Unfortunately, $7k sounds about right. I’d say replace the trans and get it payed off. Luckily Carmax payed for my trans but not everyone is that lucky. Also like others said, you can try to see if anyone at Honda will help but with no records and the higher mileage, I’d doubt to see any help from them. Vehicle should still blue book for over $25k.
In the Pathfinder/QX60 it was “corrected” in 2022—those 2 redesigned vehicles now use the ZF 9HP.
www.car-engineer.com
The ZF 9HP is mostly a traditional, stepped automatic transmission with a torque converter and planetary gears, but there's a twist. Between speeds 4-5 and 7-8, ZF uses dog clutches instead of friction clutches to save space. Unlike friction clutches, dog clutches can't slip - they're either engaged or not. Because of this, the engine must be turning at exactly the right speed before they are engaged. The dog clutches are released during upshifts and applied during downshifts which results in a bit of a delay and unconventional feel when downshifting from 8th and 5th.
I think I know what you meant, but just for the sake of completeness...both dog clutches are used (engaged) in gears 1, 2, 3, and 4. During the 4-5 upshift, one of the dog clutches disengages, while the other stays engaged...and it stays engaged in gears 5, 6, and 7. Then it disengages during the 7-8 upshift, after which neither dog clutch is engaged. And then, of course, the reverse is true when downshifting...one of them engages during 8-7 and stays engaged downward from there...and the second one engages during 5-4, and stays engaged downward from there. The dog clutches aren't used just during those two shifts.
Yes, and I think Honda's done a remarkable job here with the shift programming to get all shifts to feel just about the same (I think this was largely what the 2019 recalibration brought to the picture, in addition to the 2nd gear default start noted above). The engine speed necessarily has to flare/blip during the 8-7 and 5-4 downshifts...and Honda's sort of matched that behavior across most of the shift range, so 8-7 and 5-4 don't feel so out of place. And, in practice, it's something that feels odd for the first few drives, and then you get used to it. We have one Honda with the ZF9, and our other two have old school Honda H5 automatics, and it's easy to move back and forth without having to change driving style.
Is it normal to hear a clunk like noise on the 4-5 and 7-8 shifts?
You generally shouldn't hear anything during normal driving. Some have reported that having a transmission cooler installed can cause a buzz noise during the 7-8 shift (and maybe during the 4-5 shift too, I don't know). But if you don't have a cooler installed, you shouldn't heard a clunk noise.
I use to hear a clunk pretty often in my 2019 Touring during the 4-5 shift especially. I had a software update done about a year or so ago and now can't remember the last time I heard the clunk. The software update was a TSB and done while the car was still under factory warranty.
I have the transmission cooler on my 2022 Pilot AWD, and confirm I can hear and fill a sight buzzing sensation when the dog clutch engages 8 gear at 44-45 MPH. It is most pronounced when I take my foot off the throttle right at that speed and start coasting (or stay at very light throttle) and the transmission shifts into 8th gear. Initially I thought it was the VCM activating, but it corresponds to an upshift/engine RPM drop. I don't notice the shift or feel/hear the buzz if I accelerate through 45 MPH on up to 55-60 MPH.
I've seen TSB mentioned before, how do I go about finding out if my car is covered by a TSB? goto the dealer or something I can lookup online?
Go to the top center of any page here and use the SEARCH function with the letters "TSB" You will get a lot of results so to begin with just search the sub-forum. You can also go to the dealers who may look up any TSB's for your car, but remember they are not a recall. They are information to service techs to help fix some unusual or some known problems.. May or may not be covered under warranty. I did a quick search for you and linked the results of one search below. There are 25 pages of information so start reading, LOL
This is not unprecedented, and may not even be uncommon. I once owned a Cadillac with the Northstar engine and GM's 4T80-E transaxle and a GM powertrain engineer participated on one of the Cadillac forums I followed at the time. When the topic of fluid filtering came up, he described it very similar to what's in the ZF transaxle -- a fine mesh screen that's not designed to be serviced. I couldn't know the efficacy of this myself but, for what it's worth, those 4T80-Es would last a VERY long time, so it doesn't seem like that filtering approach was detrimental to the system.
I don't know for sure, but I'd say Honda's following a general industry trend, especially with transmissions and transaxles, to remove the temptation for users to service them at home. There's the very real risk of the wrong fluid being used (it happens all the time, either by intention or by accident) and these systems seem to be increasingly sensitive to fluid quality and characteristics.
Thanks, can you tell if the tube with the orange band next to his right thumb, if that's a metal screen filter, it looks like it is when he angles it, but not sure, if it's not, I'm assuming it just relying on the magnets to catch metal fragments?
