So today I took the car out on a nice long trip (~400 miles roundtrip), so I really got a chance to open it up on the freeway. Now I was using the steering paddle shifters and I noticed something odd... When in 3rd gear at full throttle when the tach gets to 5000rpm, there is a pause in the needle movement, but the speedo is still climbing, then the rpm needle starts moving a second later and goes up normally to redline.

However if you leave the car in drive and do the same thing (floor it in 3rd to redline) there is no pause on the tach needle in moving. Odd.

Anyone else every try this or notice this issue ?

 

Not really but it could be the Vtec shift point there is a slight drop of torque at that point when the engine shifts to the taller cams. What is very irritating is the shift lag near redline, if you do not shift well before redline you will hit the limiter. The slowness of the manual shifting system is what makes it more of a gimmick than a real enthusiastic driving enabler.

 

Yeah 5k is the stock v-tec shift point, so it could be that... but then I'm still confused why when using the car in auto mode there is no lag in the rpms moving towards redline. Maybe there is more load on the engine, b/c in 2nd gear I did not notice this issue

Just wondering if other RL owners have experienced this issue.

 

When I bought this car, I was really looking forward to using the paddles...I hardly ever use them now because they shift so damn slow.

 

They are slow, maybe Honda will have a software update to speed them up, are you reading this Honda????

 

I see, but has anyone else tried being on the highway and flooring it in 3rd gear to redline ? it's just so weird that when in automode there is no lag in rpms moving.

Which leads me to believe that this car is faster if you leave it in auto vs manual shift mode ?.

 

My RDX paddle shifters shift quickly and so does my 07 MDX. Could that have improved it on the 07 RL's ?

 

Perhaps it's the lock-up torque converter?

Maybe it locks-up differently in man. mode.

 

There was a discussion about this sometime last year. Try searching the posts. I took mine out but never noticed it because I didn't quite understand what the original poster was getting at. However I did discover that the RL can hit over 100 in 3rd...at least that's where I backed off since I was running out of highway. I think I commented that 3rd is a very useful gear when in manual.

 

I tried to reproduce this last night on the way home. Put it in third and accelerated through 5000 to try and get a hitch, and could not get anything. Did not quite get to 6000 because I was going awfully fast on 55 road.

 

Chas2, so in 3rd with the paddles you saw the rpm needle move smoothly up from where every you started till near 6k ?. In my case what happened is the rpm needle doesn't move for a sec at 5k, but the speed of the car is increasing. I wonder if it's something I can bring up to the dealer. Hmm

 

Correct, there was a smooth transition through 5K, in 3rd gear, manual mode. No hitch, definitely not for a second.

I tried it again tonight, but there was too much traffic to get much past 5K, so I cannot say I have done it twice and failed to reproduce your symptoms, but I did not feel like there would have been a hitch. Temp tonight was 24, yesterday night was 16, if that makes a difference. Roads were dry and newly repaved this late summer, fall.

 

Thanks Chas2 for testing. I'm lost on what I should do about the issue.

 

It's probably "normal" and not anything to worry about. Did you locate the prior posts on this subject?

 

No problem. I wish I could have helped you, but....

I have to admit that I have had more fun the last three days trying to reproduce your symptom in 2nd and 3rd gear! Still have not been able to reproduce it, but I love the car running in the 4-6K range!

 

bluemule, I wasn't able to find much other than a tsb on the '05's where they was a reprogram available I think for 4th gear. Do you by any chance have a link with more info ?.

I have a '06 so I assume that I would not need that tsb.

 

I'll try to reproduce this, too, this weekend as I'm (mercifully!) not on call. I haven't noticed that, and I drive in a spirited fashion.

EDIT: HERE is the previous discussion describing this hesitation, with simpler instructions on how to reproduce it. HTH!

 

I think they have, specifically in the RDX since it has rev matched downshifts. The RDX can de shifted manually any time and it uses only the paddles, the stick does not have a manual mode. I'm not a paddle fan, being an old stick guy I preffer it. However as we have all mentioned in the RL the manumatic is more show than function, that is also true for the TL system.

 

Thanks for the thread Bob. I'm glad to know other people have experienced it. For a moment there I thought I was going crazy.

Also there is a rev-limter function in park which will not allow you to rev over 5k, but that is not what I am experiencing. That 5k limit in park is normal on all RL's.

 

I just tried with my '06 non-Tech and did not notice what you are describing. Sorry. keep us informed.

 

I just tried it this morning with my warmed up engine.

With manual mode, in third gear, the needle rises smoothly until just over 5k rpm, then pauses for a millisecond, then continues its ascent. The engine sounds no different and acceleration continues during that pause. Not sure it's anything significant.

 

I went out early this morning to give it a go with the 5K rpm issue. As noted in the thread, It happens in manu-shift mode, 3rd gear, 5000rpm to 5300rpm, the rockets up to 6000rpm

Very very strange. Tried it again in auto mode and the RL shot up to 6500rpm before shifting to 4th gear.

Is there a fix for this....I sure hope so..