[Subarunewbie]

Just transitioned from a 99 4Runner to an Ascent Limited. Picked it up last week in Colorado Springs and promptly drove off the lot and to central Florida. I now have just over 2000 miles and am loving it.

My only question is when I am using cruise control at about 40-45 mph (small town + long distances + dark roads = constant police trap). However I am noticing a lot of stutter in the engine (rpms also fluctuate). Seems o go away at higher speeds. Anyone else having a similar issue? Should this be happening?

Thanks in advance for your help and thoughts

 

[adx]

Are you sure it's the engine and not the transmission trying to pull down to a lower RPM?

 

[bverant]

I have noticed this as well. Mines in the shop for this and a host of other issues related to the crappy transmission. Not expecting Subaru to fix it.

 

[MAGNUMB]

That sucks...These CVTs seem to be run on software only and i think this is causing a lot of the weird issues as the programming is complicated as their are tons of variables. As much as people like to praise these i'm still on the fence. I think Subaru is using these to compete on MPG and save some money otherwise they'd just use a regular trans. It's not because they are superior pieces of hardware at least not yet from what i can see.

I've had issues with my Legacy and they don;t seem to be completely resolved and the Ascent sometimes gives a strange noise when shifting from reverse to drive and the RPMs act weird in certain circumstances. Give me a lightweight 6 cylinder and a 5 speed and i'll take the 3-4MPG or so hit and torque curve that is not as nice.

 

[manzillo11]

I am having the same issue. it happens anywhere between 25-50 mph and It happened once while lightly pressing on the gas to move up to a traffic light. I notice it the most when using cruise control at speeds 26-27 mph, 32-33mph, 42-43 mph and 46-47 mph.

I dropped the car off the morning of 10/24. in the afternoon I received a phone call saying they weren't able to duplicate the problem and found nothing wrong with the car. when I picked up my car I asked to take a service tech for a ride to prove the problem. while I hade the cruise control set at 47 mph the car stuttered. the tech said this wasn't normal and was going to talk to the service manager. the service manager decided to keep the car another day.

on 10/25 they called me to say that they hadn't had a chance to look at my car that day and they wanted to keep it another day. I did not believe this at all.

on 10/26 they called me to say that Subaru engineers wanted logs sent to them and that they were going to keep the over the weekend.

I have no faith in them resolving this issue. if they give me the excuse that this is normal and isn't hurting the car when I go to pick up my car im going to ask them to prove it to me by taking me for a ride in a different ascent and duplicating the issue.

if there is any interest I will continue to give updates in this thread, just let me know

tldr… I have the same issue and after having the car for 3 business days my local Subaru dealership have no answers.

 

[WebSnyper]

I am having the same issue. it happens anywhere between 25-50 mph and It happened once while lightly pressing on the gas to move up to a traffic light. I notice it the most when using cruise control at speeds 26-27 mph, 32-33mph, 42-43 mph and 46-47 mph.

I dropped the car off the morning of 10/24. in the afternoon I received a phone call saying they weren't able to duplicate the problem and found nothing wrong with the car. when I picked up my car I asked to take a service tech for a ride to prove the problem. while I hade the cruise control set at 47 mph the car stuttered. the tech said this wasn't normal and was going to talk to the service manager. the service manager decided to keep the car another day.

on 10/25 they called me to say that they hadn't had a chance to look at my car that day and they wanted to keep it another day. I did not believe this at all.

on 10/26 they called me to say that Subaru engineers wanted logs sent to them and that they were going to keep the over the weekend.

I have no faith in them resolving this issue. if they give me the excuse that this is normal and isn't hurting the car when I go to pick up my car im going to ask them to prove it to me by taking me for a ride in a different ascent and duplicating the issue.

if there is any interest I will continue to give updates in this thread, just let me know

tldr… I have the same issue and after having the car for 3 business days my local Subaru dealership have no answers.

Keep us posted.



Stupid question, does this only happen when cruise control is being used?

 

[bverant]

That sucks...These CVTs seem to be run on software only and i think this is causing a lot of the weird issues as the programming is complicated as their are tons of variables. As much as people like to praise these i'm still on the fence. I think Subaru is using these to compete on MPG and save some money otherwise they'd just use a regular trans. It's not because they are superior pieces of hardware at least not yet from what i can see.

I've had issues with my Legacy and they don;t seem to be completely resolved and the Ascent sometimes gives a strange noise when shifting from reverse to drive and the RPMs act weird in certain circumstances. Give me a lightweight 6 cylinder and a 5 speed and i'll take the 3-4MPG or so hit and torque curve that is not as nice.

Maybe Subaru should, GASP, just let a CVT be a CVT and not hobble it with stupid fake shifts! Or at least let each person choose between fake shifts or CVT operation.

 

[manzillo11]

Keep us posted.



Stupid question, does this only happen when cruise control is being used?

no using cruise control is the easiest way to make it happen at the speeds I described.

