[Mitch F]

Doesn't the instrument control panel have a transmission overheating idiot light to let you know if the transmission is overheating?

That’s what I said in my post and it came on

 

[Nightshade869]

Any updates after getting the truck back today?

 

[Mitch F]

Any updates after getting the truck back today?

I haven’t picked it up yet but they said they didn’t find anything

 

[Rickydee]

I have a 2019 RTL with 29K miles pulling a 20ft. travel trailer weighing about 4500 lbs. loaded. Several trips for 2-4 hours, varied terrain, no problems. Changing transmission fluid sounds like a good idea.

 

[Topdownrambling]

We have the 2017 AWD Ridgline that we purchased in later 2017. We added a small (3100 lb dry weight) travel trailer in early 2018. We towed it back from Colorado after we purchased it and had no problems. This spring, coming back from the Smokies, we experienced transmission overheating; we ended up stopping to let it cool off about three times between Kentucky and Wisconsin. Just recently, on a shorter trip in Wisconsin, we again experienced overheating just a few miles from home.

I took the truck in for some routine maintenance and asked the dealer about the transmission. Personally, I don't think we're overloading the vehicle and I told the dealer I was a bit disappointed. Got the answer that I my 3000 lb trailer was probably a bit to the high side and got a lecture on all things that go into the 5000 lb tow limit. They also said I'd probably need to change the transmission fluid more frequently.

I remembered this thread and the mention of the Honda TB's that referenced the tranny judder. I found the comment in the background that mentions the "software update" to help maintain the transmission fluid in the appropriate temperature range to be somewhat incriminating. I asked the Service Manager at the dealership and he agreed, and then offered to check the software on my vehicle.

Lo and behold, the software on my Ridgeline needed an upgrade. I'm no technician, but it sure sounds like the software on the early 2017's may have had a glitch that allowed the transmission to overheat under extenuating circumstances. I'm hoping the upgrade will help keep my tranny cool.

Thanks to the sharp eyes here for catching and pointing out the subtle nuance in the wording of those Honda TB's. Now I'm wondering and curious what exactly the upgrade does to improve the transmission cooling...open a servo valve that fully utilizes the tranny cooler, force the cooling fans to work harder?

Here's an update - Towed the summer of 2019 with no real issues. Come fall, we headed out to Colorado to visit family and in the (very) slightly rolling hills of Iowa, the tranny overheated. I pulled off and headed to the nearest truck stop with a scale and had the truck and trailer weighed. Steering Axle/2860 LB, Drive Axle/2940 LB, Trailer Axle/3260 LB, Gross Weight/9060 LB. Continued the trip out and back with no other issues. I took the truck in for routine service upon return and had a discussion with the service manager after giving him a copy of the weight certificate. He had no immediate response and said he wanted to share the info with Honda.

It's now time for routine service and another towing season with no response. Time to push them harder - think I'm gonna ask for an appointment when a Honda rep is present.

Something is not right - either Honda oversold the Ridgeline Gen 2 capabilities or there's something amiss that needs to be fixed.

 

[DaveyW]

Based on the description of the trailer you're towing, there should be no reason for the AT idiot light to illuminate, especially when cruising along relatively flat road at of near freeway speeds. Airflow alone should be sufficient to cool tranny fluid. And fluid "burnt", no way that should happen.

How certain are you the trailer and all the stuff in it was less than tow capacity? What about stuff in the bed? Was the total load under spec?

Couple thoughts. Dealers can be real dicks about stuff like this. One thing you could do is hook the trailer up and go to a weigh station, get a print out of the results and keep it handy. You could go one step further by purchasing an inexpensive bluetooth OBD streamer and using the Torue app to log vehicle sensors.

This is a screen shot of a Torque dash board I use in a 2013 Crosstour.

View attachment 379700

I assume the Gen2 Ridge is using the same PID library as the Crosstour, which would mean you can not only view trans fluid temp in real time, you could also log it and print out the results for the dickhead at the dealer. Showing them a weight ticket and a record of vehicle temps while towing the trailer might be convincing evidence the issue actually exists.

Having said all that, if the gross vehicle weight is under max rating and you are having AT overheat issues and fluids are correct, its unlikely they'll be willing go go way into the fluid thermal management system.

The short story is: trans fluid passes from the trans thru a heat exchanger inside the bottom of the radiator. From there, fluid routes to an cooler mounted in front of the radiator. Short of there being blockage somewhere in the fluid circuit, or poor fluid pressure at the output of the trans, there isn't much to debug.

