2016 Civic 1.5L Turbo Surges at Highway Speeds (45–70 MPH) S.B. #16-028

Enjoy the updates!!

First service at T&T Honda Calgary & 2235A2 Update TCM

Is there a way to check to see if this was done prior to purchasing my vehicle? I received it on April 2nd.

MMarquez661 said:

Is there a way to check to see if this was done prior to purchasing my vehicle? I received it on April 2nd.

Click to expand...

Not without the Honda HDS tool. When was it built? (Door jamb plate month/year date?) At some point it is likely that they cut this firmware into production. Don't have a clue when that was. Our was built in mid-February or shortly before this TSB was sent to dealers. Our selling dealer refused to even look to see if this update would install. Said we'd have to buy the car and report the problem before Honda would let them even look. That said, we haven't experienced it. (Yet?)

Happy to report I received the 16-028 TCM update (highway surging) update from my dealership despite not having experienced the problem myself. Driving in NYC, I don't often cover more than 10 miles at a time at highway speeds, however I'm planning on a 2500 mile road trip in August and wanted to have this done preemptively. Rather than explain that, I just told them I had the surging issue, gave the service bulletin number, and they did the update no questions asked. Can't say for sure, but my fuel economy seemed slightly better on the way back, but that might be my imagination. I'll know for sure after a few days worth of routine trips.

Got the TSB done and it fixed the problem. car doesn't surge anymore at all, thank god. had to beg the techs to do it bc they couldn't recreate the problem so I had to go down and show them during rush hour. I could barely find an open stretch of road to coast on but got it to surge for like a split second, pretty sure the tech thought I was insane and just agreed to do it to get me out of his hair

Finally got my dealership to acknowledge the updates and made an appt to bring it in. Fingers crossed.

RPM fluctuates also on my car on any speed but mostly when there is a slope on the road. E.g if I am driving on highway at the speed of 75mph under cruise control then rpm would go from 2100 rpm to 2300 when it is going uphil on the slope and 2100 when going downhill and then stay in the middle for no slope. This sounds normal as the engine has to work harder for uphill keeping the same speed. So I am confused if this still comes under this surging issue or not. Please advise what to look for to find out if this issue is affecting my car or not.

kommong2 said:

RPM fluctuates also on my car on any speed but mostly when there is a slope on the road. E.g if I am driving on highway at the speed of 75mph under cruise control then rpm would go from 2100 rpm to 2300 when it is going uphil on the slope and 2100 when going downhill and then stay in the middle for no slope. This sounds normal as the engine has to work harder for uphill keeping the same speed. So I am confused if this still comes under this surging issue or not. Please advise what to look for to find out if this issue is affecting my car or not.

Click to expand...

That's perfectly normal, and not the surging issue. When it goes uphill, to maintain the same speed, it's going to either give more throttle, or 'downshift' a little. When going downhill, it may go up slightly with your speed (or depending on whether or not you have ECON mode on, may 'downshift' to try to slow it down some). That's what's expected of any car when you have cruise control on in these situations.

The surging issue is when the RPM goes up and down small amounts fairly rapidly. You can almost see the tach needle 'bouncing', for lack of a better word, and it feels almost like a wobble when you're driving.

Went to my dealer this morning and got it fixed in less than 20 minutes. Side bonus, the car has much smoother off-throttle to on-throttle transitions. If you know what I mean.

kommong2 said:

RPM fluctuates also on my car on any speed but mostly when there is a slope on the road. E.g if I am driving on highway at the speed of 75mph under cruise control then rpm would go from 2100 rpm to 2300 when it is going uphil on the slope and 2100 when going downhill and then stay in the middle for no slope. This sounds normal as the engine has to work harder for uphill keeping the same speed. So I am confused if this still comes under this surging issue or not. Please advise what to look for to find out if this issue is affecting my car or not.

Click to expand...

In my particular case, I noticed my car jerking before I ever noticed my RPMs fluctuating. If your car is affected, you'll definitely feel it. The jerking is kind of hard to describe, but to me it felt like the car was constantly trying to shift into a gear that wasn't there. And, if you're on straight, flat road, the RPMs will constantly bounce up and down in a very steady, repetitive motion. After the update, it has been the smoothest ride of any car I've ever driven.

Very unfortunate for me. City of Alhambra in California, I dropped of my car and they just called me back saying my car did not accept the update and result of this the car will not start. I will have to leave it over night for them to call their engineers to come fix it.

royalstevn said:

Very unfortunate for me. City of Alhambra in California, I dropped of my car and they just called me back saying my car did not accept the update and result of this the car will not start. I will have to leave it over night for them to call their engineers to come fix it.

Click to expand...

I had mine done today...I thought I was unlucky with the fact that it took three hours!! DAMN that sucks.

i dropped it off at 7:30 am and they said it will be done by 12 pm got the call around 2:30 pm. i do not mind the time as long as they do a good job, but i guess it took them long because they were trying to get it updated. Maybe i should have went to a more experienced dealership, but i will see tomorrow.

the grass is always greener on the side, but the grass can also be just as brown (;

royalstevn said:

Very unfortunate for me. City of Alhambra in California, I dropped of my car and they just called me back saying my car did not accept the update and result of this the car will not start. I will have to leave it over night for them to call their engineers to come fix it.

Click to expand...

They bricked your car?! You are kidding, right?