[lwaltz]

I don't have many miles yet, but I have noticed a vibration after the shift into 5th gear. Anyone else notice? It goes away if you take foot off of accelerator, and is not present in the lower gears.

'02 EX-L-NAV RRP
pic here:
http://pages.prodigy.net/leo.waltz/ody/rocket2.jpg

 

[CPSDarren]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by lwaltz:
I don't have many miles yet, but I have noticed a vibration after the shift into 5th gear. Anyone else notice? It goes away if you take foot off of accelerator, and is not present in the lower gears.

'02 EX-L-NAV RRP
pic here:
http://pages.prodigy.net/leo.waltz/ody/rocket2.jpg</font>

Ack! Sounds like the dreaded "shift cable" or "dieseling" transmission noise in 4th gear on earlier models...

 

[Intrepid175]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by caviller:
Ack! Sounds like the dreaded "shift cable" or "dieseling" transmission noise in 4th gear on earlier models...</font>

You know, I've read about this "dieseling" transmission noise many times in this forum and it's still a mystery to me. I've not noticed anything that I'd consider out of the ordinary in my '01 LX. Some have mentioned that this noise (assuming it's the same thing) only occures at steady speeds or under very light acceleration in the 50 to 55 mph range in high gear. I've finally noticed something in my Ody under precisely the same conditions. I don't know if this is what you folks are refering to but I do know what it is and it's perfectly normal under the circumstances.

My Ody will exibit a minor rumble or vibration at 50 to 55 mph while in fourth gear with the torque converter locked up. The engine is running very close to 1500 rpm at this time and at that speed and load, what I'm feeling is the engine power pulses as each cylinder fires off. Some might consider that this is actually lugging the engine a bit and that might be true but I personally feel that it's minor and not detrimental. As had been pointed out in trying to describe this phenomenon, if you accelerate any harder, you'll never feel it. That's because the torque converter won't lock up in that case and the engine will never be at a low enough rpm for the symptom to manifest itself.

Again, I don't know if this is what everone's been talking about but I thought I'd mention this for consideration.

Sound plausible?

----------------------
lwalz: My reply is really aimed more at those of us with the 4-speed as this subject has been discussed in length a number of times. My question to you is; What are the conditions that produce the vibration you're talking about? If it only occures at relatively low speeds (50 to 60 mph?) and light throttle applications then my opinion could certainly apply in your case. If it happens all the time, I'd certainly get it looked at.

------------------
Drive Safe,
Steve R.
'01 SS LX
Cargo tray, leather steering wheel, mud guards, alarm, fog lights, transmission cooler, in-dash CD player, Kelton subwoofer, under seat storage tray.

[This message has been edited by Intrepid175 (edited 09-25-2001).]

 

[nyvram]

Intrepid..

I notice the sound at 40 mph while keeping a solid foot on the accelerator (not speeding up or slowing down). It seems to be exacerbated when going uphill (not that you folks down in east Texas have to worry about THAT). I do notice it and it goes away by the time I'm at 50-55 mph so I can't say if what you are experiencing is the same thing.

 

[Intrepid175]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by nyvram:
Intrepid..

I notice the sound at 40 mph while keeping a solid foot on the accelerator (not speeding up or slowing down). It seems to be exacerbated when going uphill (not that you folks down in east Texas have to worry about THAT). I do notice it and it goes away by the time I'm at 50-55 mph so I can't say if what you are experiencing is the same thing.</font>

Hi Nyvram,

I don't know either. Generally speaking, my Ody will upshift to fourth gear easily enough at 40 mph but the torque converter doesn't usually lock until I'm closer to 50 mph assuming I'm not accelerating very hard.

Can you tell if your torque converter has locked up at 40 mph? If so, that seems to me to be a "really" low speed for that to happen based on how my Ody feels at 50. If this is the case, any added load, like going up that hill you mention, would really compound the problem regardless of whether or not you're actually trying to accelerate.

It's a shame we're too far apart to get together and compare our vehicles side by side. We could clarify this very quickly in that case.

Oh well...



