Towing 2011 Honda Pilot

[DJBSDB]

Anybody towing 2011 Honda Pilot, appreciate your experiences. I know Honda no longer recommends Flat towing Pilot. Mine is a two wheel drive. We have towed a 95 Honda Accord since 1996 no problems. The key has been to warm up go thru gears before towing and change fluid often. Our 2011 Pilot has 80,000 mi so not worried about warrenty.

Thanks
2001 Safari Zanzibar
Toad 95 Honda Accord

[TowRV]

It may be safer to get something that can tow around 6000lbs without much cause for concern. For instance a Boat 3000, trailer 1000, fuel, gear, passengers etc.

[DJBSDB]

Will use Buddy brake on towed Pilot. Honda Pilot weighs under 5000 lbs. Not ready to buy or trade for another vechicle.

[zalaska]

Originally Posted by DJBSDB

Anybody towing 2011 Honda Pilot, appreciate your experiences. I know Honda no longer recommends Flat towing Pilot. Mine is a two wheel drive. We have towed a 95 Honda Accord since 1996 no problems. The key has been to warm up go thru gears before towing and change fluid often. Our 2011 Pilot has 80,000 mi so not worried about warrenty.

Mike, FWIW, we have towed our 2009 Honda Pilot EX-L, AWD, for 16,000 miles - with no ill effects. Yes - Honda says NO, Remco says NO, Dealer says NO. But - Blue Ox makes the baseplate specific for the 2009 - 2015 Pilot. When asked about towing these Pilots, they sound like they have a script that ensures they are not recommending you tow it, limiting (eliminating) their liability. That said, they engineer, design, manufacture, document, sell and assist customers in installing their baseplate to these year Honda Pilots.
With that in mind, and successful towing of earlier Hondas, we decided to tow our AWD 2009 Pilot (with 107,000 miles). We follow the Honda towing "procedure" of warming up the engine, shifting to 1, then 2, then D for 3 minutes, then N for 3 minutes, and shutting off the engine (leaving the key in the first position to ensure the steering column is unlocked). I guess the important part is ensuring you shift from D to N to ensure the transmission is lubed and set up in the proper configuration for towing. NEVER shift from R to N before towing. We also stop and run the engine / transmission through this sequence about every 200 miles.
With the exception of a dead battery a couple of times (from leaving the ignition on overnight), we've had zero problems over the past 3 years.
I do change the Honda transmission fluid (myself) with every oil change - never more than 5,000 mile intervals.
I've actually never seen another Pilot being flat towed, but we live & travel up north and don't see as many rigs as further south.
Hope this helps, if only to provide one story where at least one RVer family tows their 2009+ Honda Pilot with 4 wheels down. Without issue.

-Jeff

[DJBSDB]

Thanks Jeff for your experiences towing a Pilot. It helps to comfirm ok to tow. We have towed an older Honda Accord for years with no problems. Warming up transmission fluid and going thru the gears exactly as you described has been our practice. You mentioned you changed the transmission fluid about every 5000 miles. Did you drain and fill method. This only takes about four quarts of fluid for our 2011 Pilot? Some do a drain and fill three consecutive times to try to change 76% or more of the old fluid. I only changed once a year, about every 12,000 mi on 95 Honda Accord.