If anyone has experienced the issue I describe below, please let me know & what the fix was. Last month @ 10,588 miles after driving about a mile the Orange AWD Warning Message came on after driving about a mile. When it appeared just the front wheels were engaged. Once car was turned off & I restarted later no orange maintenance lights came on for about 3 weeks (769 miles later) & during this period of time the AWD system appeared to be engaged

Yesterday @ 11,357 miles the same message popped up. That’s about 770 miles without the message showing. When message appeared just the front wheels were engaged. When car was turned off & I restarted later the message did not come back on & the AWD system appeared to be engaged. Now car has been starting car about 8 times since yesterday & the AWD system appears to be functioning fine & the warning has not showed up.

 

Dealer field trip.

 

set already for next Tuesday. I'm attempting to learn if others have experienced this & if so, what their fix was.

 

hey Mark...I having a similar issue without a solution form the dealer...any luck fixing the AWD message/problem?

 

No luck by dealer. When I brought RDX to Dealer after the 2nd occurrence in early Feb. I also handed them photos of the 1st & 2nd time AWD Warning turned on & Code B2 maintenance was showing as well.
They told everything was fine & stated the reason the B2 code was activated in all probability because of the faulty orange AWD Warning turned it on. They said the fluid level was fine & just turned off the code in the main screen. They said they will replace the fluid when the mileage hits 15k

When the 3rd occurrence happened 2/25/20 the maintenance code “6” for (Replace rear differential fluid) did NOT come up, meaning what the Dealer told me a few weeks ago we not accurate as the orange AWD warning did not alter the code by added the “6”

So in summary starting about 10.6k miles; 8 week ago, the AWD Warning came up 3rd time. The most recent on 2/25/20 @ 12k miles- 682 miles between the 2nd Occurrence & about 1450 miles over the 8-week timeframe

Each time AWD Warning came on it was within a couple of miles of startup. Car was not being driven hard. Once car was turned off & restarted, the Warning light turned off & AWD system operated fine between warnings.

 

thanks for the quick reply!! I have experienced three warning lights to date...to me, it sounds like a faulty AWD sensor but what do I know? These vehicles are very complex, electronic machines compared to older cars.

since my dealer didn't have a solution, and you were not able to resolve, I guess that we live with this annoyance until there's enough failures for someone to properly diagnose and solve. For a new vehicle, this is an incredibly poor operating condition, and even more disappointing is the lack of problem resolution! If I come up with a solution, I'll post here...thanks for the response...greatly appreciated!

 

Agreed the electronics in the 2019 RDX Advance (& guessing the 2020) is quirky to say the least. From the infotainment system in the car to the AcuraLink app.. Acura/Honda should be doing a much better job to support their design & implementation failures. I have not found my long time dealer very helpful (my 3rd Acura) nor any support person I've called or written.

At the moment I glad I bought the extended warranty back in august 2018 when I picked up myRDX

 

Well, unlike previous versions of the SH-AWD rear differential, in the current diff the force to close the clutch plates is generated by a hydraulic pump that is running any time the car is running. Electronically controlled hydraulic valves regulate the pressure delivered to independent left and right clutch packs at the rear differential.

So the fluid is involved in the control of the AWD as well as lubricating the clutch plates and gears. If there is any debris floating around from initial break-in of the hypoid gears or clutch packs in the rear diff, that could conceivably interfere with the AWD function. It wouldn't surprise me at all if there is a sensor to monitor the hydraulic pressure at the pump.

All of which is to say, I would replace the fluid at the first sign of trouble. It's cheap and easy relative to anything else. Of course, I usually DIY that fluid change in my Honda/Acura AWD vehicles, so it only costs me about $25 or so for the fluid.

As for "code 2" ( replace air filters ) that shouldn't come due until about 30k miles. Dealer service is saying that just happened to get set because of a trouble code? Really? Are they sure it wasn't space aliens? How about maybe there's a problem with a computerized module in the car?

As for the guts of the AWD system, there is no chance the dealer will dig into the mechanicals of the rear diff. If problems persist and they can't find an electronic issue upstream of the diff ( or maybe an externally accessible sensor ), they will swap out the rear diff. That would be covered under the powertrain warranty of 6 years / 70k miles. If that were lapsed it would go to an extended warranty ( which I hope is an AcuraCare warranty ).

 

Update to my update… since taking the car to dealer in early February & they did not finding anything wrong, the AWD Warning came on 2 more times & each time I lost rear end drive so just the fronts worked. Once 682 miles after the 2nd occurrence & than again 94 miles after that. So in summary I’ve lost AWD 4 times in the past 1450 miles between 10,588 & 12,133 total miles.

Dropped of car to dealer again yesterday & just got a call saying to fix it they need to replace the entire rear differential (under warranty) & they expect to make the repair either tomorrow or the next day (Saturday)

WOW… I’ve been telling those that has asked “How do you like the car” I love the mechanics of Acura’s & this is my 3rd Acura, but the electronics in this one is more than quirky… After this, I can't even say Acura’s are mechanically sound as they once had been. This explains why Consumers Report recently downgraded the brand as problematic & far down on the list of trouble-free cars.

When I get the car back I'll send another update in case anyone else experiences the same thing.

 

Okay, picked up the car on Friday. the scan code they referenced was c-1844-62, "right differential fluid pressure deviation. Internal failure in rear differential" Repair was to replace carrier assembly part # 41200-SYP-000. in warranty