Honda Odyssey: Problems & Solutions:(1995-2004 Models)

jnt

Sorry to hear about your problems on the 05 Odys. I am keeping my fingers crossed on my 05.

Honda and Toyota dealers are not ranked high in customer service. Their Lexus and Accura divisions on the contrary typically are ranked at the top in this category.

jt

jchan2

That's the main difference IMO between Honda and Acura.

Too bad I can't afford an MDX.

caravan2

You're correct but...

I'm watching both Sienna and Ody problem forums. It seems Ody forums reports much more problems than Seinna, like 10:1. This is for 05 and 06 models only.

I'm planning to buy ody or sienna and monitoring both the forums.

rbb

What has been the experience of recent Ody owner with winter driving? We are trying to decide between an '06 Pilot with AWD and the '06 Ody, which we find to be more comfortable but are concerned with its winter driving performance. We live in Minnesota, drive to Colorado in the winter and will be traveling over mountain passes in the heart of winter. Any suggestions? Would a good set of winter tires get me through my winters out west? Thanks...

pen101

Our 05 Ody has wind noise (howl).

We have brought it to the dealer 3 times so far to have it fixed. First they resealed the windshield trim. Then they replaced the trim. Then they replaced the windshield. Now it howls more than ever. Next appointment is tomorrow. Will report back what they did and if it fixed problem. I know others have had this problem. What did dealer do to fix the problem? Did it take 3 or 4 trips to the dealer to fix it?

jnt

We have had the 05 EX-L with VCM for a year now. I watched the ECO indicator as an indirect bahavior of VCM turing on/off. Overall, there is little or no difference between the two cases as far as vibration is concerned. So, I think Honda engineers did a good job on this one. However, we observed a funny booming sound at certain vehicle RPM range (2000-2500 RPM). This happened with ECO off and it acted like engine is caught with wrong gear. Other than that, no complaint.

jt

caravan2

Can you manualy turn off VCM?

Thanks,

sebring95

Can you manualy turn off VCM?

No

kchandlersmith

I was driving my wife's 2005 Odyssey and three times in the last two weeks when the following happened: I would drive through water (not a puddle and not enough to go across the whole road--probably 3 inches deep) on the right side of the vehicle. Momentarily after driving through the water the red battery light would come on the power steering and brakes would go off and then everything would come back a few seconds later. It's a very dangerous condition especially if I would have been on a curve. Has this happened to anyone and what should I do??

caravan2

I'm not sure about the problem. But one thing you can check...

Is alternator on passenger side of the engine? I suspect it is. Probably alternator gets wet and short things out.

If it happens again, go back to the same puddle and see if you can create it again. If it is safe to stop after this happens, open the hood and see what parts get wet with the splash.

This way you can help dealer to diagnose the problem.

Good luck..

rbb

Has anyone looked into putting winter tires on an '06 Touring? Apparently with the Mich. PAX tires one needs to purchase a separate set of wheels for the new snow tires. At a cost of over $500 per wheel/tire assembly. (Per the dealer) Has anyone heard differently? Can it be done without purchasing the wheels?
Rick...

rorr

I think the $500 per wheel/tire assembly price you've heard are for replacement PAX tires and wheels.

The PAX wheels on the Ody Touring will ONLY accept PAX tires due to the design/size of the wheel. At this time, Michelin does NOT offer a snow tire for the PAX wheel. Therefore, one cannot put snow tires on the stock Ody Touring rims.

You might want to contact a vendor selling snow tire/rim packages (tirerack.com) for info about replacement sets. Don't get too hung up on trying to spec a wheel size the same (or close) to the Touring rims; all you need to get would be a tire size with the same approximate outside diameter as the PAX tires (so your speedometer isn't thrown too out of kilter using a different size tire).

Also, you'll need to consider the added expense of fitting your replacement wheels with tire pressure sensors; otherwise your TPMS will be inoperable.

sebring95

I've heard rumors that the PAX X-Ice is now available at dealers. Not sure how this works, if it's a tire/wheel package or what. Should be hitting dealers this week actually.

rorr

Michelin X-Ice is their new snow/ice tire. From my reading of Michelin's website, it is NOT available in a PAX compatible size (235-710R460A 104T).

http://www.michelinman.com/assets/pdfs/doc_xice.pdf

Instead, it appears it is built for industry standard rims.

sebring95

My info was from another forum. They're supposed to be coming with these in a PAX size and someone claimed their dealer has a set coming in for them. I've not personally checked though.

windowproblems

Okay, now that I have my mysterious window going down problem solved, I have acquired a whistle in the windsheild. Has anyone else had that problem? It sounds like the window is not sealed correctly on the drivers side.

stickguy

I missed that. What was the reason and the fix?

pilotpat

We've had our 2000 Odyssey just about all over the lower 48 (bought it after we left Alaska), and now in Greece, where I've braved the Mtn passes here. With winter tires and Traction control, it's got no problems in snow - nicely steady. I recommend winter tires for all vehicles if you're driving the mountains - I put them on my 4Runner in Alaska. 4WD will help you up a hill, to a point, but doesn't make a big difference on the descents and turns. Wish you could still use studs in all of the lower 48.

