Honda Ridgeline for Towing

[David g]

I have a 2007 Honda Ridgeline that I use to tow my Ranger 185VS. I haven't weighed the rig but with the boat weight of 1350, Merc at around 430, full tank of gas 240, troll motor around 75, trailer around 750 (single axle Ranger Trail), and three batteries and oil around 160 I am guessing in the 3000 lb range not including tackle and supplies. The truck pulls this rig ok but the tranny hunts pretty often to find enough power to maintain speed with even small grades. It's manual reads not to run with OD off when towing. Towing spec is not to exceed 5000 lbs. Anyone have any experience towing with the Honda? Interested to hear what you pull and your driving process.

[wmitch2]

What motor, Tran, does it have a tow package, is there a trans towing mode ???? Need more info. Defiantly do not tow in OD. It sounds a lot like you may be under powered and are overloading both the engine and transmission. Also, towing is only half of the issue, stopping is the other. Surge brake is defiantly needed.

[n2ratfishin]

I would guess my rig weighs about 2800 rolling down the road (Ranger RT188 DC with a 115 ProXS 4S) and I've had a 2017 Ridgeline for about 8 months and 13,000 miles. Zero problems pulling that boat anywhere I want without using the "tow mode" which is essentially locking out 5th gear OD. I did lock out OD pulling a 6X12 tandem U-haul full of furniture a couple of times rolling down the interstate. Still no problems setting the cruise at 70 MPH. Honda put more teeth in the newer 3.5 but I can't imagine there is that much difference in your older body style. It may be time to take it in and getting a complete checkup? OR, maybe that rig weighs more than you think? Have you stopped by some scales with it to make sure it's only 3,000 pounds? My Ridgeline pulls 3K with no problems. I pull a large utility trailer with a big ZTR mower pretty often as well.

My process is hitting the interstate and letting the adaptive cruise do it's thing LOL. I've pulled that RT hours and hours. As long as I keep it under 75 MPH it'll average about 18 MPG. Mine is an AWD like your old body style. I know the old body styles don't get the mpg of the new ones.

P.S. I try and go by the 80% rule when towing. Most towing should be done within 80% of the rating. That would put the rating at 4,000 pounds. I bet you're closer to 4,000 than 3,000 with all your gear rolling down the road. Tow rating doesn't normally talk about Gross Combined Weight Rating. My wet weight is supposedly 4515 with a GCWR of 9986. That leaves 5471 for passengers towing, gear, everything else. Thus my 80% rule for safety.

[Capt Bob]

I have a 2007 Honda Ridgeline that I use to tow my Ranger 185VS. I haven't weighed the rig but with the boat weight of 1350, Merc at around 430, full tank of gas 240, troll motor around 75, trailer around 750 (single axle Ranger Trail), and three batteries and oil around 160 I am guessing in the 3000 lb range not including tackle and supplies. The truck pulls this rig ok but the tranny hunts pretty often to find enough power to maintain speed with even small grades. It's manual reads not to run with OD off when towing. Towing spec is not to exceed 5000 lbs. Anyone have any experience towing with the Honda? Interested to hear what you pull and your driving process.

i have a 2017 Ridgeline AWD. I tow my 20’ tandem axle Big O Boat just fine. No issues. But to be fair I live in Florida with no hills. Love this truck. Just an FYI my mpg is 16.5 towing. Bob

[huntertn]

I am towing a 98 518DVS Ranger & 200 Evinrude on a single axle trailer with my 04 Pilot. It has the tow package which is a transmission and power steering cooler. It does ok but I do know it is back there. If it gets hilly I take it out of overdrive. When they start shifting back and forth (hunting) it starts to generate a lot of heat in the transmission which is not a good thing. When I am on the interstate at 70mph with rolling hill it holds pretty steady even in overdrive. For a V-6 it seems to do ok around here in Tennessee.

I had the transmission rebuilt in the Pilot a couple of years ago - before I started towing with it - and the guy at the transmission place told me that on some models, Honda set the shift profile to make the car shift into a higher gear quicker to help with fuel economy. His opinion was this caused some issues by putting the transmissions under too much load. I thought he told me that there was a TSB (technical service bulletin) about reprogramming the PCM. But that was years ago and I may be not remembering it exactly right. You might try going over to the Ridgeline Owners forum as ask about shift points.

Ok - took a minute to look before posting and you might look at Honda TSB 06-062. It may have been done since yours is an 07 but it is worth a look. From my brief read it sounds like this fixed the "hunting" problem on another model Honda even though the TSB is for hanging in gear. Again, don't know for sure.

[billnorman1]

Follow your manual instructions. If it says don't tow with the OD off, leave it on. Lockup converters run cooler in OD because it doesn't slip which builds heat. Your vehicle is pretty old which will change shift points and engine power probably is slightly down, because nothing lasts forever. Honda transmissions are an odd duck, they don't recommend flush and fills.

[David g]

Follow your manual instructions. If it says don't tow with the OD off, leave it on. Lockup converters run cooler in OD because it doesn't slip which builds heat. Your vehicle is pretty old which will change shift points and engine power probably is slightly down, because nothing lasts forever. Honda transmissions are an odd duck, they don't recommend flush and fills.

My Ridgeline has 72k miles and runs great and it pulls the boat really well but the hunting of the transmission is bothersome to me. I does have the towing package (RTX Model) I do as the manual says and tow with the transmission in drive. I get about 13 or 14 MPG when towing and about 19 on the highway. I have to say the hunting for proper gear ratio happens whether I am towing or not, just a lot more when towing and uses lower ratios when towing. It is recommended I run 91 octane when towing which I follow most usually if I plan to tow. I do love the truck but it does seem a bit over-geard for the 3.5 litre V6 it has but I have never driven any vehicle that performs like this one in snow and ice. Even though this vehicle is 10 years old, it has quite a bit of high tech for its powertrain and is still as quite inside as the day I brought it home in 07.

Did a bit more research and Honda definitely recommends NOT towing in D3 which turns off OD with the button on the shift lever and states that doing so will increase heat in the engine drive system. The issue seems that since I drive 65mph or under, the vehicle has shift points that will cause downshifting when negotiating grades and is normal (albeit bothersome to me). I guess I should turn up the radio and ponder where to fish.

[billnorman1]

My Ridgeline has 72k miles ...................................... I guess I should turn up the radio and ponder where to fish.

cute!!!

[icebound]

Biggest issue I have towing with mine is gas mileage. I get about 15-16 towing at best.