2011 RDX FWD Axle Fail Again! Any others fail?
11-23-2018, 12:21 AM
#42
Bumping this thread along .... I'm going to change both front axles on my 2008 RDX AWD (I've got the shaking/shuddering on acceleration at 135K miles).
Bought the replacement axles and front wheel bearings from AZ.
Any new input, words of wisdom, tricks or tips on the process much appreciated. I'll be on my back on a cold garage floor in early December.
Thanks to udelslayer for your update.
Bought the replacement axles and front wheel bearings from AZ.
Any new input, words of wisdom, tricks or tips on the process much appreciated. I'll be on my back on a cold garage floor in early December.
Thanks to udelslayer for your update.
12-19-2018, 08:32 PM
#43
Howdy again.
Guess what my vibration was.... it was the motor mount. Take a good hard look at that singular mount on the bottom mounting the transmission. Its the ONLY thing holding the power, braking, and NVH from the motor. Its basically a rubber band. I had replaced it with a "dea" brand from amazon about 1.5 years ago as I thought it was causing unnecessary vibration. Some of it went away but the motor still moved considerably. I thought this was normal operation and then some time after, I developed the click that we think is the axles. For the longest time, its been the motor rocking and striking the cross member on the frame. Its VERY close in movement. Last week, my wife had a snap and a pop and a clang crossing an intersection. We thought the transmission crapped out and were fearing a $4000 repair, but the shop saw that the mount exploded.
For the cost of the tow and waste of time not being a true transmission repair, I paid $298 ducats to have it replaced. The DEA one I bought was much cheaper than whatever the shop bought. The shop charged me 150 for the mount. I kept finding them expensive and went cheap.....DONT. Its like a "dogbone" mount and its holding a lot of forces.
It fixed the car, 100% better. No vibration, braking is no longer compensating for engine pitching and the click is gone. Even at low speeds when the engine wants to lug at 1200rpm (too low imho), it is smoothed out. It used to be a struggle to drive 25mph....now its like any car.
Check the mount. Monitor how much the engine moves between P/R/D and listen for the radiator rattling from the loose mount. That symptom is gone too. I am willing to bet even if you have OEM that you need it replaced. You can even fill it with window weld if you want to deal with the vibration. I didnt take that route since its the wife's car.
Cheers!
J
Guess what my vibration was.... it was the motor mount. Take a good hard look at that singular mount on the bottom mounting the transmission. Its the ONLY thing holding the power, braking, and NVH from the motor. Its basically a rubber band. I had replaced it with a "dea" brand from amazon about 1.5 years ago as I thought it was causing unnecessary vibration. Some of it went away but the motor still moved considerably. I thought this was normal operation and then some time after, I developed the click that we think is the axles. For the longest time, its been the motor rocking and striking the cross member on the frame. Its VERY close in movement. Last week, my wife had a snap and a pop and a clang crossing an intersection. We thought the transmission crapped out and were fearing a $4000 repair, but the shop saw that the mount exploded.
For the cost of the tow and waste of time not being a true transmission repair, I paid $298 ducats to have it replaced. The DEA one I bought was much cheaper than whatever the shop bought. The shop charged me 150 for the mount. I kept finding them expensive and went cheap.....DONT. Its like a "dogbone" mount and its holding a lot of forces.
It fixed the car, 100% better. No vibration, braking is no longer compensating for engine pitching and the click is gone. Even at low speeds when the engine wants to lug at 1200rpm (too low imho), it is smoothed out. It used to be a struggle to drive 25mph....now its like any car.
Check the mount. Monitor how much the engine moves between P/R/D and listen for the radiator rattling from the loose mount. That symptom is gone too. I am willing to bet even if you have OEM that you need it replaced. You can even fill it with window weld if you want to deal with the vibration. I didnt take that route since its the wife's car.
Cheers!
J
01-05-2019, 07:31 PM
#44
Howdy again.
