Honda Pilot Maintenance and Repair

kipk · January 2007

You complain about the leather. Did the leather get changed out by the dealer before you took delivery?

You complain about the lack of Blue Tooth. Did the dealer remove the Blue Tooth before you took delivery?

OR Are those things YOU should have noticed before buying the car!! :sick:

Poor resale value? Don't think so! Honda has one of the very best resale values of like vehicles on the planet. We did much research before getting our '03 vehicles. Therefore we now own 2 Honda SUVs, Pilot and CR-V. If the Pilot resale is down, you can bet other SUVs of near same size are down even more.

The cargo net is just that, a net. Designed to keep stuff from bouncing around the car in an accident. You want something stiffer? Get a fold able container with adjustable dividers! Then throw the net over that.

Poor mileage? Lots of suggestions about how you can possibly improve that. Something about your situation is not right. Excessive traffic, lead foot, ILP not done, etc....

NAV not working to your expectations? Try some or all the suggestions offered!

Sorry everything about the car doesn't meet your expectations.

You wrote: "This is in reply to everybody who is so happy with their Pilot."

A key word there is "EVERYBODY". Everybody is probably not 100% satisfied. I personally would like 30/40 mpg and 0-60 in under 5 seconds. After a few months of driving it I realized those figures would not be obtainable. I was devastated. Got to get rid of this piece of crap!

Then much research revealed no SUV on the planet, available to the public, would meet my expectations. A couple of motorcycles would come close but not real good for what we needed.

So I have had to come to grips and deal with the 18-19 everyday and 26-28 road and 0-60 longer than desired. Yes ours is 4wd and apparently gets better economy than most. Possibly something about the 03 models or my driving habits, driving conditions, fuel in our area, or very accurate record keeping.

Have you checked your speedometer, Done the ILP, lightened your foot?

I've had a couple of cars, in my 50+ years of driving, that I did not like. I found that complaining about them did no good. So I got rid of them. I would suggest you do the same.

Trade for any Make/Model you consider perfect, Then go to a Problems & Solutions forum for that vehicle. I think you will find you are disappointed once again.

Good luck!

Kip

etgust · January 2007

Greetings: took home a 2007 Pilot for the night to test drive with my husband. I'm glad we took it over night because we have learned that the when the lights are on low beam, there is a line, where the light stops, and darkness begins, horizontally of course. the bright lights seem to provide plenty of light. Is this something the dealer can adjust, so the lights provide more light upwards? Otherwise, it will take some getting used to. Any other owners find this with their Pilot? Thanks.

kmh2468 · January 2007

The low beams are projection-type lamps and therefore have a "cut-off" effect. They're not less bright, perse, but the effect of the cut-off makes it seem so. I drive a Jeep Commander with more typical halogen lamps and never have an issue seeing what's in front of me. When I drive the Pilot, it does seem like I need more light.

Definitely have the dealership take a look to see if the projector lamps are properly adjusted, but you don't want them pointing too high otherwise people will flash you the high-beams or even the middle-finger salute thinking you have your high-beams on. :shades:

normh · January 2007

Your are correct in your description of "a line" where the light cuts off. This is normal and no adjustment is required. I have owned my Pilot since Dec. of '03 and just had to get use to it(hence the need for high beams!

).

etgust · January 2007

Thanks for replying to my question about the Pilot low beams. Sounds like it is pretty normal, and something to get used to. I did speak to the Dealer, who spoke to the service dept. He claims they can "adjust" the beam. But I agree, can adjust them only to a point, as to not "blind" oncoming cars. Don't want any salutes or flashing high beams at me and my family!! Perhaps a minor adjustment will do fine, and some "getting adjusted" on our part. Thanks again.

kmh2468 · January 2007

You didn't indicate which version Pilot (i.e. LX or EX) but if you did get the EX, what may help is activating the fog lamps to help give a little extra illumination... Granted, the fog lamps will only light up the road surface but should it should help somewhat.

kipk · January 2007

Never really noticed it on our 03. Possibly some are adjusted different from others.

How did you like the Pilot otherwise?

