Honda Accord Problems 2000-2005

ray_h71

I had a dime-size dimple on my '96 Accord's left front fender when I took deliviery of the car. The dealer called a guy in a pickup out with a suction-cup machine. Took 'im less than a minute to take care of it, and there wasn't sign one that there'd ever been a flaw. For a year and a half. Then one day I noticed the dent had magically reappeared - but, maybe someone had leaned on that spot, too, so I don't really know for certain whether this technique leaves the affected area susceptible to "popping" back to the dent...

anonymousposts

From what I know, the modern paintless dent removal people make a small incision near the dent and pull it out.

mikek37

ANyone know of any good windshield replacement shops. I was thinking of Safelite located in Bethpage, NY and Harmon Autoglass located in Hicksville. Today I had a new windshield installed but they did an extremely poor job, so now I have to take it some where else. Help.. ?

anonymousposts

We use Harmon here in Atlanta and they have always done good work for us. They also give a lifetime warranty on their workmanship and the windshield. They do alot of work for the dealership we work for and they are very professional. We have used them personally for at least 3 windshield replacements.

mikek37

Thanks for such a quick respose.. appreciatte it..

kenbb

When traveling at a steady speed, 40mph plus the car sometimes starts to do a shudder/vibration thing. It will continue if I keep it at that exact speed but stop with even the slightest acceleration or deceleration. This started as barely noticable last summer but has now become more frequent and worse. The local Honda shop thought it might be the torque converter lockup messing up .Wants to do a tranny flush. Says maybe dirt is fowling up a sensor? I get the feeling their guessing. Their reputation is not the best but the next closest Honda place is 60 miles away. He admitted he had never heard or felt anything like it before. Any ideas on what to do or get checked? Tranny and plugs were done just 24K back. Car has 84K . Engine seems to be running fine. Seems to shift through gears fine. Scheduled to drop it off all day on 3\4\03. Really getting worried , seeing big repair bills flash.

bburton1

Do you feel it in the steering wheel or the whole vehicle. If I had to guess I would say something to do with the tires or suspension system. Would suggest rotating the tires in the usual way which will put both back tires in front and vice versa. When you have the car jacked up for the tire switch-check the front wheel bearings for problems by grabbing the front wheel at the 3 and 6 oclock position and pull back and forth and do same at 6 and 12 oclock position. Excessive slop could be a wheel bearing or something in the suspension system being loose or worn.

Tranny flushes IMHO are not a good thing cause most of those systems run a solvent thru the tranny to dissolve gunk in the tranny-well I don't think they get all the solvent out and if they leave any in the tranny-problems. It is a low cost service which delivers pure profit. You can achieve the same thing by changing your ATF 3 times and not have to worry about leaving solvent in your tranny. ATF change is a snap-drive the car for at least 30 miles and then use a 3/8" socket drive to remove the atf drain plug which is the one that has the square hole-forgot which side think passenger. Be careful cause the fluid is really hot. Fill it using a tranny fill funnel with long clear pipe on it-can get at any parts store-think it is 2.5 quarts-fill thru tranny level check access-the yellow one.

Drive it another 30 miles-change again. You do this cause you only get about 1/3 of fluid out each time.

Used to live in Atlanta-did all my own service work-neighbor had a honda and asked me to show him how to change oil-showed him-he came over next weekend and said he could not get his oil filter off-went over with a filter wrench and he had been using the dealer in Buckhead to service his car for 2 years-bought it new there-the filter had never been changed. If it is the same crowd-stay away-incompetent is a kind description.

Oh I bet the dealer did not tell you this vehicle-have the same model/year has an extended emissions warranty-you get free of charge new plugs, rotor, ignition wires and a oil change and this is good up till 150K. ALso there is a recall on an starter switch mechanism. Good dealers point this out-the crooks don't cause they don't make any money on recall work.

mikek37

Anyone replace a windshield on their 2003 accord?

anonymousposts

There is a good Honda/Acura specialist here in Atlanta. Alan Cox Automotive. They specialize in Honda/Acuras and have always been honest and their work has always been good. Prices are pretty reasonable as well.

mikek37

Thanks for the reccomendation.. by any chance do you know of any good long Island glass people.. lol.. thanks

anonymousposts

Go with Harmon. They have done a few windshield for us and their work has always been excellent and they provide a life-time warranty on their labor.

hji

Hi,

I am new to the board. Glad to meet everyone here.