Guess what my vibration was.... it was the motor mount. Take a good hard look at that singular mount on the bottom mounting the transmission. Its the ONLY thing holding the power, braking, and NVH from the motor. Its basically a rubber band. I had replaced it with a "dea" brand from amazon about 1.5 years ago as I thought it was causing unnecessary vibration. Some of it went away but the motor still moved considerably. I thought this was normal operation and then some time after, I developed the click that we think is the axles. For the longest time, its been the motor rocking and striking the cross member on the frame. Its VERY close in movement. Last week, my wife had a snap and a pop and a clang crossing an intersection. We thought the transmission crapped out and were fearing a $4000 repair, but the shop saw that the mount exploded.
For the cost of the tow and waste of time not being a true transmission repair, I paid $298 ducats to have it replaced. The DEA one I bought was much cheaper than whatever the shop bought. The shop charged me 150 for the mount. I kept finding them expensive and went cheap.....DONT. Its like a "dogbone" mount and its holding a lot of forces.
It fixed the car, 100% better. No vibration, braking is no longer compensating for engine pitching and the click is gone. Even at low speeds when the engine wants to lug at 1200rpm (too low imho), it is smoothed out. It used to be a struggle to drive 25mph....now its like any car.
Check the mount. Monitor how much the engine moves between P/R/D and listen for the radiator rattling from the loose mount. That symptom is gone too. I am willing to bet even if you have OEM that you need it replaced. You can even fill it with window weld if you want to deal with the vibration. I didnt take that route since its the wife's car.
Cheers!
J
Guess what my vibration was.... it was the motor mount. Take a good hard look at that singular mount on the bottom mounting the transmission. Its the ONLY thing holding the power, braking, and NVH from the motor. Its basically a rubber band. I had replaced it with a "dea" brand from amazon about 1.5 years ago as I thought it was causing unnecessary vibration. Some of it went away but the motor still moved considerably. I thought this was normal operation and then some time after, I developed the click that we think is the axles. For the longest time, its been the motor rocking and striking the cross member on the frame. Its VERY close in movement. Last week, my wife had a snap and a pop and a clang crossing an intersection. We thought the transmission crapped out and were fearing a $4000 repair, but the shop saw that the mount exploded.
For the cost of the tow and waste of time not being a true transmission repair, I paid $298 ducats to have it replaced. The DEA one I bought was much cheaper than whatever the shop bought. The shop charged me 150 for the mount. I kept finding them expensive and went cheap.....DONT. Its like a "dogbone" mount and its holding a lot of forces.
It fixed the car, 100% better. No vibration, braking is no longer compensating for engine pitching and the click is gone. Even at low speeds when the engine wants to lug at 1200rpm (too low imho), it is smoothed out. It used to be a struggle to drive 25mph....now its like any car.
Check the mount. Monitor how much the engine moves between P/R/D and listen for the radiator rattling from the loose mount. That symptom is gone too. I am willing to bet even if you have OEM that you need it replaced. You can even fill it with window weld if you want to deal with the vibration. I didnt take that route since its the wife's car.
Cheers!
J
01-06-2019, 07:03 AM
#45
It can, but it can also be caused by internally dented cups on the CV half shafts. When you accelerate, this flexes the axle more and moves the spider bearings more inward on part of the axle rotation and if they're going over any uneven surface in the cup internally that NVH is transferred into the cabin. Its a really common problem in the s2k (I had one) and the parts are built the same in all their cars. I think this is why the OEM axles had such large dampners because there is always going to be some kind of movement like this. Check the motor movement by having somebody shift P/R and watch the top of it. Mine was moving like 3 or 4 inches although I didnt measure. If you're getting a metallic clanging when you go between P and R, which many people thought is the loose circlip in the 2 piece axle, it could be the motor tapping the frame. The "torque strut mount" as its called is a pair of rubber bands suspended in plastic and this is taking ALL the forces from acceleration and breaking and mitigating the most NVH out of all the motor mounts. They put a soft mount there because there is a lot of movement and "luxury" cars are supposed to be super smooth. It should actually be a dampening piston style mount or bigger and stronger. It could be stretching to its max, which would put more buzzing in the cabin. You can try keeping it in different gears at those speeds using sport mode to see if its a combination of motor RPM harmonics and forces on the mount giving you vibration.