Kip

kg3 · January 2007

I have a 2005 Pilot EX. We have three teen-age children and tend to have our Pilot fully loaded when we go on highway trips for skiing and summer holidays, etc. I've found that under these conditions the headlight beams are raised considerably due to the increased weight in the back of the vehicle. To avoid the "line" being too high in these conditions (and the resulting flashes from unhappy oncoming motorists) I actually had the dealership lower the beam slightly (a no-cost adjustment that took less than 5 minutes).

On an unrelated topic (and since this is my first post to this site) I'll add a note regarding winter tire performance. After buying our Pilot I immediately bought Toyo "Open Country" winter tires and wheels in recognition of the winter highway driving we do here in western Canada. In a word, they have been outstanding, delivering amazing traction and stability in all kinds of ice and snow conditions. I highly recommend them to anyone planning to travel extensively in snowy or icy conditions.

Overall, we are extremely happy with our Pilot. It is an excellent multi-purpose vehicle that is very smooth and comfortable on the highway, yet able to haul a boat trailer etc. Our only minor complaint is the less than ideal comfort of the middle seat. We came from a mini-van that had captain's chairs in the middle position and our teenage children confirm that the Pilot bench seat doesn't match the comfort of those. That deficiency is more that made up for, though, by the overall power, smoothness and stability of the Pilot and its all-wheel drive system.

dkdriver · January 2007

Hi all,

Re: nav discussion; I am on my second Pilot (06), both mechanically trouble free, but both with less than 'smart' navigation. It works well enough, but our impression is that it is an 'economy' information system, probably passed down from the initial Acura info discs. It doesn't know freeway onramps that were added three years ago, even though it is an 06. We took a vacation to Palm Springs in our 03, and it was lost on main streets that had been reconfigured several years prior. It seems clear that Honda doesn't invest in updating their info. systems, and their street mapping is very outdated in some cases. We've gotten solicitations from Honda for upgrade discs, but I could not confirm how wise an investment this would be when I called the nav company. Also have had some 'crash' experiences when it is very hot (blank screen); company said this was common, and both vehicles nav recovered when the temperature came down (wish they could have fixed it for the 06!). Honda has done a great job of keeping the price down on this vehicle; the nav is an example of some cost cutting even though it is a better system than some other makes (voice activation is pretty good given it's other features).

Re: trade in - I just priced our EXL on kbb.com; 26,700 isn't at all bad on a 31k vehicle that's one year old - cross compare Americans, and you'll see the difference.... :P

austin302 · January 2007

To my surprise, the dealer did feel the vibration and tested another Pilot and felt the same condition. They said the vibration is "Characteristic" of Eco mode because the engine and transmission have to do a lot of compensating when in that mode. They did say they would track the issue to see if it becomes a common complaint. So, for now I'm must try and ignore the vibration. Does anyone know how to disable Econ Mode?

boughtalemon · January 2007

Every problem you mention to Honda, they'll say it's a
"characteristic". What an easy way out. If vibration is a characteristic and the fuel pump noise is a characteristic, they do have a lot of bad characteristics, don't they? If they know about them, they should fix them. I am sure you and I are not the only ones complaining about these "characteristics", we are just the only ones on this site.

blackexv6 · January 2007

The vibration is a characteristic of the vehicle - we experience the same noise with our VCM equipped Odyssey. This complaint is at the bottom of our list...compared to the loud droning defect in the exhaust, you can barely hear the ECO mode.

Does your Pilot's engine send vibrations through the steering wheel at a stop (usually after driving on the highway)? You may have collapsed engine mounts. See this link for info.

link title

The Hondas with VCM have active type engine mounts that electronically adjust to compensate for varying conditions. If you are at a stop light in drive, the engine transmits vibrations to the car.

My opinion is the mounts sometime "forget" to return to the idle setting after driving on the highway. I found this to be the case with my '06 EX-L - our mounts were replaced but still have vibration issues.

eaglepilot · January 2007

"Does anyone know how to disable Econ Mode?"

Sure, keep your right foot firmly planted on the gas pedal.

