I don't have a direct answer, but Honda Odyssey transmissions are popular for not for being bullet proof.

Regardless of BMW, Honda or KIA, apply the parking brake properly (slope or not), that may help reducing the clunk noises and extend the life of the transmission:

How to Use a Parking Brake | eHow.com

 

Use the parking brake as above^^^
shift to reverse with right foot and brake pedal then use left foot for parking brake works everytime for me. Didn't like the Big Bang that would happen without the use of the parking brake it will slowly destroy your transmission.

 

Yeah always use parking brake when on hills. It will help out the trans life.

 

Is this true even if not parking, but say stopped at a red light on a steep hill? I never knew this, although I am now vaguely remembering something like this back when I was leaning to drive my mom's manual VW, so I wouldn't roll into the car behind me and cause a scene.

 

Your BMW was an exception of sorts if it did not clunk. I have 2 Honda, a Nissan and a lot of friends and family have several different brands including but not limited to Toyota, Lexus, Acura, Ford, Dodge, Hyundai etc. ALL of them I repeat ALL of them do this on my driveway which is a slope. I tell every one of the visitors to my house to pull up, stay on the foot brake, put car in N, pull parking brake, release foot brake and if the car keeps rolling back pull on the parking brake harder and once the car stops rolling back, then put the car in Park.

I have been in my house 12 years and none of my cars ever clunk as both my wife and I do the process religiously. Half the friends and family know the drill by now too. You might want to start learning that drill as resting a couple ton car on the tranny is not good in the long run for any tranny (punny Honda trannies or not).

 

I tell every one of the visitors to my house to pull up, stay on the foot brake, put car in N, pull parking brake, release foot brake and if the car keeps rolling back pull on the parking brake harder and once the car stops rolling back, then put the car in Park.

Half the friends and family know the drill by now too.

DV, you must be the life of the party, huh? :cheers:

 

Hmm, I ALWAYS use the parking brake, even when not on slope. But I put in on parking gear instead of neutral. Does it matter? Oh, and I normally release the parking brake first then switch the gear, so this maybe the difference? I will try to put it on neutral later when I pick up my daughter, then shift the gear first before releasing the parking brake.

 

It does matter if you put it in "Park", but let the car roll until the transmission "lock" stops it and then you apply the parking brake. At that point the parking brake does not help much anymore, the car is resting on the transmission locking mechanism, not on the brakes. Long story short, the car should be held by the parking brake, not by the transmission.

Just follow the instructions as the members above posted

DV, you must be the life of the party, huh? :cheers:

 

Always apply the parking brake in Neutral. If in Park, the transmission parking pawl may take the weight of the car when you release the foot brake. That would negate the benefit of using the parking brake.

 

It doesn't always work. Sometime I get the clunk when shifting to reverse on my '12 Ody TE...despite always using the parking brake before shifting to park. It's maddening!

 

And you may have not heard yet another one as you pull away quickly after shifting from reverse to drive. It is like a loud clicking noise. I've heard it in recent model Odysseys, Pilots and a couple of Accords

 

My Odyssey does that pretty much all the time but so did my 09 Accord. These are the first cars I have ever owned with automatic transmissions so I thought it was normal.


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I know this thread is old, but my 2016 clunks on hills that I don't think are that steep. My 2008 grand caravan never clunked on the same hills - all the way up to 140,000 miles on the original transmission.

Is this normal?

 

In all likelihood, yes it is normal. Our 2015 does the same thing. If you apply the parking brake before releasing the brake pedal as you park (and the reverse of this as you shift out of Park), the clunk almost never happens.

 

Try to shift while depressing the brakes fully so the vehicle is not moving or can't move when you shift. Similar to what others been saying about using the parking brakes. The quick shift in load or weight of the vechicle and direction of the gears in the transmission is what's causing your clunk. Think about this: the gears are designed to turn forward or backwards. When you're at a slope, the gears want to go one way, due to gravity. When you suddenly want to change the gears to go the opposite direction, the weight of your vehicle adds load to the gears to want to force it a diff direction. This also causes added stress to the transmission gears/synchros.
Another obvious example is someone driving a manual transmission car and trying to switch too fast from 1st gear to reverse. It severely grinds the gears. Please don't ask me how I know this..haha. Being redundant, you don't have to have the car on a slope to hear the clunk. As long as you're shifting a lil too fast or the vehicle is still moving while changing directions, then you'll hear it. It's more obvious on a slope because the vehicle moves down on its own or your not pressing the brakes hard enough and it's moving down.

 

...I'm a mechanical engineer... I design gearboxes. Some with clutches, some without.

Does your car do this? That is the question. I understand how to prevent it.

 

My 08 has done this since it was new. Sitting on level ground, the first shift of the day from Park to Reverse sometimes has a pretty good clunk. If you go back to Park and try it again it will be fine. It never does it from Park to Drive. I've got 155K miles on it today.