This is a diagram of the cooling system in the Gen1 Ridge. Believe it or not, its exactly the same in the Gen2. Good luck

https://www.ridgelineownersclub.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=379702

I'm a new 2017 Ridgeline AWD Owner; when I compare my engine with the transcool circuit diagram I do not see that secondary ATF cooler (which the diagram appears to show behind the radiator between the radiator and the engine). The dealer says my truck has a transmission fluid cooler. So my question: Is that cooler in the diagram a standard item or a beefier cooler which would be part of a Honda towing package?

For context, we just purchased (and towed home) a travel trailer well under the trucks 5,000lb capacity and experienced the overheating. The GVWR of the trailer is 3950 and as we had barely any additional load (maybe 50lbs of water) I'm guessing we were much closer to the dry weight of 3,140lbs.

I've seen enough posts here to convince me that I probably won't be comfortable going over mountains without a better cooling solution.

 

[zroger73]

I'm a new 2017 Ridgeline AWD Owner; when I compare my engine with the transcool circuit diagram I do not see that secondary ATF cooler (which the diagram appears to show behind the radiator between the radiator and the engine). The dealer says my truck has a transmission fluid cooler. So my question: Is that cooler in the diagram a standard item or a beefier cooler which would be part of a Honda towing package?

The diagram you're referring to doesn't match the 2017-2020 Ridgeline.

All AWD Ridgelines come with a cooler which is mounted in front of the lower radiator.

There's not a separate "towing package", per se. All Ridgelines comes with a trailer hitch. AWD trims also include the 7-pin trailer wiring connector and transmission cooler.

 

[smufguy]

I'm a new 2017 Ridgeline AWD Owner; when I compare my engine with the transcool circuit diagram I do not see that secondary ATF cooler (which the diagram appears to show behind the radiator between the radiator and the engine). The dealer says my truck has a transmission fluid cooler.

Just an FYI, even the G1 ATF coolers were in front of the condenser (G2 has it in front of the Condenser as well). The illustration that you are referring to (that you linked) appears to be of a G1 Ridgeline as the ATF-warmer is located on the bottom end tank of the radiator, unlike the G2 where the ATF warmer is bolted to the transmission housing.

Roger's image explains the correct orientation.

 

[barneytoe]

According to owners.honda.com AND the dealer, my 17 RTL-T already includes a heavy duty transmission cooler.

Problem is when towing our 3160 lb. (dry weight) camping trailer, a few hours in we'll start seeing transmission too hot warnings.

I get that after loading all of our gear (minus water) I'm probably approaching close to the 5k lb. tow limit but with a transmission cooler I don't get how after 2 hours driving on flat road on 80 degree day, transmission cooler isn't able to keep up.

Any ideas?
thanks,
chris

 

[stevem5215]

I would check the flow through the transmission cooler. Some of these manufacturing defects possibly have found their way into restricted flow of the coolers and could cause this issue. At a minimum I would do a 3x fluid change, check for flow restrictions in the lines, check with a IR therm (harbor freight works cheaply), at the in and out lines at cooler WHEN IT OCCURS, replace the inline filter that no dealer ever knows about (I have a spare one in inventory I'll sell you for $100 lol), and I would ensure that the 17' has the updated software from the dealer done.

Steve friends with a tranny guy lol.

 

[Kevo]

The XGauge programmed to indicate "Torque Converter Lock Up Solenoid (status)" never wavered from indicating "OFF".

Conclusion: the XGauge is not working as intended to indicate TC Lockup status.

I just got my old ScanGauge installed recently and tried the TCL XGauge. I got the same results. It seems to always indicate off. Was there ever any resolution on this or newer codes to try. TIA

 

[CentexG2]

I just got my old ScanGauge installed recently and tried the TCL XGauge. I got the same results. It seems to always indicate off. Was there ever any resolution on this or newer codes to try. TIA

I didn't pursue it further - maybe someone else ...?

 

[DonA.N4TH]

I didn't pursue it further - maybe someone else ...?

I contacted Linear Logic about this very issue. They responded that the ECM does not report a binary "On / Off", but rather a range corresponding to the current sent to the Lock Up Solenoid. I programmed their suggested XGauge, below.

Description	TXD	RXF	RXD	MTH	NAME	Notes
Torque Converter Lock Up Solenoid Valve Current (mA)	EFF1228204	C32480000000	1810	000100010000	LUC	4.52+

The reported values ranged from 0.0 at a stop, which presumably corresponds to a "freewheeling" clutch, to ~1200. It spends most of the time between 300 and 600 while rolling. Unfortunately I haven't figured if there is a value above which the clutch is locked -- but I hope anything >300 indicates a locked clutch.

