Consumer Reports vs Blown Cooler Line Reports

[Bethard728]

Originally Posted by rasputin

Get an inspection mirror and check your fittings asap. I just finished changing out my radiator about an hour ago. I have an '08 with 92k miles on it and here's what my fittings looked like:





Who knows how long it may have lasted, but I'm glad I did it. $144.00 sure beats replacing a transmission.

Rasputin - can you take a wrench and see if the fittings will back out? I think I am going to change the washers before they get too bad. I can not see any reason why the fittings won't just screw out, replace the washer, and put it back together...but I am too afraid to try it on a good radiator. From what little research ive done, it appears that I would need to drain all fluids from the radiator, so they don't mix when the fittings are removed. I would think that any radiator shop would sell the correct washers for little of nothing.

[rasputin]

Originally Posted by Bethard728

Rasputin - can you take a wrench and see if the fittings will back out? I think I am going to change the washers before they get too bad. I can not see any reason why the fittings won't just screw out, replace the washer, and put it back together...but I am too afraid to try it on a good radiator. From what little research ive done, it appears that I would need to drain all fluids from the radiator, so they don't mix when the fittings are removed. I would think that any radiator shop would sell the correct washers for little of nothing.

I'll give it a try, but if this works you'll still have to pull the radiator. You'll never be able to get the fittings out with it in place.

[Rickman]

Originally Posted by Ian Brantford

I would go with this interpretation. While analysis shows that this is certainly a design weakness (shared with other makes and models), there is no reason to think that it makes a major failure very likely overall. If we had never heard of the explanation, we'd probably never have the concern, but rather would be aware that there is some extremely unlikely failure for unknown reasons -- just like virtually all other failures.

Just think of how paranoid (rightfully so) you'd be about transmission failure if you bought a mid-size Chrysler car or minivan anytime through the 80's, 90's, ... did they ever fix that? This particular problem is a big bother for a small number of Ridgeline owners and should not dissuade anyone from buying a Ridgeline of any year.

I agree with this statement 100%. It's not like Honda has a recall on these!

[Bethard728]

Originally Posted by rasputin

I'll give it a try, but if this works you'll still have to pull the radiator. You'll never be able to get the fittings out with it in place.

Yea...things are tight down there, but it looks like an easy job to just pull the radiator. I would be willing to pull it and change the washers if possible. That would save some cash.

[Rich]

Originally Posted by Bethard728

Yea...things are tight down there, but it looks like an easy job to just pull the radiator. I would be willing to pull it and change the washers if possible. That would save some cash.

Bethard.
From memory I think the fittings hold a cooling tank for trans fluid
inside the radiator.

[Bethard728]

Originally Posted by Rich

Bethard.
From memory I think the fittings hold a cooling tank for trans fluid
inside the radiator.

Thanks Rich! Someone had noted in a differnet thread that you must remove one fitting at a time so the coooler does not disconnect from the radiator. Im going to give the washer replacement a try. Im going to try and put it off until 200K. Im at 157 now, so I will probably hit 200 late this year.

[koolguyccimport]

Hey yall.... What i did to my RL....is just bypassed the radiator. Ive seen one other RL just recently with a mix of atf and coolant. (Internal leak in radiator) so what i did was unhooked my feed line that runs into my radiator and run it straight to my cooler. Capped off the ends on the radiator. Simple as that. Vehicle runs great. Does not make a difference with colder trans fluid. It warms as u drive. That way if my RL gets an internal leak...no mix fluids...just new radiator. Thus eliminating completely the chance of both fluids mixing. I kno pilots are having alot more of this issue.

[mtb]

Originally Posted by Valk97

...
If this cooler line fitting issue was anything more than a very isolated problem, one would think it would be reflected in the Consumer Report ratings. However, given the excellent ratings, I can only conclude that among the thousands of replies Consumer Reports has received from Ridgeline owners very few, if any, reported/experienced this particular problem.

I don't know what to think! Is the cooler line issue something to be concerned about, enough to.. say... replace the fittings and radiator?

...

I doubt CR received more than a dozen or 2 RL surveys, because not that many Honda trucks are sold, and there are even less CR members who own one and/or filled out a survey!
CR base their ratings on the number of survey received, whether it is 10 or 10,000... so it is really biased, and does not really give the real picture!
I stopped taking CR ratings seriously, long ago!
There is no better place to really find out what is real, not guess work than in a Forum like this one; and not assumptions based on a few surveys/polls!



.

[Valk97]

Originally Posted by mtb

I doubt CR received more than a dozen or 2 RL surveys, because not that many Honda trucks are sold, and there are even less CR members who own one and/or filled out a survey!
CR base their ratings on the number of survey received, whether it is 10 or 10,000... so it is really biased, and does not really give the real picture!
I stopped taking CR ratings seriously, long ago!
There is no better place to really find out what is real, not guess work than in a Forum like this one; and not assumptions based on a few surveys/polls!

.

I think they have received more than a "few surveys" from Ridgeline owners.........

According to Consumer Reports they require a minimum of around 100 cars to publish reliability information for a model in a given year. Quote "Our statisticians have determined that a minimum sample of 100 is sufficient to allow us to report statistically-meaningful differences among models..."

If they don't have the minimum sample size for a given model in a given year they will say no reliability information is available.

So, assuming one believes what CR has put in writing they may have received and analyzed, at the very minimum, 600 or so surveys on the Ridgeline (based on model years 2006-11).

More information on CR's rating methods can be found here..

http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/2...ginMethod=auto

[Valk97]

For what it's worth, here's the CR Report. Doesn't get much better.

(I don't know what's up with the fuel system on the 2012's, but I guess that's another subject and story...)