I bought a new honda accord LX 2003 last Oct. There are always some rattling sounds coming from the front. I don't know exactly the position. But it seems under the front table and windsheld and windows of two front door. The rattling is not a continuous one. It comes and goes. The dealer cannot find the problem.

The other question is the oil tank is supposed to be 17 gallon. But everytime i saw the oil level is very low, and fill the tank. It only fills about 12 gallon.

Anybody have the same problem? Thanks for your help.

clint98v6at

I don't think the company name is as important as the actual individual that does the work. I just had Safelite replace the windshield on my wife's company car and they had to come back 3 times to fix leaks. The serviceman also made a mess with the glue on the lower inside of the window. Terrible job. If it wasn't a company car I'd be much more upset. Still was a hassle to have them come back 3 times.

anonymousposts

hji: I assume you mean the gas tank, not the oil tank right?

Are you filling up when the gas light comes on or before? Once the light comes on you probably have 3-4 gallons left from my experience with our 03 EX.

hji

The first time i fill the tank, I found it is about 27 mpg. But now it is only about 20 mpg. Why? Because of the cold weather?

Thanks.

anonymousposts

Have you been doing alot of stop-and-go driving or taking short trips (less than 5 miles)? That can all affect MPG, and cold weather doesn't help either. Also, your MPG will improve as the mileage adds up. Your car is still breaking in.

clint98v6at

I have 60k on my 98 Accord. Should I do a drain/refill myself or should I have Honda do a complete flush of the system? I believe the manual only calls for a drain/refill, but when I called Honda they tried talking me into a complete flush. Is it worth the $110 to have them do it?

hji

mikek37

I was thinking about taking mine to safelite, but after reading your post I am hesistant. Did everything work out for the best?

talon95

I know of 4 people, including myself, who used SafeLite to replace their windshields. All of us were extremely pleased... top notch workmanship, very good pricing.

according2me

If you changed at 30K already, I'd just drain/refill fluid. If this is the first change, check to see what the fluid looks like. Buy the ATF-Z1 fluid from the dealer. It should be around $4/quart. You'll need to buy 3qts, but you'll only use about 2.5qts when refilling.

If upon inspection your fluid has turned brownish, you might want to drain/refill drive a few days and repeat procedure again.

Is this tranny giving you any problems or is this just routine maintenance?

spitalja

My 03 EX has a whirring noise coming from the engine compartment on the driver-side after 10 minutes of driving. Service says it's the alternator always charging, and he tried another Accord EX on the lot and the same noise was present, yet he never heard of this issue before me. He said there are no signs of damage. I guess I would rather have the noise than the clown taking apart the engine. Does anyone else have this issue? Any resolution?

Thanks,
John

auburn63

My first thought is clogged EGR passages in the manifold. The test for this will usally cause a check engine light. Pull the vacuum line off the EGR valve and drive it to see if the vibrations go away. You can also power brake the car upto about 1800 -2000 rpms and as you get upto that point you can feel the car vibrate with it connected and go away with it disconnected. Driving it may be the best way for you to diagnose the problem. 2nd thought would be wires but Honda wires last forever so I would go with the EGR passages..
 By the way if you have 75,000-150,000 and have not yet had an emissions extension tune up you can get one for free at your Honda dealer. It includes: oil change,cap, rotor,plugs and wires.Your dealer or I can run your VIN and tell you if you qualify....