Definitely get a car with stability control. Didn't exist in the 00 Honda, but now I think it should be a top option if you're doing lots of travel on slick, twisty roads.

robsum

I'm back again with hopefully another simple issue. On our 2001 ody, the dashboard clock light is out, although the clock is still operating. unfortunately despite that clock is keeping time, impossible to tell the time without turning an interior light on. this is more of an issue now that winter is here and dark more hours of day. does anyone know if a seperate fuse covers just that light or how to replace bulb/lcd, if part is even available.
thanks.
rob

user777

Message #3894 in this forum addressed one user's method to fix the light on the clock.

Other posters have indicated that a tap next to the clock on the dash sometimes fixes the illumination problem, but i don't know if this is a permanent fix.

norbtuc

The whistling windshield seems to be quite common. Mine whistles at 40 - 45 miles per hour and only at that speed. Fat chance the dealer would ever fix that. I keep the radio on.

felixdacat13

My last post was a few months ago, concerning water coming into the passenger compartment. This forum was right, of course and it did turn out to be a blocked AC Exhaust. However, my dealer's service center tried to upsell me to get the entire AC overhauled. They wanted $400, I found someone to unblock the exhaust for less then $100.
So I sent a pretty nasty evaluation to the dealer. Their new manager left a message requesting I give them a chance to earn back my business. This was around the same time that I noticed transmission problems (55K).
Once again, these boards helped tremdously, because the Honda toll free customer service line told me I was out of warranty, while you people told me that it had been extended to 100K. Since it was a warrany item, back to the dealer I went. Eventually, they decided to replace the transmission. They also gave me a rental for free, which I appreciated, especially since it turned out to be a Silverado. They did end up charging me to replace two broken engine mounts, but I looked it up and they really weren't out of line with their price.
Which finally gets me to my question.
The dealer said that the brakes will need to be changed by the next oil change. This will be the second set I've put on the van so I'm averaging around 27K-29K per set. They said that most people had to change them out every 25K. Does that sound right?
Is there any kind of brake pad that I could buy that could extend that?
What I'm thinking of doing is purchasing the pads online and then taking them to the guy who cleared the AC exhaust blockage. Does anyone else have a better plan?
Thanks in advance.

user777

FWIW, I had a set of pads replaced in an '03 at about that mileage as I recall. I think they may be using soft pads...I seem to have a lot of dust on the front. Then again, this is a heavy vehicle... There probably is a product that will wear more slowly, but you want to be careful to make sure it is of high quality and won't damage your rotors. (I'm not sure how you determine this. I guess you could Google for more information or ask in the brakes maintenance and repair forum).

The guy that unblocked your evaporator drain line...he might have done something as simple as blow compressed air (like from a compressor used to power various shop tools) up the evaporator drain line from below, which would have taken all of about 3 seconds with the vehicle on a lift.

That could have been an easy $100 for him. Personally, I've had it done free of charge for the asking. So, inquire about the cost of the pad change-out.

caravan2

I'm following this forum very closely. I like '06 ODY but worry about the problems mentioned here in this forum. Specially, that dealers don't own up to the problems.

Here is you all who have experienced problems could help persons like me to avoid these problems, if possible.

Question is.... is it possible to find out any of these problems, e.g. wind noices and others... during test drive(s). How should one test drive and how long to discover these problems before signing on the dotted line. Should you get the vehicle for a day (I'm not sure if the dealer would allow that). And when you get it, what checklist should one go through to ensure everything is working properly.