 

[manzillo11]

10/29 no phone call from my local Subaru dealer. if I don't hear from them towards the end of the day tomorrow I will probably call them.

I will try to update this thread everyday. if I get annoying let me know and I will slow down the posts.

 

[JVL009]

@manzillo11 Keep us posted. My vehicle is the same way. It's one of the items on my list to discuss with the dealership when I take it in for its first maintenance check. A bit glad that I am not the only one experiencing this issue. It does go ahead at higher speed though and runs fairly smooth but at low speed, or upon acceleration from a stop, feels like the engine or transmission is working extra hard to pull the vehicle forward, and not only do you hear the engine reving louder than usual, but as you move, you'll get some hesitation and stutter before you reach a certain mph.

 

[bverant]

No one should be afraid to report these stuttering issues to Subaru via their customer service phone and email. It's the only way we'll get action done on issues like this -- they won't listen to just one customer; it'll take a crowd of voices to make changes happen.

 

[Nemesis099]

For those having this issue see if you can record it. This helps a lot and can show us what you are seeing. I have had this happen on cold mornings and I notice the engine rev up a lot more than normal but goes away once the engine is warm. My old car did the exact same thing where it would not shift up a gear when it was cold.

Having a stutter is another issue all together but I wonder if part of the blame goes on the Turbo which can give more power than needed and then the transmission shifts a bit then the Turbo stops and this is causing the issue.

 

[JVL009]

For those having this issue see if you can record it. This helps a lot and can show us what you are seeing. I have had this happen on cold mornings and I notice the engine rev up a lot more than normal but goes away once the engine is warm. My old car did the exact same thing where it would not shift up a gear when it was cold.

Having a stutter is another issue all together but I wonder if part of the blame goes on the Turbo which can give more power than needed and then the transmission shifts a bit then the Turbo stops and this is causing the issue.

I'll try to record it tomorrow morning when I head for work and post it here. But yeah, the engine revs up a lot more than usual during a cold start (most of the time) but it does happen throughout the day. Seems a bit of lag/hesitation when accelerating from 0 to 10 or 20mph, with a high RPM. I've experienced a lot too, during a red light and accelerating upon green.

 

[the_mexican]

I had the same problem with my previous Nissan Pathfinder, 3 software updates and a new tranny later fixed the problem. Bverant is correct, it takes a lot of people to get a company to fix the problem, in Nissan case, it took the possibility of a class action lawsuit to get them to act, unfortunate.

 

[RCoaster]

Mine exhibits the same problem as well. I wonder if it has to do with the electronic wastegate. I also noticed it happens around 1750-2000 rpm.

 

[Tony Bessel]

Can someone elaborate on what this stutter is? It is a single, sudden jerk as if the engine had a single misfire or is it a prolonged thing where for a period of time the engine does not seem to run smoothly?

 

[RCoaster]

It's like a hesitation feeling, and you can see the tach needle move up and down, approximately 50-100 rpms. I even tried it with the transmission lever in "M" to lock in a ratio, and it still exhibits the behavior. I'm taking it in on Thursday to get my side window deflectors installed, and I'll bring it up and hopefully they'll apply the ECU update according to TSB 11-183-18R.

 

[Tony Bessel]

It's like a hesitation feeling, and you can see the tach needle move up and down, approximately 50-100 rpms. I even tried it with the transmission lever in "M" to lock in a ratio, and it still exhibits the behavior. I'm taking it in on Thursday to get my side window deflectors installed, and I'll bring it up and hopefully they'll apply the ECU update according to TSB 11-183-18R.

So when you are driving, the engine feels as if it is not running smoothly and despite constant throttle, the RPMs start to fluctuate?

I don't think I have ever experienced this but according to the TSB you mention, my VIN already has the newer programming.

 

[JVL009]

It's like a hesitation feeling, and you can see the tach needle move up and down, approximately 50-100 rpms. I even tried it with the transmission lever in "M" to lock in a ratio, and it still exhibits the behavior. I'm taking it in on Thursday to get my side window deflectors installed, and I'll bring it up and hopefully they'll apply the ECU update according to TSB 11-183-18R.

How do you check if you have this ECU update or not?

 

[Tony Bessel]

This bulletin announces reprogramming file availability to optimize the ECM. These new files involve the ECM’s diagnosis of DTC P0045: TURBOCHARGER / SUPERCHARGER BOOST CONTROL “A” CIRCUIT OPEN. In some cases, an engine RPM drop may occur when selecting D or R range too quickly following ignition on and before the engine reaches full operation during the ECM’s initial control of the waste gate valve. Should this occur P0045 may set the next time the engine is started.

The new ECM logic was incorporated into production starting with VIN K3414977.

If the last 7 digits of your VIN are greater than 3414977 then you already have the update. Every Ascent from that VIN onward used the new programming during production.