[TommyMinnesota]

Recently bought a 2003 pilot. Need it for the 8 seats and to use randomly in the snow for hunting/camping. Had some serious steering and strut issues. Put in SRT strusts, moog inner and out tie rods, moog stabilizer links, new falken tires, and alignment. Greatly improved the loose steering, no more strut hop, felt tight. Drive it for a few days. Perfect. Next time i drive i get a vibration on the freeway 65-75. Like an out of balance feeling. Bring them back. Have them double check the balance. Good. Another dude double checks the balance. Good. Drive it the next day and it feels great again. Excited to finally be done with this. Drive it again and get the vibration 65-75 again. One day it’s there. One day it’s fine. So it’s not a constant issue. It’s hit or miss. I’m baffled at this point? Read as much as i can. Getting a lot people recommending putting in new lower control arms so i have fresh bushings and ball joints. A few recommending changing the front cvs. Any insight? Anything I’m missing?

 

[plplplpl]

Hard to guess over the internet without feeling, but maybe one (or more) bad tire out of round, and were they road force balanced?

https://www.1010tires.com/About/Tire-Noise-Vibration-Problems/

https://community.cartalk.com/t/vibration-after-new-tires/66974/8

 

[TommyMinnesota]

Hard to guess over the internet without feeling, but maybe one (or more) bad tire out of round, and were they road force balanced?

https://www.1010tires.com/About/Tire-Noise-Vibration-Problems/

https://community.cartalk.com/t/vibration-after-new-tires/66974/8

Id have to ask on the balance. But if they were out of balance. Wouldn’t they always be out of balance? How would it explain one day ok. One day bad?

 

[can]

How many miles on the half-axles? Are the rear (vertical) compliance bushings cracked? How bad?
How old are your rotors and pads? If they are anywhere near being up for replacement, I would just buy a Centric kit or Centric rotors and Akebono pads and slap them on to be on the safe side. If you still have tons of rotor and pad, then I would take the rotors to be machined by a shop which does good work. If they are sloppy, they could make things even worse.

 

[STMech]

Recently bought a 2003 pilot. Need it for the 8 seats and to use randomly in the snow for hunting/camping. Had some serious steering and strut issues. Put in SRT strusts, moog inner and out tie rods, moog stabilizer links, new falken tires, and alignment. Greatly improved the loose steering, no more strut hop, felt tight. Drive it for a few days. Perfect. Next time i drive i get a vibration on the freeway 65-75. Like an out of balance feeling. Bring them back. Have them double check the balance. Good. Another dude double checks the balance. Good. Drive it the next day and it feels great again. Excited to finally be done with this. Drive it again and get the vibration 65-75 again. One day it’s there. One day it’s fine. So it’s not a constant issue. It’s hit or miss. I’m baffled at this point? Read as much as i can. Getting a lot people recommending putting in new lower control arms so i have fresh bushings and ball joints. A few recommending changing the front cvs. Any insight? Anything I’m missing?

The intermittent nature of the vibration makes me wonder if the torque converter lockup circuit is slipping. Early Pilots were known for this fault, called torque converter judder or shudder. If this seems possible, perhaps a drain/fill of the trans would help. Just a WAG here.

Another thought, as a fellow Minnesotan, my 2003 Pilot has suffered from rust causing rear suspension weakness. The rear subframe mount points are vulnerable to rust out. This allows the suspension to shift a bit back there, and odd vibrations can result. Check the rear mounting points for looseness.

 

[TommyMinnesota]

How many miles on the half-axles? Are the rear (vertical) compliance bushings cracked? How bad?
How old are your rotors and pads? If they are anywhere near being up for replacement, I would just buy a Centric kit or Centric rotors and Akebono pads and slap them on to be on the safe side. If you still have tons of rotor and pad, then I would take the rotors to be machined by a shop which does good work. If they are sloppy, they could make things even worse.

Half shafts, Lcas, bushings are all super old. Was gonna do it but i didn’t understand the hit and miss of the vibes. Think maybe the calipers are randomly sticking? What’s a centric kit? Should i just toss new lcas, bushings, ball joints and half shafts?

 

[TommyMinnesota]

The intermittent nature of the vibration makes me wonder if the torque converter lockup circuit is slipping. Early Pilots were known for this fault, called torque converter judder or shudder. If this seems possible, perhaps a drain/fill of the trans would help. Just a WAG here.

Another thought, as a fellow Minnesotan, my 2003 Pilot has suffered from rust causing rear suspension weakness. The rear subframe mount points are vulnerable to rust out. This allows the suspension to shift a bit back there, and odd vibrations can result. Check the rear mounting points for looseness.

There’s no trans slip. No movement of slipping on the freeway. Just in the steering wheel. I also looked at the rear mounts. They are all strong and look fine. The rear hitch is another story hah.

 

[STMech]

There’s no trans slip. No movement of slipping on the freeway. Just in the steering wheel. I also looked at the rear mounts. They are all strong and look fine. The rear hitch is another story hah.

Torque converter judder is a vibration caused by momentary slip in the lockup circuit. You would not experience this as tranny slip, but rather as a vibration. Fresh ATF can help.

 

[Jack Vogt]

Torque converter judder is a vibration caused by momentary slip in the lockup circuit. You would not experience this as tranny slip, but rather as a vibration. Fresh ATF can help.

I'm having a little of a vibration in my steering wheel at low speeds as well. I just had new tires put on thinking that would solve the problem. Would torque converter judder/shudder happen at lower speeds as well? I feel something in the pedal as well. I was also thinking it could be motor or transmission mounts as well. I've done 2 drain and fills in the past 3 months. Any thoughts?

 

[STMech]

I'm having a little of a vibration in my steering wheel at low speeds as well. I just had new tires put on thinking that would solve the problem. Would torque converter judder/shudder happen at lower speeds as well? I feel something in the pedal as well. I was also thinking it could be motor or transmission mounts as well. I've done 2 drain and fills in the past 3 months. Any thoughts?

TQ judder occurs during lockup. The torque converter would probably not be trying to lock up at low speeds or during acceleration. Lockup occurs when the car reaches a cruising speed.

Here's an experiment: take a drive (the Pilot should be warmed up) on a level road and speed up to 55 mph and then hold that speed. Watch the tach as you do this. As you reach 55, rpms should be around 2000. As you hold 55, rpms should cleanly drop to 1500. This is the TQ locking up. If you now sense a vibration, it could be lockup judder. If the rpm drop is slow or erratic, the internal valves or the control solenoids are sticky. Solenoids can be cleaned or replaced. Fresh fluid can help the internal valves.

 

[TommyMinnesota]

Local dude pulled the rear driveshaft. Vibration gone. Super odd that it was chattering up front. Now i have to deal with hondas stacked drive shaft bs.

 

[STMech]

First, try fresh VTM4 fluid in the rear differential. Has to be Honda VTM4 fluid, takes about 3 quarts to change out.