IMHO, its probably your axles.
J
IMHO, its probably your axles.
J
01-17-2019, 02:19 AM
#46
Bumping this thread along .... I'm going to change both front axles on my 2008 RDX AWD (I've got the shaking/shuddering on acceleration at 135K miles).
Bought the replacement axles and front wheel bearings from AZ.
Any new input, words of wisdom, tricks or tips on the process much appreciated. I'll be on my back on a cold garage floor in early December.
Thanks to udelslayer for your update.
Bought the replacement axles and front wheel bearings from AZ.
Any new input, words of wisdom, tricks or tips on the process much appreciated. I'll be on my back on a cold garage floor in early December.
Thanks to udelslayer for your update.
Anyhow ... I returned my AZ axles, bought FEQs, and completed my front wheel bearing and axle replacements. The grinding/wearing noise I heard from my right front wheel is gone (presumably the wheel bearing). The shudder/vibration while accelerating between 30-50 mph is also gone (presumably both front axles). Time will tell how long any of these components last.
Just a note ... the axle nuts that come on the FEQ assemblies have a flange that is too large in diameter for the front wheel hub of a 2008 RDX. I had to buy the Acura axle nuts with the proper, smaller diameter flange. Like anything from an Acura dealer the nuts weren't cheap at $17 each, but they were the right fit and the job is done. Glad to be zipping around again in my RDX as I should be. No fear of shaking/shuddering from the front end on hard acceleration.
01-17-2019, 06:45 AM
#47
Awesome report. I ran into the axle nuts being different sizes depending on how old the axles were. I've never heard of the FEQ brand but its probably all Chinese junk with minor differences. I called RAXLES two years ago and they wouldn't help me out. I wanted to put something substantial in there. Were there any noticeable differences in the FEQs from what you could see? Keep an eye on that torque mount on the bottom of the trans. I'm curious if anyone has put any kind of solidified mount there and how much NVH makes it into the cabin. The car can easily roast the tires and I can only imagine what that snapping force and wheel hop does to the rubber thats being exposed to all the salt and heat and road things that will make that material stiff and tear.
The unitized bearings are hard to remove without a press. I had one of those cup and screw systems from HF that I tried to do our Solara bearings with....and I wish I had bought a 12ton press instead. It took me a long time to get that done. Even the dealership in Raleigh where I lived made people buy the whole knuckle and bearing assembly to replace, and then sent off the cores to a local 4wd shop that had done may of them. All you need is access to a press and a couple of large sockets or old bearing races.
I dont know if this vehicle has the same issue that the s2k has on the rear bearings, but the approximate 250lbs of torque on the axle nut on the s2k is found to be insufficient and can withstand nearly 500lbft to keep everything tight and prevent any movement that will wear out a bearing race. I got to the 250 mark on my 3/4" torque wrench and then turned it another 30deg for insurance. EVERY s2k has this problem from the factory. Its a different vehicle but there are still design similarities enough to make me think this could be a problem down the road since they have similar axles failure issues. You simply grease the face of the nut, install to 250lbs, and turn it up to 60deg more since most people dont own or have access to a Snap On torque wrench that can be set to 500lbs.
This vehicle does not like aftermarket parts, but the second you say Acura, the Honda prices go up 30%.....go figure.
J
The unitized bearings are hard to remove without a press. I had one of those cup and screw systems from HF that I tried to do our Solara bearings with....and I wish I had bought a 12ton press instead. It took me a long time to get that done. Even the dealership in Raleigh where I lived made people buy the whole knuckle and bearing assembly to replace, and then sent off the cores to a local 4wd shop that had done may of them. All you need is access to a press and a couple of large sockets or old bearing races.
