In the spring of 2010 we bought an '03 ody at auction.
While we got a great price on a nice looking vehicle we anticipated spending a few bucks on it and replaced tires, windshield, O2 sensors, exhaust leak, and all major tunup items.
We were still a few thousand ahead of purchasing the same vehicle from a dealer and had one issue to deal with... a whine coming from the transmission. I suspected a bad bearing. The tranny fluid was quite dark so I also suspected that the clutches were wearing. The ody had 153,000km (95,000mi).
I started researching ody transmission and discovered our vehicles were problem children in this regard until 2003 when fluid flow and cooling was improved. Since our ody did not have the requisite workaround plumbing required by the recall, I brought it to Honda to book an appointment and find out what recalls it was subject to. Surprisingly, Honda advised that there was no work required. I pointed out the transmission recall and they advised this vehicle was fine and did not require work, but didn't explain further.
Based on all this, I decided to rebuild the transmission in the summer. Total cost was $2,000 including a couple special honda tools needed to do the job. (I already had a 12 ton press $200 and a transmission jack $200, both made the job easier but I could have improvised, in addition to the usual tools of a well equipped home garage.)
The rebuild resulted in a few surprises and was incredibly easy compared to my first transmission rebuild which was an '87 audi 5000 3 speed automatic.
I'll detail this job, with a few photos, for the benefit of anyone else trying to decide whether to rebuild themselves, install a rebuilt or used transmission or have someone else do it for them, with updates to this thread over the next few days.
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While we got a great price on a nice looking vehicle we anticipated spending a few bucks on it and replaced tires, windshield, O2 sensors, exhaust leak, and all major tunup items.
We were still a few thousand ahead of purchasing the same vehicle from a dealer and had one issue to deal with... a whine coming from the transmission. I suspected a bad bearing. The tranny fluid was quite dark so I also suspected that the clutches were wearing. The ody had 153,000km (95,000mi).
I started researching ody transmission and discovered our vehicles were problem children in this regard until 2003 when fluid flow and cooling was improved. Since our ody did not have the requisite workaround plumbing required by the recall, I brought it to Honda to book an appointment and find out what recalls it was subject to. Surprisingly, Honda advised that there was no work required. I pointed out the transmission recall and they advised this vehicle was fine and did not require work, but didn't explain further.
Based on all this, I decided to rebuild the transmission in the summer. Total cost was $2,000 including a couple special honda tools needed to do the job. (I already had a 12 ton press $200 and a transmission jack $200, both made the job easier but I could have improvised, in addition to the usual tools of a well equipped home garage.)
The rebuild resulted in a few surprises and was incredibly easy compared to my first transmission rebuild which was an '87 audi 5000 3 speed automatic.
I'll detail this job, with a few photos, for the benefit of anyone else trying to decide whether to rebuild themselves, install a rebuilt or used transmission or have someone else do it for them, with updates to this thread over the next few days.
