| helpless |
Hello Everyone!
My sincere apologies for opening a new thread.
I just don't know where to start.
This is my 1st post.
I chose "helpless" as my log on name because that's how I feel about my Pilot.
Honestly, I don't know where to classify my problem since it dwells on everything from transmission flutter, stutter, harsh acceleration, jerky ride, intermittent throttle surges and uneven brake fade on level road surfaces.
I've been to 3 dealerships in my area and none of them could replicate any of my afore-mentioned issues.
By the way, I own a 2004 which I purchased brand new last year.
After enduring this problems and over 20K without any support from Honda, I met a certain Japanese who was visiting his daughter in my neighborhood.
The daughter use to babysit our kids before and currently drives an Acura MDX.
Her father as it turns out, use to be a Honda mechanic in Japan until his retirement last year.
Anyways, to make a long story short, I had him test drive the Pilot and sure enough his diagnosis was either a faulty egr valve or a faulty torque converter.
At that point, I felt that the Japanese guy was heaven sent.
He in fact volunteered to replace it for free.
That evening he invited my family over their place for some sake and nonstop sushi and sashimi. It was a very nice Japanese dinner. We drank till we dropped that night.
The next day, I was to pick him up to purchase the parts.
Before I could ring the doorbell, a paramedic ambulance just appeared out of nowhere and rushed my Japanese neighbor to the hospital. He had a stroke. Luckily he survived. He is partly paralyzed. He went back to Japan so his wife and immediate family can take care of him.
I then brought my Pilot to the dealership referencing the Egr valve or the Torque Converter as the fix to my problem. They were clueless as to what I was talking about.
I just want to find out from this wonderful forum if any member or members did experienced something similar with their Pilots and what the fix was.
Was it the Egr Valve or was it the Torque Converter?
I need to know under what circumstances did you experience the malfunctioning of both parts.
Thank you and God Bless Us All and God Bless America! |
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| PNW-Pilot |
There have been numerous posts and discussions about the EGR valve and stuttering. I would do a search on the board for EGR Valve, I thought there was a TSB on this issue, you might want to look through that topic also.
Hope your pilot gets better. |
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| Titans Fan |
Welcome to the forum!
FWIW, Here's a link to one of the threads with the EGR TSB. Hope it helps. |
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| N_Jay |
I had teh EGR problem, and it realy does feel like a bad torque converter!
(Was sweating all the way home!) |
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| helpless |
I also forgot to mention as part of my daily ordeal with my Pilot is its unpredictable acceleration characteristics.
It starts off sluggishly and continues to do so even though the engine has already warmed up. While in the sluggish mode, the ride seems hard and most bumps are felt out of the ordinary. And gearshifts noticeably are more pronounced in search for the right gear.
After running continuously for about 30 minutes on the freeway at about 65mph and then slowing down to 25mph due to traffic, the sluggish behaviour changes. Once the flow of traffic speeds up again to the desired freeway speed limit, accelerating back to 65mph is now smooth as silk. The ride feels tight and secure as if all wheels are glued to the ground. The smooth acceleration would last for about 45 minutes to 1 hr of continuous driving. This Dr. Jekell and Mr. Hyde type of acceleration happens without fail on a stop and go traffic scenario.
What makes it complicated are times when it starts the day accelerating smoothly all day long. This smooth acceleration would last for days. Then it becomes sluggish again.
Frustrating as it is, my beloved Honda dealers in my area does not seem to take cognizant of my problem. They all say that its a normal behaviour of the Pilot.
For those of you who have experienced and found resolution with this type of problem, kindly share with us what the fix was.
I have already lost faith in American Honda and its brand of customer service.
Once again, I thank you all for reading my post.
Goodnight and God Bless Us All!
Helpless |
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| 74PILOTMOM |
Wow, I hope your Japanese friend is okay, how horrible!
Well, you've probably seen the EGR warranty extension....I hope it includes '04's too. I have a very mild version of what you're experiencing... unless I'm losing my mind, but the shifts are not smooth like they used to be. Certainly no JERKING yet, but I'm only at 26K so far.
It sure does sound like the EGR, and Honda DOES know about this...maybe try a different dealership, they don't seem to be created equal in terms of service unfortunately.
WELCOME to the FRIENDLY Honda Pilot forum! |
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| autobahn |
| Welcome to the club. I am on my 3rd EGR and a new transmission and still have a problem. Now getting a sluggish acceleration on flat roads. The RPMs actually drop when I sep on the accelerator running cruising about 40MPH. Ugh! |
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| Aggie Pilot |
Autobahn,
Has your mechanic been cleaning the EGR ports when the valve is changed? If memory serves me correctly, I think the cleaning is part of the TSB procedure for the change. |
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| autobahn |
quote:
Originally posted by Aggie Pilot
Autobahn,
Has your mechanic been cleaning the EGR ports when the valve is changed? If memory serves me correctly, I think the cleaning is part of the TSB procedure for the change.
