Our Free Shuttle If You Need A Ride
Our 2006 Honda has had a mysterious buzz in what felt like the steering wheel only when turning sharply in a parking lot or making a U-turn.
This has been going on for a few months and I just haven’t had time to deal with it until today. What’s funny is I really thought it was a power steering problem. When there is a restriction in the high pressure power steering hose, you get a buzz/vibration exactly like what was going on with our Element.
Initially I thought I would change the power steering fluid and hopefully that would resolve it. But, luckily I decided to check the Honda Element forum 1st. Somebody mentioned a similar issue and said the fix was changing the rear differential fluid.
Now I’ve changed the rear diffy fluid a half a dozen times on CRV’s and Elements because of noises in the rear. Never for what felt like a vibration in the front end.
So I checked our Elements service records and realized it was a year overdue for having the rear differential fluid changed even though we only have 36K on the vehicle.
Before changing the fluid I did a quick evaluation in the parking lot one more time, this time really paying attention. By golly I think it is coming out of the rear end.
So I changed the fluid and guess what? Fixed. I was totally shocked. So the message here is if you have an Element that is over 5 years old and it has never had the rear axle fluid changed. Get it done.
About Joe Trent
