Inside CV axle problem, transmission problem, or both?
 

Hi all,

I've got a curious symptom on my 2012 Odyssey Touring (not Elite) that has about 130K miles on it. During acceleration when changing gears the van momentarily feels like it is skating, turning or sliding to one side or the other without turning the steering wheel. It's like torque steer, but only when the transmission shifts and then only for maybe a second. Usually the steering wheel doesn't turn like it would with torque steer, but occasionally I do feel a twisting motion in the steering wheel.

It feels like perhaps one of the CV half shafts is changing gear ahead of the other so that momentarily the two shafts are turning at different rates. Scary as heck. Maybe I don't know what words to use, but I can't find another instance of anything like this in all my searching of forums, youtube and Google.

Another important detail is that I replaced both CV half shafts about 6 months ago. The outer joints were both clicking loudly and needed to be replaced. After replacing them everything felt fine, but now with the front of the vehicle up in the air, I've noted that the left inner joint clicks twice when I turn either the left or right wheel so that the shaft changes direction. It only clicks twice and then appears to grab and I've not heard any pronounced clicking like I did before I replaced the half shafts. I can even make it click just by turning the half shaft with my hand.

So here I have my quandary: My bet is that the driver's side CV half shaft has gone bad at the inside joint, but the van feels like the problem is worse than that. I've been pretty consistent at changing the transmission fluid every 30K or so (I've had many Hondas over the years) and have changed it a couple times in the past year as I was trying to diagnose the CV issue. However the transmission fluid does show wear when I change it, which to me is another indication that something likely isn't right with the internals.

What do you all think? Has anyone experienced this symptom and/or can suggest a root cause?

Thanks for your time,
John