Simon2937

288,000 km.. felt momentary loss of power for 1 -2 seconds while stopped at a light, didn't repeat until a week later. Drove to Home Depot and as I pulled in to park complete loss of power, wouldn't start when I came back, had it flat decked to my regular repair shop, fried alternator. $500 fix, so an alt at 288 km, no shame. Drove it for a day and momentary loss of power again, back to shop, had all the grounds cleaned up and back to driving, had the same 1 sec loss of power. Back to shop and left it for owner to drive for a few days, 5 days later and 300 km he said it worked flawlessly. I said ok, lets go process of elimination and start with change the trans fluid. Used Honda ATF, did one drain and refill, used a paint strainer to double check for debris, none showed, drain plug had some sludge around it but no metal. Picked it up at 11:00 and drove, by 12:00 I was broke down. It did the 1 sec power loss, shifted a little hard and then heard a whining sound then clashing gear sound from the rear end, not under or in front of me.
Flat decked back to shop and they say T C which means a transmission. Throughout all of this there were no codes or warning lights. I have a Scan Gauge and even took to driving with it connected the last day it quit. The sounds definitely came from the rear, as in under the back seat. I asked the shop to check the VTM fluid but that was sluffed off and not done. Could it be a rear diff issue or think it's a TC/Trans?
Thanks for any help, DL.

speedlever

If you have a failure of the rear diff (VTM-4 unit), it will be a silent failure, ie, you won't really know it until you need it and it fails to operate. The AWD Pilot is primarily front wheel drive (FWD) with rear wheel assist, as the system determines the need.

The only way I know to test the rear diff is to either put it on 4 jackstands and engage AWD and see if all 4 wheels turn (I've done this myself). Or find some slippery conditions, engage AWD and see if you get any rear wheel spin.

The rear diff should be serviced every 30k miles (whatever that is in km) under normal service conditions.

As regards the TC failure, I have no idea about that. Your failure description above is incomplete indicating your Pilot wouldn't start at Home Depot. Does that mean the engine wouldn't run or that when you engaged Drive, it failed to move? Your description of the tranny magnetic drain plug sounds exactly like what I see every time I change the tranny fluid. So nothing sounds abnormal there.

Simon2937

speedlever..thanks for your reply. The no engine start at Home Depot was a result of dead battery from fried alternator. Currently starts right up but as soon as it's put in gear, it stalls. I realize this is a fail safe to prevent further damage. Draining the trans fluid tomorrow and if there is debris in it, then case closed, the TC has locked up.
I have never experienced the "shudder" others have mentioned in threads about '03 Pilot transmissions, only momentary loss of power episodes at stop lights and 3 -4 rough shifts in the last 6 months, no indications previously over 140,000 km (87,500 mi)