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Thread: Anyone do a lot of work on Hondas?

  1. #1
    Parts Guy tigeraid's Avatar
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    Anyone do a lot of work on Hondas?

    Anyone been a Honda tech, or done a lot of work on them? Got kind of a weird one I'm struggling with.

    Bought a 2007 Ridgeline, fixer-upper. Done a bunch that it's needed already to get on the road. At first I thought for sure it's a bad ignition switch (Hondas are known for it), but the more I play with it the more I'm unsure.

    Truck starts and runs fine. About two times out of ten after starting and running it, the shifter moves, works fine, put it back in Park, shut it off, it goes all the way off and the key comes out. But the other eight times out of ten, the shifter won't move out of Park, and after shutting it off, the key will not go to the final OFF position and can't be removed.

    100% of the time, if I unhook the battery, I can turn the switch the last tick, and pull the key out. Every time.

    100% of the time, I can use the manual override on the shift interlock, and move it manually.

    I have no warning lights on the dash, no DTCs. Fuses have all been checked, backup lights and brake lights are working.

    I've taken the column apart to look around it, nothing appears to be obviously wrong, nothing bent, no wires melted, nothing obvious.

    In addition, and I just realized this last night, I don't hear the Shift Interlock Solenoid "CLICK" when stepping on the brake pedal. So I changed the brakelight switch just in case. No difference. Checked Mitchell and found three possible fuses involved, changed all of them, no difference.

    I've ordered another Shift Interlock Solenoid, it's only $30, can't hurt to try. But if that doesn't do it I'm kinda lost.

    I will say I also noticed the PRNDL display is very intermittent and weird, usually the only ones that light up are R or N, and even wiggling the shifter a bit as I go through the motions can make those blink. Occasionally I see P as well. So this makes me think the Range Sensor might be an issue, or the wiring to it, possibly?

  2. #2
    High Plains Luddite George's Avatar
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    I do almost no work on Hondas, which is why I like Hondas.

    I have a 2009 Ridgeline. I can't answer any of your questions but here is an owners' forum:

    https://www.ridgelineownersclub.com/forums/

    There's a section for first-generation Ridgelines here:

    https://www.ridgelineownersclub.com/...2006-2014.103/

  3. #3
    Parts Guy tigeraid's Avatar
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    Oh nice. How've you liked it?

    This one is a bit of a basket case, but what can I say, I got it cheap, and it's relatively low miles.

  4. #4
    High Plains Luddite George's Avatar
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    I'm very happy with mine. I have the RTS model, between the base RT and the luxury RTL. It has 96,000 miles / 154,000 km now. There is nothing wrong with it, I'm pleased to report. Everything works as it should, inside and out.

    I had the 90,000 mile service done a few months back and brake pads in the rear maybe a month ago. They told me to be ready to replace the fronts the next time I bring it in for an oil change. Just in the last couple of weeks, the driver's side window has started to let out a loud squeak when it first starts to roll down, but it sounds more like glass squeaking on rubber than metal parts grinding together.

    Also, once in a while, the glove compartment door will squeak like the lid on a styrofoam cooler for no apparent reason while driving. It took me a while to figure out where the noise was coming from. It happens at highway speeds and when it does, pushing up on the door from below stops the problem...at least until I let go. I moved the large, heavy owner's manual from the glove compartment to a door compartment in case the weight was causing that, but I wonder if maybe it's a vibration while holding a certain RPM up around 65 - 75 mph / 105 - 120 km/h. It's a rare occurrence and not really worth mentioning, except to another Ridgeline owner in case you're hearing a mysterious squeak.

    I haven't pulled a trailer or done any real "truck" work such as hauling heavy loads or off-roading more strenuous than dirt roads, and I'm not likely to. The dashboard mileage indicator says I'm averaging 16.x miles per gallon. I was prepared for 15 mpg from reading about these before I bought one, so I can't complain.

    I bought Weathertech floor mats and highly recommend them for the front. They fit well and trap melting snow as claimed. The rear ones seem a bit more flimsy because the lips that stick up around the edges are easily bent down a little (not completely, but enough to notice) by rear seat passengers' feet in the corners. That doesn't hurt the functionality of trapping mud and water but it makes them look more worn out than they are. That's a minor compliant though, and not Honda-related at all.

