I have a 2013 RDX with 197,000 miles. Recently I had the B1236 service done on the vehicle by my local mechanic. He's done all the work on the car since I purchased it with approximately 40,000 mi as a preowned certified Acura.

I now notice a vibration when driving that feels faintly like driving over the corrugated strip on the side of the highway. It happens around 1,500 rpm at a constant, light throttle. For example, with light acceleration, the car upshifts, I maintain constant throttle and the rpm drops to around 1,500. It will happen in any gear. And it's happened with temps in the mid 50's to below freezing.

This might have been happening before the service I mentioned above but I didn't really notice it as much as I do now. I mention the service because it included changing the transmission, transfer and rear differential fluid.

Could this be a transmission issue? I mention transmission because very, very rarely (once every few months), the car will not shift smoothly. A shift will hesitate for a second then "drop" into gear. Or could it be the VCM issue? Any other ideas?

Thanks,
Leon

 

My 2013 RDX did the same thing with close to 120k miles when I had it. My mechanic put new fluid in the transmission but I still noticed that slight vibration. I would assume it's the VCM (Variable Cylinder Management). You could put a muzzle on it and see if that feels better. Did the do a flush of all the fluids, or just a drain & fill?

 

On all my Acuras, if I experienced a new vibration at a specific RPM, that was worse than before, while other RPMs were fine, it meant motor mounts were worn.

 

Thanks for the replies.

I don't know if he just changed the fluids or flushed it. I'll check.

Funny you mentioned motor mounts. Had a Taurus wagon back in the day. I swore the transmission was going. Brought it to an actual transmission shop and said it was the motor mounts. Fixed the mounts and everything was fine.

 

This is definitely a good call and worth checking. They take on a lot of vibrations from these engines!

 

I have 2005 MDX with 235,000 miles on it. I had an issue 6 months ago whereby I would hear a faint scrapping sound from the front right engine well while in gear driving with RPMs between 1600 and 1800. Scrapping sound only occured with the RPMs in that range while in gear driving. Turned out to be the heatshield around the catalytic converter was loose.

 

2018 with 145k miles...Had this same issue in 6th gear, low rpm, cruising at light throttle. Vibration could be felt in the steering wheel. Had the shop with a former Acura tech check my mounts and they said all looked good and that the vibration was normal. Didn't believe it so I installed S-VCM and it solved the issue.