I dont know if this vehicle has the same issue that the s2k has on the rear bearings, but the approximate 250lbs of torque on the axle nut on the s2k is found to be insufficient and can withstand nearly 500lbft to keep everything tight and prevent any movement that will wear out a bearing race. I got to the 250 mark on my 3/4" torque wrench and then turned it another 30deg for insurance. EVERY s2k has this problem from the factory. Its a different vehicle but there are still design similarities enough to make me think this could be a problem down the road since they have similar axles failure issues. You simply grease the face of the nut, install to 250lbs, and turn it up to 60deg more since most people dont own or have access to a Snap On torque wrench that can be set to 500lbs.
This vehicle does not like aftermarket parts, but the second you say Acura, the Honda prices go up 30%.....go figure.
J
01-18-2019, 12:41 AM
#48
The FEQ axles are indeed made in China, but I'm not one to inherently brand such as "junk". Unlike the originals the FEQs have no mid-shaft dampers, supposedly due to the fact that they've gone the extra step to individually balance each side of the shaft. The fit and finish of the FEQs was very good, but longevity is the true test and only time will tell.
I would never attempt to out-think mechanical engineers, especially when it comes to a specification as critical as torque of the nut holding my front wheel intact.The designated torque for the front axle nut on a 2008 RDX is 242 ft-lbs and that's where I set mine.The Acura service manual does say to apply a layer of clean engine oil to the axle nut flange before installing. That's what I did.
I would never attempt to out-think mechanical engineers, especially when it comes to a specification as critical as torque of the nut holding my front wheel intact.The designated torque for the front axle nut on a 2008 RDX is 242 ft-lbs and that's where I set mine.The Acura service manual does say to apply a layer of clean engine oil to the axle nut flange before installing. That's what I did.
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DRR98 (01-18-2019)
08-19-2019, 07:55 AM
#49
Just to report here. Went to service the tensioner and belt and noticed these CV boots leaking AGAIN. I am going to have to swap out these axles under warranty for like the 5th time now. I emailed Raxles, and was told that they can't even get the parts for the RDX and its cost prohibitive to build. Wowsers. I'm considerirng paying $700 for a pair of OEM Honda/Acura units because of the amount of vibration the aftermarket ones create. FWIW, spend the extra and buy the good stuff or you'll be shaking your fist like me. At least they're easy to swap, but I think I'm going VW after wee retire this thing. Love the vehicle, but it rides too hard, gets low fuel economy, and the interior doesnt wear well IMHO. I am starting to notice that there aren't many other decent parts available and when I do the dampers, I'll have to buy OEM which drives the costs up substantially. Why can't the Asian cars do the wheel bearings in an easily replaceable system like the German cars do. Go look up what it takes to swap out a VW wheel bearing. No press needed.
12-20-2019, 09:01 PM
#50
I'm on the 5th set of axles.
about to install the 6th.
Intersection crossing
boom sound makes
parking lot stuck, waiting for tow truck
motor pitch mount breaks
for the second time
EFF YOUU plastic pitch mount.
$125 tow back to the barn.
Luckily though, I had a replacement mount that I filled with some kind of polyurethane 2 years ago sitting on the shelf. We will see if I can break this one. My wife destroys cars.
Getting AAA eh for Xmas from SIL yay!
about to install the 6th.
Intersection crossing
boom sound makes
parking lot stuck, waiting for tow truck
motor pitch mount breaks
for the second time
EFF YOUU plastic pitch mount.
$125 tow back to the barn.
Luckily though, I had a replacement mount that I filled with some kind of polyurethane 2 years ago sitting on the shelf. We will see if I can break this one. My wife destroys cars.
Getting AAA eh for Xmas from SIL yay!
12-23-2019, 10:41 AM
#51
Anyone upgraded their torque strut mount lower to a metal one? Rockauto states that the DEA part A4534crosses the 2006-2011 civic platform.
Based on the civic platform - Amazon has this one for cheap: There are also fancy ones like https://www.maperformance.com/produc...ents-ts-ha-398 that should be compatible. The OEM mount is plastic and with all the forces applied to it with acceleration and braking, I can't imagine there aren't a few busted ones out there.
