severe tire shake at highway speeds under acceleration

Question

I have a 2005 Honda Odyssey with 201000 miles. At speeds above 60mph there is a heavy vibration from the front wheels. It is gets worse when accelerating and will smooth out immediately upon lifting off the gas pedal. I put new tires on it about 5,000 miles ago. It's my wife's daily driver so I am not sure when the problem started.

I went back to the tire center where I purchased the tires to have them re-balanced. They checked and rebalanced them but said they were just barely off and not enough to be noticeable. They inspected the suspension parts and motor mounts and found nothing wrong. I went to a very trusted mechanic and had him check it out. He was baffled after having it for three days and not finding anything significant. He checked the wheel spacers and found that they did have some build up behind them and corrected that. He found that the front tires had become slightly out of round. He moved the front tires to the back which helped some because of the fronts now being out of round, but did not correct the problem. He also checked all the motor mounts, the drive axles and all suspension parts. He consulted with a mechanic at the Honda dealership who had no further ideas of what to check.

My thought is that it could be bad struts. They are the originals and must be worn out by now. I'm thinking that while accelerating the torsion is sending vibrations down to the road through the tires and without properly operating struts those vibrations are not being dampened and causing the wheels to absorb the energy resulting in the tires bouncing. Then as soon as I lift off the throttle that torsion stops and the tire bounce stops. As soon as I reapply throttle the vibrations begin again and the longer I keep pressure on the throttle the more violent the shaking becomes, yet it stops again as soon as I lift off the throttle. I'm not a mechanic but I do have a good amount of experience working on my own cars.

So I'm wondering if what I am thinking is even a possibility or what else it could be that we have not yet checked?

Answer 1

I think the problem may be the torque converter in the transmission. According to this article on Class Actions News, there was a lady who had a similar issue on their 2005 Odyssey which they brought class action lawsuit against Honda for this problem. There was a Technical Service Bulletin (TSB) which was issued for 2007, 2008, and some 2009 Odysseys (but not the 2005). What Honda said to do in those cases was for a software update. I believe you are experiencing the same issue as the other 2005 Odyssey owner. It could just be your torque converter is worn out. The main reason I am suggesting this is because the problem goes away when you take your foot off of the gas pedal. If it were a problem with the tires or suspension, it would continue to be there even when you take your foot off the gas. It would be speed dependent, not throttle dependent. If it is trying to go into lock-up mode and cannot (which would only happen at highway speeds), the torque converter could be having vibration issues.

I'd suggest you take your vehicle to a good transmission shop and have them diagnose the issue.

Answer 2

If you cannot feel the vibration in the steering wheel it is unlikely that the problem will be related to wheel balance or alignment.

The symptoms described sound awfully similar to what I recently experienced with my Touareg after it came back from a two-week dealership visit; I could feel severe vibrations over a range of speeds (and in reverse) on part-throttle only . The issue was not present when my foot was off the pedal, nor under high loads (full throttle).

The issue went away after several spirited full-throttle runs, which tells me that a partially clogged fuel injector was to blame. It may be worth investigating whether all cylinders are receiving air, fuel and spark as expected if the issue is not wheel-related.

Answer 3

I have the same issue. It is on a 2012 Accord Ex-L V6 83,389 miles. Vibration at 60 to roughly 80-85 mph, stops when gas is released. Does not happen when braking, light or hard.

Came in today to Metro Honda of Montclair. At first they told me out of balance tire and irregular tire wear. My response was did you put new tires and recheck? They told me no so I told them "well what are we waiting for?

They put new tires and rims of a 2017 accord and problem still existed. So an hour later they told me both Axles are bad and need to be replaced. $1400 in repairs all covered under my Extended warranty (Honda Care) car is fixed.

Answer 4

My vibration turned out to be the steering assembly. I replaced the tie rods. I used after market, not Honda parts. There are so many reports about this vibration that I feel it's Honda engineering at fault.

Answer 5

This happened to my 2006 Honda Odyssey with 146k miles. Shaking around highway speeds and only on acceleration. Immediately smoothed out with taking foot off the pedal or cruising at the same speed. Checked EVERYTHING. Tires, alignment, got tires rotated, got new tires, axle, axle joints, motor mounts (they were broken - replaced all 4). Still didn’t fix it. Finally found a mechanic who really took the time to figure out the shaking. Unfortunately it was the transmission. It cost so much to repair that it was more effective to pay for a whole new transmission. Works fine now.

Answer 6

It sounds strange, but my Honda Odyssey has to have the same tire make that came with the car. I have put different tires on mine, but I had to buy the original to fix the problem. Also, if you have shudder in your transmission, go to Amazon and buy a tube of shudder guard for about six dollars, no more problem.

Answer 7

I had a chrysler mini van and had the same problem, it was the axle. It was out of ballance. I replaced that and problem was gone. Good luck