Anyone considering buying a Honda Odyssey from about 1999 to 2003 should expect to have to do a transmission change around 125,000 miles. They ALL fail about that time because the factory used an Acura transmission with no external oil cooler so they just burn up. Especially in hotter climates. If you buy one that has already had a transmission change make sure that it included an external oil cooler or it won't go very far. Honda has long been aware of this problem but really could care less since they are failing after 100,000 miles.THEY WILL NOT HELP YOU.

Favorite quote found on the web: "If you own a Honda released between 1999-2004 and haven't had any issues with your automatic transmission, may I suggest you run to your nearest convenience store and play the lottery--'Cause you're one lucky son-of-a-gun."

I have a 2002 Odyssey which was part of the original lawsuit which extended the warranty to 93 months or 109,000 miles. Honda had never notified me of the problem until after the transmission failed. At that point, I was beyond the 93 month limit, but still under the 109,000 mile. After much discussion, Honda did the right thing and replaced my transmission. My concern is that they replaced a junk transmission with another junk transmission.

I've gotten just over 50,000 miles on the "new" transmission before it failed. The vehicle had been serviced at my Honda dealership. I cannot imagine that Honda has under-engineered their transmissions so badly. Does anyone else have issues with the replacement, and is there any recourse?

I am looking at a CRV to fill the void in our family's vehicle shortage, and my wife is saying, "No way" to another Honda. Honda has lost her trust.

With the myriads of complaints placed against Honda for the horrible transmissions they put into the Odyssey minivans for years, there should be monetary compensation to Honda owners. Year after year after year, more complaints were made, with the same old failures. So those of us stuck replacing a transmission at our cost, are now facing a 2nd or 3rd transmission change as replacements are just as sucky as the original. Honda blew it and lost me as a customer and over my lifetime I purchased many different Honda and Acura vehicles.

Funny thing is, the guy selling it, and our local mechanic said these things run forever. OK, dumb, I took their word on it and my mistake! After doing much research, the 1999-2004 Odessey's all look like they have a common transmission failure issue. My understanding is that the trans was not strong enough for the vehicle. Regardless, unless it has a newer Jasper Rebuilt trans I would avoid these vehicles. You can buy a salvage yard trans for $500-$1000, and the cost to replace and install is about $750-$850 from what a couple of the local shops have said. So, it can be fixed, but unless it's a good rebuilt with a warranty, you could be looking at re-replacing the trans again at some point. Sorry, Honda this was under-engineered apparently.

March 2014, I purchased a 2000 Honda Odyssey from the first owner. The body looked good and I even changed the engine and tranny oil a few days after. Now with 162,000 the check engine light came on after i had the catalytic converter changed. Next the tcs light came on and the check engine flashes while driving at times. I noticed the minivan was accelerating at a slower rate. Now, the damn transmission went out on me. I called Honda and they are going to cover the tranny even if I pay for the labor at the dealership. I researched the issue to see there ALOT of complaints. Honda put on bad trannys in the models from 1999-2006. The company started using different trannys in 2007. Now, i'm beyond PISSED because I didn't have the minivan for a full year and now i'm screwed with no vaseline. Unbelievable. Honda was my favorite foreign model, but no more. Thanks Honda.

Last week the transmission went out on my 2000 honda odyssey. There was no way with other issues on the car, like broken window mechanism, door won't open, AC needed freon or?, and the three broken engine mounts that we considered fixing this when the car was getting old and had lots of miles. So we opted to buy another Honda Pilot. My wife has an 2003 Pilot. So we bought a 2012 Pilot that we can't afford and I took her 03 Pilot. Well, one week later the transmission on the Pilot is gone! We are blown away and cannot afford this kind of expense. Neither of us make a lot of money and who has 5000$, dealer price on rebuilt, Laying around to fix a car after just buying a new car last week.

My wife has taken good car of this car and we are just mystified that two transmissions would both be out in one week...if you are too, you should read the NY TIMES article "Honda transmission problems seem to persist?"

The first time the transmission failed on my 2000 ODYSSEY,I knew something was going wrong with the transmission so I called the dealership and they asked me to bring the vehicle for checkup. They replaced the transmission but in the process, they messed up the GPS. When I told them that the GPS was not working properly, they checked and said that the GPS needed to be replaced and that it would cost me $3500.00, I declined. The second time the transmission failed was on the freeway with my two young children and my wife were in it and at night. After only 30000 miles after the first failure, it failed again and I took the vehicle to an independent shop and it costed me $2700.00 to get it fixed. Now after another 30000 miles, the transmission is acting up again and I know it is only a matter of time it will fail again. I will never buy a HONDA VEHICLE again. I was the only driver for my vehicle and I drive only less then 10000/yr and am a careful driver. In my opinion the Honda cars look good but machine wise, they are not a good buy. My next car would be a Nissan or a Toyota.

I bought this a few months back and got ripped off.

I thought I am buying a reliable brand and it will last at least 200,000 miles but to my surprise the transmission failed and I am stuck and can't even afford the repair, looks like a scan.

There is a whole used and rebuild industry running because of this problem, looks like Honda gets a share. People asking for 1k, 2k, 3k, if I don't get a solution for this problem I am going to spread online awareness through different mediums so that others don't have to go through this pain.

