Spade

So last month we traded in the Prius for an 03 Accord EX V6 with 95k on it. We got a service contract to cover anything...thank god. So yesterday, the wife heads out to the local kids playground, and waits for a friend to come by with DVDs leaving the car in park with the engine running. As she goes to leave, the car revs up in reverse instead of driving easily. When she selects drive the car won't go unless she dropped it down to D3 then it went for about a 1/4 mile until she lost all drive. So she parks it and 30 minutes later I get there and so does the tow truck driver, we get the car to the Honda dealership and when they take the car off the truck. the damn thing drives. Honda says they cannot recreat the issue and want me to come pick up the car. Because they checked for leaks and the fluids look good.

Any ideas on what's wrong? I'm telling this dealership that I won't pick up the car till they find out the problem, for obvious safety reasons. If they give me any slack I'll be contacting Honda corporate.

MSchu

I am not a great automagic head...

but is there a chance that there is a ECU/logic safety associated with that function... dropping the car into drive with the revs high?

If so, would it now be okay after cycling?

Spade

Sorry she went into D3 to get the car rolling, it wouldn't roll from standard D it would just rev up. So she took her foot off the throttle and put it in D3 then tried to drive.

EDIT: I also started feeling some "slack" in the drive. I would back out of the garage and then stop, put it in drive and it wouldn't shift into gear till I throttled it a tad. (1200rpm or so)

Spade

Well, after 3 different drivers and 40 miles, the Honda service department couldn't recreate the problem. So, we had to pick up the car. Needless to say, I'm going to be a bit more aggressive while I drive it so this problem doesn't rear its ugly head while my wife is out on the streets with my infant child in the back. WTH could cause this thing to fail and then work fine again!?!

Spade

So the problem showed up again. Of course the wife was driving it with the kid again! She called me and said it started up again as she got into Portland (12 miles of hills). On her way home she calls me and tells me the car isn't even shifting! "It's making this whirring noise, and the tach goes up to 6000 rpms." I kindly ask how fast she's going when the car is at 5500rpm and she says 55mph, I suggest she doesn't go faster than that, and we call Honda and go straight there. Honda tests drives as soon as we get there and sure enough, there is no shifting, the car won't go into reverse, D1, or D2. It's stuck in 3rd gear, which was nice cause that allowed my wife to get to the dealership. They don't rebuild tranny's apparently, they just replace the entire assembly, torque converter included.

Super happy I got the service warranty on the used car! (Wife talked me into it. I was saying "It's a Honda, nothing's going to fail")

The parts are supposed to arrive today and we should have the car back no later than Thursday.

Service Warranty cost: $1,400
Deductable: $100

Cost of a brand new factory tranny assembly: $3,000 + labor

bracer

Did you find out if the tranny had been repaired previously under warranty? There is a design flaw in the tranny and a lot of tranny's failed within 60k; mine failed at 54k. I have an '03 Coupe v6 navi ex.

MSchu

Did Honda Specify what was the precise problem Spade, or are they changing out the whole tranny in good faith?

Spade

I had two different dealerships verify that it was checked and signed off on, but yes it still looks like a 2nd gear failure.

They didn't specify any problems specifically other than the tranny won't shift. It's not "good faith", they don't rebuild trannys at Honda dealerships, if there's an issue, they just flat out replace the entire assembly.

Ross 2.0

The fluid pumps are the problem this time.

Spade

Thanks! I was curious about that possibility.