[Jethro70]

Been looking for about a year and a half, but finally pulled the trigger last Saturday. Got a very clean '07 EX-L w/ NAV & RES... but it's in the shop already getting the passenger side power slider repaired (dealer is sharing at least some of the cost).

I'm hoping it will be at least as reliable as my VW Passat has been...

 

[whoa]

How long was the warranty? Did you buy it privately? Welcome to the club.

 

[Jethro70]

Bought it from a dealer that included a 30 day / 1500 mile warranty. The door was mentioned to salesman during test drive, but he brushed it off as us not knowing how to work the doors.

I debated whether or not to buy the extended warranty (which they will still let me purchase), but I'm not sure if I want to spend $2300 for an additional 36K miles of coverage. Guess it may depend on total cost of door repair, as well as what kind of fine print the warranty has (can't do Honda Care because of mileage).

 

[whoa]

Bought it from a dealer that included a 30 day / 1500 mile warranty. The door was mentioned to salesman during test drive, but he brushed it off as us not knowing how to work the doors...

Why do they do that? They always prey on our good nature. Over time, my partner and I learned to become firm but fair and we try not to let our aversion to not cause conflict affect our business dealings. Take it as lesson learned.

 

[Jethro70]

Well, after 3 days of working on my Ody, the dealer finally gave it back... and the problem hasn't changed one bit. The good news is that they didn't charge me for whatever work they did.

I'm so frustrated with them that I don't even want to deal with them anymore. The door works most of the time, so we will just put up with it until it just won't work anymore. In the mean time we will save up a fund for future repairs... and I'll take it to a different Honda dealer to get the door fixed!

 

[Jethro70]

Wow, what a difference in Honda service departments...

I bought the Odyssey from O'Brien Honda in Salem, OR; and they are the ones who could not figure out the problem after 3 whole days with my minivan. They replaced a lower latch and claim to have tried the door 30 times without a problem... but when I picked it up, it failed to open on the first try.

Yesterday I called Wilsonville Honda (45 minutes north and a lot closer to me) and scheduled a time to drop off at noon the same day. A tech came out to see what was going on, and immediately said he needed to take the door panel off and watch what was going on inside the door - something the O'Brien service dept. never even thought to check. Within a half hour I had a call saying that the "crank assembly release motor" was freewheeling and would catch with a violent motion. The motor needed to be replaced.

Just before noon today, I received a call from Wilsonville Honda that my Odyssey was done, and the door was working perfectly. We picked it up this afternoon (washed and vacuumed) and the door does indeed work perfectly -- what a relief! I guess I know where I will get my service done from now on!