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

rc777

I knew I should have gone the extra money for a VCM model,
my 2006 EX wont rev over 7k! ( no where near your 21k )

I've had a couple people comment on a similar noise on non vcm vehicle, I dont hear it because of hearing damage fom flying?

... so will be interested to see if noise disappears when
vcm is locked out on yours or if its something else

macakava

Personally, my now almost 2 yr old Ody is working flawlessly. I have never taken it back to the dealer for any repairs and I also do PM on it as I have been doing for over 30yrs to all my vehicles. I do drive it energetically like my other vehicles because it is a fun vehicle to do.

Compared to satisfied owners of any vehicle type, I suspect/am sure that it is very likely the small few (who are experiencing problems) who are very vocal about their unenjoyable experiences. The satisfied owners are probably too busy enjoying their vehicles or could not care a hoot.

macakava

"my 2006 EX wont rev over 7k! ( no where near your 21k )"

Why do you want to rev over 7K when it is not designed to do so? I believe 6.5K is the max.

Do you want to possibly damage your engine?

user777

no doubt there was some sarcasm in rc's post... 21-23K reported by the original poster must have been 2.1-2.3K.

to rc777's (nice userid) post - i do not believe anyone can disable VCM, just the ANC that is generated through the speakers... an even better test (than my suggestion to shut off ANC), would be to shut off VCM to see if the humming went away. i don't think anyone's "hacked" that yet.

i suspect the humming will be noticeably different with the ANC off. i hope someone will do the experiment.

i would also like to know if anyone WITH the humming doesn't have the VCM (with ANC) function.

macakava

The tranny problem has been mostly confined to the older models up to 2002 and possibly 2003. So you should have little concerns about this.

The key to long engine and tranny life is clean fluids. Irregardless of what the manuals says, I have always changed engine oil/filter every 3K miles, and tranny oil by 25K. Have been doing so for the past 30 years with no issues.

The Ody tranny oil change is a piece of cake. You just remove the drain plug to drain the oil and replace with same qty of new ATF-Z1 oil thru the tranny dipstick barrel. Domestics vehicles require dropping the oil pan - a messy, tedious exercise.

I am not aware of on-going sliding door problems - My Ody does not have it.

rob123

I had a 2000 and 2003EX and they had a slight drone/groaning sound when shifting through gears,My 2006EX is horrible shifting and on any grade all the time.
The sound is so loud you have stop talking to the other person in the car,it drowns out the radio,I haven't been
to the dealer yet.
Anyone else with this problem? This is not a VCM

goodegg

I'm sure there's a TSB out there about the windshield noise on this van. Anybody know about it and the fix that's entailed to stop the whistling at 60mph?

Besides this issue the van is great. Even our teenage daughter is cool with it since her friends and their moms seem to love this van too.

I'm confident we'll get 150,000 miles on it w/out many problems.

user777

is this what you are looking for?
Windshield Cowl TSB

2 pages. hope it helps.

jipster

"my now almost 2 yr old Ody is working flawlessly."

Don't know why you keep posting stuff like that. When in post #5988, of this topic, you talk about your windshild defrost not functioning like it should, per the owners manuel. Not a big problem...but hardly "flawless". Makes one wonder if there are other problems with your Ody you aren't discussing here. If you want to be helpful with other Ody owners, which I think you do, be honest with them.

macakava

You seem to have become senile like our other famous fella! Usage sequence problem was understood and resolved!

The defrost now works flawlessly now that my wife, who is a non-car person and principal driver, is using the correct sequence to use it. I am temped to give you my VIN number if you care to check on Honda USA on its repair history of "NADA", but I am am not sure that I can trust you with it. You never know what may be on your mind. You might want to duplicate its keys at the dealer and steal it to enjoy its flawless operation!

If you are wondering about the minivan that appears to look like those narrow ones in Japan(during my frequent business travels there, that appear to be squeezed between a vice-grip, it has fallen between the cracks and has been DISCONTINUED! Besides it is almost majority owned by the Fixed Or Repair Daily company that will soon see its unreliable traits/parts migrating into it. For starters, the Mazda5 was recalled because of a fire problem and production was also halted due to it.