------------------
Drive Safe,
Steve R.
'01 SS LX
Cargo tray, leather steering wheel, mud guards, alarm, fog lights, transmission cooler, in-dash CD player, Kelton subwoofer, under seat storage tray.

 

[phil47]

Intrepid,

My 2001 EX exhibits exactly the characteristics you describe. I also attribute it to the lock-up torque converter. I jokingly call it the 1/2 gear. Stepping on the gas unlocks the TC and it drops to "3 1/2". Coming off the gas, the TC locks up, the revs drop and the van is in 4th. It is accompanied by a soft rumbling sound (not dieseling or knocking) which I don't feel is detrimental. My 2001 Pathfinder LE does the same thing, however, it doesn't rumble when the TC locks up.

 

[Intrepid175]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by phil47:
Intrepid,

My 2001 EX exhibits exactly the characteristics you describe. I also attribute it to the lock-up torque converter. I jokingly call it the 1/2 gear. Stepping on the gas unlocks the TC and it drops to "3 1/2". Coming off the gas, the TC locks up, the revs drop and the van is in 4th. It is accompanied by a soft rumbling sound (not dieseling or knocking) which I don't feel is detrimental. My 2001 Pathfinder LE does the same thing, however, it doesn't rumble when the TC locks up.</font>

Hi Phil,

I like that, gear "3 1/2". I'd not thought of it that way bit it makes sense.

My previous car, a '94 T-Bird with 4.6L V8 would lock the converter as low as 40 mph in fourth. This would have the engine loafing along at about 1100 rpm. It never rumbled or vibrated under these conditions either but it was also a larger engine, tuned to produce power a little farther down in the rpm range than I feel the Ody's engine is, and, being a V8, was a bit smoother than your average V6 by it's very nature.



------------------
Drive Safe,
Steve R.
'01 SS LX
Cargo tray, leather steering wheel, mud guards, alarm, fog lights, transmission cooler, in-dash CD player, Kelton subwoofer, under seat storage tray.

 

[lwaltz]

Just a reply to get the topic active again. I can easily create the symptom by driving on a smooth road. Once you reach the low 40's mph (still in 4th), gradually accelerate until the shift from 4th to 5th. As soon as the shift happens at about 47 mph and the rpm drops,the vibration is there until you reach a speed of about 55 when it fades away and is not there at 60. It is not a wheel as when you are coasting there is no vibration.

I will get this checked at the dealer on my first service visit, which is not too far off.



------------------
2002 EX-L NAV RRP
http://pages.prodigy.net/leo.waltz/ody/rocket2.jpg

 

[sa9651]

Hi All..My '02 has some noise/ vibration under these conditions, too. Since RPM's are way under 2000 when this occurs, I've thought that the noise was caused from lugging the engine. Once RPM's increase the condition disappears. I try to avoid driving in 5th at low RPM's.

 

[a_wlee]

Yesterday on my 2002 ex-l I noticed the same thing and found the ody at 45mph rumbling, I don't think this is sserious as I was not accelerating hard, just coasting. I think this noise is from the exhaust as the the engine is reving under 2000 rpm and is slowly picking up speed. If I am right the 5th gear kicked in and the engine is coping with the lower rpms and is making the vehicle rumble.

 

[Canodyssey]

I think the rumble is due to the engine rpms being to low in 5th and the engine is slightly lugged. The 5th is a an extreme overdrive gear. Well thats the price you pay for having 240 hp in a LEV vehicle. It's a fine balance between power and fuel economy.

So just think of the money you are saving everytime you here the rumble.

 

[wcarroll]

Vibration in 5th

Just took our 02 RRP Oyd for it's first major road trip. It is making the same noise as decribed by others. I find it quite annoying as it sounds like the engine is labouring! I dropped it into D3, but then I ended up with high rpms/engine noise . The explanations given in this thread seem to make sense, however I am disappointed that this would happen in such a vehicle!