Based on the civic platform - Amazon has this one for cheap: There are also fancy ones like https://www.maperformance.com/produc...ents-ts-ha-398 that should be compatible. The OEM mount is plastic and with all the forces applied to it with acceleration and braking, I can't imagine there aren't a few busted ones out there.
02-10-2020, 10:53 AM
#52
Howdy again.
Guess what my vibration was.... it was the motor mount. Take a good hard look at that singular mount on the bottom mounting the transmission. Its the ONLY thing holding the power, braking, and NVH from the motor. Its basically a rubber band. I had replaced it with a "dea" brand from amazon about 1.5 years ago as I thought it was causing unnecessary vibration. Some of it went away but the motor still moved considerably. I thought this was normal operation and then some time after, I developed the click that we think is the axles. For the longest time, its been the motor rocking and striking the cross member on the frame. Its VERY close in movement. Last week, my wife had a snap and a pop and a clang crossing an intersection. We thought the transmission crapped out and were fearing a $4000 repair, but the shop saw that the mount exploded.
For the cost of the tow and waste of time not being a true transmission repair, I paid $298 ducats to have it replaced. The DEA one I bought was much cheaper than whatever the shop bought. The shop charged me 150 for the mount. I kept finding them expensive and went cheap.....DONT. Its like a "dogbone" mount and its holding a lot of forces.
It fixed the car, 100% better. No vibration, braking is no longer compensating for engine pitching and the click is gone. Even at low speeds when the engine wants to lug at 1200rpm (too low imho), it is smoothed out. It used to be a struggle to drive 25mph....now its like any car.
Check the mount. Monitor how much the engine moves between P/R/D and listen for the radiator rattling from the loose mount. That symptom is gone too. I am willing to bet even if you have OEM that you need it replaced. You can even fill it with window weld if you want to deal with the vibration. I didnt take that route since its the wife's car.
Cheers!
J
Guess what my vibration was.... it was the motor mount. Take a good hard look at that singular mount on the bottom mounting the transmission. Its the ONLY thing holding the power, braking, and NVH from the motor. Its basically a rubber band. I had replaced it with a "dea" brand from amazon about 1.5 years ago as I thought it was causing unnecessary vibration. Some of it went away but the motor still moved considerably. I thought this was normal operation and then some time after, I developed the click that we think is the axles. For the longest time, its been the motor rocking and striking the cross member on the frame. Its VERY close in movement. Last week, my wife had a snap and a pop and a clang crossing an intersection. We thought the transmission crapped out and were fearing a $4000 repair, but the shop saw that the mount exploded.
For the cost of the tow and waste of time not being a true transmission repair, I paid $298 ducats to have it replaced. The DEA one I bought was much cheaper than whatever the shop bought. The shop charged me 150 for the mount. I kept finding them expensive and went cheap.....DONT. Its like a "dogbone" mount and its holding a lot of forces.
It fixed the car, 100% better. No vibration, braking is no longer compensating for engine pitching and the click is gone. Even at low speeds when the engine wants to lug at 1200rpm (too low imho), it is smoothed out. It used to be a struggle to drive 25mph....now its like any car.
Check the mount. Monitor how much the engine moves between P/R/D and listen for the radiator rattling from the loose mount. That symptom is gone too. I am willing to bet even if you have OEM that you need it replaced. You can even fill it with window weld if you want to deal with the vibration. I didnt take that route since its the wife's car.
Cheers!
J
I'm at 110 K miles and just getting this slight shimmy in acceleration from 10-25 mph , seems to be coming from the right side but i feel it through the floorboards , been following your explots , sorry to hear about all the axles you have been through, and thank you for reporting all this info to us ,
Are you talkimng about #8 in the image above ?
kinda looks like a dogbone that you descirebed
Can id just which mount it is ? im going to try and download a parts photo ,
Thank You for your input !!
02-10-2020, 10:26 PM
#55
FWIW: I changed all engine mounts only, #3, #6, #8, as the engine play seemed rather large when tested. This was done more than a year ago, say around 240k. Used cheap set, no name manufacture, not OEM, and had to correct one mount before installation. Plain black rubber on all.