What must be very interesting for all readers is what is a Mazda MPV owner doing and participating in an Ody only forum. His intentions must be very DUBIOUS and SUSPICIOUS as is greatly reflected in his name, i.e. being "jipped" by someone!

lizpop1

update on my post:

ac2000 mentioned that the transmission humming sound (like a leaf blower) is more evident in cold weather. correct! very loud when temp goes below freezing (absolutely screams when temp is in the 20's). today it's in the 50's so the hum is bearable. hope it's nothing serious.

Auto Zone ran the diagnostics on the check engine light. the knock sensor is bad. took my car to the dealer and the service guy said that the sensor may be OK but that "squirrels may have gone under the car and chewed up the wires to the sensor". Is this for real? I think these service guys are hitting the hookah pipe.

will post a full report of my service experience later.

thanks.

user777

you know, if a knock sensor goes bad, then the engine control unit cannot determine the optimal timing to avoid detination of the fuel before the piston gets to it's top most position in the cylinder / max compression. i believe "pre-detonation" is the term, and if the timing is off, then the engine is going to vibrate and it will probably be coupled to the exhaust system.

i wonder if the people complaining about "humming" have a bad knock sensor, or one nearing failure.

i've read in posts (not in this forum but other) about people complaining about foul smell or engine mis-operation that was traced to small rodents getting into the engine area, nesting and/or nawing on stuff. i guess it happens.

jipster

"Usage sequence problem was understood and resolved!"

And what post # would that be old friend? I see that fibber2 suggested a possible sequence to resolve the front windshield defrost problem. But, saw nothing from you saying that you tried the sequence and it worked. I suppose you "forgot" to post a reply? Why would you need to go thru a "sequence" of button pushing in the first place to get it to work properly? Just curious...no need to get all worked up over it.

As for you being "SUSPICIOUS" over my post. Don't be so paranoid. I am big fan of minivans(including the 2005 and 2006 Honda Ody), and read and make posts on all minivan boards.

If you don't like my posts, then you are free to make your complaints known to someone who may or may not care...the hosts. :P

Mr_Shiftright

Oh we CARE all right. Please avoid personal comments of ANY kind. If you are having issues with another member, e-mail the host. Do not respond to provocation please.

Thank you,

MrShiftright
Host

ac2000

I just gave it a try this afternoon, and the humming noise is not getting better when the ANC is off. Actually, i can't tell much of the difference when ANC is on or off. I did bring my van to a dealer. This time the dealer is very responsive and friendly. They are arranging a full day service for my van next week trying to resolve the problems. I hope they can fix all the problems next week..cross my fingers..

user777

thanks for performing the test and posting your observations.

asarp

Bought a 2006 Honda Odyssey EX-:L in September. Running very well. Someone suggested that VSA should be inactivated when driving in snow, since it locks the wheels when traction is lost. Is VSA good only on wet roads and on gravel?

raduz

the tranny on my 2002 odyssey failed at 63k had the oil kit installed last year at 40k. never towed anything, trans fluid changed at 35k. the dealer says he is going to put a new redesigned tranny in. is it true? or should i expect a remanuf one that is going to fail soon?
also have they extended the warranty on these transmissions to 100k ? I also have a 2003 accord v6
that i expect to have similar issues soon
thanks

robertororo

I've got the same problem too. I have a 2005 fully loaded Honda Odyssey Touring!!! This is my second Odyssey, the first being the 2001 Odyssey which I loved. I was suckered into buying his one as I was told Honda "made great improvement" to highway noise that was a bit of a problem on the 2001 models. I still have the 2001 (gave it to my brother) and when I compare the noise level, it seems that the 2001 is less noisy than the 2005 Touring model!!!!
The humming noise shows up at 2 speeds: 40-45mph and 62-67 mph. More annoying at the 62-67 mph as this tends to be close to in-city cruising speed.

This noise is driving me crazy. I am so disappointed with this vehicle.