:dunno: :dunno:

 

[JoeM]

After approx 1,400 miles on an '02, my impressions are similar - the faint "rumbling" occurs at 1500 rpm and at around 45-50 mph with light pressure on the throttle -- it seems, as described above, that the torque converter locks up top gear early, probably for fuel economy purposes. As soon as you step on the gas, it downshifts immediately and the "rumble" feeling is gone, and also there is no "rumble" at higher speeds in 5th. It's kind of annoying in that it gives the impression the engine is laboring, but, based on the several discussions/threads on this topic in the forums on this site, it seems to be a characteristic of the transmission.

 

[Guest]

After approx 1,400 miles on an '02, my impressions are similar - the faint "rumbling" occurs at 1500 rpm and at around 45-50 mph with light pressure on the throttle -- it seems, as described above, that the torque converter locks up top gear early, probably for fuel economy purposes. As soon as you step on the gas, it downshifts immediately and the "rumble" feeling is gone, and also there is no "rumble" at higher speeds in 5th. It's kind of annoying in that it gives the impression the engine is laboring, but, based on the several discussions/threads on this topic in the forums on this site, it seems to be a characteristic of the transmission.

Probably not so much the transmission or the engine themselves as much as the programming controlling when things, like torque converter lockup, happen.

I've noticed in our van that when accelerating gently, it will lock up in 5th at about 47 MPH, but if I let up gently on the accelerator, it will stay locked up down to about 42-43 MPH, at which time the engine is doing maybe 1250-1300 RPMs. It'll still accelerate from there but will rumble. The flipside is that if you drive at a constant 45 MPH with the torque converter locked up, I'd bet you'd easily get into the lower 30s MPG!

Wayne Lim

 

[lwaltz]

Well, since I started this thread, I thought I would give you all an update. My dealer's tech recognizes that it happens but cannot explain it. However, my computer system failed and required a total replacement a few weeks back. Since that was replaced, I noticed that the shift point from 4th to 5th has moved up about 5 mph under the same conditions (flat road, minimal acceleration). Therefore the RPM is higher than it was prior to the computer swapout. They verified that I had the latest software version in the new computer and could not tell me what changes had been made since I got my 2002 in September of 2001.

The problem is still there, but less noticeable now. Maybe the tables or curves were altered in the algorithms ??

Leo in Webster, TX

 

[Guest]

Well, since I started this thread, I thought I would give you all an update. My dealer's tech recognizes that it happens but cannot explain it. However, my computer system failed and required a total replacement a few weeks back. Since that was replaced, I noticed that the shift point from 4th to 5th has moved up about 5 mph under the same conditions (flat road, minimal acceleration). Therefore the RPM is higher than it was prior to the computer swapout. They verified that I had the latest software version in the new computer and could not tell me what changes had been made since I got my 2002 in September of 2001.

The problem is still there, but less noticeable now. Maybe the tables or curves were altered in the algorithms ??

Leo in Webster, TX

Can you or anyone else verify that there is a different transmission algorithm? I'd trade off some fuel economy for a new shift pattern as you describe, and I'd love to have the engine management not retard the timing so much during shifts also.

Wayne Lim

 

[Grand Total]

Probably not so much the transmission or the engine themselves as much as the programming controlling when things, like torque converter lockup, happen.

I've noticed in our van that when accelerating gently, it will lock up in 5th at about 47 MPH, but if I let up gently on the accelerator, it will stay locked up down to about 42-43 MPH, at which time the engine is doing maybe 1250-1300 RPMs. It'll still accelerate from there but will rumble. The flipside is that if you drive at a constant 45 MPH with the torque converter locked up, I'd bet you'd easily get into the lower 30s MPG!

Wayne Lim

Regarding torque converter lockup I have also noticed that if you start from standstill you have to reach 74KPH/46MPH in my case for the torque converter to lock up. Once it has locked you can then decelerate to around 66KPH/41 MPH before it unlocks, however if you decelerate even further to maybe 60KPH/37MPH and then accelerate gently the torque converter will lock again at 66KPH/41MPH. The transmission appears to remember that it has been locked up.

I agree with you that the rumbling is simply vibration caused by operating the engine at such a low speed with a moderate load, in my case it is gone completely by the time I reach 85KPH/53MPH and does not give me any cause for concern.