Hello,

I just had my second transmission replacement at 95k. The second one only lasted 37k. I am steamed because they can't guarantee it won't have the problem again and they refuse to extend the warranty past the 100k extension. They said if I have trouble they will review my case....

Has anyone found any email addresses for Honda CEO, execs, or board members?
How about regular mail addresses?
Has anyone had any luck by griping relentlessly to Honda?

If I end up having to pay to replace this myself it will cost $4000, I just confirmed it with my local dealer.

Thanks,
Walter

 

You put on some ridiculously high number of miles in 3 years, man. But all repairs have a 12 month/12,000 mile warranty from the dealer. Read the back of your receipt.

Now, do you have an I4 or V6? Regardless, install a tranny cooler such as a B&M Super Cooler #70264 with an in-line filter (like the B&M remote filter kit or Magnefine (sp?) magnetic filter). That'll help you keep the tranny lasting for a long time.

And call Honda's customer service rep. with the phone # in your owner's manual. Also, call NHTSA (http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov) and complain about your transmission. If you had an injury or almost got into an accident with your transmission failing, NHTSA can open an inquiry and possibly even ask Honda for a voluntary recall or mandate a recall.

 

We have a 99 Odyssey with the warranty extension as well. Fortunately, the van has 92k on it and nothing has gone wrong with it yet... Maybe that is a bad thing though. I think I'd rather have it fail under warranty. Anyway, I'm getting ready to order the auxilliary ATF cooler from the dealer as extra protection. An ATF cooler is always a good idea. The one built into the radiator doesn't always cut it.

 

There has been a whole discussion on transmission failures for late-model honda-acuras. The 5spd auto-trannies from some 1999's to late 2000 have known mechanical problems (mis-engineering) leading to absurdly high failure rates in 3.2TL's, MDX's, some Odessey's and other cars (mostly V6's). You can check your specific car if you run a search on Google. Unfortunately an auto-tranny cooler will not prevent this...this is NOT standard transmission wear.

I do not know if the remanufacted auto-tranny's have corrected the problem. My guess is not since many-many 2000 3.2TL's, MDX's, etc. have still been going thru 3-4 trannies (might be a fundamental problem). Trade it in as soon as possible b/k it will most likely fail again.

 

If you read Honda's letter on the transmission warranty extension, they claim tranny failure in approximately 1.9% of the vehicles listed in the warranty extension. And this issue is getting a lot of buzz because of Honda's reputed reliability. I'm "guesstimating" that the 1.9% failure rate is actually probably around 5 to 10% but it's still more likely than not that your auto tranny will fail.

And the tranny coolers do help the life of your tranny if the tranny don't have a manufacturer defect. But let's say that if a defect was going to take a tranny A out of commission in say B number of miles, then adding a tranny cooler may extend the life somewhat but it's likely that tranny A will fail anyway. However, if the tranny is not plagued with the bad part and engineering, then your tranny may last as long as the next good one. It's really hard to tell with the J-series engine-related auto trannies. The F-series and the H-series auto trannies have known to fail as well but they're less likely than the J-series used in AV6, TL, CL, Odyssey, and Pilot models.

And those people with 3 to 4 tranny replacements probably got the same design remanufactured trannies until Honda realized what caused the tranny failure and redesigned them for the warranty exchange program. So if you get a new tranny now, it's probably a redesigned unit (and TL owners have confirmed that their shifts are different with the new redesigned trannies than their original stock ones to begin with) and should last you a while before giving out again.

 

What model Accord are having trouble with? I have a 99 4 cyl Accord with a 4 speed automatic.

 

the tranny problems were only in the 6th gen. I have a friend that works for honda and he say that the percent is a lot higher that 1.9. I had a 2001 coupe V6 and only had 15,000 miles on it when my trans started to slip. He told me to get rid of it because they are fixing them with the same parts that are breaking. Meaning Honda hasn't changed anything to make them better. They sent out a letter on the transmission I will see if I can find it and I will post it so it might help you out.

 

Could you ask your friend how he knows that the new tranny replacements are not redesigned? If they're not redesigned, I have less faith in Honda now. I heard from a second-hand source (Honda mechanic) that the 3rd gear clutch packs were prematurely failing and that this was one of the biggest reasons the trannies were failing. Now, if they isolated the problem to that faulty part, why won't they just replace it?

Can you ask your friend for more details, please? I mean, to have to go through 3 to 4 transmissions in a single car is unheard of for a Honda. Last time I heard that was in the Dodge Caravan minivan lines.

 

it is rare for the clutch packs to go bad on them it is usually a valve body issue and honda is making a different valve body now for this tranny so they should be installing a updated trans this time around..... but good luck


the most common problems were a slamming between gears..... sometimes only when car is cold

BTW the 99 oddysey is not included in the warrenty extention only the 2000

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">BTW the 99 oddysey is not included in the warrenty extention only the 2000</TD></TR></TABLE>

That's odd, the service manager at the dealer here in Jacksonville told me it was...

Oh well, It'll be over 100k by the end of the year anyway...

 

Thanks for all the good input.

I do put on a lot of miles, I drive a little over 120 miles round trip 5 days a week.

I never described the symptoms I had with the tranny. I was like a loud moaning (like bad bearings) during acceleration and deceleration mostly but the sound was always there while moving.

I will be writing to Honda Customer Service just to get it on the record. I am also looking for any email addresses I can find of Honda higher-ups. I had good luck when I emailed Jac Nasser from Ford when I had problems with my Ford Windstar minivan. They gave me a free ext. warranty.

I'll also investigate the tranny cooler.

Thanks,
Walter