[sontakke]

Please help me. We were on the road and suddenly engine rpm jump to 5000 rpm, smoke started coming out and the engine temperature pegged. We pulled over to the side of the the NJ TPK. When I opened the hood, there was lot of oil on the transmission side of the engine.

This transmission was put by an independent ATRA shop which is still under warranted but I am at least 500 miles to that shop.

After the smoke stopped and after I checked all the fluids, I was able to put it both in reverse and drive. I decided that I was not going to stay on the side of the road. I was brave enough to complete my journey to my brother and sisters house in Northern Virginal. Shifts were erratic but at least there was no slip. P0740 showed up but I reset it and it did not come back until I reached NOVA.

However, after reaching here in Northern Virginia, now it is behaving very bad.
The transmission fluid smells badly burnt and has no red color at all. After the overnight, when I checked the fluid level, it is between the two holes on the dipstick.

Over the years, I have have been a good contributor to this forum. Would somebody take pity on me and provide me the link to the documents on how to replace the transmission fluid? I know there is nice pictorial here but in my frazzled mind, I am not able to find it.

Any support or help that you can provide will be highly appreciated it.

Thanks,
- Vikas

 

[nicomtl]

Found this, hope it helps:

http://www.odyclub.com/forums/14-periodic-maintenance/6717-transmission-fluid-change-procedure.html

Good luck.

Nicolas

 

[dvpatel]

Man!!! What's going on? Two threads on the same day about 2 different gens of the Oddy tranny dying on people's vacation.

 

[nicomtl]

Man!!! What's going on? Two threads on the same day about 2 different gens of the Oddy tranny dying on people's vacation.

Heat + Traveling, I guess... :-/

Nicolas

 

[sontakke]

It was rebuilt just couple of years ago by an independent shop which supposedly is part of Nationwide ATRA network. So technically it is under warranty but I do not know how the other shop in Northern Virginia will handle this. This is 1999 Honda Odyssey and they invariable go bad but a rebuilt warrantied for 3/36 should not be blowing up under 2 year 30K miles unless the rebuilder did not replace all the wearable parts. Those parts would now have 168K miles on it and would fail.

I will have to make phone calls tomorrow to the original rebuilder from Chelmsford MA and a local shop here in NOVA and take it from there.

Any tips would be appriciated.

 

[sontakke]

If warranty does not work out, I will have to consider Gator. Do they have a list or recommended installers?

 

[OdyinNH]

That sux, there's been a couple posts lately of tranny fluid being spewed. Wonder if they are just overheating? Curious if you run Z1 or something else and have a tranny cooler. You'd have to call Gator to see if they have anyone local to recommend: Gator Transmissions | Rebuilt Transmissions | Remanufactured Transmissions | Automatic & Manual Transmissions for Ford, GM, Chrysler, & Imports | Rebuilt and Remanufactured, Heavy Duty, High Performance Automobile Transmissions (888)-808-1066. Good luck!

 

[sontakke]

Well; the so called ATRA warranty is pretty much useless :-(

The Mass shop is refusing to authorize the Virginia shop to start opening the transmission. The Mass shop wants *me* to cover the expense of tearing up the transmission so that he can determine if he is going to cover warranty repairs.

I believe that the Virginia shop has determined that transmission needs to be opened up but I don't know exactly what tests (or if any) they have done.

ATRA people are not helpful either nor do they have any leverage over the originating shop.

Even after opening the transmission and finding "bad things" in it, I have a feeling that the Mass shop is going to claim that it is not his problem.

I have very limited options. I am now seriously considering asking the VA shop to perform following tasks on my own dime before tearing upon the transmission

1) Flush all the old oil
2) Flush the transmission radiator (cooler?)
3) Fill with Honda or at least Z1 compatible fluid
4) Reset computer
5) Take it for an extended drive

I would also like to ask them if they would clean and flush all the solenoids but I am not sure they will agree to it.

Can somebody give me any explanation as to what genuine reasons the MA shop can give for refusal to cover this transmission? I just don't see any chance that he will own up and honor the warranty :-(

- Vikas

 

[kuh]

same thing happened to me coming from Las vegas to denver. transmission was fried and had it towed to a dealer in st, George, Utah. Diagnosed and wanted $3500 for a re manufactured transmission. It was 2001 with 185K miles and about 100K on the second transmission. wasn't worth it for me to have it fixed and worry about how long this transmission would last. wound up buying a 2010 EX-L with nav and rear DVD. pretty much got screwed on the pricing.

 

[dvpatel]

Can somebody give me any explanation as to what genuine reasons the MA shop can give for refusal to cover this transmission? I just don't see any chance that he will own up and honor the warranty :-(

- Vikas

The only reason I can fathom is that they're trying to now weasel out of paying for the warranty Vikas.

Whose rebuild was this?

 

[sontakke]

This was an independent highly recommended shop in Mass, affiliated with ATRA. He gave every indication that his work was warranted and backed by all other ATRA shops in USA when he fixed it two years ago. Even now when I first made the call after this incident, there was no question of not having warranty. He wanted me to take it to a shop to make sure it was indeed transmission problem and not something else.

If I end up having to buy a new van/suv/sedan, exactly when did Honda start making good transmissions? I am seeing even 2005 Odyssey having same issues. Is there a year, after which the Honda no longer have transmission problems or the fact is that newer models just don't have enough mileage to have them yet?

- Vikas

 

[OdyinNH]

If local to home I'd say have them do the 3x drain/fill and see what happens. Maybe worth a try anyways. I've read some posts about trannys puking their oil and sometimes they keep going after it cools. Did you say if you have a tranny cooler? Does the van move now with the old fluid in a cool state or it it all taken apart? If apart and they see bad parts then get pictures and send them to the Mass tranny place. They need to cover it if under warranty unless they want to pay to have it towed back to Mass...

 

[sontakke]

It probably drives few hundred feet on stone cold fluid before going completely crazy. Since the loss of fluid is minimal (per the dipstick reading), I am not really convinced that the problems are due to the fluid only. The VA shop (which seems to be intelligent; I had my brother go there and talk to them and he got good vibes) is 100% sure that internal clutches are fried and the new fluid will be complete waste of time and money. Even supposing the new fluid gets the van moving for few miles, I personally do not have the courage to drive it 500 miles. There are few reports here where the van died in couple hundred miles after the similar symptoms on the replacement Honda fluid.

VA guy is going to send the pictures to Mass shop as soon as he has it apart.

I definitely see couple tubes going from tranny in to the bottom part of the radiator. I presume that must be the cooler. If it is there, I have no idea how it got there. Did 1999 had them from factory? If it was done later, I do not remember paying for it at any Honda service. I had few drain/fill services done in the past and also had one of the solenoid changed after a code, again at a Honda dealer. I know that my fill plug is still intact and there is nothing hooked up to it.

 

[0dyfamily]

Vikas, if yours is a 1999, it should not have anything leading from the fill plug. The 2002-2004 trannies had a 2nd gear cooling jet kit added that uses the fill plug port. You should, best I recall, just have a regular ol' fill plug on the top of the tranny case.

Tubes with hoses leading forward from the top of the tranny case lead to the radiator in-tank ATF cooler. Im speaking about radiator tanks, or end caps, specifically the bottom radiator tank on your Ody.

OF