    You mentioned Honda ignition switches. For what it's worth, my wife's 2006 Pilot will occasionally not crank with the gear selector in Park. It's just dead, as if there's no battery installed, when this occurs. If she pulls it down into Neutral, it will start right up. This happens a couple times a year, perhaps. I assume there are worn contacts somewhere, but I'm sure you know more about that stuff than I do. She has close to 200,000 miles / 322,000 km on the Pilot so we probably will just live with it until it's time to replace the car.

  5. #5
    Parts Guy tigeraid's Avatar
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    Sorry, forgot to check in on this thread.

    I'll be mostly highway miles, so expecting to hover around 20 mpg, I hope.

    Her problem sounds fairly similar, yeah. I've narrowed it down to either the Interlock, or the Range Sensor not telling the Dash it's in "P."

  6. #6
    Parts Guy tigeraid's Avatar
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    FWIW, it was the range sensor. Working smoothly now.

    Onto body work. :/

  7. #7
    High Plains Luddite George's Avatar
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    Cool.

    Speaking of body work, if I were a serious car nerd with more money and free time, I'd want to replace the front grille on mine. The grille is surrounded with "chromed" plastic and it has tiny rust spots all over it, if one looks closely enough. It'll probably never happen, but sometimes I daydream about that and removing the huge OEM roof rack, too.

  8. #8
    High Plains Luddite George's Avatar
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    dodint posted his van with summer and winter tires and wheels recently. I figured I'd do the same here in the Honda thread now that I've finally got it properly set up for ski trips and whatever other trouble I can get into.

    I bought a set of Bridgestone Blizzak tires for the Ridgeline just before we got thirty inches (76 cm) of snow last weekend. Two days later I was in the mountains with the family and glad to have them on snow-packed roads. Today is more snow and we'll get more mid-week and again this weekend, they're saying. March is our snowiest month and this one is living up to expectations.

    With my last car, an Accord, I paid the tire store to swap tires for me twice a year. I bought the car when it was nine years old and figured I wouldn't keep it long enough to justify the cost of a second set of wheels. Eleven years later, I got the Ridgeline and was determined to do it right this time. Last winter the snow never seemed to fall enough when it would have affected my travels, so I put off buying them until this year.

    I bought a 3-ton floor jack, too. Harbor Freight had rubber wheel chocks on sale also, as if they knew I was coming. Nice. What's not so nice is my iPhone 7 Plus has started taking blurry pictures. Oy, that's gonna cost me, I'm sure...



    I bought the wheels on craigslist and the center caps online. It turns out the lug nuts that hold the center caps in place are different than the ones for the aluminum wheels, so I had to buy twenty of them from the local Honda dealer. They had them for me the next day and didn't ask for me to pay in advance, which seemed like a flashback to a nicer time in the world.

    Suddenly my $40 (for all four) used wheels are more expensive than I had planned, but still cheaper than buying generic black steelies from the tire store. I did the Honda fanboy thing and pointed the bottom of the H toward the valve stems, but you can't really tell in this blurry photo.



    I took this picture this morning after I dropped the kids off at school. I used a camera, not my blurry iPhone.



    Here are the aluminum wheels it came with on the day I bought it. I'm grateful to have two sets of wheels now and the ability to quickly change them whenever I like.


  9. #9
    High Plains Luddite George's Avatar
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    Sharp-eyed viewers will notice the center caps on the alloys in the picture above are darker than the rest of the wheels.

    Before I swapped back to what are now my summer wheels, I installed some brand new center caps for the alloy wheels - official ones from Honda, not aftermarket. Sorry, no pictures, but it's a little detail that makes the whole car look newer...or maybe my eyes are just drawn to the new parts now. Either way, I like 'em.

    Last week both of our Hondas hit milestones as shown below. The Pilot is now the third Honda my wife and I have owned with more than 200,000 miles.

    My wife uses her trip odometer. I never do and have it set to match the main odometer as if it was never touched. I've done that with my last four cars, now that I think of it. Yeah, I'm weird.









    Quote Originally Posted by George
    I do almost no work on Hondas, which is why I like Hondas.

  10. #10
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    In around 1.5 months our Stepwgn has done around 430km.

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