Bad transmission on Odyssey - just missed warranty

[avendesora]

We have an Odyssey with 65k mi, 8.75 years old. Honda knew that the transmissions were bad, so they extended the warranty to 109k mi, 7.75 years. We've missed the warranty by a year.

But we only have driven 65k miles! We shouldn't have to buy a new transmission yet! What about 'honda reliability'?

DH is calling the Honda dealership in the morning. What's the best way to approach this when talking to them? Any ideas for encouraging them to help us out?

How much would a new transmission cost? Argh....

Aven

[AndrewsMother]

We spent over $4000 at a honda dealership to have the transmission replaced in an Accord.

Good luck with your negotiations.

[Angelstill]

The exact same thing happened last week to my Aunt and Uncle with their Odyssey. Their son in law is a mechanic and managed to get honda to pay 50% of it. Not sure exactley how though.

So it is definitely worth the fight.

[avendesora]

So depressing...... I'm now reading reports of people having to replace and re-replace their transmissions, because Honda just keeps giving them more bad transmissions.

I hate thinking that my car that should be worth a good amount of money still is really just totaled, because of the cost of repeat transmissions. And the resale value of Odysseys have plummeted because this issue has now been well documented. What a WASTE. We've been doing everything right - even replacing the transmission fluid every year because my DH is overly proactive about these things. Wouldn't that suck if that's why we just made it outside of the warranty window.

I'm thinking maybe I should be looking at buying a new car. Maybe they can fix the transmission for cheap for themselves, and give me not-too-bad trade in value? I wonder if I should consider that when I'm negotiating with them.

Sigh.

Aven

[momofmine]

Oooh, this is good to find out now. I was thinking about buying an Odyssey! How does one find out these things ahead of time?? Do you know if this applies to current new ones? Or was this an older issue?

[PajamaMama]

That stinks. We had an '03 Odyssey until a couple of weeks ago and didn't find out until we were shopping for a new car that we escaped well-documented transmission problems. I hope you can get Honda to pay for at least part of the transmission replacement.

[FondestBianca]

I'm gonna have dh jump in and type out an answer for this one for you. He can explain it much better than I'd be able to 2nd hand.

"hello. my experience comes from being a honda service manager. first, the dealer might ask you to contact the regional service office. that's probably not going to do a whole lot and just take a while to get your answer from them. the best way to go is to have them contact the DPSM (District Parts & Service Manager) and have them plead the case. they will take into account your explanation and service history with the dealer (hopefully you have some). i would suggest going to the dealer rather than calling them. i know accords have had the same issues, and our dpsm stepped up and covered a transmission that was outside the factory warranty as well as outside the extended warranty both by mileage and time. so you have a shot, but it might be a long one."

[amyamanda]

What a bummer! I had no idea the Odysseys had transmission problems. We had a 2001 Odyssey and sold it in 2006 to a friend. They have had transmission issues, but they are hard on the car and I assumed that was the reason. I didn't know it was a common thing. I don't see any formal recalls for the 2001 model, though. It sounds like some people have gotten help from Honda and others not.

We just bought a CRV and I am really hoping it will last and last. It's such a bummer about the Odyssey - we also really loved ours.

[leavemealone]

Certain model years had transmission problems that were supposed to be fixed by something they replaced under a recall. Was your part ever replaced under the recall? We had an 04 that was part of the recall. We had it on lease and didn't renew or buy it so I don't know how that van turned out. We now have an 05 and haven't had any trouble with the transmission.

If you do need a new transmission, try going somewhere other than a dealership. A reputable independent mechanic can probably fix it for less than the Honda dealership will cost.

[Logan's Mom]

[I]"hello. my experience comes from being a honda service manager. first, the dealer might ask you to contact the regional service office. that's probably not going to do a whole lot and just take a while to get your answer from them. the best way to go is to have them contact the DPSM (District Parts & Service Manager) and have them plead the case. they will take into account your explanation and service history with the dealer (hopefully you have some). i would suggest going to the dealer rather than calling them. i know accords have had the same issues, and our dpsm stepped up and covered a transmission that was outside the factory warranty as well as outside the extended warranty both by mileage and time. so you have a shot, but it might be a long one."

: accept I would talk to the service manager first and if he denies, insist on talking to the manufacturer's rep.

[crunchy_mama]

Sorry to hear this! WE have an Odyssey ourselves we bought an '01 2 yrs ago- replaced the transmission last year. We took it in and it was replaced for free under the "recall" we haven't had any problem since, hopefully won't. I would definitely be calling whoever you could about this considering the recall and such.

[avendesora]

I think the '03-'04s had recalls. Mine is a 2001. No recall, just an extended warranty. It's much cheaper for a corporation to do an extended warranty than a recall, I'm sure. The '00 and '01 had the warranty.

I think that it was just these earlier-year Ody's that had the transmission problems. I think that the next generation ones had these kinks worked out. But still I'd check out consumer reports before buying anything.

I'm in such a funk. DH and I are bickering at each other left and right.

[phatchristy]

Wow, I had no clue about this....we have BOTH an Odyssey AND Accord. OOP ACK!

Which model years are affected?

[phatchristy]

I checked out edmunds.com. Here is some of the information in this thread:

Maybe if you ask some of the people there?

It's pretty disconcerting here, we bought our Hondas because of their reputation for reliability!

Our Odyssey apparently is still 'too new' to really know what is wrong with it. Depending on what I read we may be OK with our Accord because it may be the year prior to the recall AND it has only the 4 cylinder engine.

[montlake]

That sucks. Sorry about your car problems. If it's not covered by warranty, don't get it repaired at the dealership. It's way too expensive. You can find good Honda experienced mechanics pretty easily.

[phatchristy]

Ahh! I forgot to include the thread:

http://townhall-talk.edmunds.com/direct/view/.f0fa11e/0

Reading the thread is really depressing! Maybe some of these people have ideas on how to get it covered!