Transmission i Shift change - new software

[roscobbc]

Originally Posted by Brodick

I would think the reason that this has not hit the headlines or been on watchdog or the fact that no one has be injured is that the majority of owners are more than happy with their car the system is good the only
tiny (and I mean tiny) issue is the sensation you get when the car is changing gear fells strange ( though it is perfectly normal it is the system dipping the clutch and changing gear)

I am aware that there are a few unhappy i-shift owners on here and I am sure a few more are out there aswell but the symptoms described by roscobbc seem quite odd and can only lead me to one of two conclusions

1. There is a major fault with the i-shift software or the clutch
2. You need to change your driving style slightly

Having the full auto box in the CR-V and the semi auto in the gives me the best of both worlds so we have the smooth as silk cruiser CR-V
and the Sporty lets get on with it Civic

I would love to have a drive of your car Roscobbc and some of the other
guys cars and vice versa to see what the difference is

you should speak to your dealer and see if he has a NEW i-shift car
go for a drive in it with the foreman and then drive yours with the foreman

because it is a good system it works

Fair points. The fact that mine was a used model and that the previous (perhaps elderly) owner couldn't get on with transmission hasn't influenced me. However I have a colleague with the same vehicle albeit slightly later (but not 2007 upgrade) and his experience has influenced me. He has had exactly the same issues as myself and in fact is so disenchanted with the car he only drives it in manual mode. Yes my driving syle may well be part of the problem, but if you just look for a moment at a conventional torque converter automatic transmission this will adapt itself to any driving style by nature of the design. No I'm afraid to say 'it is a good system and it works' is not correct. Even Honda garage people refer to it as I-Sh*t.
Good news (well I hope so) see my next posting.

[roscobbc]

I spoke with Honda Customer Relations this morning regarding the overdue recall/modifications and the response was "There is a 're-write' disc going out (as we speak) to all UK dealers. All dealers will have this disc within the next 5 days". They went on to suggest contacting your dealer once they have received it to arrange the modifications. Lets all hope this addresses all of the problems!

[Kremmen]

All dealers will have this disc within the next 5 days".

anyone opening a book with suitable odds

[roscobbc]

Originally Posted by Kremmen

anyone opening a book with suitable odds

I will be on thier as*es if this doesn't happen! I am really in a temper over this issue.

[mikefennelly]

Originally Posted by ecs43x

I agree with you having same complain and problem.

Hi
If you wish I am more than willing to join in a class action against Honda as the stock reply from them is "it is the first time they have had this happen" be it the handbrake failing or the lack of gear change on roundabouts or corners with the resultant screaming engine!!! Come on all of you who have a simular problem or experiance join now slay the beast!! or at least wound him into action

[roscobbc]

Originally Posted by mikefennelly

Hi
If you wish I am more than willing to join in a class action against Honda as the stock reply from them is "it is the first time they have had this happen" be it the handbrake failing or the lack of gear change on roundabouts or corners with the resultant screaming engine!!! Come on all of you who have a simular problem or experiance join now slay the beast!! or at least wound him into action

I will give them benefit of doubt for a week or so re. this supposed re-call and see what happens. Havn't had the handbrake failure. Got the spare tyre kit after experiencing a major 'flat'.

[ecs43x]

Originally Posted by Brodick

that sounds like something over and above the norm !

We have had an 07 i-shift since march 07 and not had any problems
yes the system occasionally takes a couple of extra seconds to decide which gear it should be in but it is normally ready for anything

we have a fully automatic CR-V which is smooth - but find the civic to be a lot of fun

will be interesting to see how the upgrade affects your car

Originally Posted by dobbie

This may supprise you as to the severaty of the problems I have had.

1 Pulling onto roundabouts between 9 - 15mph the i-shift cant make its mind up as what gear to sellect so in most cases it stops and select first.

2 On many occasions I have pulled out of junctions or onto roundabouts and have floored the accellarator only to find the i-shift dis-engaged. As long as my foot was on the floor the car sat there on the roundabout wondering what to do. This is just some of the major problems with this car. I have issued legal proceedings with Honda on this. I have had this car for 10 months and have been through countless situations on the road which has resulted in so many near misses that my familly will no longer travel init. Now it resides in Crown Motors bushey who have deemed the car to dangerous to drive. I personally dont think a software fix is the answer. I think there is a mechanical fault as well.

Hello Brodick review my post on 31st October 2007 14:33 ( I'm in France and dobbie described well the problem I have too ). I'l waiting on an upgrade since last year anbd Honda France was informed several time about my complain.

