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Honda Odyssey Transmission Problems
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Comments
Can you also tell me if you opted for the extended warranty. Yes/No do you recommend it, why/why not. You know the whole spiel if you don't mind.
I have an 03 Ody for one month, and I am still going back and forth on the ext. warranty. I also want to be prepared for any problems that may arise.
Thanks in advance.
Now humor me... what about other Honda cars is this an issue for them as well? Thanks again and hopefully you are good to go now.
Thanks for your concern.
I've never done this before , so I could use all the help I can get. Repair? Rebuild? Complain? Bug Honda? Go to AAMCO?
Thanks all for listening... cjm
Good luck.
mac
Needless to say, I am done with this vehicle.
Man, that is sad. Guess I should be thinking about extending the warranty on mine....
Grandtotal, I'm not really mad at Honda per se. But I didn't have to fight with them at all as it is still under warranty. They told me it needed to be replaced at they even had one in stock so I'll have it back the same day. Had this been November though, I think I would have been up the creek.
The problem I have with keeping the van is that I don't really have much confidence in a rebuilt tranny. Many here have had their replacements fail as well. I'm looking at the new Nissan Quest but if I don't like that buying a new Odyssey isn't out of the question I guess (with an extended warranty). It's been a great van up until now.
Or the ever popular Yugo
Now, the Yugo, that would come before the P.T.
I never understood why Honda didn't extend coverage for the '99 trannies; there have been quite a few reports of them failing too.
Steve, Host
I'm in the market for a minivan. The Odyssey and Sienna are the two vans I am looking at. I didn't realize that the Odyssey had transmission problems (like the Dodge's/Chrysler's).
What has been people's experience w/the Sienna's? Any known transmission problems with those? I'm considering the 2004 model.
Thanks for your help.
Aw Dang
Transmissions in 02 and '03's may be too new to have established a sufficient statistical track record to definitively state that there's some sort of common failure mode. Many times if they see a developing failure trend, there may be "secret warranties" or corporate goodwill where Honda will cover an out of warranty repair for the customer who makes a stink. (Maybe Auburn can enlighten us on them.) I tend to think that folks posting here about failures in their new 5 speeds are probably just unlucky and are experiencing infant mortality - there's always a bad apple or two in the basket.
Get the Ody with the extended warranty - there's too many other more important things to worry about than a potential transmission failure.
If anything, you know with Ody and Sienna you are getting a good reliable minivan, with a company that promotes quality and customer service.
I've made mistakes like that as a do-it-yourselfer, but it's a bit more aggravating when you're paying someone else $65/hour to do it right.
Where else can you get free psychological advice like this?
Steve, Host
2. Put a hex on Fezo's Odyssey. A hex is not required on Crkeehn's P.T. Cruiser as it will self-destruct on its own accord.
What my mechanic actually did I don't know. But why would they remove the steering wheel to fix a tranny? More likely something got knocked out of whack putting it up on the lift and wrestling the tranny in and out. My guess anyway, but I'm no wrench turner.
Steve, Host
Buy an Odyssey, get to know your local car rental agent.
Anyways, it looks like Zueslewis inherited my car's problems. I should thank him sometime.
Seems to me it would be more expensive and time consuming to replace a transmission than to repair the part that is broken. Guess that's one way to operate, of course that leads to higher prices for the Honda products.
Of course using a transmission designed for a car might be part of the problem as well. You are dealing with more weight and strain while driving.
The defective unit is then shipped to a rebuilder who will perform the actual repair/rebuilding.
Another factor to consider is that the downtime would be much greater with the repair facility rebuilding rather than replacing which would lead to cranky customers.
Over the course of my ODY replacement tranny, which required three total transmissions until one of them was acceptable to install and after waiting 21 days for all this to happen, I got a little cranky.
Over those 21 days, I made remarks to Honda like "I traded in a Dodge Grand Caravan on this Odyssey. The Dodge had 72 K miles on it when I traded it in. I traded it because the tranny was going. Now this reliable Honda Odyssey drops the tranny at 68K miles. This Honda POS went 4 K miles less than the Dodge "
"Just fix up this Honda tranny good enough to get me two blocks down the street to the Toyota dealer."
"I bought this van, thinking it was reliable. It just plain sux."
Other remarks would be deleted for profanity.
Of course it might cost the service department more, but isn't your time more valuable to you than their time.
My concern was, I was now uncertain of the reliability of the ODY. I frequently took it on trips of more than a few hundred miles from home. I could imagine having this adventure 250 miles from home. I had a 99 that was not part of the Honda 100K mile extended transmission warranty. Honda may consider repairing it one time as part of customer good will, but perhaps not twice. So I traded it in a week after the tranny repair.
I bought the ODY for its supposed reliability. I was incredibly disappointed.
Autofair Honda in Manchester NH. The problem only seems to act up while the van is cold. After about 10 mins it seems to go away. When I come to a stop a few seconds later I here a clunck and the van lurches forward. As I drive in the lower gears the engine will rev as
it is trying to switch to the next gear. I'll let up on the gas a little and it
will then catch into the gear.
From the descriptions here I am guessing I have a bad transmission.
I am hoping that Autofair Honda will step up to the plate and offer assistance thru Honda. My van is 4 yrs old and has 58k on it. I bought a Honda precisely for reliability. I only looked at Toyota and Honda because of their track records. I hope that I do not have to fight to
get this taken care of. A $5000 bill is unacceptable for the reputation that Honda has for a 4 yr old van. I hope I post back praising Autofair Honda for taking care of me. I'll be back...
After reading several posts on this board + speaking to people i know, was encouraged that Honda would pick up the full tab even on the 99's (even at high mileage).
they played a game with me, first offering to "participate" then to pay half and finally to pay for all parts - but not labor. My dealer quoted me $750 for labor & I tried appealing (again) to HQ. The Regional Mgr. for my state (NJ) said it was their final offer, take it or leave it. i explained that i bought the car precilsely for Honda's reputation of reliability, after my horrible experiences with Taurus (transmission!)that i was still paying out my 5 year loan, etc..etc... No dice.
Any feeling about how far I might be able to push this?
transmission. As a matter of fact it is the very minute being replaced
(I hope anyway). AutoFair Honda of Manchester NH was pretty decent about the whole thing. The contacted me and said it would cost $5200 to replace and that they went ahead and contacted Honda and Honda offered to pay for parts of $4500. Leaving me to pay labor of $700. I was relieved but still upset at looking at a $700
bill on a 4 year old mini van from Honda. I wrote a letter to Honda and
they called me to say they would not cover the labor. I have to honestly say I wont buy another Odyssey. Its too major a problem for me to stomach. I also wont even get into the trouble I've had with those stupid electric doors. My dealer was decent and so was Honda but I think they should go the extra little bit. In the long run I think it is going to hurt them.