It is really sad that you're buying a new vehicle because you don't want the unknown problems of the used vehicle.... and new vehicle ends up pain in the :mad:

Thanks vor your help.

jnt

I'm back again with hopefully another simple issue. On our 2001 ody, the dashboard clock light is out, although the clock is still operating. unfortunately despite that clock is keeping time, impossible to tell the time without turning an interior light on. this is more of an issue now that winter is here and dark more hours of day. does anyone know if a seperate fuse covers just that light or how to replace bulb/lcd, if part is even available.
thanks.
rob

The clock display on your vehicle is similar to a typical wristwatch LCD display. So at night, it needs some source of back light (either small light bulb or LED) under the display to light it up. I suspect that this back light source is out. Normally, car makers do not have a fuse for every light buld in the vehicle. So a chance for finding such a fuse in your vehicle is next to nil. Sometimes, by luck, some solder joints or electrical connection to this light source may be intermitten. So tapping on the unit may get the lighting back. But if so, it will likely disappear again as soon as your car hits a big bump on the road. The best thing to do is to open this unit and look at the light bulb and possibly replace it. The more expensive option is to buy the whole clock unit.

jt

happydajen

I don't know if my problem is related but I have a clunking front end noise. I have a 2001 Odyssey EX with about 70,000 miles. Sometimes when I back up and hit the brakes I hear a clunk in the front end. This can also happen when I pull forward after backing up and then hit the brakes. Having worked on cars for years but now getting up in years, I am unable to diagnose this myself. I don't see it being a serious safety issue, but I could be wrong. In the old days it would have been signs of bad "king pins", "ball joints", "shock absorbers", and the like. I expect to get it to a dealer pretty soon but want to be forewarned about the possible problem and costs involved.

Thanks,
Don

fljoslin

How long brakes last depends on the vehicle and how and where you drive it. 25-30K miles does not sound excessive for a heavy automatic vehicle. Ceramic pads are the best. Autozone.com lists Ceramic pads for a 2001 Odyssey front and rear for $41 for each set. They have other less expensive choices for the front. You certainly do not need to go back to the dealer for brakes since they are not covered by a warranty. You may be getting to the point where you need new rotors. If you need the rotors turned and are getting close to the minimum thickness (1.024"), I would seriously think about replacing them. I have had bad experiences on several vehicles with rotors warping when near their minimum thicknesses (usually second turnings).
If this happens you will have to replace the brakes and get new rotors. Also, you do not necessarily have to replace the front and rear brakes at the same time. Often the front brakes wear much faster than the rear and require replacing more often.

fljoslin

Look at the engine mounts and sway bar bushings if equiped. I had a 92 Grand Caravan with a similar problem. I replaced the engine mounts (3 I believe) and 4 sway bar bushings and it fixed it.

fljoslin

Ceramic pads create no dust which is nice. I believe that they are more aggressive and will wear rotors faster. All of the best pads will to give you better breaking performance. I do not believe that you should worry about "damaging" rotors. Rotors are wear part which you should expect to change at some interval. I would expect to change them between 75k and 100k so that you have nice shiny new ones. A new full thickness rotor works better than a thinner one. That is part of the reason that there are minimum thickness limits. A quick look on Autozone.com shows front rotors for $61 each for a 2001 Odyssey. BTW, I only picked Autozone.com because it is easy to find a part there for just about any vehicle at a reasonable price.

user777

thanks for the info. that's relatively cheap isn't it? i'm inclined to think that ceramic pads are going to result in more heating of the rotor surface than a set of conventional pads. i'm concerned about warping due to alot of stop-and-go.

a legit concern, or nothing to worry about?

hondaconvert1

Hey, listen I know about cars and I know about quality and HONDA is waaaaaaaaaay behind.... never again HONDA what a JUNK!!!!!!

hondaconvert1

Go for the Sienna, that is what I am planning to do... I will get rid of my 05 Odyssey tooooooooooo many issues and HOA what a joke they do not even bother to listen... a bunch of liars... never again HONDA!!!!!

hondaconvert1

If you want my advise stay away from HONDA all together and you will be very happy!!!!! Go for TOYOTA and you will never regret it, unless you end up buying a lemmon...

jchan2

I think we get the point now.

I'm sure there's plenty of dissatisfied Honda owners and there's plenty of satisfied owners too.

Perhaps you just got an unlucky model that was built on Friday afternoon so the workers slacked off. (especially over in QC)

hondaconvert1

My advise has to do nothing in relation to lemmon or no lemmon vehicle. I am speaking from experience and conclusion is HONDA quality is poor... end of story!

rsht

In my case, the whistling happens 90% of the time immediately after I had my Ody washed by taking it through a car wash machine (Nothing happens if I wash it myself by hand)..... The whistling noise will stop after a couple of days. What an Ody.

khalter

The whistling windshield is a standard 'product update' issue. Any authorized dealer will fix it. We recently had ours repaired.