I finally took it to the dealer and they acknowledged the noise, and indicated that Honda is working on a fix and that fix should be available in 1.5 to 2 months. (that was back early fall!!. Did not hear back from Honda so 3 weeks ago I called the dealer again and asked if the fix is ready. First, the dealer indicated that he was not aware of any issue. After insisting that he checks my service ticket, he said I'll have my technician call Honda to follow up with them. The following week he calls me back saying that the fix Honda were working on did not work and had more problems of its own and therefore no fix is yet available. This time, he would not give me any time frame of when a new fix will be available!!! All he can say is that "we will let you know when we hear something".

For whomever is interested, this is not a wheel or a tire balance noise. It is a resonant humming noise coming from the pipe.

Please keep this discussion going until we get to the bottom of this issue with Honda.

I am so disappointed that if Honda does not come back with a fix soon, this will be the last Honda I'm buying!!

If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know.

roro :mad: :mad: :sick:

user777

did you attempt calling honda corporate on the matter to find out if anyone is working the problem?

macakava

We can assume that your brother suckered you to get his hands on your '01 Ody! LOL.

It would appear that VCM feature is a good fuel economy strategy, but there are issues with the ANC design.

I wonder what are others (Chrysler's Hemi, etc) doing for their VCM.

sebring95

VSA also includes traction control, both of which can be turned off by the dash button. The traction control function will use the ABS system to transfer power between the front wheels when slippage occurs. This is a good thing because generally speaking the less slipping the better. If there is a situation where the system is not able to move the vehicle forward because of excessive slipping, it could be beneficial to turn the system off. Sometimes you just have to spin your way out of deep snow.

Stability control is helpful under any circumstance where the vehicle starts doing something the driver did not intend to happen. Hit a slippery spot in a turn and VSA may just save your bacon. Therefore, I would not turn VSA off unless it became necessary in order to spin the tires for traction.

robertororo

No, I did not call Honda corporate on this matter. I wouldn't know how to do that even if I wanted to! Do you have a "specific" number and specific Department that I can call?

roro

paulhuang1

Here is a post about the Odyssey transmission problem that I found in the Odyssey 1999-2004 forum.
Just keep your finger cross that your vehicle will have a good rebuilt transmission that will last a long time. It is hard to know.
--------------------------------------------
#6828 of 6853 Re: Odyssey transmission problem [bfk] by vger Oct 28, 2005 (6:04 pm)
Reply | E-mail Msg
Replying to: bfk (Oct 09, 2005 6:16 pm)

Don't buy it... my Honda Odyssey 2000 had its trans go out at 90,000+. The second one from Honda Dealer only lasted 29,000. From my dealings, I found out '99-03 have defective transmission BY DESIGN. So even rebuilt are very bad. I found on the web that there are some who are on their third and forth transmission. Honda offered to pay 50/50 which came to $1500+ from my pocket. Even though I paid $1000 for an extended warranty up to 100,000 they charged it to their "Recall". Honda knows of this defect but buyer beware... they expect us to pay because we bought it, and own it... it is totally unethical. No more Hondas!
_________________________________

ash217

I have posted regarding this earlier, but I think the noise is coming from VCM system, for me it comes just before the engine comes OUT of VCM. How I know it, because every time ECO light will go off and the noise will go away. My van is with dealer today, I took their chief mechanic for a ride and he acknowledge the noise. He described as if the cylinders are misfiring, yes it does sound like that. Please see if it correlates with VCM. I also have a Touring. I do not like this noise, Honda will have to take care of this problem otherwise this third Honda will be my last Honda.

user777

i believe it is on the owners link web site, in your warranty booklet or your owner's manual.

docsergey

You are 100% right, tottaly same simptoms on my 2006 ex-l and this is not only for Ody, same story with Acura mdx. It is RESONANCE nose!!

ethompson1

thanks for the post Paul.

I have a 2002 Ody that had the transmission just go out at 90K miles. A local Honda dealer replaced it for $1500.00 out of my pocket. The "new" tranny is now warranty covered for another 36K miles.

I am thinking about calling Honda directly and asking them to reimburse me the $1500.00. Anyone have success with this?

