RPM Spiking

scorcher · Mon May 16, 2011 8:37 pm

Knock on wood I have not had any issues with the CVT. 2010 Kiz SLS with 7,500 and 8 months old. Runs great. Hopefully it stays that way. Only recall I am aware of si the pully and had that done.

gentle_ben · Thu May 19, 2011 4:43 am

We can add the amplifier to this list now too...

My wife drives this car, and she drives very carefully, on very good roads and never turns the stereo up really unless I am in there with her. All of this stuff breaking or being replaced is all do to faulty equipment, not from abuse in any way.

I will check the build date tomorrow when I take it to Suzuki for the stereo and amplifier replacement. I will be showing them the split leather on the replacement steering wheel they installed 2 months ago as well.

Don't get me wrong, still LOVE this car, but its getting a little out of hand. If my Suzuki dealer wasn't so great with their customer service I would be irate by now.

gentle_ben wrote:Ok, transmission and TCM have been replaced... sigh.

Suzuki has been good about replacing stuff on warranty, but I am seriously wondering if we have a lemon here.

So far we have had the following replaced on warranty and we haven't had the car a year.

- Steering Wheel (actually needs to be replaced again due to leather cracking and splitting)
- Subwoofer
- Transmission
- Transmission control module
- Stereo head unit

Basically the only other major component left to change is the engine and it will be pretty well a new car.

gentle_ben · Fri Aug 17, 2012 3:40 pm

I just wanted to update this.

Suzuki replaced our transmission and TCM, which fixed the problem for about a month, then the RPM's started spiking again, and the drivetrain started making a horrible squeeling sound when it was cold and put into reverse.

It took some convincing, and another 3 visits to the dealership, plus more video evidence, but Suzuki eventually replaced the transmission again.

Thats a total of 3 transmissions in 18 months.

Also when they put the tranmission in, they somehow jammed a rock somewhere, which made our car squeek like mad. So that was another 2 dealership visits and another 30 miles of test driving they had to do on it.

Very frustrated with this car, but my wife loves it, so it remains in our driveway for now.

NiteRider · Tue Aug 21, 2012 8:24 pm

Can you tell us what the build date was?

gentle_ben · Thu Aug 23, 2012 2:19 pm

NiteRider wrote:Can you tell us what the build date was?

Where do I find the build date?

NiteRider · Thu Aug 23, 2012 3:22 pm

Open the Driver's door and look at the bottom right of the door sill. You should see a black sticker 2"x4" in size showing build date and where it was built.

gentle_ben · Tue Sep 04, 2012 2:42 pm

February 2010 is the build date.

11zukizashi · Wed Sep 05, 2012 6:34 pm

i noticed this while driving in the rain on the highway yesterday after driving for about 30 minutes. It appears that the torque converter is popping unlocked for no good reason. Cruising on the highway ~70mph ~2000rpm and then it pops up to like 2500 and has some play 2300-2600 then goes back to locked mode ~2000. Im going to keep my phone ready to do a video and try to reproduce it. I have also had the steering wheel replaced under warranty from cracks in the leather.

gentle_ben · Wed Sep 05, 2012 9:41 pm

11zukizashi wrote:i noticed this while driving in the rain on the highway yesterday after driving for about 30 minutes. It appears that the torque converter is popping unlocked for no good reason. Cruising on the highway ~70mph ~2000rpm and then it pops up to like 2500 and has some play 2300-2600 then goes back to locked mode ~2000. Im going to keep my phone ready to do a video and try to reproduce it. I have also had the steering wheel replaced under warranty from cracks in the leather.

That doesn't sound like what was happening to me, but recording what was happening with my phone was the only way I could get them to warranty it the first time.

I do have one good thing to say, since getting it replaced the second time, we've seen a dramatic improvement in fuel mileage. Before we were only getting around 500km per tank of fuel doing all highway driving, since the last replacement we regularly get around 700 km per tank, and this past weekend we were able to get 800km to a tank of fuel. The 800km was an extreme situation where we had a very strong tail wind, but it was fun while it lasted.

Thu Sep 06, 2012 1:24 pm

I'm beginning to suspect that the trans/TCM package is the reason that many people are not seeing good fuel economy. Why is it some, like myself, are getting 28-29mpg while driving like grandma and others are getting much, much lower? My guess is that Ben didn't really change his driving habits since the new trans & TCM were installed. How would we know that the rpms are running slightly higher at certain speeds from one vehicle to the next? Could decreasing fuel economy (w/o changing driving habits) be a signal of a future failure w/ the trans/TCM pkg.? hmmmm....