[davew_tx]

I hate to create another post, but we were stranded yesterday in AZ.

160k miles, 2nd tranny installed at 100k.

I love this van, but it is dead.

Oil blew out somehow and overheated. Trail of smoke was huge. Let cool for an hour before it would even move, then limped into small town and added oil and new magna and made it to Tucson. Another 80 miles!

Dealer says tq feel apart. It kind of stutters and quivers at random times. It drives kind of normal at other times. We dont trust it for the drive home.

Any advice if we should pay$4000 to fix it or move on? That cash would go a ways towards a newer one.

Will hope for a trade in deal and get onto the next.

I have had the cooler,magna filter since early in the seconds life.

 

[stangbat]

If it were me after two transmissions and 160k miles, I'd keep the $4k in my pocket and sell the van for what you can get out of it with a bad transmission.

Good luck. Hope I don't ever have to make this decision but I'm not counting on it!

 

[OdyinNH]

I'd have someone else replace it with a better re-manufactured transmission. Maybe a Jasper, Level10 or there's one someone mentioned on this site that does extra work to make the tranny's better than before. Problem is you're not home. If you think a few quarts of oil will get you home I'd go with that. If not then it's a judgement call on dumping it or fixing it where it is. I hate buying a big budget item because you feel pushed into it.

Here's the thread that I was thinking about: http://www.odyclub.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=98427

 

[davew_tx]

We decided on $4000.


I don't want the 2010 model since the new model is due in a couple months. They offered $2000 trade but we figure it's like 8 months of new car payments, then we can see about another .

Will be ready Monday for us. We have a Kia rental, which makes use appreciate a van more. Vacation road trip , no DVD, van load of junk in a Kia,

Gator looks promising, if it can last. It's a little early crow about longevity and ours felt amazing for 60k until it failed. There are probably some with more mileage, but i didn't search.

 

[redmondjp]

So even with an added oil cooler and fluid filter, your replacement transmission only made it to 60K miles . . . I really, really want to believe that adding a cooler and filter will help it to last longer, but so far I'm not convinced based upon what I have been reading here for the past couple of years.

I've got almost 30K on the 3rd tranny in ours (fingers crossed) and I have been thinking about adding the cooler and filter for some time but haven't gotten around to it (heck, just did the timing belt, that's a bit higher up the priority ladder!).

So sorry that yours died right in the middle of vacation, that has absolutely got to be the worst time it could happen.

Make darn sure that they flushed the cooler lines out before you pay them and drive away (even if you have to elbow your way into the shop and stare into the eyes of the mechanic who did the work, if he looks away, you're in trouble).

 

[FarmDog]

So even with an added oil cooler and fluid filter, your replacement transmission only made it to 60K miles . . . I really, really want to believe that adding a cooler and filter will help it to last longer, but so far I'm not convinced based upon what I have been reading here for the past couple of years.

I’ve had a transmission cooler on mine since early on in it’s first year of life because of reading how many failures have occurred and it may have helped it get to the 135k I have now before officially setting off the P0740 transmission code. But, the fluid on mine at 30k miles was awful and mine has a miserable whine since the first year, obviously there was some failure very early on. I read elsewhere (I can’t find it right now) from a transmission builder (might have been Jasper?) that even with Honda’s optional auxiliary cooler the transmission suffers from overheating. So when I picked a cooler I wanted one better than the lame little loop Honda calls a “towing” cooler (WHAT A JOKE). A couple days ago while discussing my transmission troubles with the general manager of my local dealer he tries to find anything he can to push blame off on me for Honda’s badly engineered transmission and tries to make issue my trans cooler is after market, and that since I do my own fluid changes, am I an ASE certified mechanic. All lame BS, I do 3x fluid changes, most dealers do 1x. I follow factory service manual procedures and explained since I changed my own timing belt, water pump, all tensioners and other related components, I think perhaps I could handle fluid changes. These people will scratch and claw for any reason to divert attention away from the real issue we were sold a bad product they are trying to stick us with and not fix. Not what I would expect for my vehicle that had a $28,800 MSRP. They have stone walled people for 7 years now, I figure each year that goes by they get closer to paying nothing so if anything happens it has the be NOW, they are too close to the time period where even if they did recall there would be few eligible unless they get forced to reimburse those who have already paid for repairs.

BTW…I’ve worked every system and component on bulldozers, tractors, dump trucks, motorhomes, all my own cars, my drag race cars, road racing Karts, worked on stock car’s at Daytona, I’ve raced at Daytona and every other major track like Charlotte, Watkins Glenn, Road America and every other notable road course, built my own racing engines, worked at a racing engine machine shop in the winters and did auto repair for friends many years when down time due to bad weather from my regular job permitted which included transmission and engine swaps. I don’t think there even was an ASE that many years ago. I did all the fluid changes on my friends ARCA car at Daytona, I was entrusted to change the oil on the $30,000 engine as well as transmission and differential fluid between qualifying and the race. I don’t remember seeing any ASE patches in the Daytona garages the years I was there.