kenbb

Wow, what a wonderful site. Thanks for all the info auburn63 and bburton1. Yes I do qualify for the emissions work. No they didnt tell me without my asking. I think I'll forget about the tranny flush. Don't think it's going to solve my problems. Please forgive me but I am a complete nonmechanic without any tools or a place to work if I wanted to. You guys think I should go back to this Honda shop or take the information you gave me to a couple of other places I trust a little more? Next closest Honda place is 60 miles. Thinking of letting Honda do the emissions warranty work and try to fix the exhaust type sound I have described. Honda mechanic said the exhaust buzz kit fix only applies to 94-96 models, not 97. What do you guys say? By the way bburton1 the shudder\ vibration can be felt in the entire car. It started real minor 8 months ago at70k and has increased to frequency and intensity now at 84k. It only occurs at certain times . I generally notice it on the highway at steady speeds and goes away with just the barest of acceleration\deceleration. Sometimes it is real mild like going over rough pavement. Other times the car will almost do a heavy shudder like if you were not clutching right taking off in a manual transmission. Will always stop though if I accelerate or decelerate. Any other thoughts guys? My apologies for taking up so much of your time.

monotone

Please let me know if I posted to the wrong thread, as I am new here.

I recently bought a 03 EXV6, and was silly enough to drive a 20_day_old car to brave some winter storm. Naturally, flying debris hit the left fender and created two needle size chip marks (no pain no gain, guess that's part of my learning process). When look closely enough, I also found half a dozen white spots along the side of the front bumper. Certainly I blame myself, but I must say I'm a bit disappointed by how easy it is to damage the paint.

Brought the car the dealership, after some discussion&debate, they are willing to cover the cost to repaint the bumper but I must pay for the fender piece (about $250). I talked to the dealership repair center, they claimed that they will be using the exact painting process and factory paint and since the car is new, the gross level should be identical and nobody should be able to tell which parts were part of the repaint job.

If possible, I will like to hear some expert opinion...if I actually let them repaint the pieces (bumper & left fender), will I be risking more than it is worth? Someone told me no matter what they say the paint job done by the factory for a new car is almost impossible to match and unless I have the entire car repaint, I can still spot some differences.

A bit too wordy. My apology.

Many thanks.

P.S. Will like to know some touch-up tips as well..

anonymousposts

The factory paint job can never be duplicated. They use special equipment that dealerships just do not have. While it may be close, there is no guarantee that it will be a good job. Just have the big scratches touched up and then buy a front bra for the car for when you are taking trips.

bburton1

SInce you are not getting a CEL (check engine light) with the shudder-I don't think it is the tranny or ignition related. I am still thinking tires or suspension system problems. How many miles on your tires and how often do you have them rotated-cupped tires from not rotating would be a steady wow wow though. Good idea to get Honda to do the exhaust work-there are different pipes for the built in Japan LX vs domestic-as my honda parts people found out so check and see if your accord was us or japan built before having the work done-if japan-let the service people doing the repair a few days before-cause it takes a different pipe from the cat back-been there.

Repaint
Over the years have had a batch of cars repainted due to collisions of various types-none of them was worth a hoot. About 1 year ago a kid backed into me and had a local repair shop do the work-looks to be the best I have ever had done-1 out of maybe 10 that works. My advice is to have it touched up and let it go. I do my own touch up as I have to drive a lot and up here in snow country they dump tons of crap on the road-rock chips big time. Basically scrape off any loose rust-sand down the rough edges-touch the remaining rusty area with a commercial rust killer-can get it at body shop supply stores-then use an artists brush and apply one layer of silver rust oleum paint-car is silver and then use Honda touch up paint and put over rustoleum paint. The honda paint is just a very thin layer of "color" and no real protection without the clear coat-that is why I have found using it in combo with rustoleum really works best-is it visible-yeah but not as visible as rust. Last Honda was red-maybe that is a good strategy also.

inkie

Read your post on touch-up.Weather you learned by trial and error or lots of reading you do know what your talking about. {From a retired ink and paint chemist.)

kenbb

Tires only have 24k . Rotate every 7k.

