Caddywhompus
Southeast WI
Senior Member
Joined: 06/27/2001
View Profile
 Offline
|
J+S wrote:...No WDH...I pulled away from a toll booth and the front wheels spun until the traction control kicked in... The WD hitch would have prevented that by keeping the front wheels properly loaded. The Airlift springs only raised the back up, didn't redistribute the weight.
A tow vehicle is only as good as the attention given to the setup. if you cripple it by not using the right equipment, you can reap what you sow.
'04 Ford Freestar (Primary tow vehicle)
'05 Subaru Forester (Backup tow vehicle)
'65 Bethany popup (best popups ever made!)
Looking for a tow vehicle
Minivan towing
|
J+S
Western Massachusetts
Full Member
Joined: 05/28/2004
View Profile
 Online
|
RE2Boys,
Ody required manually placing shift in D3 when towing which locks out OD, 14.5 MPG at 62 mph.
14.5 mpg driving around town, 23 highway at 65-70.
Explorer V6 15.5 MPG at 62mph towing with OD on, 14.0 with OD button switched off.
13.5 around town, 22 highway at 65-70.
J+S
Julie, Skip, and the 3 kids
New TV: 2008 Ford Explorer Eddie Bauer
Reserve TV: 2003 Honda Odyssey w/Air Lift 1000's
PU: 2004 Fleetwood Pecos
|
Guest
USA
Senior Member
Joined: 08/02/2004
View Profile
Offline
|
Ody does NOT require lockout of OD when towing. No wonder you got lousy gas mileage, D3 puts you into the first Vtec stage at freeway speeds. The only time you need to resort to D3 is in hilly terrain if the trans starts hunting for gears. (See the manual under "towing a trailer.")
I can maintain D5 with a locked converter at 68 mph in flattish midwest areas. Midwest trip mileage for our 03 towing a heavier Sun Valley is usually about 19. Lowest tank ever was 14 in brutal SD headwinds. I've had several tankfuls in the 21-22 range as well. TOWING, but in OD. No AC on the camper catching wind and the great tanks were on days when van AC wasn't needed either. Towing DOES require premium gas I should mention. With the wdh installed I have NEVER spun the front wheels. No surprise as they are almost at the GAWR.
|
POSGuy
Central NJ
New Member
Joined: 06/11/2007
View Profile
Offline
|
Guest,
Forgive my ignorance...
What does it mean to "lock the torque converter"?
Does that mean the trans is in a specific gear without hunting?
|
iam1ru12
Raleigh/Durham, NC
New Member
Joined: 03/21/2007
View Profile
Offline
|
I'll add my 2ยข worth as well. We have a 2003 Odyssey equiped with a WDH, sway control and Impulse brake controller (my Rockwood as electric brakes). However on our first trip out we were over the GCWR by about 300 pounds. That said, the Odyssey towed in the mountains of NC very well.
On my second trip (out to the WV mountains for a star party) it towed equally well. Granted going up 9% grades did put quite a load on the engine and I was not breaking any speed records going up the mountain. The only time I had any real trouble was the last 1/2 mile getting to the star party. I was towing up a gravel/dirt road and lost traction several times. It had been raining (not good for astronomy) and the road had not yet dried fully. Luckly the VTC (variable traction control) kicked in and I was barely able to make it. A Honda Pilot would have had no trouble with it's M/S tires and 4WD.
I checked the tranny fluid upon my arrival in WV and upon returning home; it was nice and pink and no sign of burning. I have a Tru-cool LPD4543 transmission cooler installed. The OEM Honda cooler looks like a joke (the common consensus on OdyClub.com).
We're actually selling the Odyssey as we've purchased a Honda Pilot. The Pilot while having less cargo room is rated to carry more (GCWR). For me the decision was easy. On our first trip out we maxed out the wieght out and we still did not bring everything we wanted for a week. Not included were adult bikes or my astronomy equipment. That's at least another 200 pounds. I am not comfortable exceeding the Honda GCWR by more than 500 pounds (if I were to bring everything I want on a trip). With the Pilot, I can bring everything and I'm still 1,000 pounds under the max wieght.
I know many folks will disagree with me on selling the Odyssey and that it can handle more weight regardless of what Honda states as the GCWR. However I will not gamble against Honda's recommendations with my family in the vehicle. The Odyssey is a more than capable tow vehicle but I just will not overload it.