 

[jay25]

Alot of folks are not aware that even dealers will give you a half ass rebuild transmission. Not all clutches are replaced. Or if the van runs the torque converter is not replaced either. In my opinion if you thoroughly clean the complete transmission do a correct rebuild with all new clutches, steels, seals, a torque converter and a cooler those trannies should last more then 60K. Im on my 2nd rebuild transmission and the TQ was not replaced. It is still the old TQ in there. Ive only encountered one van that had a brand new torque converter. Clutches are also mismatched, a true sign that only the ones that went bad were replaced!!!!!

I dont know what is the purpose paying some of these assholes $1800-$4000 and the rebuild box costs not even a fraction of that cost. Ensure you ask the rebuilder you expect every clutch to be replaced and a brand new torque converter. Also to thoroughly clean your lines so you dont have any dirty crap in your lines. You are aware of that replace only damaged clutches. Tell them for $4K your trans must have everything new. And ensure the all the valves on valve body checked.

 

[Paul Ramdial]

Im on my 4th tranny!

2000lx .172k miles..So far I have a year and 16k miles to go before the warranty runs out. 3yrs/36k.. 400,000 tranny units were built in Brazil for the Odyssey..so I was told by a tech friend. All ill designed. The only oustanding issue that I have .is a clunk when going over spped bumps..otherwise she runs fine. However I think the end of the road is near for me as I am planning to acquire another vehicle. Were it not for the tranny I would keep it a few more years. Just after the 4th one was installed , Ran me $1100 for labor..at the dealer...I installed a tranny cooler and a magnafine filter. I doubt I will see the benefits of doing so..

 

[davew_tx]

We were stuck out on the road and kind of forced into a decision.

The van has been paid off for many years now.

It's like buying my nice clean (new tires, brakes, tranny) van for $4k in our opinion.

We got home late last night and it ran fine. We got back on the road in 4 days, which I think is great. (Chapman Tucson was on top of the repair and service)

I do my own maintenance also, like the timing belt and motor mounts.

I had an ill realization: Honda has the same quality record as Chrysler for trannies. I hope Honda is reading this, because they should be ashamed and fall on their own sword. I know your culture has extreme pride, so do what you must.

You have to realize that Honda has the inhouse talent to solve the design and parts quality issue and manufacture durable replacements. They don't want to and we've been forgotten.

Brand loyalty stretches out to 10+ years ownership. We just bought 3yr/36k to look around.

 

[FarmDog]

I had an ill realization: Honda has the same quality record as Chrysler for trannies. I hope Honda is reading this, because they should be ashamed and fall on their own sword. I know your culture has extreme pride, so do what you must.

You have to realize that Honda has the inhouse talent to solve the design and parts quality issue and manufacture durable replacements. They don't want to and we've been forgotten.

That’s the main reason I bought the Honda, I THOUGHT they were more reliable than the competing Chryslers and Fords. At that time in 2003 I could have bought a comparable Chrysler Town & Country for about $10,000 less but did not because I was hearing a bad reputation for transmissions, little did I/we know Honda had not fixed their problem from the previous generation and there are more reports of Honda failures than Chrysler. I got screwed the same way on my previous mini-van, a Ford Windstar. The earlier version up to 1995 had been recalled for a bad head gasket design and failure and Ford replaced them. Ford claimed they had fixed the problem in 1996 the year I bought. Wrong, all they did was take the head bolt torque from 15ft-lbs to 30 (memory here but close enough). Of course those of us with 1996 Windstars suffered the same fate on the “fixed” head gasket design flaw but we never saw a recall or fix. I feel Honda has done the same thing, they extended warranty on the 99-01 Odyssey transmission but those of us with premature failures on our 02-03 have been given the shaft by Honda.

There is an Aamco transmission shop a block away from the local Honda dealer, last time I drove by two Odysseys were sitting waiting to be fixed. Next time I will take a picture of it. I stopped in and talked to the service guy there, it was obvious to me he knew the Honda Odyssey very well, he knew the years models and numbers and all other details, obviously sees many of them. It’s a shame Honda engine engineers have to suffer the fate of the lower performing portions of the brand, but now they are forcing cylinder management on even the Odyssey, I would want nothing to do with that. They took the Accord in ’08 and turned a perfect sized car with great seating position and comfortable seats when in leather (cloth worst ever!) and ruined it with over size ugly, seat too high in relation to wheel, and leather seats that are now as uncomfortable as the cloth, and then added the ridiculous cylinder management and drive by wire that is so vague you wonder if the car will start moving when you push the gas pedal.