Honda Pilot Maintenance and Repair

carguy1234

You are in luck - Nokian's come in the 235/70R16 size:

 

http://www.nokiantyres.com/suv_product_en?product=610502&name- =NOKIAN+WR+SUV

 

http://www.nokiantires.com/newsite/map.cfm

 

My wife's SUV has Bridgestone Duelers and I can attest that they are junk tires. My Nokians are far superior in all types of weather (including snow and ice, and are still great (and quiet) on dry pavement).

meyervilla

The only problem with my '04 Pilot is that the passenger side seat belt ratchets until it eventually chokes me. I can't use the seat belt which puts me in violation of the seat belt law. Unlike other automobile manufacturers evidently American Honda doesn't care enough about retaining customers to provide seat belt extensions. I don't expect Honda to supply the extension for free; I'd gladly pay for it. I love my Pilot but it looks like I'll have to go back to GMC to avoid another ticket. GMC provides seat belt extenders.

firefighter2

My 03 Pilot with 45.000 miles just had rear pads replaced. The rears were completely worn while the front still had over 50% left on them. This seems an odd way to wear. Has anyone else had this experience or have any comments?

meyervilla

Hondas are great cars - if you're a munchkin, that is. Once you manage to get into the damn things they're great to drive.

ave

I have the same problem. I just bought an 05 odyssey EX 2 days ago. The VSA light comes on quite often and stays on, even while parking. It doesn't blink as the manual stays, but has "VSA" and "!" in yellow with no blinking. The only way to get it off is to turn the ignition off and restart the car. I always have the VSA button to default, i.e, "On". Please help with any feedback. Did you take it to the dealer and what did he say ?

qbrozen

glad to hear they are taking care of you. Yup, sounds like you fell into that small percentage of owners affected by the tranny problem. Hopefully the next one treats you better.

qbrozen

no, its not good to keep your tires at 40 psi. You'll get decreased ride comfort, uneven tire wear, and poorer traction due to decreased contact patch with the road.

 

Tire pressure warning systems seem to commonly be problematic in cold weather. In any case, I keep our tires set at 34 psi to get a balance of decent gas mileage, comfort, and contact patch.

qbrozen

Are they supposed to light on the new ones? They certainly don't on any '03 models (or '04, to the best of my knowledge).

debbiehaze

The salesman who went over the car with my son after the sale made a point of stating that they were lighted. After not seeing anything about this in the manual or the website, I called Honda customer service and was told they are supposed to be lighted on the 2005 Pilot.

qbrozen

i guess you need to get back to that dealer's service department, then. i doubt its a fuse since I would assume that fuse would control more than just the steering wheel lights. So I say its either one of 2 things. A fault in the wiring OR they really don't light up, which means somebody screwed something up along the way in the information they are giving you. Let us know how you make out.

 

Just curious, but do you know the build date of your Pilot? (you can find it on the sticker inside the driver's door jamb)

crawfish

I bought 05 Ex at 12/11, and it doesn't light up. By the way, I didn't see anything about this feature from the manual.

wkroberts

My 05 Pilot does not light up. I checked with 2 people in the service department and the salesperson, all of them informed me that they do not light up but thought it was a good idea.

qbrozen

so, debbie, its sounding like you were given some misinformation. Hope it doesn't sour your enjoyment of your new vehicle.

terumi1

The disk for my navi is always in the machine. Which is under the passenger seat. You can update the disk with Honda, I think for $250 or so. We will do it maybe every 5 years. But the disk is not something you take in and out on a regular (or any), basis. It stays in the unit.

durability05

Good to hear that Honda took care of your transmission with 60K miles. It is good that us owners of Honda Pilots report our auto tranny problems if any on this site. This way it would help us notice any trends. I got a 2004 built on May, with a post recall tranny, no recall needed. Great SUV, except for the auto trans durability albatross hanging over it.

Thanks

cfprince

Since i reported the VSA problem , i haven't noticed it occurring again. But if i see it again, i will take it to dealership.

wkroberts

The DVD was to be updated in October 04 but was delayed until the spring of 05 per Honda web site.

 

"The current version is 2.11C, and is available for purchase. The 04 Fall Update DVD (version 2.20) has been delayed, but will be available sometime in January"http://automobiles.honda.com/models/interior_accessories.- asp?ModelName=Pilot#

 

it is $185.00 + shiping.

meyervilla

Foiled again! The "universal" seat belt extension I ordered at the advice of the NHTSA doesn't fit my Pilot. Don't waste your money! Problem is that Honda seat belts use a different "tongue" than every other manufacturer. Even the seat belts used in the Civic are radically different from the belts used in the Pilot. Can anyone tell me if seat belt extensions supplied by GM, Ford, Chrysler or Toyota will fit the Pilot?

jim o

I test drove the Pilot the other day and could not adjust the seat far enough down and the steering wheel far enough up to see the top of the speedometer. I could not see the 60 or 80 MPH markers without stooping down.