However the irony in this story is that we're having a less than easy time selling the Odyssey. It appears the market is soft for larger vehicles (imagine that!). I'm considering also putting up for sale my 1999 Honda CR-V EX and see which one sells first. I love my CR-V and want to keep it. However having two vehicles that can tow our camper may not be a bad thing. But one thing is for sure, we cannot keep 4 vehicles (the camper, the Pilot, the Odyssey and the CR-V), one of them has to go!
-Mike
1999 Honda CR-V EX (his)
2004 Honda Pilot EX-L RES (hers)
2008 Rockwood 2302 Premier (pop-up)
2007 - Days Camping (Tent): 2
2008 - Days Camping (PopUp): 13
Camping Pictures
States Camped In:
|
|
|
iam1ru12
Raleigh/Durham, NC
New Member
Joined: 03/21/2007
View Profile
Offline
|
POSGuy wrote:Guest,
Forgive my ignorance...
What does it mean to "lock the torque converter"?
Does that mean the trans is in a specific gear without hunting?
I'm curious too as to what is ment by
Guest wrote:...I can maintain D5 with a locked converter...
I assume this nothing mechancially that you have done but that rather the way you are driving keeps the Ody's transmission from downshifting, right? So you're not actually locking anything?
-Mike
|
PopUpTom
Subject to Change, TN for now
Senior Member
Joined: 08/27/2005
View Profile
Online
|
My 2 cents:
I became a beleiver in WDH when I added it to my rig. Although we didn't have a great deal of sag, it made a big difference in handling. I won't go as far as to say it made handling like "it wasn't back there" but close. We had a 3500 mile trip to SD and CO last month and the little woman even took the helm for a couple hundred miles in SD (Guest, I know what you're talking about going west in SD against a 20 mph headwind!) So my advice for SUVs and minivans with a car-like suspension is to invest in a WDH system.
As for the torque converter lock-up, the converter will lock up like a manual clutch under no load conditions - there's no relative movment between the drive vanes and the driven vanes. This will yeild maximum efficiency of the tranny. It is computor controlled based on load conditions. You can see how it works in your car when at interstate speeds if you have a tachometer. A little pressure and you'll see the converter kick-out as rpms jump a little. Press down some more and you'll hear the tranny shift gears as it down shifts and witness a significant change in rpms. In other words, you won't hear the lock up and lock out, but you can see the rpms jump up or down as it operates.
|
cada
Tavares, FL
Full Member
Joined: 08/28/2007
View Profile
|
I love this topic.
This weekend @ Disney, I saw two Ody's completly overloaded. I don't know how much, but I briefly spoke with the owners and they loved how it pulled.
One pulled a 27' Airstreem, the other pulled a 24' Hybrid. Both had been doing it for years and thought they were the pefect towing vehicle even though the were thousands of pounds above documented capacity.
The only real concern I would have is if you have that accident. Just think of that attorney asking you if you were following your towing guidelines as spelled out in the owners manual...... I smell an unfavorable judgement followed by a civil trial......
Dave
2004 Fleetwood Hemlock
2007 Toyota Tacoma
|
iam1ru12
Raleigh/Durham, NC
New Member
Joined: 03/21/2007
View Profile
Offline
|
cada wrote:I love this topic........The only real concern I would have is if you have that accident. Just think of that attorney asking you if you were following your towing guidelines as spelled out in the owners manual...... I smell an unfavorable judgement followed by a civil trial......
It's for that exact reason I'm selling my Odyssey. I hate to see it go but I just don't want to take any chances.
-Mike
|
Guest
USA
Senior Member
Joined: 08/02/2004
View Profile
Offline
|
Tom nailed it. Auto transmission used to be more gas guzzling than sticks in the old days before torque converters. The torque converter is why your engine doesn't die at a stoplight when the engine is turning, but the wheels aren't. If you've ever driven stick you know what I mean.
The 'slip' that the covnerter allows is crucial at low speeds, but wasteful at higher ones. So in the 80's it became common to have a lockable torque converter. Generally, they will unlock before the auto trans makes a downshift so that the rev difference between gears is minimized. It is also why if you count shifts on a highway on-ramp it might seem like you have one more gear than advertised. The last thing that feels like a shift isn't - its the TQ locking up.
The Odyssey is programmed to lock up the TQ in 3, 4 and 5 if constant speed is held for a certain period of time at modest throttle settings. It is meant to save gas, but it also greatly reduces the heat generation inside the tranny to stay locked.
|
|
|