It has already cost me $200-500 in different instances of towing and cabs.

I purchased this van in December from a Honda dealership. Now When i purchased it they had a car fax for me to look at . The van had been very well taken care of and maintained. So i thought i was getting a great deal. Then i took it back to the same dealership for my regular oil changes . At one of these times about a month ago they told me i needed to have a transmission flush and change. This was about 75 dollars. I didn't know that if your trans fluid is black that you never have it flushed. Now a month later my transmission blew out on me on the freeway taking my children up north . I was traveling about 80 when i realized my rpms were up to 5000 !! When i pulled over it didn't want to accelerate. Now i am a single working mother to two children with now way to work ! I'm calling the dealership tomorrow to see if they will pay for the repairs! Now as I'm researching this online I'm finding that Honda has A lot of transmission issues? Had i known this before hand i would never have bought a Honda! Now i can tell you I will never recommend this company to anyone ever again!! I am furious and My next car i by will be a FORD!! At least they back up their mistakes

I almost fainted. I tried to get Honda Corporate to admit to the recall but they refused even with multiple escalations and the Honda dealership laughed all the way to the bank.

So I fixed (replaced) it out of pocket…ouch.

Now, at right around 200K, guess what? Ditto. If the rest of the vehicle was not in such pristine shape I would blow it up for the personal satisfaction, but that isn't an option.

I want justice. I want this fixed by Honda because it is the right thing to do.

I have always loved my 1992 Honda Civic SI (and 1994 VX) but this is enough for me to want to disown the company!!!!!! How dare thy refuse to fix their screwed up production?

We have had this car for about three years now. It was taken care of by its original owner, and we have done likewise, just recently replacing the timing belt and water pump (as the original owner had replaced it at around 70,000 miles). This car has died twice since I purchased it, leaving it inoperable, this time it was the transmission. It showed no signs of failing, I was just driving on the freeway when suddenly the RPMs shot up to 6500. I let go of the gas, and to my surprise, the car would no longer accelerate when I stepped on the gas pedal.

I am a collage student with a young family, so this car is crucial for us, and needs to be reliable. From what I have read, this problem was addressed with a recall, of course my van is outside of the recall parameters.

I am waiting until Monday to see what Honda will do, its up to them to keep us as customers. The ball is in their court.

I will update this complaint with the results of Honda's response.

I was driving on the interstate when all of a sudden my TCS LIGHT came on then my van lost power, i was able to get to the side of the road where I open the hood and saw transmission fluid all over the engine. i called the tow truck when he came I told him the problem and he inform me of the chronic problem honda odyssey's have with the transmissions so i did some online research and came across hundreds if not thousands of complaints with owners who have had the same issue. honda did a recall yet owners who have had the work done or are out of the recall term are stuck with an unsafe defective product! i I encourage all honda owners to complain and call honda 800-999-1009 about this problem.

Bought new Odyssey EX back in 2000. Had to be wait-listed and paid a premium just to get the van, cuz the wait-list was so long. Heard of Transmission issues and checked with dealer. Dealer will not do anything because my transmission had not failed. The transmission failed at 102,000 miles in 2010, right after the warranty expired and the warranty extension due to lawsuit also expired. Paid dealer about $2500 (TWO THOUSANDS AND FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS +), after the 25% goodwill by HONDA America as ill-will. I was told the van now has new transmission, and the design flaws have been fixed and the New Transmission will perform. The 3yr/36K warranty was their show of commitment only. Local shops were fixing at $1500 with shorter warranty. So let the dealer have my $$ 2500 for the peace of mind.

2 years later the tranny has died again. Dealer says that I am within the 3 year period. Great !!!!!. But I am about 1800 miles outsides the 36K miles warranty lenght. Not so Great !!!!. Dealer wants $4300 to replace the Tranny. Told me to talk to Honda-America. Honda-America says to go home and weep, cuz they will not pay anything towards the repair. Warranty is expired.

Incidentally also found that they did not put new Tranny last time. Only put in a rebuilt tranny from other failed trannies from Odyssey. Also have some hint that they did not do this work themselves. They farm out the tranny work to local shops.

Have to call the dealer again and see if they want me to continue to be a Honda consumer. Definitely not paying the 4300 Dollars to dealer withing 2 years. Neither paying the remaining from 25% or 50% discount that they are probably scheming to offer me.

Much better to go to local shop this time, New tranny is $1500 and $200 for 3 yr warranty. Then get rid of this car. And NEVER BUY A HONDA again.

Had the transmission replaced 3 years ago due to manufacturer's re-calls was driving along last week and in the middle of an intersection the van just quit moving NO warning NO nothing engine running fine but van would not move had triple AAA tow and took to mechanic the NEW transmission died - OMG really! I do not have the money for this and HONDA are you kidding me! The new replaced transmission kicks the bucket.. I am a single mom and cannot afford this and now I have no vehicle and no one is helping and I will NEVER buy a Honda vehicle again. My van has ALWAYS been serviced by Honda service and TWO weeks before this happened I had it serviced and a full diagnostics run and no codes came up nothing and they said everything was great UHM ya right! I called the service dept and told them and they said sorry the warranty for the NEW transmission is up my 2 months and the cost to replace will be over $3,500 that is BEFORE labor costs well that is not happening. Thanks Honda for nothing!