wht1986

We have a 2002 Odyssey that for the most part has been trouble free. Over the last couple of weeks though we keep running into a situation where the vehicle just quits running. All the lights on the dash light up and the engine just cuts out. Leave it alone for a few minutes and it usually starts back up. Once it starts, it runs for hours or days with no issues. We have taken it to the dealer and basically they say they cant figure it out and they cant reproduce the stall. Anyone have an idea what it might be?

khalter

Honda has a special update for this particular problem. I called Honda directly and they gave me the product update number related to this whistling issue. I took that number to the dealer and they took care of it. Any dealer that replaces the windshield for this problem is not current on the latest updates.

jchan2

Well, the gasoline smell is back again, only this time it isn't as strong inside the vehicle as it used to be. It went away after I had the check engine light fixed, and after my long commute on the freeway. The smell is now more around the vehicle than inside it.
Any ideas on what it might be or is it the same problem that caused the gasoline smell before the check engine light?

hayneldan

Do you stop filling your tank when the pump turns off or continue to top off the tank. if you top it off it will fill the evap cannister and smell of gasoline always.

pen101

Received car back after 2 days at dealer (they gave me a rental - a Quest, which I was not so impressed with, by the way).

The windshield howl is fixed! It seems that when they replaced the windshield, one seal was not installed properly. Once the seals were in place, no more noise!

Side note. Dealer had construction going on for their new showroom. Today I noticed a nail embedded in the sidewall of the rear tire. Went back to dealer. They said they will replace tire for free. No hassle. Great customer service. They also said that if it were a run flat tire on the touring model, it would have cost upwards of $600 because they would have to replace the rim also. Is this true?

jchan2

I never top off. I stop when it automatically stops.

I see many people topping off, but I don't because 1) Honda says don't top off and 2) I heard something on CarTalk about not topping off, so I just don't top off to be safe.

subuch

Hi
I am having the exact same problem. It has happened 2x in the last 3 weeks. I took it to the dealer immediately after this last incident however, just like you they couldn't replicate it-duh! They are no help whatsoever. Please let me know if you find anything out. I am afraid that I will be in an accident before this is solved. My husband just talked to a friend who said it might be a dirty idle adjustment screw that somehow screws up the sensors.

subuch

Did you ever get this fixed? I am having the same problem also with a 2002 Ody. The dealer is no help and I am not comfortable. About 3 weeks ago I also had the smell of burning rubber in the cabin and they told me it was something in the airconditioning and put in a new cabin fan. I think that it was a wire or belt of some kind and is now causing this other problem.

RE: Any ideas on this… I have a 2002 Odyssey Ex with 87k miles. In the last two weeks, the van has shut off twice while driving. Lucky, we weren't going very fast (approaching a stop sign, and in residential traffic). The dealer couldn't find anything wrong but as you can imagine this is a very uncomfortable position. Has anyone experienced this?

Your thoughts are appreciated ...
Anthony

fljoslin

You don't say how many miles are on your van.
If this happened to me on a four year old vehicle I would perform a major tune up. Nothing to lose (relatively) and it may fix the problem. I would replace the spark plugs, air filter, fuel filter, give it a good fuel injector treatment and possibly other things. It could also be related to the condition of the battery and your charging system. Were you running many electrical accessories when it happened? Was it raining, did you drive through standing water.? Another possibility, I have a 1999 Intrepid which has been flawless, but it is six years old. The ignition key is a little bit sloppy. I realized a couple of months ago that after starting the car, when I returned the key to the "on" position, I turned it back just a little too far. The car still ran, but all of the idiot lights came on. Now I am very careful exactly where the key is and I have not had the problem repeated.
Good luck and let us know if you do figure out for sure what caused this problem.

baby927

can start the car, but can't pull the shifter out of Park! Doesn't seem real, but it has happened quite a few times now. Yes , foot on brake, on level ground. Dealer can't repeat it but we get it once/week, if not more. Have to pull the key and push into the special release on the steering column. *Why would a manufacturer put this in if there wasn't a reason to?) Anyway, saw a post back in Jan 16, '04 from tjy, but couldn't find anyone with an answer. Although an Accord owner said it used to happen to him and it ended up being a brake relay, or something. Can anyone help me out? My e-mail is "baby927@twcny.rr.com" because I don't go on the internet too often.
Thank you all

jcreek

Hi there,
i have an odyssey 2005, and about the same milleage (2100) i am getting the exact same problem.
i was wondering, were they able to find what it is and fix it?

did the problem occured again?

user777

i think this might have happened once to my wife, but the steering wheel was locked.

rockycow33

If you haven't tried it before, replace the fuel filler gas cap, that solve the gas smell in my CRV. Plus, it's cheap to try.
Good luck
rockycow