Rumbling

[Satch]

Recently purchased a 2004 Honda Pilot. Have done all the service timing belt, water pump, transmission, rear diff...

Have been having an issue when driving between 30 and 45 mph, there is a sensation of driving over rumble strips. There is a sound and vibration, but Honda cannot find anything wrong.

Any Ideas? The sound is coming from the rear of the vehicle.

[rocky]

Did you put 90wt in the rear diff? If so thats the cause of the problem. You must use VTM4 fluid from Honda.

Honda's aren't the best when it comes to road noise. Also your tires may need a balencing.

[N_Jay]

Sounds almost like the TC lockup clutch issues that many of us are finding on older Pilots.

[rocky]

Originally Posted by N_Jay

Sounds almost like the TC lockup clutch issues that many of us are finding on older Pilots.

Originally Posted by Satch

There is a sound and vibration, but Honda cannot find anything wrong.The sound is coming from the rear of the vehicle.

N-Jay How does TC lock up cause a noise from the rear of the vehicle?

As Mr. Spock would say, Illogical Captain!

[N_Jay]

Drive line noise/feeling is often mistaken as far as where it is coming from.

[hdzoro]

N_Jay, if the car is put on neutral while going 30-45 mph, would the rumbling still be there if it is from the TC lockup? I ask because we have a similar issue on our 07 Pilot. In our case, putting the car in neutral does not make the rumbling go away while driving 30-45 mph.

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hdzoro

[N_Jay]

The TC rumbling (Typical of most TC issues) shows up in the highest gear at the lower speed under very low, but not zero load.

For most of our Pilots this is about 40 to 45 MPH holding a steady speed on a level road. Who much range there is when it shows up and when it goes away varies between vehicles.

Putting it in neutral should make it go away, since it is a transmission load issue.

Other rumbling in the drive line, not load related can be wheel bearings, differential/Ring gear carrier bearings, CV joints and even drive shaft carrier bearings.

We have no seen any of these on our pilots as a common problem.

[PILOTHEAD]

If your sure it does not stop in N then it is most likely one of the other things as mentioned by NJ.
In my case I discovered I was near 2 quarts low on engine oil and when I topped it off the rumble stopped. Regardless I would say the first step before freaking out is to make sure the Engine oil, ATF, and VTM-4 fluids are all topped off. If that doesn't stop it then change them all or better yet do a actual flush. With routine fluid level monitoring(which you should be doing anyway!) the rumble has not come back in our 2003 now over 130K miles. Also I have bought into the "use Genuine Honda Brand fluid" only for ATF and VTM marketing kool-aid and recommend the same to all. You will see many threads from frustrated pilot drivers about this subject if you can search this site but in most cases it seems it can be tied to shift points.

[hdzoro]

Originally Posted by N_Jay

Other rumbling in the drive line, not load related can be wheel bearings, differential/Ring gear carrier bearings, CV joints and even drive shaft carrier bearings.

We have no seen any of these on our pilots as a common problem.

So I took out the propeller shaft and sure enough the rumbling that I was getting went away. After examining the shaft, I noticed that there is stone dent on it. It's probably what's causing the shaft balance to go out of spec. I am going to take it to a local shop that specializes in fixing drive shafts to see
what they can do.

Thanks for helping diagnose this annoying problem.

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hdzoro