The Honda Stepwagon / Stepwgn Owners Club

Hello there folks.

I moved from Japan to rural Ireland 2 years ago, where I am now renovating an old cottage.

I brought my 2005 Stepwagon G along- I think it's the only one in Eire- and it's been running fine so far apart from the A/C needing regassing- which doesn't seem to have been too effective (done at the Honda dealership in Coventry).

One recent problem: I've noticed a slight high-pitched whine that wasn't there before, especially when accelerating or deccelerating through low gears, although the car is running fine.

Anybody experienced this? Does anybody know what it might be and what remedial action is needed?

Cheers anyway-good to know I'm not alone.

Hi Bazza - welcome to the forum and you must have a rather unique Stepwagon not just in Eire but also in the UK!

Is your car gearbox manual because you mention the whine in the low gears? Does the whine change pitch as you speed up? If so this is probably a gear cog wear issue! But it would need some further investigation - it could also be the alternator as the noise might be masked when you speed up. If it is the alternator, it will be the bearings which are failing. A good motor mechanic ought to be able to confirm the diagnosis.

But some Stepwagons were built with CVT (continuously variable transmission) instead of a traditional gearbox which use belts. That is why I asked if you have a manual gearbox. If the CVT is going wrong, you will need a specialist to sort it out and it might need a new CVT.

Hope these comments help and let us know how you get on

Lewis

Thanks alot for your reply there Lewis.

Sorry it took me so long to actually check and see if anybody had answered.

It's an automatic. The Mrs had a look at the Japanese Stepwagon owners' site, and on there was frequent reference to the A/T (Automatic Transmission) filters being "weak", as the Japanese put it. This reinforces the opinion of a reputable (the one and only) mechanic near where I live, who immediately said he'd change the transmission fluid, and change the filter, if he could get hold of one- he couldn't, but fortunately I'm heading over to Japan on the 2nd July where I'll load up with the said filters plus an air filter and any other stuff I expect to need from a Honda dealership in north Tokyo.

If that doesn't work, I'll be studying your post again.

Will put any other useful snippets of info relating to Steppies on here if I run across any.

Cheers,

Bazza.

The flipping power steering fluid needed topping up!! That's all it was.

About 3cc of the stuff did the trick as the level had only just dropped below the line.

Thanks anyway!

Hi Bazza - glad you got it fixed with a little fluid! Are you popping over to Japan again sometime as some of us might be looking for spares!?