On Saturday, May 7, at 9:37 a.m., I tapped out the following email to Benson and Chris of the MT test team:

"Accelerating up through gears creates an audible chirp from 3 to 4, I think. Depending on how quickly the throttle is applied, you can hear it coming from the left rear (?) at between the mid 20s to low 30 mph. Something is probably wrong with the all-wheel-drive system."

Later that day, I tapped out the following note: "It seemed to be getting noticeably louder today as I drive it. I'm going to park it at work and see what else is available."

See all 14 photos

Benson was able to replicate the noise with additional fidelity the following Monday, noting that it seemed to migrate to the front of the vehicle, could be repeatedly produced via automatic and manual operation of the transmission, and that the powertrain must be under load for it to occur. Although Benson noted the noise was fainter on downshifts, he also determined it was audible from outside the vehicle, but it didn't seem to affect shift quality.

As I was on a travel bender, Benson graciously dropped the Pilot off the next day at Honda World Orange County,in Westminster, California, with 21,428 miles on the odometer.

Our long-term Honda Pilot nine-speed transmission needs replacing at 21K miles. Really hope the new one shifts crisper with less lag.

The service department opted to first check on a service bulletin related to a unibody weld that runs along the rear centerline of the vehicle. After determining no fix was needed, they confirmed the noise against a brand-new Pilot and checked for contamination of the transmission fluid. No contamination was found, but they still opted to change out all 8 quarts of transmission fluid to see if that would solve the issue. It did not, so a new transmission was ordered under warranty.

See all 14 photos

It took a few days for the transmission to arrive and another couple for it to be installed, but a week later, it was in. The only issue was that the new transmission control model was not functioning properly with the new transmission, so a new one was ordered and installed, and the vehicle was declared ready for pickup nine days (and eight phone calls) after it was dropped off. Is this an insufferable amount of time to wait? It certainly would be if the dealership did not offer a loner car or rental. But they did (we declined), and we learned that this was the very first ZF nine-speed transmission the dealership had ever performed on the all-new Pilot, so the delay is somewhat understandable. Is the new transmission any better than the one it replaces? Find out next update.

More on our long-term 2016 Honda Pilot here: