Sorry about the confusion. I'll explain in depth but it is long.
We loved our 2017 Ridgeline & planned on keeping it a very long time. We are 67 years old & travel quite a bit in the US. We previously had a 29' motor home & 14' car hauler with toad. We recently took a trip & traveled 6300 mi in a little over 3 weeks. While on out trip we talked about downsizing & go with a bumper pull trailer. We had our Ridgeline sitting at home & we knew it had the capability of towing 5,000 lbs. at this time it had 20k, ran beautiful & was as comfortable as our Enclave we traded towards the Ridgeline. Ours was the AWD & we averaged 25 to 26 mpg. We sold our motor home & delivered it to the new buyer in Denton Tx. We live in Utopia Tx (the hill country) near Bandera TX. On our way home, we stopped at an RV dealer in Baird TX. We found a new pull camper a Rockwood 2109s that was exactly what we needed. We checked the dry weight & it was 4200lbs. We were well within the Ridgeline recommended tow limits. We purchased it. We were in a rental car & agreed to come back with the Ridgeline in a week or so when the weather was good.
We went to pick up our camper with our Ridgeline again 25-26mpg. We used a load equalizer hitch as to not make the Ridgeline sag too much in the rear. We headed home 3 1/2 hr drive and got to Brady TX. The roads are posted at 70 but I only drove around 60. This is gently rolling hills with no mountains. Our fuel mileage dropped drastically to 8.6-8.7. Very disappointing. The Ridgeline pulled, drove, rode & shifted beautiful. We had checked out our camper at the RV dealer & signed all the papers. My wife kept commenting that the interior of the camper didn't seem right to her. It became quite heated at times & I thought it was just her. We stopped in Brady TX & got gas & pulled into WalMart. We looked at the camper interior & I checked the vin as compared to our paperwork & it didn't match (wrong trailer). (My wife was right). We called the RV dealer & agreed to take it back the next day. We were about 80-90 mi from the RV dealer. We got a motel for the night & headed back the next morning. This was Saturday.
NOW FOR THE PROBLEM
About 70 mi into our return trip the Ridgeline didn't want to go in to overdrive. Even backing off the throttle it didn't want to go into overdrive. All of a sudden the transmission made a real loud bang & a real hard thump. The transmission went in to 4th gear & would not up or downshift. We could smell trans fluid. I pulled off & checked for leakes & pulled the trans dipstick. The fluid level was a little over full, did not smell burnt & looked normal color. We were about 8-10 mi from the RV dealer. We called the nearest Honda Dealer & they were in Abilene TX. I told them the problem & they thought I would be ok to come in to the dealership. We dropped off the RV at the RV dealer, found the one we originally purchased & agreed we would come back & pick it up after we had the Ridgeline fixed. We were there about 2 hrs doing the paperwork & getting things straightened out. We left & headed for the Honda dealership. The Ridgeline worked normal. Shifted fine & went into overdrive. I thought things were going to be fine. We got off I 20 & while on the off ramp the trans downshifted & again banged & thumped real hard. We gassed up & again I checked the trans fluid. It looked fine, same as first check.
Now up to this point I did not receive any warning lights or failure warnings. We drove towards the Honda dealer & every time you pulled out the trans would pull out in low & immediately shift with the hard thump/bang in to 4 th gear. We finally got a emission warning on the dash followed by transmission failure warning. We were just a couple miles from the dealership. We crippled along in to Honda of Abilene. They hooked up their diagnostic equip & said the trans solenoid valve was bad & they had to replace the solenoid valve assembly.
We asked about a loaner vehicle but because we were out of towers they could not give us a loaner car. We asked about a rental & they said if Honda was going to pay for it, it had to be pre-approved by Honda. Guess what? Honda is not open on Saturday. If I wanted a rental I had to pay for it. Remember, we are 3 1/2 hr away from home. I asked for the General Manager & he said he would get us a rental & call Honda first thing Monday. We headed home. There were a couple things I needed done under warranty & I figured while they had it I would have them make the repairs. This was on 12/9/17.
While it was at the dealer I called & filed a case with Honda 12/11/17
Called Honda again on 12/18 & was told a case MGR would call me. (James) regional case MGR called & I explained our problem & my concerns about the Ridgeline's towing ability. For 20k mi we had no problems with our vehicle but yet when we hooked on a camper that was within Honda's guidelines we had trans failure within 160 mi. He said he would check back with me later in the week to see how things are after the repair.
JUST TO CLARIFY Our Ridgeline came from the factory with the tow package & trans cooler.
On 12/20/17 we went back to the Honda dealer in Abilene. The Ridgeline worked beautiful again. We drove about 20 mi to the RV dealer to pick up our new correct camper. We started home. At about 35 mi the Ridgeline would not go in to overdrive & all of a sudden the same loud bang & hard thump we had the first time. I pulled off the road & called the Honda dealership. By this time I'm quite upset as anyone would have been. I told him I was headed back to the dealership with my camper in tow. Again, it would pull out in low gear & bang/thump shift in to 4th gear. Would not upshift or downshift. On my way there I called Honda's regional case MGR (James) & got his voice mail. Left him a long message of my problem & needed him to call me asap. At the dealership I took the service advisor & mechanic for a ride with the camper in tow. Within a few seconds of pulling out got the same bang/thump & goes in 4th gear only. No warning or problems showed up on dash. They agreed there was a major problem with the transmission. I asked if they could get a rental that I could tow my camper home. Enterprise said they wouldn't have anything for about a week. I asked about a dealer lot vehicle that I could borrow to take my camper home. They said they did not have anything I could use.
Please note, at this point of having transmission failure at 160 mi of towing & again after 35 mi of towing I had lost all confidence that the Ridgeline was capable of towing my camper that was within Hondas weight advertised guidelines.
My camper had been prepped at the dealership & had water in systems to check out. Abilene was calling for below freezing temps in a couple days. I knew I had to do something.
I talked again with the GM & he also agreed that the Ridgeline didn't seem to be able to handle a camper even though it was within Honda's guidelines. The service advisor said he felt the Ridgeline was good to tow a small boat or canoe but not a camper.
At this point I had to make a decision. With talking with the GM he said he would take my Ridgeline on trade & that he would talk with Honda the next morning about helping out with Honda money to get me in to something else. This was on Wednesday. We looked at a couple 1/2 ton trucks they had on their used lot then left for home. Again 3 1/2 hrs away. The GM called me the next day & said Honda would help me if I were to buy another Honda but not if I were to buy anything else. What did they expect me to buy (an Accord) to tow my camper? The only vehicle available in the Honda's was a Ridgeline & I had a $40k one that proved it could not tow my camper. On Friday, I went back to the Honda Dealership in Abilene & traded in my Ridgeline for $32,500 & purchased a Ford 1/2 ton truck with the 3.5 ecoboost engine with 17k miles on it. As I previously stated I had to do something to get my camper home away from the freezing temperatures. My Ford handles my camper with ease. Yes I do miss my Ridgeline but not the transmission problems. I have read on this site about transmission problems & the 2 bulletins.
I lost quite a bit of money, time, travel expenses & aggravation because of the trans failures & I feel Honda needs to step up & take care of their customer.
I have filed a claim with the BBB on false advertising by Honda.
I TRIED TO BE BRIEF WITH MY FIRST POST BUT HAD TOO MANY ? THAT NEEDED TO BE ANSWERED