Paul, can you list other sources I can research on tranny problems with Odysseys?

I was planning on keeping this van for a very long time BUT now I am wondering if I should trade this 2002 for a new one before I have another expensive problem. What do you think?

paulhuang1

Here are some other sources that I got using the google search.

http://forums.carreview.com/showthread.php?t=113

http://www.autosafety.org/article.php?scid=93&did=908

http://www.internetautoguide.com/auto-recalls/67-int/2004/honda/odyssey/ex/

http://www.automotive.com/used-cars/recalls/11/honda/odyssey/

http://www.carsurvey.org/review_25578.html

The problem is big, even the sencond transmission do not last, it seems that the sencond one fails faster than the first one. Then the third one, fouth one etc.

Logically, We should get rid of it when we start to worry about the van. I am in the same situation, I keep speding money to fix the van, hoping it will be the last major
problem for a while. I should have traded it in earlier when I started to worry about the van's reliability problem. Now it is too late, it is worth very little because all car dealers know this van has major problems.

Honda should do what Nissan did with their van in 1994 or 1995 when they bought all the old vans back from their owners and also gave the owners $5000 coupon to buy another Nissan Vehicle. My brother-in-law got that deal and he became a Happy Nissan Fan.

jnt

Just FYI,

We have our 05 EX-L Odys with VCM option for a year now. Our vehicle has passed 10K mile mark. Everything is doing well on it except the "Humming or Resonating" sound. I posted my observation a year ago on this subject and even complainted to Honda when they called after vehicle delivery. I did not want to give this vehicle to dealer to hack on so I just assume this is a trade off between gaining 2 MPG and refinement

If you have VCM option, your vehicle may exibit this noticable resonating sound at engine speed between 2200-2500 RPM. This would happen with ECO light on or off. It sounds like the transmision is shifted to the wrong gear (too high) for the load. As soon as engine RPM is outside of the trouble range, everything is OK again

I have tried to turn off the Electronic Noise Cancelation (ANC) but this problem was still present. So the resonating noise is of mechanical in nature (engine mounting, imbalance,..)

If anyone has tried to get the fix from a Honda dealer, please share with all of us.

jt

rob123

The other Odysseys I had were
not much better, but the humming noise in this one
makes it the worse.

docsergey

To my ears this sounds like customised muffler on some "street racer", the only difference are intervals- under acceleration normal sound up to 30,
35-45 roar, again normal up to 60 and 60-65 ugly.After this speed its a bliss.
Taking the foot off the pedal instantly kills this ugly noise.

ethompson1

Thanks again Paul. This is all quite "eye opening."

I think the time has come to say "bye bye" to this van.

socalawd

No, I did not call Honda corporate on this matter. I wouldn't know how to do that even if I wanted to! Do you have a "specific" number and specific Department that I can call?

I found the number on my ownerslink.

Customer relations 6am to 5pm PST
(800) 999-1009

Here is the link for Honda ownerslink you should have been setup with a account when you purchased the van. You can Register your van now. There is also some honda marketing going on here but not so bad. Your better off buying any aftermarket parts from discount internet dealers!

link title

lkg2244

Thankyou for your posted message.
I have 2000 Honda Odyssey and start having the same problem with the passenger door. I tried to find the code but the light didn't start blinking after exactly following your method but after removing fuse #13 and putting it back started the door.
It binds little bit during staring.
If this happens again then I will try to find the code.
Thanks

yeppo

I got my 2006 Odyssey EX-L with RES today. It seems to be driving just fine. I had two concerns :

1) The doors do not automatically lock on turning the ignition key or even after driving awhile. Is this normal as the car I had earlier, the doors would lock when I used to start the car.

2) On the Instrumentation display I get an outline of the van . The manual says that if any of the doors were open it would show up as a bar next to this image. But in my case I just get the van outline.

Thanks for any replies.