 

[Kevo]

Thanks for that. I'll program that in and see what I can glean from it.

 

[zroger73]

I contacted Linear Logic about this very issue. They responded that the ECM does not report a binary "On / Off", but rather a range corresponding to the current sent to the Lock Up Solenoid. I programmed their suggested XGauge, below.

Description	TXD	RXF	RXD	MTH	NAME	Notes
Torque Converter Lock Up Solenoid Valve Current (mA)	EFF1228204	C32480000000	1810	000100010000	LUC	4.52+

The reported values ranged from 0.0 at a stop, which presumably corresponds to a "freewheeling" clutch, to ~1200. It spends most of the time between 300 and 600 while rolling. Unfortunately I haven't figured if there is a value above which the clutch is locked -- but I hope anything >300 indicates a locked clutch.

Zero current = fully released
Any current = applied to some degree

Typically, TCCs are never 100% mechanically locked - there's often a small amount of slip allowed (even if it's a few tens of RPMs) and I believe the engineering reason is to avoid interference with misfire detection. I first saw variable capacity TCCs in late-1990s GM models. Today, they're ubiquitous.

 

[onerailunder]

Wow, thanks for this... I had the judder and would love to see if it's occurring again in real time. (assuming I'd see this value dropping to zero while accelerating if it were happening)

 

[zroger73]

Wow, thanks for this... I had the judder and would love to see if it's occurring again in real time. (assuming I'd see this value dropping to zero while accelerating if it were happening)

You can't see judder without an HDS or another scan tool with high-speed data capture capability. The torque converter normally "locks" while accelerating in 1st gear and remains "locked".

 

[Dogs 2C]

I have a 2019 RTL with 29K miles pulling a 20ft. travel trailer weighing about 4500 lbs. loaded. Several trips for 2-4 hours, varied terrain, no problems. Changing transmission fluid sounds like a good idea.

FWIW ... this has also been my experience. I have an early 2017 RTL-E bought new, VIN 9XXX, with 34K miles currently. It's never had the judder issue, nor any transmission or torque converter issues. I tow my boat pictured on a 400 mile trip twice yearly across Wisconsin and Minnesota, and have never experienced transmission overheating (nor at any other time). The weight of my boat/motor/trailer/gear is about 4,100 lbs. I did an early 3x transmission fluid drain/fill at 26K miles, and have had a VCM device installed since 3K miles (first the VCM Muzzler, then S-VCM this year. I don't believe the VCM devices affect TFT, because I don't believe VCM would ever come on anyway while towing anything significant. For this years trip, I had my new ScanGauge II (programmed for both VCM on/off and TFT transmission temp).

On my 400 mile trip out (towing boat) on July 28, my TFT ranged from about 170-190 F, with 15.5 actual hand-calculated MPG. Then returning August 5 (without boat), my TFT ranged from about 150-170F, with 27.3 actual hand-calculated MPG (note: Honda's trip computer averaged about 1.7 MPG more optimistic than these actual hand calculated values). Weather both ways was in high 80's, with light winds, on I-90/94 across gently rolling Wisconsin/Minnesota terrain, with average speed about 67 MPH, using regular D gear (not D4).

My boat/motor/trailer - weights about 4,100 with gear

ScanGauge II - sample, while towing

I contacted Linear Logic about this very issue. They responded that the ECM does not report a binary "On / Off", but rather a range corresponding to the current sent to the Lock Up Solenoid. I programmed their suggested XGauge, below.

Description	TXD	RXF	RXD	MTH	NAME	Notes
Torque Converter Lock Up Solenoid Valve Current (mA)	EFF1228204	C32480000000	1810	000100010000	LUC	4.52+

The reported values ranged from 0.0 at a stop, which presumably corresponds to a "freewheeling" clutch, to ~1200. It spends most of the time between 300 and 600 while rolling. Unfortunately I haven't figured if there is a value above which the clutch is locked -- but I hope anything >300 indicates a locked clutch.

Thanks for this! I had programmed my ScanGauge II with their original values, and the torque converter lockup parameter didn't work. I'll give this a try.

 

[HRL383]

Great TFT info and a very nice looking fishing rig. Good to see you are using a transom saver/motor toter on those long miles.

 

[Jesspot]

I had a 1st. generation Ridgeline for 5 years without any transmission issue. Now I have a 2018 Black Edition . I travel to Las Vegas twice a month and a couple of trips during summer temperature around the 90s to 100. I had a couple of transmission overheating issues. So I decided to replace the transmission cooler to an after market and bigger size. So far no more transmission overhearing issue and shifting more smoothly. Just want to share my experience.