Comments: 1-15, 16-26
2 Motor Mounts Failed according to dealership. I don't know if they were actually busted. I would like some information from anyone knowledgeable about this topic as my days of being a shade tree mechanic have past by many years ago.
The dealer showed me the center motor mount (located behind the radiator and directly in the mid-line of the vehicle) first. The dealer reved up the engine to show me the failure, and the center motor mount came up about 1/2 way to the top of the shield. Is this broke? The total travel distance was about a 1/2 inch up or so.
The dealer stated the side motor mount was busted also because of a small amount of rusty discoloration located on the fender-well directly below the motor mount. Does Honda use gel or liquid in their motor mounts? The dealer said they do.
Besides this motor mount situation, I have been satisfied with the vehicle. I replaced the center mount to the tune of nearly $300.00 but I though I would get a second opinion on the side motor mount before changing it. Any ideas?
Besides the motor mount issues, this have been a good vehicle.
It's interesting to read your comments. I had a similar conversation with the dealer's service guy this morning about my 2003 Odyssey. I trust this dealership and have had a good experience with them over the years, but they're not selling a lot of cars right now. I wonder if they're trying to make up revenue by upselling repairs. I would like to hear from someone about this type of problem and whether it is truly legit.
I have just been told the same thing.. But to replace at a cost of 900.00 dollars from the dealership. I have a 2003 van with 90,000 miles. I have never had this problem. Maybe this is a flaw with the van.. any recalls?
I just had two motor mounts replaced by the dealer on my 2003 Odyssey. I inspected the used mounts. The rubber in the center of the mounts were torn and I was told they were hydraulic mounts. The engine never seemed to vibrate nor did I sense that there was a problem. I remember when I owned a 57 v8 Chevy; a motor mount broke and the engine literally would raise up when I rev-ed the engine.
I hope that I really did need the repairs.
2003 Honda Odyssey- It's been a great van with just a few issues, but one of the issues is the right front motor mount. It is at the dealership right now and the repair will be $335.00. I also experienced no vibration or noise, but we plan on driving the van until the end so we figure we better keep up with it. My dealer also offers and dealer warranty that covers large components if you promise to have the van serviced exclusively by the dealer and you fix the maintenance items when the pop up. If you skip the small repairs they don' cover the big stuff. They told me motor mounts are a fairly common repair, but even more so on Vans and SUVs because of their size and weight. We also had a power steering switch and wire harness go bad, and that was causing the van to idle funny. The dealer fixed that for free as part of their service warranty program.
I also have a 2003 Honda Odyssey and needed to replace the transmission a few months ago. After fixing the transmission, I started to feel like something was wrong with it again, so I brought the car in and they say I have two broken motor mounts. I also brought it into a service station and they said that usually when you replace a transmission, you should also replace the motor mounts. They also said the it is very possible that the motor mounts broke when changing the transmission. Could this be true and the dealership didn't tell me?
To the writer of 21Nov08 10:25. If you read enough of these comments and reviews you will see some small amount of truth to the mechanic's statement. I can't remember if the comments I read where from an Odyssey, but I do remember it was a minivan mom who was rather upset that the dealer was not taking responsibility for the broken motor mounts after a tranny job. All the best and Merry Christ mas.
I took my 2003 Odyssey in and they also said some of my engine mounts needed to be replaced, too. Does this mean I am driving my van too hard? I only have 52,000 miles on it but I do a lot of driving around town (not as much freeway), so I am surprised that they are broken.
We just had to replace 2 motor mounts on our 2003 Odyssey and it only has 64,000 miles on it, is this normal or is this a bigger problem with the transmission etc? It costs us about $700.
I have a 2000 Odyssey, which I have always taken to the Honda Dealership, but this time I took it to a local shop. I thought my transmission was going out and they said it was the motor mounts, so they replaced two of them about 8 months ago. It feels as if my tranny is going out again, but it's the same feeling so I'm guessing I have another broken motor mount, which I'm taking it in today for. There has to a reason that the motor mounts are breaking. I know that Honda had problems with their tranny's in my year of car. I guess I should feel fortunate that I have 145,000 miles and have not had to replace the tranny. I drove an old Ford Taurus until 175K and was hoping to do the same with this. Does anyone know why the motor mounts keep breaking? Any honda buffs out there?
About the motor mount breaking. I did some searching on the web and turned up that the Odyssey motor mounts have a break away design so that in an accident, the engine goes under the passenger compartment. It helps the safety ratings. There do seem to be a lot of complaints about this issue.
Someone relayed that they heard at a dealership that maybe the Odyssey broken motor mounts came from too much stop and go driving. I really doubt that that is a problem on any model car. I once asked an automotive suspension engineer if habitual aggressive driving would cause miscellaneous mechanical breakage like that. He said if I wasn't doing anything that was severe enough to require realignments, then no way. What he told me instead was that the worst thing that ever happens to a car by far is the rail car trip shipping it from factory to the dealership. Rail shipping sometimes involves severe jolts, for instance when rail cars slam into each other in rail yards. A lot of times the overstressed part takes years to completely fail. Parts are engineered to take these jolts, but there is a practical limit to what it makes sense to design for.
He specifically mentioned cracking of motor mounts and cracked windshields (but as generalities, not specific to the Odyssey.) By the way, a broken windshield would normally just be repaired at the dealership and then the car sold as brand new with no notification to the owner and that is perfectly legal.
I just bought a 2003 Honda Odyssey with 64,000 miles and have to have the front and side Motor Mounts replaced. It will cost about 600.00. I hope this price is about right. I see a few comments about cheaper and some higher.
I was just told our 2004 Ody needs 3 motor mounts for the price of $750. Only 73,000 miles it! Terrible!
I had our 2003 Honda Odyssey motor mounts (front and right) replaced recently when I complained to a local mechanic (not dealership) that I thought I had suspension problems. It came to just over $600. I still feel as though there are problems with the suspension, but cannot afford another $600 right now. The vehicle has 120K miles on it.
My sister recently gifted my folks with her 2004 Honda Odyssey with 65,000 miles on it. I just got the rear brakes fixed at a Honda dealer in Northern Virginia to help out my folks. Of course, the Honda service folks said it wasn't just the pads, but also the rotors, and they weren't sure they could machine the existing ones down and still be in spec on the width, so I was basically talked into getting new rotors (because I love my parents and their safety on the road is a priority).
What was interesting is after all the discussion leading up to this, the mechanic then takes me aside and mentions a broken front engine mount. I really wasn't in a position then to be talked into taking on another major repair (new rear brake pads and rear rotors came to 519 bucks), so I just listened politely, vowing to do some research.
I've never dealt with Honda service before, but with Toyota, they always list what they recommend and what you've declined. In this case, I had this private conversation with a mechanic, but my customer service rep wasn't even going to write the recommendation to get the front engine mount repaired on the service invoice until I said something. (I wanted to document their suggestion for my sister.) The mechanic also suggested I think about changing the timing belt, and that didn't show up on the list of service recommendations.
I'd like to think they were being honest, but I walked away feeling as though they were scrambling in this economy to trump up all levels of repair business. Does anyone ever wonder like I do that maybe some mechanics are breaking the engine mounts for business?
I've only owned Nissans and Toyotas, and while they've surprised me sometimes with issues, never has the problem been an engine mount!