Hi all,
Looking to buy an odyssey. The MPV's are rust buckets up here, the siennas are ok but wife can't get past the non sto and go read seat.

I've come across a red 03 EXL. 202k kms (126,250 miles). Full service records, clean. Reasonably competitively priced given the local market. They are 2nd owners. Have a trailer hitch on it (no idea about cooler etc). Local mechanic has been doing all the work.

they have never had a problem with the tranny. I've had another friend take an 01 over 300k and no trans problems.

So what are my options? I'm extending myself a little, we'll have 2k in the bank for repairs, a tranny round here is 3 for a rebuilt. Plus some road trips this summer. What are my ods of the transmission giving up? I love the look and feel of the odysseys but I don't wanna drive around in it constantly sick from worry about the tranny. I'd like 5 years driving out of the car...

I had a manual acura (integra GSR) that had 495k on the clock and was still strong.

Any advice would be great, positive stories of transmissions just going forever would also be great!

Thanks
Stuart

 

In short, no. It can't. Or at least it hasn't yet. Honda builds amazing manual transmissions. Automatics, not so much...

The main problem with the 5 speed automatics (like the one in question) is that the tranny fluid doesn't flow evenly or sufficiently enough to cool the gears down. That, plus the lack of a real oil filter to catch the shavings that grind away exacerbates the problem by letting gunk clog up what little cooling passages there are. 3rd gear is typically the one that bites the dust, and I have yet to hear of an aftermarket hardened gear that can withstand it.

With a quality aftermarket transmission cooler (tru-cool 4452 is a popular one), an inline magnetic oil filter (magnefine), and regular fluid changes (approx 5 times more often than recommended in the manual), the failure can be delayed, but over 5 years time it's "highly likely" that you'll have issues at some point. Everything else about these vans is amazing, but there's a reason a used Odyssey is 5 grand cheaper than a Sienna, the cost of a transmission rebuild is built in to the price.

The "possibly" good news about the one you were looking at is the towing package. If it's the factory installed hitch (not a u-haul one) then it comes with a transmission cooler. It's a horribly inadequate tube rather than a radiator, but it's better than nothing. So, if it has that package but was never actually used for towing, then it's a bonus. If it was used for towing, however, that's probably a net loss.

I don't mean to scare you away, there have been plenty of transmissions to go 150k+ with no issues, and the colder climate should help, but keep it in mind. Make sure you go for a long enough test drive to let the transmission warm up, and pay close attention to the 2-3 shift for signs of slipping.

Hope you got this in time, good luck!