The Honda Odyssey transmission thing

[ganchan]

I'm aware that several 2000-era model years of the Honda Odyssey were especially prone to transmission failure. (Apparently Honda redesigned it in 2007.) Recently I've seen several older Odysseys up for sale with caveats such as "transmission is starting to slip," etc. Others advertise "transmission recently replaced." I would probably feel more confident buying one with a replaced/rebuilt transmission -- but if it's the same model of transmission, how much extra longevity would I really be getting?

 

[Dino]

Really nice vans to drive. Well made. To bad about the trans issue. You could check out some Honda forums or Bob is the oil guy forum. I believe certain additives may help. Not a lot of room in them but they would be pretty stealthy....

 

[akrvbob]

They can be rebuilt to solve all the problems and make them run forever, but it costs extra so they may have done it or not. Chances are if they were just fixing it to dump it they did the minimum.
Bob

 

[SternWake]

My friends have an Odyssey, I think it is an 08.
I recently drove it to pick up him and his family from the airport.  With four extra adults  two kidsand all their luggage, I could not feel the extra weight when I drove it back from the airport too.  I was impressed with how it drove
Seems like one of the bigger Minivans.
While Lubegard Red Bottle is a respected transmission additive, it is not going to restore a failing transmission.  It will extend the life of the fluid, make it a bit more resilient to heat.
The Lucas tranny fix, is a fluid thickener of last resort.
Regular transmission services with the Special honda ATF, and an additional transmission cooler are the best transmission preventative measures.
With Overdrive Dodges, use only ATF+4.  Multivehicle ATF formulations are best avoided in favor of the specific manufacturer specified fluid.
Do not trust any quickie lube joint to use the proper ATF.  Ever, not even if you put a gun to their head.
I've added a magnefine inline filter on the line which goes to my extra transmission cooler. 
I'll probably to a drain and refill soon, with ATF+4,  as I have added a drain plug to my pan.

 

[highdesertranger]

are these a cvt transmission? highdesertranger

 

[ganchan]

are these a cvt transmission?  highdesertranger

Pretty sure they're just ordinary automatics.

Supposedly it's been a known issue since 1999....

 

[highdesertranger]

well after doing some quick internet research I found, they are indeed regular transmission and not cvt's. however Honda has been having transmission issues since 1999. the did finally change trans and put a ridgeline trans in 2007. this did little to fix the problems as it seems the ridgelines also have problems. these are basically badly designed trans, no one, not even Honda has figured out how to fix them. some owners are on their third and fourth trans from Honda, and the independents aren't having any better luck. imo Honda has gotten way to complicated with their whole vehicle design to be reliable. in fact imo most newer vehicles are way over engineered to be reliable for the long haul. highdesertranger

 

[ZoNiE]

They also have some sort of "active" motor mounts which smooth out the engine vibrations and they fail too. They are expensive to replace.

 

[ganchan]

By contrast, the Toyota Sienna seems to be pretty much bullet-proof from everything I've read and heard (except for a preventable tendency toward engine sludge). I see tons of the 1999-2002 Siennas still on the road, always a good sign. So maybe I'll see about getting one of those instead....

 

[One Awesome Inch]

A friend of mine is a mechanic and says that newer vehicles have sparkplugs (might be the wrong term) on both sides of the cylinder. This means that a simple tune up is no longer simple and quite labour intensive... meaning that its going to cost a lot more $ in labour. $1000 for a simple tune up is ridiculous.

 

[LeeRevell]

A friend of mine is a mechanic and says that newer vehicles have sparkplugs (might be the wrong term) on both sides of the cylinder. This means that a simple tune up is no longer simple and quite labour intensive... meaning that its going to cost a lot more $ in labour. $1000 for a simple tune up is ridiculous.

Agreed.  Had my Mom's car (2001 Mercury Sable) with some issues to the garage, trying to get a good 'tune up' on it.  The sparkplugs checked good, cables looked alright, but they did precious darned little in the way of any kind of 'tune up' as we older guys think of it.  $350 later the car still has issues.  Had it in for AC work, replaced some parts and recharged (it had a leak), and had to return twice more to get it right.  They had swapped two hoses, rendering it only partially functional.
I am becoming very leery of 'professional mechanics' these days.
This after spending $1000 to have an overheating condition on my E150 'fixed', several parts replaced, and soon after, the SAME problem.  I am now about to replace the radiator and hoses myself (which they did not do).
You just can't get good work done these days.  Both these shops had rave reviews from friends.......   :-/  

 

[cdiggy]

Agreed.  Had my Mom's car (2001 Mercury Sable) with some issues to the garage, trying to get a good 'tune up' on it.  The sparkplugs checked good, cables looked alright, but they did precious darned little in the way of any kind of 'tune up' as we older guys think of it.  $350 later the car still has issues.  Had it in for AC work, replaced some parts and recharged (it had a leak), and had to return twice more to get it right.  They had swapped two hoses, rendering it only partially functional.
I am becoming very leery of 'professional mechanics' these days.
This after spending $1000 to have an overheating condition on my E150 'fixed', several parts replaced, and soon after, the SAME problem.  I am now about to replace the radiator and hoses myself (which they did not do).
You just can't get good work done these days.  Both these shops had rave reviews from friends.......   :-/  

The problem with most places today is they don't use their brain. They plug the vehicle into the diagnostic computer and the computer tells them what is wrong. A good mechanic is capable of critical and analytical thinking and can reason through the error codes that the computer throws. Any more the mechanic is at the mercy of the shop owner who gives him enough time to read the codes and replace the faulty parts that the computer tells them to. Couple that with all the extra stuff on the vehicle (8 coils instead of just one, etc. ) and the job gets expensive and the problem does not get resolved. The shop makes money by how many cars they can service in a day, no matter how much they charge per hour.

 

[Duck]

It's also a cost vs benefit issue.  Fix everything is great, but how many people will choose the shop saying it can be fixed for 5k$ vs 1000$ on a 4000$ vehicle?  On older vehicles everything is worn, it's just a matter of degrees, the common choice is to fix what's absolutely broken, and leave the things that are only worn in the hopes of keeping it affordable for the customer.  You certainly can get good work done these days, but good work costs real money.