I am going to ask for him going forward and report every small issue to see what he does to fix it
Thanks, I think the VSA old software patch could have been the reason, he did say that these patches make big difference sometimes.

Yes mine is 9 speed

technocrat

LOL I do have an MDX with 6 speed so rest assured I wont get mixed up on that

And yes I knew BLIS has no connection with transmission but that also gave me some relief that these warnings are not the cause but an effect of some other problem.

slimm1469

If this is the DCT on the '18 Accord 2.0, this is good news. I'm on the Drive Accord forum, owners love it.

technocrat

the jerks are back and facing a new problem now, after making a turn and sometimes after overtaking as well, the car bogs down as if the engine was shutoff or something and just wont accelerate, takes a good 5-10 seconds before it regains and starts responding.

9SpeedTran

Check your VIN. You might be eligible for a replacement.

Rocket_man

When they do the Idle re-learn procedure the transmission shifts much better. Then the transmission proceeds to 'learn' your driving habits and after about 500 miles it is a mess again. You can take it back and have them do the re-learn again... every 500 miles. Maybe they will get tired of you and replace your transmission. But if your VIN is not in the range on the TSB then they won't do much for you. I wish they could disable the learning mode. That seems to be what makes the transmission a mess.

someguy11

Not sure where else to ask this. I ran into something new after a year of ownership the other day. I stepped on it to pass, but had to cancel and fall back due to oncoming traffic. Since then, I realized I can replicate it any time by tapping the gas at any speed above 50mph. Anyone else? Just punch it for a second and release. The ZF9 downshifts, then downshifts, then the car coasts at 4k RPM before the ZF9 upshifts, then upshifts. The whole thing takes like 3-4 seconds. Some of the behavior this lousy tranny demonstrates literally makes me shake my head.

fiatlux

FYI that’s not a DCT; it’s just a regular automatic transmission.

datadr

Based on what you describe, it sounds kind of like normal behavior, but not that it's good behavior. I've since developed a hate-hate relationship with the transmission in this car, but not enough for me to ditch it since it's paid for and relatively reliable. I've haven't had any questionable issues with the transmission and I assume it will be typical ZF reliability (they are known for long-lived trannies). But, what you describe is my typical experience. Step on the gas, and wait 3-4 seconds for it to decide to drop lower than just an overdrive gear or two (meaning, I want to pass, NOW). Strangely, Sport+ (where you manually shift) seems more responsive, but Sport (or any other autonomous shifting) sucks.

I've spend most of my years in a manual car, so I'm used to it doing exactly what I want. This ZF doesn't. It's GREAT on gas mileage, but it's far from a performance-oriented gearbox. Here's my list of peeves:

• When making a turn, it will ride the torque converter in 3rd rather than dropping to 2nd, which elicits a CVT-rubber-band effect (yet, it's a traditional gear-shifting box)
• It makes it's own decisions on how it wants to downshift when you mash on it, with sometimes long delays (3-5 seconds)
• The freewheel effect when downshifting to 4th (dog gear), although I'm used to it now. But anyone not used to it thinks the car is out of gear completely and panics.
• No matter how many software updates and relearn procedures done, the 2-3 shift sucks when loafing around. Under hard acceleration it's smooth. But normal daily it's a kick each time. It's a software issue, not hardware. But it's still unpleasant.

Last year I purchased an S2000 to give me back my pleasure of driving. The TLX is now a commuter car.

someguy11

Just to memorialize this, yes, you described all of these quite well, I'm familiar with all of them and agree that hating the tranny isn't worth ditching the whole car. It just does stuff that no other past car did, current car does or future car will do. Your first bullet happens to me every day and it really blows my mind how poor that shift is. The TC is taking that abuse. If I were a passenger in my own stick shift car and someone was riding my clutch that badly, I would say something about letting the pedal all the way up faster. Your third bullet too. The way this car coasts downhill, hesitates, and thanks to its mechanical limitations, finds itself in the wrong gear and cannot shift promptly or properly.

With my TSX, Odyssey or any other car I've driven, poking the throttle would yield a small, short spike in RPM, maybe a down-and-up shift. But this ZF9... I did it yesterday again to prove I wasn't crazy and noticed it's worse than I described. It's actually downshift, downshift, coast at ridiculously high RPM, then upshift, then upshift. The whole process from punching it to normal takes 4-5 seconds. That's just poking and releasing the pedal.