[Brodick]

Originally Posted by ecs43x

Hello Brodick review my post on 31st October 2007 14:33 ( I'm in France and dobbie described well the problem I have too ). I'l waiting on an upgrade since last year anbd Honda France was informed several time about my complain.

Maybe so ecs that doesn't affect the fact that most people seem to be more than happy with their cars with i-shift boxes

I have never denied that some cars may have some issues that is affecting their performance - but it is only some

our car has an 07 model i-shift and 9 months on we have not had any issues

[Maldax]

Originally Posted by roscobbc

1st through to 4th and the screaming engine is actually the clutch slipping. Living with the smell of burning clutch for a few hours is unpleasant enough.

I have never had my engine screaming and have had an 06 i-Shift for over a year.

I think taking another out for a test drive and see if it acts the same way would be a good idea. And yes I do city driving and did a very zippy 3point turn only yesterday (quite impressed myself infact)

[ITSRICKSCIVIC]

Originally Posted by roscobbc

I spoke with Honda Customer Relations this morning regarding the overdue recall/modifications and the response was "There is a 're-write' disc going out (as we speak) to all UK dealers. All dealers will have this disc within the next 5 days". They went on to suggest contacting your dealer once they have received it to arrange the modifications. Lets all hope this addresses all of the problems!

Well lets hope this is true i have migivings with the i shift but never complained too much , however i was told by H.U.K and stelers that there is not going to be and will never be an upgrade.

roscobbc did you get a name of the person you spoke to?
If so please can you let us all know for future reference thanks

[Brodick]

Originally Posted by ITSRICKSCIVIC

Well lets hope this is true i have migivings with the i shift but never complained too much , however i was told by H.U.K and stelers that there is not going to be and will never be an upgrade.

roscobbc did you get a name of the person you spoke to?
If so please can you let us all know for future reference thanks

As far as we are aware this upgrade is for the pre march '07 i-shift's

so if you got your car after this date - it is unlikely this version will be upgraded

[roscobbc]

Originally Posted by Brodick

As far as we are aware this upgrade is for the pre march '07 i-shift's

so if you got your car after this date - it is unlikely this version will be upgraded

I didn't get the name, but no matter my call was recorded (as have all previous calls) and Customer Relations/Services only enter into any details or specifics once they have the registration number.
I will not be letting the matter rest!
Us Brits are all too easlily walked on. Especially by this current government and our London 'champion' for the oppressed Red Ken (don't start me off!)

[eyemdee]

Originally Posted by Brodick

As far as we are aware this upgrade is for the pre march '07 i-shift's

so if you got your car after this date - it is unlikely this version will be upgraded

If Honda are now at the stage where the transmission can be remapped at dealer level from disk, I can think of no reason why this should not be done to ANY i-shift Civic as the software is improved.

Having read about the various problems experienced by members with 06 cars, I think that the 07 software is a vast improvement as I find mine difficult to fault.

If the i-shift software was Windows (heaven forbid!), then the 07 upgrade could be thought of as SP1 and it could well now be SP2 that is being shipped to dealers in which case they could all be upgraded at service time?

[jazzman]

Originally Posted by Brodick

Maybe so ecs that doesn't affect the fact that most people seem to be more than happy with their cars with i-shift boxes

I have never denied that some cars may have some issues that is affecting their performance - but it is only some

our car has an 07 model i-shift and 9 months on we have not had any issues

Well said. We have found the same with our one. It bedded in beautifully at about 700 miles and it`s now as smooth as silk in all modes

[Brodick]

Originally Posted by eyemdee

If Honda are now at the stage where the transmission can be remapped at dealer level from disk, I can think of no reason why this should not be done to ANY i-shift Civic as the software is improved.

except the software is designed to help the 06 i-shift box
as you said the 07 box is fine

[eyemdee]

Originally Posted by Brodick

except the software is designed to help the 06 i-shift box
as you said the 07 box is fine

I find the 07 version difficult to fault now, but if Honda are indeed at the stage that the i-shift transmission can be remapped to the latest software by the dealer during service, then I would be happy to take advantage of any further improvements that they develop, both now and in the future.

The i-shift type automatic transmission is probably here to stay, as it is apparently less expensive to produce than a conventional auto, and in my experience to date is much more economical to run.

If it is only a question of running a disk based routine while the car is connected to the Honda diagnostic computer, why not have the latest version?

[roscobbc]

Originally Posted by eyemdee

I find the 07 version difficult to fault now, but if Honda are indeed at the stage that the i-shift transmission can be remapped to the latest software by the dealer during service, then I would be happy to take advantage of any further improvements that they develop, both now and in the future.