Yeppo

ac2000

don't forget the vibration..i just came back from a trip to DC. man, i felt high frequency vibration from the steering wheel and gas pedal, especially cursing at 75 mph / 2500 rmp. i can hardly put my hand on the wheel...my palms are numb because of the vibration. i don't enjoy driving my ody at all. My 99 accord v6 is much better than ody. too bad, just too bad!!

rob123

I also have the vibration and humming in my 2006EX,
exactly as you describe with yours.

stickguy

no auto locks on that model.

Also, the van outline is always there. Try starting it with the door open, and you will see the little red bar, that will go out when you shur the door.

roberts5

Happy New Year!
I just returned from a 1200 mile trip averaging 25 mpg, with one tank 27.5 mpg on regular in my 1999 LX. With 84,000 miles behind me, I was wondering if anyone has replaced their shocks. I noticed on the 2002 version, they have gas shocks, but I am not sure if the 1999 version was gas or not. Would gas shocks affect the ride and control any? Thanks for your input.
I also have a 2003 Accord and I am very happy with both.
Happy Hondaring!

yeppo

Same here. Just went on a long drive. Got my vehicle ystday. Noticed a weird droning/humming between 59-64 mph. As you said above that it just floats. Am going to watch for a couple of weeks to see if any other problem is noticed. Any ideas and resolution known ?

Thanks,

Yeppo

yeppo

Thanks !!

That puts to rest a couple of doubts.

wearedriven

Just returned from a 1500 mile roundtrip to Texas on the replaced tranny on my 2002 LX. Drove fine. Still have the wind noise at some speeds over 70 mph, but it is better. Honda did replace my tranny at their cost. I think you should call Honda and ask for reimbursement. They know their trannies are crap and have been replacing for those who complain. Its funny, but I have a buddy who has a 1999 Suburban with 190K on it. Did not replace his tranny until 110K...amazing. I would not trade for a Suburban...but will not likely buy another Ody. This one has been too much of a hassle.

bomoor

I have a 98' Honda Odyssey with 44,000 miles. Recently I had new battery installed and starter rebuilt. When I got it back from mechanic my srs light is on and stays on. It's never stayed on before. How do I remedy this?
thanks

robandnancy

hey stillniowa,

I have the same thing with the vent in my car. When I set the controls to my feet, very little air goes there. This seem to be "NORMAL" (Dealer said this not me). If you close the vent on your left on the dash, more air will be sent to you feet. It seems that this odyssey has some odd vent routing...

hope it helps

jchan2

Made it to Disney and back in the Odyssey with the SRS light and the Maintenance Required light the whole time. (I had the oil change done at Jiffy Lube so the Maintenance Required light isn't a big thought for me)

No problems. I think I'll make an appointment for next week to get it checked while using my other 2 cars.

aaykay

I think there should be a separate thread for the 2005+ Odysseys, since most of the problems that the earlier generation (pre-2005) was plagued with, no longer applies. Case in point is the transmission issue, which seems to be occupying a lot of real estate on this thread, but is irrelevant to the newer generation (2005+) Odyssey and their owners.

You really have to filter out all the problem posts from Old generation Odyssey owners, to find problems that apply to the new generation (2005+). The common issues in the 2005+ generation, seem to be minor things like wind noise from the windshield, unpleasant sound from brakes during low-speed braking due to hard brake-pads, and the characteristic noise that VCM puts out, when it is activated in vehicles so equipped.

jchan2

True. I think there's a pattern here:

The second generation (99-04) tend to have transmission problems while the third generation (05-present) have more minor things such as noises, VCM issues, etc.

macakava

The maintenance required light is very easy to reset using the instructions in the owner's manual.

For the SRS light, i would try to try to reset it first by disconnecting the battery cables for at least 10 minutes to see if it would disappear permanently. You would have to reset the radio afterwards - per owners manual. This could be one of those random, intermittent occurrence. If the SRS light does return, then it may indicate another problem like a loose connection, etc. Personally i would try this before visiting to dealer - could save you time, aggravation, and $$$.

user777

i think if you google +honda +SRS +light +reset you'll find reference to someone on geocities that has a procedure to reset it using a jumper wire. i do not know where the connector is in the ODY nor if it will work for an ODY.

if you disconnect the battery cables, you'd better have the radio anti-theft code at your disposal.