 

This seems odd to me. Does anyone else have this problem? Can it be fixed?

 

This may seem pretty picky but it's the only thing I didn't like about the vehicle and the only reason I didn't buy one right away.

jim o

I noticed the Acura MDX has the Michelin Pilot tires standard equipment on all of the cars I saw on the lot. Is that a good tire?

sportymonk

How tall are you? Also, I know in my Impala I have to lean the seat back a notch, that may help.

jim o

I'm 6'0". My problem is I have short stubby legs and a long torso. I have to move the seat up so my short stubby arms reach the steering wheel. At that point my viewing angle is pretty steep. I realize this is a personal problem. However, the Pilot has so much headroom it seemed to be designed for me. My issue is if Honda makes a car with so much headroom why isn't the steering wheel designed to swivel up to accomodate it? I guess that headroom is for people who like to wear big hats?

 

Don't get me wrong. I am seriously considering a Pilot. I was offered an EX-L for under $30k and am now looking into financing (I missed the 2.9% deal). I am just disappointed because the vehicle isn't perfect.

 

The MDX does not have this problem. Headroom is less but acceptable - if I had any hair on the top of my head it would brush against the roof - but I have no trouble adjusting the steering wheel to see the entire instrument cluster from way up there. I'm just not sure I want to spend ~$8k-$10k more just to have a slightly better view of the speedometer.

tammi

Hello! New the the Pilot discussions... I'm thinking of purchasing an '03 Pilot from a Toyota dealer. After much investigating (using the VIN #), I've discovered that the transmission recall work was never performed on this Pilot. It has 28K miles on it so it could very well require a new trans, instead of that oil line fix. I NEED ADVICE...is it foolish to buy a car that may or may not require a new trans (even though I wouldn't have to pay for it)? AND If it does not require a new trans now and the oil line only last so long, will a new trans be required later (that won't be covered by the recall)????

qbrozen

Interesting issue. If you aren't planning on doing any kind of heavy duty stuff with the vehicle, your odds of having transmission issues are greatly reduced. Does the Pilot have the towing package installed? If so, I'd probably take a pass. If not, then odds are the previous owner wasn't hard on it either.

 

What I would do, however, is buy the truck AND pick up an extended factory Honda Care warranty, AND get the recall done.

sportymonk

Why not go by your local Honda dealer and talk to the service manager. See what he says. This will give you a chance to size up what to expect in the future.

old datsunman

I have worked on several Hondas in my time and rear drums seem to last longer than the front disc. However, the rear disc seem to go out before the front disc. Just replaced the disc pads on my Odyssey at 45K and the rear drums look like they were hardly touched. Just bought a Pilot so we'll watch the wear patterns.

isellhondas

Relax...

 

VERY FEW of these ever developed any transmission problems. The recall isn't a big deal at all. They simply install an oil jet kit to eliminate the remote possibility of anything happening.

 

As with most things like this, the "problems" get blown up and over amplified.

nuga

I read in earlier posts that an extended warranty could be purchased for a pilot with up to 36, 000 miles on the odometer. The extended warranty was being sold by a certain Honda dealer in the mid-west?, and cost about $850.00 for a 7/100,000 factory warranty. Is anyone familiar with the availability of extended factory warranties? If so, please advise.

patricemq

I just got my new pilot 2 weeks go and love it but...Does anyone with the 05 pilot exl find the moonroof noisy when its closed? I have driven cars with moonroofs before and never experienced this but when I'm driving a min of 35 mph with the moonroof closed I still hear the alot of wind noise. Is this normal with the pilot I read reviews and they all talk about how quiet it is. I hope there is nothing wrong with my moonroof.

qbrozen

you can buy it up to the expiration of the factory warranty, BUT you will pay an additional, I believe, $60 penalty after crossing the 2yr/24k mile threshold. The 7/100k, by the way, is more like $1200. If you search for extended warranty or hondacare on here, on the regular Honda Pilot discussion, and on the Prices Paid discussion, you can find some info about what people have paid.

firefighter2

Thanks for your reply, I was wondering if I was the first to replace brakes on a Pilot. I also have a 04 Accord and I understand there are brake problems there to. I love the Pilot and I hope the Accord works out as well.

eps105

Well it finally got really cold here in Philadelphia for the first time since we bought our '04 Pilot last Spring.

 

Yesterday, after her Pilot had been sitting outside in the parking lot all day at work in sub-20 deg. weather, my wife said that her Pilot didn't start right away -- it took several tries to get the engine to turn over.