It made a huge difference, eliminated a lot of clunking present in the background when changing from park to either drive or reverse, AND SMOOTHED OUT a harsher gear change at around 60kph both up and down maybe the 3rd to 4th (which I thought was the symptom of AT getting ready to quit on me - had new pressure sensors and fresh DW1 would not fix it longer than 2-3 months). No noticeable deterioration present yet.
The only shimmy I ever felt on this car, was when using cruise control above 100km/h, flat terrain and turned it off from the steering wheel, very slight, never when accelerating. It happened twice, one year apart. In each case was a tie rod beginning to get loose, opposite sides. The fix was to change and realign the wheels, I am guessing too many potholes present on the public roads (next time it happens, in ~10 years from now, will change both sides at same time and save some money from one less alignment).
hope this helps!
Last edited by Altair; 02-10-2020 at 10:30 PM.
02-13-2020, 06:20 PM
#58
Did not change it yet, was trying to address the obvious play found from the engine mounts, results noted above with original #4, ie not changed.
As my harsh spot is no longer harsh, am in no hurry to introduce a change at this time, just enjoying the car.
As my harsh spot is no longer harsh, am in no hurry to introduce a change at this time, just enjoying the car.
04-04-2020, 08:11 PM
#59
Does anyone here do the circlip (stop ring) on the axle stub whenthey dothis job?
Our of curiosity, does anyone know where I can get the set ring for the half stub female side or does nobody replace them? The part is: 44319-S1K-300 (I think) or 44319-SD4-010
I have the 010 on order, so I will try to replace it this time.
Our of curiosity, does anyone know where I can get the set ring for the half stub female side or does nobody replace them? The part is: 44319-S1K-300 (I think) or 44319-SD4-010
I have the 010 on order, so I will try to replace it this time.
04-05-2020, 08:35 AM
#60
Hey. Just checking in again. Reading old posts.....Yeah its Udelslayer because of an old email address I had at a university I attended. Looking back at my youth, I probably should have picked a more professional name but at least its Youneek.
I go another set of AZ axles because its warrantied - so I can return these when I'm done. I also ordered the stub shaft side snap ring (circlip) just because I've done this a lot and might want to make sure it remains tight. I found it on Amazon, but couldnt find generic ones or a box of assorted sizes to try without it costing $100. The one I ordered is still $10 with shipping. I'll be doing this 6th set on 4/11. I have 146k miles. I'm bored in "isolation" due to the covid19 issues, so I've been doing a lot of repairs lately to get the most out of the car. Found a rip in the intake pipe right off of the filter box when I did the high pressure power steering line last week. I even ordered a 4qt pack of trans fluid and think I'll do a swap out since I have the time. I also picked up a set of Ares "Axle Poppers" which are forks for CV shafts used to separate them from the transmission housing. If they work like I hope, this job will be hella simple since all I need to do is remove the three bolts on the knuckle. I've gotten pretty good at doing this job.
I go another set of AZ axles because its warrantied - so I can return these when I'm done. I also ordered the stub shaft side snap ring (circlip) just because I've done this a lot and might want to make sure it remains tight. I found it on Amazon, but couldnt find generic ones or a box of assorted sizes to try without it costing $100. The one I ordered is still $10 with shipping. I'll be doing this 6th set on 4/11. I have 146k miles. I'm bored in "isolation" due to the covid19 issues, so I've been doing a lot of repairs lately to get the most out of the car. Found a rip in the intake pipe right off of the filter box when I did the high pressure power steering line last week. I even ordered a 4qt pack of trans fluid and think I'll do a swap out since I have the time. I also picked up a set of Ares "Axle Poppers" which are forks for CV shafts used to separate them from the transmission housing. If they work like I hope, this job will be hella simple since all I need to do is remove the three bolts on the knuckle. I've gotten pretty good at doing this job.
Acura 44319-SD4-010 Drive Shaft Snap Ring
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