Hey evom! This is my first post here and unfortunately it's due to a hopefully small issue. Anyways here goes:

So in 3rd gear I get some hunting going on from 2000-2500 rpm (25 mph which I now do a lot of driving in ), not sure if it's always been there and I am just now noticing it.... but I've never seen it before. Now, I'm going to of course do some maintenance, I already planned on getting a new fuel filter, air filter, spark plugs and a few other things monday before I noticed the issue. I plan on now looking into the TPS, CPS, and anything else I can think of. My questions are:

1. Has anyone encountered something like this before?
2. Being that this doesn't happen in any other gear at any other rpm that I know of is it possible that my SST isn't about to grenade on me?
3. Aside from harming the timing chain is this otherwise benign? Just avoid 3rd gear at 25 mph?
4. Should I just GTFO the car now and get a cheap beater until I can but a new focus rs or something?

Thanks for any info!

 

Does this hunting continue once the car is fully warmed up? Or only when the car is cold?

 

So by hunting you mean your cruising along at 25 and the rpms start to bounce around a bit?
(just wanna clarify)

 

The hunting seems to happen when both cold and fully warmed up again though only in 3rd gear (spent an hour yesterday going through the entire rev range for gears 1-5 and some of 6). Hunting (or rpm bounce as I found out it's also called) happens from about 2250 to 2750 in constant speed driving, and from 2250 to about 3500 rpm under mild load but for some reason not at high/full throttle. The hunting is a rise/drop of aprox. 100 rpm above and below a middle point. The feel of this hunting is sort of non-existant, I can kind of get a sense that something's up but I can't feel in the ride any jerkiness or anything but that might be because the rpm differences are so small.

After some googling yesterday I couldn't find too much info on this and what I did find was contradictory. One post said my SST is on it's way to the grave, the other said it could be solved with an early trans fluid flush and filter replacement. Right now I'm scheduled for a trans fluid flush on monday morning but if it's not going to help I would rather save the 1000$ I'm about to drop on maintenance and kiss my baby goodbye for an FR-S...

 

Has the ecu/tcu been updated by the dealer? I would start there if not.

 

Have you ever tuned your ECU? I used to have an unstable RPM while idle, its also around +100RPM -100RPM. I would suggest you to put your baby back to stock and reflash it with a stock map and see if the hunting is still there.

 

I have recently (maybe 2 months ago) had the ecu/tcu reflashed with the update. Also fluid change was mostly successful! However there's still some ever so slight hunting in 3rd gear under light acceleration. The tech at the mitsu dealership told me that the ecu/tcu would take a bit to relearn how to run. Still paranoid about the transmission, if it gets any worse or starts hunting again at a constant speed I think I'll just trade her in.

 

Rev hunt is the term we have called it, usually it is in 5th and 6th gear after Super Sport and Launch control TCU flash. If your having it in 3rd gear it most likely means your clutchs are slipping/worn out. The flush might help but check other gears in the 2000-2500 rpm range. I and most other RA owners who have tuned there cars do not go below 2500 rpm which means driving in manual mode most of the time.

 

I figured as such, that or a leak or gunked up valve. Before my extended warranty is up I'll do one more fluid flush (the last one helped so much I can only hope another in 5k miles will too). Do you really drive over 2.5k all the time?

 

Yes I do, manual sport 80% of the time, manual normal only when using cruise control on hwy and S Sport 15% of the time or when I go more than 75% throttle.

 

So is the hunting caused by the S-sport flash actual tranny damage or is a parameters difference between the evo and us?

 

5th and 6th gear are different between RA and Evo and most ppl usually get rev hunt there. I know from experience that you can get it if your clutches are worn out or burnt as I had hunt when mine were burnt (only use OEM fluid) I had my SST rebuilt with 500hp clutches and no longer have rev hunt and I also have S Sport and no rev hunt.