The i-shift type automatic transmission is probably here to stay, as it is apparently less expensive to produce than a conventional auto, and in my experience to date is much more economical to run.

If it is only a question of running a disk based routine while the car is connected to the Honda diagnostic computer, why not have the latest version?

These things being led by emmissions rather than manufacturing descisions. More economical yes, to a point. Unfortunately if you are using the on board display (rather than actually checking the physical amount of fuel used and checking speed by gps) then you will have factor-in 10% speedo inacuracy which in turn means 10% less economy than you thought. My old 1.4 auto would adverage 36mpg and perhaps squeeze 40 mpg on a run. My 1.8 I-Shift says 36 mpg around town and 40-44 mpg on a run. THere are really 33 mpg around town and 36 - 40 mpg on a run. I will accept that perhaps my driving style is less economical than than some other on this forum. This calculation also applies to many other car manaufacturers for this reason - THEY CAN ARTIFICIALLY MAKE THEIR CARS SEEM 'GREENER' THAN THEY REALLY ARE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And all this by just making the speedo read 10% fast!

[eyemdee]

Originally Posted by roscobbc

These things being led by emmissions rather than manufacturing descisions. More economical yes, to a point. Unfortunately if you are using the on board display (rather than actually checking the physical amount of fuel used and checking speed by gps) then you will have factor-in 10% speedo inacuracy which in turn means 10% less economy than you thought. My old 1.4 auto would adverage 36mpg and perhaps squeeze 40 mpg on a run. My 1.8 I-Shift says 36 mpg around town and 40-44 mpg on a run. THere are really 33 mpg around town and 36 - 40 mpg on a run. I will accept that perhaps my driving style is less economical than than some other on this forum. This calculation also applies to many other car manaufacturers for this reason - THEY CAN ARTIFICIALLY MAKE THEIR CARS SEEM 'GREENER' THAN THEY REALLY ARE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And all this by just making the speedo read 10% fast!

I agree that the mpg computer is "optimistic" as I also check the actual miles v petrol used to calculate the actual mpg. I also agree that the speedo reads fast by 4 - 5 mph across most of it's range. However, I do not think the mileometer is far out and I find that the calculated mpg is fairly accurate - and excellent for the car's performance!

I used to run a Saab 9-3 2.0t 4 speed auto with 150bhp which used to return a calculated 23 - 24mpg on my 15-20 mile commute to work. The Civic i-shift with 140bhp is returning 35-36mpg using the same routes - and is much more !

[roscobbc]

Originally Posted by eyemdee

I agree that the mpg computer is "optimistic" as I also check the actual miles v petrol used to calculate the actual mpg. I also agree that the speedo reads fast by 4 - 5 mph across most of it's range. However, I do not think the mileometer is far out and I find that the calculated mpg is fairly accurate - and excellent for the car's performance!

I used to run a Saab 9-3 2.0t 4 speed auto with 150bhp which used to return a calculated 23 - 24mpg on my 15-20 mile commute to work. The Civic i-shift with 140bhp is returning 35-36mpg using the same routes - and is much more !

Yes the performance is a worthwhile gain aginst any supposed loss of economy. I will check the mileometer carefully. I must admit making the presumption that it would read with the same degree of accuracy as the speedo, being driven/generated from the same source.

[Doubtingthomas]

and I find that the calculated mpg is fairly accurate - and excellent for the car's performance!

I used to run a Saab 9-3 2.0t 4 speed auto with 150bhp which used to return a calculated 23 - 24mpg on my 15-20 mile commute to work. The Civic i-shift with 140bhp is returning 35-36mpg using the same routes - and is much more ![/quote]

I have a '57 i-shift ES. I filled up with petrol on Friday and travelled to Chester to visit a family friend. We did a short local journey whilst there and then returned home last night, Saturday. The on board computer tells me that on returning home I had travelled 118 miles, returning 48.4 mpg. Most of that was either Motorway or A roads. I complied with legal speed limits and at times used cruise control.

I have said before that I do not think even my i-shift is 100% perfect, displaying it's imperfections in the lower gears. I know it is not a true automatic gear box. I have not, as yet, experienced some of the dangerous situations other members have. I am convinced, having had the car for two months now, that driving style does come into the equation, but only to a degree.

I think there is a consensus that the i-shift problems are mainly associated with pre March 07 models, as Brodick says. What I cannot understand from this forum is that some owners of pre 07 i-shifts do not appear to be affected. Honda have modified the i-shift on later models acknowledging room for improvement on earlier models. I just wonder whether there is a further unidentified problem associated with the problem pre March 07 civics.