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Slow Acceleration or Turbo Lag ***SOLUTION***

63K views 26 replies 13 participants last post by  Doty 
#1 ·
.
Did some research and found a successful solution for myself.

Reset Automatic Transmission:

0. Press "Start" button only. (ie: Do NOT start the engine.)
1. Press and hold gas pedal to floor for approx. 15secs.
2. Press "Start" button again.
3. Release gas pedal.
4. Wait approx. 2mins.; start engine and drive.

(Footnote: This process will renew the transmission program and erase the adaptive learning system to learn your driving style. If ever the system feels slow/sluggish just perform another reset.)
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#6 ·
The reset back to factory was posted in an other forum and some owners found a difference most did not. Depends on how you where driving the car before hand. After a while the car learns your driving habits and goes back to the way it was before the reset.

I had tried it months ago and it seemed to shift better but I think it was my overactive imagination. Or maybe the car was pleased;) with the way I was driving beforehand.
 
#7 ·
Did it and surely it helped.... I like to drive my DS hard and I do step on the gas a lot.... it seems the rest helped when it comes to the smoothness between gears.... before I would make the transmission lose the gears....trying to catch up with me.... jerking a lot....now it is smoother while being quick..... much less jerking and quicker shifting up
it's been only a few days and hope it will last at least several months (I assume it is not permanent solution.....after all...what would you expect from 9 gears transmission paired with 2.0 I4)
It really should be 6..maybe 7 gears max
 
#8 ·
I wasn't having any acceleration issues as others have described, but thought perhaps it had gotten a bit sluggish since new (15,000 miles). So, did the reset last night, and I'll have to say it has made a notable difference :D Not that it was bad before, but the acceleration improvement was noticeable, even in D (not sport). Also seems smoother.

I'm guessing the learning gearbox has gotten into to some undesirable (for me anyway) habits due to my normal driving. My drive to and from work (the vast majority of miles) is on city/surface roads with about 40 mph speed limit, and not much in the way of quick starts, etc. "Unlearning" that is a welcome change!
 
#10 ·
Something to try....
I turned off the anti-skid feature (right most button) and it "seems" to help. I did this every drive since Tuesday PM and it seemed to really change the acceleration profile. Take note of where you have the hesitation problem, then turn off anti-skid and then repeat the offending maneuver.

Let everyone know if you see a difference.

In the upper midwest US, we have quite a bit of snow and ice, a couple of times the anti-skid kicked in and it dawned on me that it behaved almost the same - so I am trying an experiment on that mode.
 
#11 ·
"anti skid" ?????:confused:


I think that you are referring to the DYNAMIC STABILITY CONTROL


Read the warning in the manual


The vehicle's stability and safety may be reduced by inappropriately disabling the Dynamic Stability Control (DSC) system. The result can be a vehicle crash, potentially leading to serious injury or death.
Switching the DSC system off reduces the level of traction control intervention and may lead to an increase in wheel spin.

 
#12 ·
DSC is still anti-skid. Yes, I understand the warning. I grew up with manual brakes, steering into a skid, downshifting and actually driving etc. I have no problem drive with DSC off.
I realize that in the Canada OHS is all powerful, but in the US we still have "some" control over our our own destiny. Maybe that's why they have a button so you can selectively turn it off.

That said, this is an experiment if someone is comfortable with turning it off, see if it helps. LR is no use here, the problem is dangerous, period. I am in an area - right now - that is ... 0 degrees F and 10 inches of snow. I have NO problem with "DSC" off.
The problem with the hesitation is dangerous, LR and service will not engage. I hear from people in the UK, Canada and US that they experience the same lack of response from them (cannot reproduce or a design characteristic) with no help. All I am offing is a test to see if it could be related. For me, I see a marked improvement.
 
#14 ·
Success.......................................................................!
I've been turning off the DSC (anti-skid) function since last Tuesday (January 22).
This has really changed the performance for me.
The Slow acceleration / loss of power problem is gone, except briefly when -20F and the car is cold, so I don't count that.
This made a major improvement to the acceleration problem so many are experiencing / describing.
I personally have no problem with turning DSC off. But the decision is yours based on your comfort level.

I will try to explain the effect next time I'm in (probably in a month or so) for the yearly service.
I don't know if they will do anything, I'm sorry to say as no one in LR has engaged on this yet. But I will try.

Given this was an experiment, I am very surprised that this worked for me as well as it did.
This tells me it's most likely not the transmission, but the software / code that controls these functions.
 
#15 ·
Thanks for posting these tips. Someone else has driven mine for 3 years so I definitely need a reset. As for stability control, I'm not going to delegate my extensive experience at stability control over to software. The manual pretty much tells you you're a walking talking hazard so I'll put that to the test. If this be my last post on this forum, you'll know how that worked out.
 
#18 ·
YOU ROCK -- THANK YOU!!!

I just tried this on my 2017 and it makes a world of difference accelerating from a dead stop. An additional benefit, and I'm 99% sure I'm not imagining this, is that the suspension seems much softer than it has lately, resulting in a much nicer ride.