atlantabenny

As has been asserted, new paint will most likely not match the surrounding areas. The new fender will also not have a VIN sticker, a factor when selling the car. Adding to bburton1's excellent advice, I'd build up the damage with filler up to surface level (quickly removing excess before it dries) then apply touch-up with clear coat.

ray_h71

" have 60k on my 98 Accord. Should I do a drain/refill myself or should I have Honda do a complete flush of the system? I believe the manual only calls for a drain/refill, but when I called Honda they tried talking me into a complete flush. Is it worth the $110 to have them do it?"

clint98v6at, if you can change your own motor oil and oil filter, you can easily handle an ATF changeout on a Honda. I have mixed feelings about a machine flush. They pump some sort of solvent through the tranny and cooling lines to flush all the old fluid and gunk out. So far, so good. However, I've also read horror stories (that I can't substantiate) that residual solvent can remain behind that may be detrimental to the long term viability of the tranny's clutch facings. Since Honda ATs don't have a filter, as such (just a screen that requires tranny tear down to access), you're only going to be dealing with the fluid. If the current fluid is not darkened and burnt smelling, you're good to go with a simple drain and refill. Honda's recommended procedure for the 2003s (and probably applicable to earlier models, too) is to remove the drain plug on the bottom of the tranny case. Once all fluid that's going to drains out, refill with a like amount. Start and drive the car about ten or fifteen miles to fully warm and dilute the remaining old fluid with the fresh fluid and then drain again and refill. Another drive and a final drain and refill. If the initally drained fluid is cloudy/murky, it would probably be a good idea to go with one additional drain, drive, and refill. At this point you should have about 90 - 95% of the old fluid out. Your tranny and the cooling lines should be pretty clean by this time, too. The cost of Honda genuine ATF is low enough (around $3.00/qt. I think I read in an unrelated post) that the nine or so quarts you use with this sequence will still come in well under the $110.00 the dealer quoted you, and you have the peace of mind knowing nothing but ATF ever went into that box. Oh, buy a new transmission drain plug washer before you start. Honda says you HAVE to replace the washer when the plug is removed. When I changed the fluid on my '96 Accord, I used the original washer with the initial refill. I wiped the area dry with a clean rag. After I returned from the initial run, there was no sign of leakage. I took a chance on reusing the original washer for the final refill, too. It never developed a leak, and since I change oil every 3,000 miles, I'd be in a perfect position to notice one. But, to be safe, have a new one on hand in case. Also, the drain plug probably has a rare-earth ceramic magnet permanently attached. (There was on mine, anyway.) Clean the fine ferrous metal particles adhering to it with a paper towel moistened with a little solvent each time you remove it. Common paint thinner is fine and will have air dried by the time you're ready to reinstall it. There'll be more metal particles with the initial drain than the subsequent drain.

laxjtf

I mentioned my Accord transmission problem on this board earlier.
Symptoms: hard shifting.. jerking movement observed most often after slowing down and then re-accelerating.. not observed that frequently.. have to test drive for a bit before one notices it.. kind of a subtle problem.. It started about a year ago after 50K miles.. now have 60K.

Honda has admitted to some problems with the 2000+ models and has extended warranty. Also, I didnt have extended warranty. So I was at the mercy of my dealer and American Honda.

I had the Honda dealer look at it last week. Initially, the service advisor test drove it and said he didnt see any problem with the car!! Then after I put up a big fuss, they finally had their senior mechanic check it out more closely. Alas, they called me back saying there was a problem with the transmission! I showed them all my car service records and then they checked with American Honda. The car had been well maintained and had no other problems with the car. One additional worry I had was that I was not getting my car serviced at the dealer.

