My wife was recently driving our 2007 Honda Odyssey on the highway at approximately 60mph when the van suddenly and significantly decelerated. It did this while my wife had her foot on the accelerator and without her activating the brakes. It occured twice in quick succession and then the van returned to normal operation. She did not notice an increase in rpms or hear any loud noises. After this happened, I took the van to the local Honda dealer and they could not find anything wrong with the vehicle. They made an educated guess that it might be the beginning signs of a transmission failure. The van has 72000 miles on it. I am concerned about the safety implications if this were to happen again and someone was following close behind her. Does anyone have any ideas or explanations? Thank You
When it dropped speed, did the engine speed drop along with it?
In other words, did you see your RPM drop as well?
Or did the engine keep going at the same speed or maybe even speed up?
If you did see the engine speed drop along with highway speed, it could still be many things but it likely would not be the transmission.
If so, the first thing I’d just blindly replace is the fuel filter - they sometimes fill up with crud and cause the engine to drop speed suddenly. They are cheap and judging by the age, it probably needs replacing anyway.
RemcoW has a very good point but the Honda does not have a fuel filter, just astrainer on the fuel pump it self. I would see how much the fuel pump reley is and chhange it if not to expenive. check all the little stuff connectors and vac. lines and don’t forget the air filter. one last thought how low on fuel was the van when this happened?
No fuel filter? I’m not doubting you but that seems like Honda is asking for trouble.
Good point on the fuel pump relay and vac lines. I suspect (and hope, for the OP’s sake) it isn’t transmission related. A 2007 isn’t that old.
my 2000 300M does not have one either. a lot of car and trucks our being made with out a fuel filter. i’m at work and tried to look up a filter for the honda and the catalog came back with a note that there is no fuel filter other then the strainer on the pump in the tank.
Is the throttle linked to the gas pedal by a cable or is it “fly by wire”?
This is what I think happened, and I think remco is on the right track. I think your wife is driving along and the torque converter is locked (kind of like a clutch on a manual transmission when fully engaged)… SOMETHING caused the motor to shut down momentarily, whether that be spark or fuel related I am unsure. When this happens the motors compression starts acting like a brake, and the car will slow down alot (kind of like pushing against a very very strong wind)… However the motor is still spinning, so when whatever caused it kicks back in the motor refires and all is OK… I am leaning towards fuel, ONLY because I think the RPM’s would drop if it was ignition related… It sounds like its more than one cylinder as well, because at speed you would not feel one cylinder go in and out… I do think fuel pump related is the most likely candidate…