Thanks Again!
 
#20 ·
One step forward five back...

1) Tried again with the dealer / service for the acceleration problem. 3 weeks +200 miles (second 3 week) - results - "Cannot reproduce". Is this an ability thing or is it a denial thing?... I'm not sure.
2) I had a whole sheet that DETAILED the symptoms and steps to reproduce plus a few more items. This appears to have gone nowhere near the technicians. The descriptions on the service ticket receipt given to us is nowhere near what I had detailed. (Side note - I had a tire rotation on the list, no tire rotation was done. So IMO the sheet was ignored in total)
3) Service applied a "shift point" patch to the transmission. Now the problem seems worse and more stuttering. Haven't see the massive loss of power, but it's still there and now is more often.
4) Had a 2019 LRDS as a loaner. The problems still exist in the 2019 - however the patch used in #2 on my 2017 pretty much replicates the 2019.
5) Now the DSC - off - trick no longer works after the "shift point" patch.

Bottom Line - We're done - looking for a new car... (for those asking - they offered us the same trade-in value as the market and no deal on new).

***A brighter note related to this thread is that the procedure for clearing the learning does work for me and mostly reduces / band-aids the problem.

Hope everyone is having better luck...
 
#22 ·
I have a pre-owned 2016 and these steps improved things for me as well but I'm still not impressed, at all, with the Discovery's transmission. I've yet to try the paddles for manual shifting and when I get some time and some open space to experiment I intend to. What frustrates me the most is then when you decelerate for turns or whatever the transmission remains in too high a gear and when you accelerate is bangs into a low gear and the decompression throws you forward causing you to lurch. It's annoying and I wonder what kind of damage is being done internally over time. I've managed to minimize it for the most part using pedal pressure but every now and then it gets me. I still love my DS though.
 
#23 ·
That’s the answer I always got CANNOT REPRODUCE NOT GETTING CODE. I have done the reset of the transmission many times. It works for awhile and now it’s time to reset it. I don’t understand how they can do an update, which fixed the problem, but then it reverted back to the problem again. Same on the sound system update. I can barely hear when a call comes in. How does this happen??
 
#24 ·
Has anyone every got anywhere with this? My car is now out of warranty - I've had it in to LR for this very issue and they said they reset the gearbox module which learns driving style. To be honest it made no different whatsoever.
I've just had the car in for a new oil pump, haldex flush, transmission oil change, gearbox seal, front drive shaft and suspension arm (and no it never goes off road) and that will be the last I get under warranty. The car has been back for a month now and my wife drove it for the first time since it went in. She almost threw the keys at me when she returned. "Awful" was how she put it - "what have they done to our car?"
I must admit I tend to drive the vehicle based on how bad I know the lag to be but the gearbox is really playing up.
So if I slow down behind another vehicle, or near a road junction end, and then accelerate, the car seems to be in too high a gear. It thinks about it for a while, kicks down a gear and then the turbo kicks in. It's like being on a ride at Alton Towers.
I know taking it to my dealer will result in a bill for diagnostics and a nice report to tell me they found nothing - so absolutely no point in taking it in.
Don't get me wrong - I love the car - it looks good (Carpathian Grey, Dynamic Lux) but the driving is sending me nuts. Seriously considering swapping it now.
 
#25 ·
I just purchased a brand new 2020 and I’m having this “issue”. Only a few days in and I’m already frustrated.

I did see there was a tech bulletin from Land Rover on this last year (LTB01298NAS1) that should fix the issue, but is anything new out on this problem?
 
#26 ·
I resorted to using the "reset" method pretty much on a weekly basis to try and get round the horrible gearbox shifting issue. I bet your issue is when you take your foot off the accelerator and then a few moments later try to accelerate away? for example - you approach a roundabout, you take your foot off the accelerator, you coast round the roundabout and then you press down on the accelerator to pull away - the car does nothing for a few seconds so you give it a little more beef and then you get the sudden jerk of power.
I played with various scenarios on a daily basis and it would seem as though the gearbox thinks your trying to be economical by letting off on the accelerator. It shifts up a gear. You then give it some gas as the turbos start to spool up - the gearbox then wakes up and realises you want to go somewhere and drops down a couple of gears. That linked with the turbo gives you that jerk.
It's a horrid sensation. I've spoken to a couple of other LR DS owners that I know and they have the same issue - they've just adjusted their driving style to accommodate it and don't expect too much from the vehicle coming out of roundabouts etc.
The car is fine when you're motorway cruising but round town it's awful.
It would seem the only way round it is to drive the car hard 100% of the time. Makes for an uncomfortable journey for your passengers and ruins your economy - but Landrover will do nothing to help you imho.
 
#27 ·
I’ve only had the car a few days, so I’m still analyzing what scenarios cause the issue, but right now it’s predominately when leaving from a full stop. It’s been difficult to drive away from stop signs or stop lights.

“reset” didn’t do anything so maybe it doesn’t work on 2020 or something, idk
 
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