Premise: I want to eliminate the AWD on my 2003 Pilot and have it operate without issue as FWD.

Rationale: Reasons tend to get into tangential debates. Can we accept that I know what I want and just talk about what is feasible and how to accomplish it? I find it valuable and interesting enough to discuss possibilties irrespective of ultimate feasibility and I hope others do as well.

So I've googled this and only found one good source where a guy was discussing this in the context of a CRV. Most times everything devolves into smarmy comments about the guys rationale.

So I've studied with online resources, my Helm manual, and discussing with my transmission guy and here's some steps I've gone through and where I'm at now:

I) The VTM-4 Control Module is tied in part to the Fuse 4 at the Driver's Left-Leg fuse box. Some of the online discussions discussed pulling this fuse to disable VTM-4. Unfortunately there are some other systems tied to this fuse like ABS. But it seemed safe enough to pull this fuse. I do so and tested the operation. The vehicle drove fine but the dash was lighting up with "Check Engine" and "VTM-4" light. Might have accomplished the goal but not good for the long term. Reinserted the Fuse 4 and moved on to the next attempt.

II) Studied up on the VTM-4 Control Module. Found it's location behind the gas-fill door accessible through a plastic door inside the jack storage area. The connector might be removable without un-bolting the unit but those connector wire bundles are stiff and it's really rough on the fingers to blindly feel for the right spot to pinch the connector release and get it unhooked. The Module is mounted with 3 10mm bolts and, though pretty difficult, these were able to be removed blindly by feel with a variety of articulating-head rachets and sockets. Unplugged the VTM-4 Control Module and the vehicle operated flawlessly for about 50 miles which led me to believe I might have isolated/removed a problem that was leading me down this path which, as shouldn't be surprising to the observant reader, was potential transmission failure. However, after 50 miles and arriving home, I did see just as I was pulling in a new CEL and code pointing back to my transmission problem.

III) After sitting Sat-Sun, I'm taking the vehicle to my transmission guy and the 50 miles of good-driving on Saturday is replaced with a Pilot that won't go above 2nd gear on Monday. We conclude that a re-build is required, it's performed, and results show that some bearing has busted and I'm shown the badly damanged roller-cylinders from the bearing and a differential with a nasty chunk out of one of the teeth. So we finish the rebuild and as part of that I ask the transmission guy to pull the propeller shaft to further remove AWD from the equation. We do that, I take the vehicle back and it drives fine except that I get a P0740 at highway-type speed. I can hook up the OBD2 and clear this code and it comes back within a minute at highway speed. Subsequent driving around time the code didn't come back. Haven't yet gone back up to highway speed. P0740, unlike stated on some threads searchable here, doesn't strike me as "kiss-of-death always rebuild/replace" http://engine-codes.com/p0740_honda.html particularly in light of the fact I've driving around on a just rebuilt transmission. Seems very much related to electrical circuitry or functionality of the Torque Control Clutch Solenoid.

With all that background in place, what my question ultimately comes down to is how, if at all, can I effectively disable the AWD and make the Pilot operate FWD without side issues?

1) Was pulling the VTM-4 Contoller sufficient? I concluded I still had the transmission delivering torque to the rear differential with potential for issue back there that I would prefer to avoid. Hence why I went farther to remove the propeller shaft.

2) Does the absence of the propeller shaft get me where I want to be? I now have the transfer case flange spinning free at the back of the transmission. I presume that the absence of "load" from the propeller shaft and rear differential wouldn't cause any type of harmonic balance issues in the transmission. I would be surprised if the transmission required that "load" to function properly but it's something in the back of my mind as a possibility. Transmission guy didn't feel that was an issue. On the rear end, I have rear drive shafts sitting in the rear-differential presumably free-wheeling in the absence of any input to the rear-differential from the VTM-4 controller. I would've like to had the Rear Diff and Drive Shafts removed but didn't want to go that far right away. In the back of my mind, I also have a mild concern that something in the drive axle/rear diff interface is a potential point of failure.

3) Ultimately, now I'm working a situation with a Rebuilt Transmission and a "modded" situation where I've taken the VTM-4 Controller out of the loop. The P0740 code seems completely front-end transmission related and I believe some normal post-rebuilt code that has to worked (loose connector, bad solenoid, or whatever). But the VTM-4 Controller does send input to the PCM Powertrain Control Module. My biggest concern at this point is that some of that VTM-4 input might lead to PCM throwing codes which, given that I've just gone through a rebuild, might be hard to distinguish from a legitimate front-end transmission issue.

So irrespective of the rationale, is it possilble to make these vehicles into FWD from AWD in any reasonable set of steps (hopefully some of which I've listed) without incurring a never-ending series of PCM codes due to it not having VTM-4 input?

 

WHAT ?

 

OP, not to bash on your rationale, but please enlighten me to your reasoning behind removing 4WD?