Chris

bbuck90351 · January 2007

The battery was changed on my 2003 honda pilot and I get an error message when I turn on the stereo. Also the clock is working but can not be set. When I turn the radio on and press a button the letter "C" appears on the screen, then "O", then "d", then "E", and the final message will read error 1. When I try again it does the same thing except the error message is 2 and so on. When I try the CD, DVD and cassette it goes straight to an error message. I checked all fuses and am now lost. My wife didn't tell me about the problem until a month after she had the battery changed, but she did say the problem started when she got back into the vehicle after the change. Any suggestion would be greatly appreciated

normh · January 2007

This is the anti-theft protection that is built into the radio. You should have gotten a 4 digit "code" for the radio when you purchased the vehicle. If you bought it used, it is a little harder to get (may have to contact the dealer to get info for it). Look in your owners manual for the number wrote down somewhere in the front cover by the dealer. Follow the procedure in the owners manual for entering the code.

Norm.......

k9bf · January 2007

I have the exact same problem. I bought my 06 pilot last July. There is a tear along the seam on the drivers side of the vertical part of the seat. Have you spoken with the dealer yet? How did it go?
Ben k9bf@uiuc.edu

kipk · January 2007

That C O D E you are getting is asking for a "CODE"!

Somewhere with the owners manual is a small card about the size of a credit card. It has your 5 digit code and "how to" instructions to reactivate the radio.

Your "AUTO" feature of the drivers window probably stopped working also.

The IDLE LEARN PROCEDURE also should be redone.

Kip

dkdriver · January 2007

Our dealer replaced the driver's seat leather when it started bagging and sagging and having some stuffing come out of a seam after 5k miles. They said it was covered under warranty. Hope this works for you too! :shades:

guodazhu · January 2007

I have a 2006 LX model. I found when I turn the Rear AC to warm side, the air from the central console (between the driver and passenger seat) ceases. If I turn to the cold side, I can feel the air from the console. Does the warm air for the rear passenger come from other vent on the floor or should I bring the car to the dealer?

Thanks!

justaveragejoe · January 2007

The warm air should be coming from the back vents at the bottom of the center console.

guodazhu · January 2007

Thanks a bunch!

crebeca · January 2007

:confuse: What do I do besides going to the dealership??!!! Some ding~dong put a coin in my ac adapter and I tried removing it. It sparked and the next thing I know, my radio turned off!!! Both ac adapters in the front don't work, but the back one does.
We tried changing the fuses out, but it didn't help! We didn't even get that CODE word!!! Is there anything else???

gmoney2 · February 2007

The old coin in the cigarette lighter, that sucks! Sounds like it caused a short. Unless you know a lot about electronics, I would leave this one to the professionals. This happened to a friend of mine a few years back. He took it to a place that dealt with shorts a lot (not all auto repair shops are good at it), and it cost him about $100. The repairman said that they see this happen all the time. Depending on how bad the short is, it could cost anywhere from $100 to over $1000. From the sounds of it, it seems like your short is not that bad, so hopefully it won't cost that much.

ivy427 · February 2007

Purchased this car almost a year ago,had it serviced twice and my warranty is about to expired. There is water coming from somewhere inside my car. Carpet was replaced due to the wetness. A water specialist had diagnosed a faulty water
door garnish and leak thru firewall. The water doctor sealed the problem. However, there is still water coming from the drivers side. I wonder how many people are having this problem. Something has to be done before my warranty expires.

kipk · February 2007

Seems there was a flurry of activity concerning wet front carpet over on the Pilot "Problems and Solutions" forums.
Although it seems the Problems and Solutions section has disappeared, or I dreamed it! :confuse:

Kip

stever · February 2007

Just some name tweaking to focus more on taking care of cars instead of always harping on "problems." Try a Search This Discussion for the wet carpet posts.

kipk · February 2007

Thank goodness! Thought I was loosing my mind. Easy to do at my age! :sick:

Kip

crebeca · February 2007

Wow, it's that common? That makes me feel a little better, but $100-$1000!?
So a repair person, would that be the Honda dealership or someone else?
Well, we tried to change the fuse and it wasn't blown or whatever you call it.
The dealership likes to take $$$ from me.

Thanks for your suggestion, I'll have to make some calls Monday (for sure).

gmoney2 · February 2007

Wow, it's that common? That makes me feel a little better, but $100-$1000!?

