2000 Honda Odyssey EX from North America - Comments

Now on its third transmission.

The Odyssey, like all large vans, is having transmission problems. Transmission, suspension and brakes were under-designed.Problems may have been solved in new models (2004+).

We blew through our first tranny at 77,000 km (47k miles), and our second now at 92,000(57k miles). Fool me once, shame on you - fool me twice, shame on me!

Honda has been on a remanufactured-parts program for more than 10 years. Our service manager advises that about 6 months ago Honda announced major improvements to the remanufacturing process: better designed parts, more stringent pass/fail criteria, etc. Problems with replacement transmissions have been common, but they are confident (fwiw!) they have solved the problems.

New models have a completely redesigned 5-speed auto tranny.

Persons who've had chronic transmission failure should call or write their Honda national customer service department, so a file can be opened on your vehicle, in case there's an issue with out-of-warranty failures.

Brakes have also been a big problem on this vehicle. The rears were drums, not big enough to handle the weight of a full passenger load in hilly terrain, and our drums (like many others) overheated continually and eventually warped. They were remachined under warranty. New models have rear discs.

Odyssey transmission failures- Honda has not improved the new 5 speed trans. Ours failed at less than 38000 miles, the 5 speed just has one more gear that can fail. These trans are under engineered and should also be included in the extended warranty (7 years 100,000 miles) like the 1999 through 2001. Actually Honda should make it a lifetime warranty to the original purchaser of Odyssey's who beleived the Honda reps story of the tranny problems are resolved. Not so!

I'm concerned with the replacement transmission, as according to the Honda service rep. It is not necessary to flush A/T lines and cooler, as they probably did not suffer contamination during failure. Yea Right. The tranny came apart, but didn't leave any debri in the fluid or components. No wonder replacement remanufactered transmissions (remanufactered another word for someone else troublesome transmission) seem to fail with less miles than the original. Way to go Honda.

When ours gets out of the Honda dealers shop it will get a flush, an inline filter added and an external cooler added.

Then we will do the service on a 15000 mile frequency to try to extend the life of this troublesome item. Shame on Honda for selling this van with its transmission problems.