I asked last time and they said yes. They have had 4 people drive it since the transmission was replaced and they tell me there are no problems. They handed me a brochure on grade-logic, but did offer to let one of us drive it with them and the computer hooked up. May try that after we get back from Fall Break this coming week. |
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| helpless |
quote:
Originally posted by autobahn
Welcome to the club. I am on my 3rd EGR and a new transmission and still have a problem. Now getting a sluggish acceleration on flat roads. The RPMs actually drop when I sep on the accelerator running cruising about 40MPH. Ugh!
Hello Autobahn!
Thank you for sharing your predicament.
I just want to find out if the sluggish acceleration that you now experience with your Pilot is consistent or intermittent?
Does it follow a certain routine? Or is it unpredictable?
Is it always at 40mph that you experience this?
Your answers will truly help me distinguish the varying symptoms being
exhibited by a faulty egr valve or a defective torque converter if ever.
I hope your mechanic or mechanics will be successful in finding a permanent fix next time you bring your Pilot back to them.
And thanks to those who found time to respond to this thread.
The wealth of information in this forum , be it documented or just mere interaction among its members is invaluable.
helpless....(still):( |
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| autobahn |
quote:
Originally posted by helpless
Hello Autobahn!
Thank you for sharing your predicament.
I just want to find out if the sluggish acceleration that you now experience with your Pilot is consistent or intermittent?
Does it follow a certain routine? Or is it unpredictable?
Is it always at 40mph that you experience this?
Your answers will truly help me distinguish the varying symptoms being
exhibited by a faulty egr valve or a defective torque converter if ever.
I hope your mechanic or mechanics will be successful in finding a permanent fix next time you bring your Pilot back to them.
And thanks to those who found time to respond to this thread.
The wealth of information in this forum , be it documented or just mere interaction among its members is invaluable.
helpless....(still):(
Well, let's see. We had lots of jerking and hesitation at 40MPH when cruising. You give it gas as you come up to a rise and it would jerk. The speed was fairly consistent, although you could not always recreate it. So after 3 EGR valves, they finally took it for a drive and said the lock-up torque converter was having an issue like on the Odysseys and we needed a new $4500 transmission. Honda covered that as good will. We are still seeing symptoms that they say are a feature of the grade-logic system. They had 4 people drive it while hooked up to a computer and could not find any problems. The problem I am seeing now with the new transmission besides a grade-logic like hesitation is that when I am cruising on a flat spot in the 45-55 MPH range and give it gas that it will not go. It starts slowing down the more I press down the gas and then finally starts going. Ugh! Going away for a few days with the Pilot and I get to drive it more (my wife usually drives it). We will decide when we get back to either try to get it fixed again (so far at no cost to us) or start looking at trading in on a 2006 Pilot or other vehicle. |
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| helpless |
Thanks for the response autobahn,
By the way, did any of the malfunction lights light up while you were experiencing all this jerking and hesitation while cruising at 40mph?
Thanks again.....
helpless |
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| autobahn |
quote:
Originally posted by helpless
Thanks for the response autobahn,
By the way, did any of the malfunction lights light up while you were experiencing all this jerking and hesitation while cruising at 40mph?
Thanks again.....
helpless
No lights ever |
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| autobahn |
quote:
Originally posted by helpless
By the way, did any of the malfunction lights light up while you were experiencing all this jerking and hesitation while cruising at 40mph?
Never had a light. |
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| helpless |
quote:
Originally posted by autobahn
Well, let's see. We had lots of jerking and hesitation at 40MPH when cruising. You give it gas as you come up to a rise and it would jerk. The speed was fairly consistent, although you could not always recreate it. So after 3 EGR valves, they finally took it for a drive and said the lock-up torque converter was having an issue like on the Odysseys and we needed a new $4500 transmission. Honda covered that as good will. We are still seeing symptoms that they say are a feature of the grade-logic system. They had 4 people drive it while hooked up to a computer and could not find any problems. The problem I am seeing now with the new transmission besides a grade-logic like hesitation is that when I am cruising on a flat spot in the 45-55 MPH range and give it gas that it will not go. It starts slowing down the more I press down the gas and then finally starts going. Ugh! Going away for a few days with the Pilot and I get to drive it more (my wife usually drives it). We will decide when we get back to either try to get it fixed again (so far at no cost to us) or start looking at trading in on a 2006 Pilot or other vehicle.
Hi Autobahn!
I just want to find out if the new transmission has been fixed and has it been performing normally.
No more problems?
Best of luck!
Still Helpless.... |
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| autobahn |
| The new transmission seems to have fixed most of the issues. The rest seem to be grade logic related. |
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| helpless |
quote:
Originally posted by autobahn
The new transmission seems to have fixed most of the issues. The rest seem to be grade logic related.
I'm glad the new transmission is performing well for the most part.
Adapting to the Pilot's grade logic feature could be confusing some times. :)
Thanks for the response. |
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