My friend took it to a shop (not a honda dealer) that specifically said "we fix electronic shorts" on their billboard. And, yes, the guy told him that they see shorts from coins in the cigarette lighter quite often (especially in the older cars where the cigarette lighter was in the ashtray, where a lot of people put their coins). I'm not sure how much is average, but he told my friend that he was lucky it was only $100, as major shorts (e.g. none of the electronics work on the car, car won't start, etc.) can run over $1000. Now he could have been full of crap, and just replaced a 50 cent fuse or wire, but that's what he said. Let us all know what happens with your car. Good luck!

caugn · February 2007

My '03 Pilot is out of warranty and there are a couple of things that need taken care of.

First the rear A/C unit does not work at all. It neither heats or cools. I've been told that this is likely due to a module located somewhere under the center console but I have no idea where it is.

Secondly, I have the factory A/V DVD system installed. Recently the head phones have been buzzing instead of playing the audio. This occurs with both the wireless and the plug-in jacks. It does play fine through the car speakers so I'm assuming it has something to do with the transmitter. Any ideas?

alex28 · February 2007

My 2006 Pilot EXL has its airbag warning light on for no reason. Has anyone seen this problem? :confuse:

mike072 · February 2007

Just a thought. There are two fuses for the radio. One in the engine compartment and one on the passenger side panel. You might want to check both. I had a defective cell phone power cord and it shorted out the acc. socket. The fuse in the passenger side panel blew. Don't know if this helps or not.

cameramatt · February 2007

The Pilot has had a problem with the side air bag sensor.

Honda has issued a letter to me stating;

" To ensure the OPDS (Occupant Position Detection System) remains in top condition, we are extending the warranty on the main components of the system, the OPDS control unit and the OPDS sensor, to 10 years or 150,000 miles, whichever occurs first."

To bad its just for the OPDS, but Honda has done right by me again.

http://hondapilot.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=17710

rekh · February 2007

I have about 6000 miles on my Pilot and I am hearing a brief noise (about 1-2 seconds) from the engine when I start the vehicle first time in the day(every day) and It won't happen again during the day . The noise is like If you are "Over starting" the vehicle/ or rubbing two metal parts on each other. Can it be from starter? or does it come from another part of the engine? Is it related to cold weather? any idea? Can anybody help, please?

shallwechat · February 2007

there was a problem with the salesman not telling me I had to purchase the honda care before 6000 miles to get a better deal. i purchased a demo with 5600 miles. after complaining, i have been told they will sell it to me at cost....but how can i tell if they are "pulling one over on me". i have 11,600 miles and was told i have to purchase it before 15,000 miles.

jmac8 · February 2007

We have a little over 6K on our pilot also. I have noticed that same noise. It also only happens first thing. I dont remember this noise before it got so cold (we live in NY). I was also wondering if it is cold weather related. Any mechanics out there?

6buck · February 2007

Am I supposed to get a warning light if the front passenger is not buckled in an 04 Pilot? Friends with a 07 tell me they get a warning, however mine doesn't do this and I'm concerned that if a sensor is bad it might interfere with the airbag deployment. Maybe that wasn't a feature in 04. My dealer says it's not supposed to, however they were so confused about it that I don't have much confidence in them.

user777 · February 2007

if your 04 is anything like an 03 odyssey and 02 accord, you get a light (on the dash, not instrument panel) indicating something / someone is in the passenger seat, but it's of too little weight to enable the passenger airbag to deploy.

often you will see the light if you leave something like books and such on the seat.

kocskasy · February 2007

Hi there,

Anyone have this problem? The two power outlets we use the most, the one in the base of the console, and the one by the middle row passenger seat in the center console, are both falling out. Not like we did anything unusual, but they are falling out. I hate to go all the way to the dealer to fix this, but what can I do? It looks like they might screw back in, but I've tried and tried and can't get them to go. I'm also afraid to put anything in there to get the traction I need to really make it turn.

Ideas? :confuse: Thanks so much!
Karen

odie6l · February 2007

This was an added safety feature for the 2006 model Pilot. There are weight sensors in the seat that can tell when someone or something is on the seat. If you have over 8 lbs on the front seat the passenger airbag OFF light will iluminate, but once you get over a certain weight, the airbag OFF light will go off and the seatbelt warning light will come on, and every 45-60 seconds you will get an annoying dinning to tell your passenger to buckle up.