Anyway.. the service dept called me back today saying that Honda has approved changing out the transmission ($5,000 value) on their nickel!! Wow! I cant believe it. Hats off to Honda! I guess I will continue to stay Honda fan for some time to come.

jvgio

I'm having a similar problem with my 96 wagon to that described by kenbb. My car ran very smoothly until I brought it to the Honda dealer in Bellevue, WA for 90k service and timing belt/water pump replacement. After that work was done it has had a droning buzz and vibration most noticeable at 1800 rpm and also around 3000 rpm on the highway. I can hear it and feel it through the steering wheel and seat. The dealer installed the exhaust midpipe fix described in a tech service bulletin, but that didn't help. The dealer could not find the problem and their service manager said the car run normally so they wouldn't pursue the problem any more. I'm just about ready to sell the car, and for a committed Honda owner like me, that's saying a lot. I sure would appreciate any ideas. Thanks.

bburton1

Having to fight with a dealer service department is why I never want a vehicle that is not reliable. Having said that-what is causing the vibration. Never seen it but when they replaced the water pump/timing belt-they may have not gotten the balancer shaft's in the correct position. This may be the problem and the only way to fix it is to pull the timing belt off and get the marks lined up. This would cause the whole engine to vibrate.

Since this happened right after they changed the belt-if the balance shaft is not the problem-it is something else they did. IF the valves are not lined up correctly-the engine will have no power.

Anybody else got any ideas.

wally3435

TO Laxjtf......
Good to hear that there is another person out there with tyranny problems with their 98 Accord. I have only 38,000 miles on the car and the tyranny does everything that your tranny was doing. Which dealership did you take your accord to? Did they give you a reference number from American Honda? Any information would be helpful. I plan on taking my accord in next week to the dealership.

monotone

Just want to say thanks.

Pretty much decided to take the touch-up route. Sure there will be marks left behind, but hopefully they will remind me to take better care for the vehicle.

Since the debris did not penetrate the primer (mine is a nighthawk black EX, the marks show white spots and I assume that's the primer) my plan is to clean the surface throughly, apply Honda touchup paint, let it dry off and form a slight mound, and (as suggested by carcareonline.com and since I don't feel comfortable sanding the surface myself) use Meguiar Finesse Sanding Block 2000 grit
to "flatten" the mound. If anyone tried that product, please let me know how it turned out.

Many thanks again.

bburton1

If you just fill in the ding with the touch up paint-there will be a slight hole-the alternative is to try to fill it a bit with something-either some sanding primer or some other base coat type paint. Use an artist brush. The Honda touch up paint won't fill in the hole. Try one place first with your method outlined above-with judicious sanding it might work very well.

jvgio

Thank you for the response, bburton1. The problem with the balancer shaft you mentioned actually did happen during the dealer service, which caused a strong vibration. I turned around on the way home from the dealer and brought it back to them. They got the balancer shaft in the correct position, which got rid of the bad vibration, but it still has a very noticeable noise and vibration as I described earlier. I've had the car up on a lift, and the vibration seems to be coming from the engine, not the exhaust, although from inside the car it sounds like an exhaust system problem. The dealer supposedly checked the motor mounts as well.

kenbb

I feel your pain jvgio. Nothing worse than a car that has been doing great having problems and no definite answers when you take it in. I think I have two separate problems. The noise that I think\thought "confused!" is related to exhaust was a bad motor mount according to one place . They said they first thought heat shield then while on the lift used a jack to take slight pressure off of the mounts causing the noise to disappear. Said there was no visual sign that a mount was bad ,so they could not tell me for 100 percent sure. Expensive problem so I have tried looking at other avenues. You said the short pipe fix did not help you. Maybe I'll try that and hope for the best. We are just lucky to have the wonderful folks on this network otherwise who knows! I envy anyone out there who has a place close to take their car to that can diagnose and fix things right the first time. Heck I'll even take the second time!

bburton1

The techs at this dealer are really bad news if they can't get the balance shaft in the right position-it has a mark. That they did not even notice the vibration after starting the engine is an even bigger problem. They could have the balance shaft still out of position and this could be the problem you are having.

