2005 Odyssey EX weird sound

[lpescato]

Hey all, noob to forum, have a ?:
I have an 05 Odyssey EX (not touring). I have noticed that when slowing down or stopping, and/or turning while driving real slow like in a parking lot, I hear this real weird high pitched "errr" sound.
I thought maybe it was the brakes, but just had the 30k service today and they said the brakes are at like 80 percent. Also had the rotors re-faced recently. This noise was occurring long before that service. Wheels are freshly aligned and technically everything seems sound, but this damn noise is puzzling me.
The best way to describe it is a high pitched real short whir noise.
Anybody hear the same thing? Any help is appreciated, Im at my end with it, and it doesnt affect anything, its just annoying. I have subscribed to this thread so anything you know would help, thanks!

[Mark Borton]

Hello ... I just joined this site (after finding this thread as part of a Google search) ... ... I also have a 3rd generation Odyssey, and have heard the same "weird high-pitched 'errr' sound" ... my term for it was "a faint whine", but I think you did a good job of describing what I have been hearing -- plus, as far as I know, yours is the only mention of this noise *anywhere* on the internet.

I took delivery of my 2007 Odyssey on Oct.1 of last year, and began to notice the sound at ~3 or 4 k miles (after about 5 months of ownership). I, too, only notice it at low RPMs [i.e.: moving slowly in a parking lot, or while slowing down for yet another speed bump (we have *nine* between our house and the main street, so I hear the noise a lot).

For what it's worth, my initial take on it was also "brake noise", but after listening more closely after that first time (and with the windows down), I began to think that it was coming from the engine area, as I was also noticing it when I *wasn't* pushing on the brakes.

I had my brother-in-law give it a listen, since he's *way* ahead of me mechanically. It took a while, but he was finally able to hear it. After verifying that the Ody has a VTEC engine (and because we only noticed the noise while the engine's RPMs were dropping), he concluded that it's possibly due to:

(1) The Stall- (or Torque-) Converter -- which he postulated *may* be set kind of high, since the Ody seems to have really good acceleration for such a large vehicle [and which supposedly means that "you pay for that at the lower revs", or some similar statement]; or

(2) A feature in VTEC-type overhead-cam engines whereby [paraphrasing, here] "The drop in RPMs (from having just taken your foot off the gas pedal) makes the engine have to choose the number of valves it needs at the lower end" ... ... I guess what he meant by that is that the high-pitched whine is due to some of the valves going into a no-longer-in-use state ("winding down", as it were).

Everything he said seemed plausible to me (but I'm not a mechanic, either). He didn't think that it was anything to worry about, but -- like you -- I find the noise annoying [and somewhat disconcerting, in spite of his assurances].

I also found that the whining noise almost completely went away after I had my first oil change done (~ 8 months / 4200 miles). But, now that I'm a few months (and 1600 miles) past that, I'm starting to notice it again. By the way, my Oil Life Remaining is currently at 70%; it was still around 40% on the "break-in" oil when I got it changed, per the local Honda dealer service department guy's recommendation.

I hope this helps. I wish I had more of an exact answer for you, but I'm just glad to know that I'm not the only one with this issue. ... ... I have also noticed that the van has an intermittent, light "shudder" at very low idle which I sometimes feel in my feet or the steering wheel, and other times seems to almost shake the whole van, but haven't really found much of anything on the 'net about that, either. Needless to say, the dealership doesn't hear the whine, and didn't notice the shuddering.

Motor-heads, feel free to shed any light you can on my (probably faulty) explanation(s). It's just really strange to even have to think about stuff like this with a brand new van. We upgraded from a 1995 Odyssey, which we had outgrown (but which didn't have any of these oddities).


MB

[Johnnette]

Originally Posted by lpescato

Hey all, noob to forum, have a ?:
I have an 05 Odyssey EX (not touring). I have noticed that when slowing down or stopping, and/or turning while driving real slow like in a parking lot, I hear this real weird high pitched "errr" sound.
I thought maybe it was the brakes, but just had the 30k service today and they said the brakes are at like 80 percent. Also had the rotors re-faced recently. This noise was occurring long before that service. Wheels are freshly aligned and technically everything seems sound, but this damn noise is puzzling me.
The best way to describe it is a high pitched real short whir noise.
Anybody hear the same thing? Any help is appreciated, Im at my end with it, and it doesnt affect anything, its just annoying. I have subscribed to this thread so anything you know would help, thanks!

I have the same problem now and I have the same year. EX-L

[Johnnette]

DO you still have the noise? Mine became louder after three months