 

There's no indication that the battery is low, as the starter was cranking the engine just fine, it's just that it didn't turn over after several tries.

 

Has anyone else experienced this, and should this be considered normal for the Pilot/Honda engines?

 

In comparison, my Subaru Forester hesitates for a second or two when really cold, but it still starts on the first try.

 

Thx,

Elliot

imidazol97

Did the car not crank on several tries or

did the car crank but didn't start up readily

on the first tries?

meyervilla

I successfully "broke" the child ratchet feature. The inertia reel still works like on the driver's side but the passenger side seat belt no longer tightens until it chokes me. To "break" the child ratchet I repeatedly pulled the seat belt out all the way and left it wedged in the headrest overnite so that it couldn't retract. On one occasion the seat belt became stuck. In frustration I jerked on it very hard. Viola - no more child ratchet! It worked for me! Now my Pilot is perfect!

qbrozen

when the '03s first came out, there were alot of complaints about Pilots not starting up right away. It was commonly believed that this is related to the security system not recognizing the key right away. This MIGHT be related to your problem. We have just gotten into the habit of sticking the key in the ignition, putting on our seatbelt, then turning the key. Gives the system a couple of extra seconds to recognize the key.

eps105

Did the car not crank on several tries or

did the car crank but didn't start up readily

on the first tries?

 

The latter -- it cranked, it just didn't start up. That's why I don't think it's a battery problem.

 

Thx,

Elliot

eps105

It was commonly believed that this is related to the security system not recognizing the key right away.

 

I would presume that this would be the starter kill, which I imagine wouldn't even allow the engine to crank. If so, I doubt this is the problem.

 

I'm just trying to assess if this characteristic is considered "normal" for the Pilot or if maybe we have a weak battery or something.

 

Thanks,

 

Elliot

qbrozen

nope. you can crank the engine, it just won't start up. Security doesn't actually disable the starter itself, AFAIK. BUT, I suppose I could be wrong.

eps105

Interesting. We'll have to give that a try.

 

Thanks!

jim14

Picked up a 2005 EX-L RES a couple of weeks ago. Going out to ski the kids handed a movie for my wife to stick in the DVD player (car had been warming up at idle for about 10 min with seat heaters on high) and the DVD player did not "grab" the DVD and pull it in. Wife pushed the DVD in and it did not play. All power lights on the DVD player were out and unit appeared to be dead. Owners manual talks about turning off the seat heaters when idling in traffic for an extended period. When we stopped and shut off the car I decided to turn the key on again and everything appeared normal. Anyone know about a "lock-out" function for the RES to conserve the battery?

getcar

I am planning to buy a EX-L pilot 05 model. In the forum on buying price, I read couple of owners have observed vibrations in the Steering wheel , when driving Pilots above 70MPH. Has anyone experienced this or is this an isolated case.

randytillman

just picked up our new pilot 1/23/05 as soon as we got on freeway we returned to dealer to complain about vibration 70 and above. the one we had driven during demo ride had same vibration and we metioned it to sales person who said they would ck. it out. balanced tires to no avail, ask us to return for further work. car hdd only 17 miles.

neednewcar1

Have an 04' EX-L picked up end of September.

 

Only has 2K miles as of yesterday. I really thought that the oil should be changed even though the service manual calls for higher miles and the tech's I've talked too tell me it will be a waste to do it sooner, that it's "not like the older cars".

 

Does anyone really think that it would be a "waste" to change the oil for the first time after 4 odd months / 2K miles?

qbrozen

well, i don't know how true this is, but I had heard that the stuff that comes in there from the factory is some sort of special formulation and changing it to early is actually, in a way, detrimental.

esprikitik

Have an 05 LX Pilot at 3,500 mi.

 

Does anybody have any experience with the fuel gauge acting erratic? Have 3/4 fuel next thing you know it is just above 1/2 full? That is while city driving.

randytillman

local dealer repaired vibration second attempt by taking tires and wheels from another pilot. service manager says it is the goodyear tires that come as standard equip.

jaskn

I also face the same cold weather starting problem in NJ. It needs a couple of trys, one has to 'hold' the key in the start position longer than normal & this tends to create the 'whine' (the sound one hears if you turn the key to start when the engine is already on). Have a 97 Accord, absolutely no problem in starting; actually started on the first try after not being used for 45 days in winter !!

crawfish

I think V6 engine needs for effort to start in cold weather.

 

My Pilot and Camry V6 do feel like taking more time to start than my old CR-V.

lwechsler

Have mine for three weeks and no noise from the moon roof.

I also do not use it except to see how it works once or twice.

May be some lieves caught in.

LW

lwechsler

Have mine for three weeks and no noise from the moon roof.

I also do not use it except to see how it works once or twice.

May be some lieves caught in.

LW