I would suggest going to a dealer in a small to medium size town and if they have their act together, betcha they can fix it for a couple of hundred bucks. I would not go back to the people who did the job in the first place-spending a few hundred bucks with some dealer who knows what they are doing would be money well spent.

auburn63

my money is still on the clogged intake manifold ports for the EGR. I see alot of them..

kenbb

Since I'm clueless auburn63. What does EGR stand for? What should it cost to fix it? Can I take this problem to another place or do I have to use Honda? The Honda place in my town has a terrible reputation and I have had numerous problems when taking my Hondas to them over the last 15 years. Just to be sure auburn63 are you referring to my highway vibrations or my worsening exhaust type noise? I'm getting this car right this week even if I have to walk the 30 to work each day. Oh by the way bburton1, I'm going to have all of the suggestions I have received checked out. Want to thank you guys again for doing your best to help me get Old Blue running like the Honda I had.

kenbb

I probably have missed some of recall items on 97 Accord due to moving all over the place. Plus for what ever reason local dealer has failed to inform me when I have taken my car to them. Question, should they have informed me of the balancer shaft seal problem or is mine one of the cars without a problem? VIN is JHMCD5630VCO11052. It was asembled in Japan in 6\97. Any help on this auburn63 or anyone else who can run this number? As to ja222 post . I may be having some problems now at 85K but I think these are minor and fix able. Prior to owning Hondas I owned American and German cars and my Honda experience has been a dream compared to those nightmares.

gee35coupe

I would make it quick too. Your car is getting to that magic milage where all the oil spews out. It's worth it for the discount they give if you do the timing belt at the same time since it's all there together.

auburn63

The vibration/shudder on light accel or cruising is probably the EGR (exhaust gas recirculation) ports in the manifold. Technically a check engine light needs to be present before a dealer can use the warranty extension to repair this for free, however I would still ask if they would cover it. There is a Honda service news (Sep 2000)that gives the ok to clean out the ports under the extension. If that turns out to be the cause. It can be diagnosed by removing the EGR vacuum hose off of the valve and road testing under the same conditions to see if the problem goes away. Since you cant do this any tech can.
 As for the exhaust noise if it does it at idle it most likely is a loose heat shield, if it only does it at 1800 rpms and sounds like a buzzing then it is probably the short pipe noise..Hard to diag noises on the net...Good luck

drobertson1

Thanks to those of you who have answered my query re: shifting grind between 1st and 2nd. I have been paying attention to this issue and note that if I keep the rev's slower ie., 2500 rpm or less, the situation is less dramatic. Primarily, it seems to be a cold start phenomenon. I have to say, drove a Ford Mustang for 15 years and never had this issue before. This will be my last post on this Problem. I need some final thoughts from you. Is this an issue I should pursue further, or is it considered normal Honda tranny behaviour? Thanks everybody for your consideration.

kenbb

Thanks for everything . I'll let you know my results. Anyone who has doubts about the generosity and willingness of people to give help without monetary compensation has not read this board. Wow, what great human beings!

bburton1

Your accord also has an extended warranty on the emissions system which covers replacement of the rotor, plug wires, plugs, oil change and filter. THis is good till 150K. If you are going to keep the car for a while-wait till maybe 140 before doing it. Also there is a recall on the ignition switch module-less than .3% failure rate but it is a freebe also.

It is a good idea to get the balance shaft seals fixed-they can let go and oil out and bye bye engine. A very simple metal plate was added to make the seal stiffer.

auburn63

I missed your first post on this but if you didnt have the dealer look at it you should. If you are in warranty or not they sometimes are the best judge of if it is normal or not. The suggestion in your last post leans toward the possibility of a worn syncronizer for 2nd gear. Good luck

auburn63

I ran your VIN and you still need the 75,000-150,000 mile emission tune up and inspection. As well, your car hasnt had the ignition update as of yet either which also is free. If you have a mechanic he maybe able to cause the check engine light to come on by doing the diag test and if so you could go in with that code on the computer and get it covered under the extension and info from the sep 2000 service news.
     The last dealer you were at did the 50,000-75,000 mile inspection in june. Some other open recalls were also done in the past including the balancer seal holder. So they maybe the ones to go back to since they were aware of the Service Bulletin. Good luck