Odie
Odie's Carspace

ahaymd · February 2007

I am, unfortunately, an owner of a Honda Pilot 2004 with only 60,000 miles, and having MAJOR TRANSMISSION problems. Because my wife and I had purchased Honda vehicles in the past without any problems, we chose not to purchase the extended warranty. Wrong choice!. I wish I had purchased it. Furthermore, my wife's Honda Odyssey also had major transmission problems. We had purchased a total of 4 honda vehichels in the past. We will NEVER purchase another Honda vehicle again. Not because of the transmission problem, but how Honda (dealers and the HONDA COMPANY) had handled it. My advice # 1 don't buy Honda, #2 if you want to buy Honda, buy the extended warranty.

kipk · February 2007

With all the electronics and other gizmos of todays autos I believe an extended warranty is a must, no matter who built it!!!

Kip

mropportunity · February 2007

My wife has a 2006 Pilot and only with the first start of the engine that day there is a one second "pupp" noise when you start up. My daughter says it sounds like someone
rapping your window once with their knuckle.
ONLY happens with first start up -- It goes away for the rest of the day. ANY THOUGHTS?

davidd3 · February 2007

Sorry to hear about your transmission problems.

I have had many Hondas over the years, including 2 Odysseys (1997 and 2004)and a Pilot (2007). Owned some. Leased some. No serious/costly problems with any of them.

I, for one, still believe that you are buying above-average reliability when you buy a Honda, and that it therefore makes sense to pay as you go (paying for out of warranty repairs as and when necessary) rather than paying a lot of money up front for an extended warranty (which you may not make full use of). My take from Consumer Reports and other consumer publications is that extended warranties are generally priced accordingly so that they are bad deals for consumers and money makers for manufacturers. I'm not saying that there wouldn't be some Honda owners (such as yourself in at least 2 instances) who would get their money's worth out of an extended warranty purchase, but I think that it would be a loser of an investment for most. Also, suppose the vehicle is stolen or totaled in the first three years. Would you get your money back for the extended warranty purchase which you cannot possibly make use of? Another reason why it may make more sense to forgo an extended warranty purchase and just pay as you go.

normh · February 2007

Both of the vehicles that you mentioned had recalls on the transmission. Did you receive letters on that recall? I did, and I have a 2003 Pilot that had a part added to the transmission to improve cooling. My Brother-in-law has an Odyssey ('03 I believe) and he just got a new transmission (less than 6 mos. ago) at no cost. :confuse: Did your dealer mention any recall to you?

castle888 · February 2007

I have a silly question, does the 07 Honda Pilot have any special type of break-in oil already in the car when u buy it new. I have heard that some cars have a break in oil that doesnt need to be changed til 3750 or 7500? is that true? and if so, does the Pilot have this? if not, i was thinking of doing an extra oil change at 1000miles just to get any gunk out, and then again at 3000k,

your thoughts

thanks

davidd3 · February 2007

"Oil life" is now a function of your on-board computer. When you get down to 15% oil life, you will start to see information about your oil life every time you start the car. It replaces your odometer info. You can get rid of it (i.e., change it back to the odometer info) with a tap on the reset needle. Nothing special about the first oil change any more. Used to be we'd do the first oil change at just 1,000 miles. My 2007 Pilot now has 6,200 miles. Oil life is now showing 10%. I'll do my first oil change next month somewhere between 6,500 and 7,000 miles.

montzter · February 2007

Maybe the fuel (or other) system pressurizing? I'll listen on my Pilot the next time....

rekh · February 2007

These days I don't get that noise, the only thing which has changed is the weather, it's not that much ( around or below zero)cold!!!

kipk · March 2007

My wife has a 2006 Pilot and only with the first start of the engine that day there is a one second "pupp" noise when you start up. My daughter says it sounds like someone
rapping your window once with their knuckle.

Our 03 Pilot has bee doing that since 03.

At first I thought it was the AC clutch engaging, but came to realize it also does it with the AC "OFF"!

Doesn't do it every morning. Just when it decides to do it.

Figure if I left it at the dealer for a week, the technician might hear it. Or might not!

As the computer is not registering anything, it would be near impossible to find, unless they have a TSB from Honda.

I have described it as a cross between a thump and a knock!

I think your daughters description is better. Sounds like one knuckle rap on the wind shield, but from under the hood! :confuse:

Kip

Honda Pilot Maintenance and Repair

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