I purchased this van after our Ford Winstar was totaled in an accident. We had it less than 1 month when the first signs of transmission failure occurred on our way to the beach for family vacation. The transmission eventually died on my way to picking my mother up from the airport. I was stranded 4 miles from the airport and an 1 1/2 hours away from home. I was able to drive the van the 4 miles going 30 mph. We took it to our mechanic and was told this was a common problem with this van. If he had known we were looking to buy a car he would of told us not to buy a honda. The dealership said the car was perfect when they sold it to us. The mechanic quoted $4000, the dealership $3000. I went on craigslist and found a mechanic who rebuilt the transmission for $1735 and gave me a 1 year warranty. I feel sorry for all the others who had to pay thousands and Honda knowing this is a common problem.

honda dealership in petaluma, california replaced the automatic transmission it cost me lots of money that I DID NOT HAVE...HAD TO TAKE A LOAN TO PAY FOR SOMETHING THAT HONDA SHOULD HAVE ACKNOWLEDGED AND HONDA SHOULD HAVE FIXED THIS TRANSMISSION WITHOUT COSTING ME ANY MONEY...

THE DEALERSHIP OFFERED TO DO THE TRANSMISSION FOR $2,500 BUT WE ENDED PAYING ALMOST $5,000.00 DOLLARS...WHAT A RIP OFF.................................

I had purchased 2 HONDA ODYSSEY VAN FROM THIS SAME DEALERSHIP.. ONE OF THE VANS HAS NO PROBLEMS AT 115,00 MILES..THE DEALERSHIP KNOWS THAT I AM THE OWNER OF TWO VANS SOLD TO ME..THEY ALSO KNOW THAT ONE OF VAN THE TRANSMISSION FAILED AND CHARGED ME $5,000.00 TO FIX IT...HOWEVER, NEVER A WORD FROM THE DEALERSHIP ABOUT THE POSSIBILITY OF THE OTHER HONDA WITH 115,000 MILES HAVING A TRANSMISSION PROBLEM THAT COULD BE CORRECTED BEFORE ANYTHING HAPPENS TO THE TRANSMISSION...I HAVE LEARNED MORE FROM YOUR SITE (WITHOUT BUYING NOTHING FROM YOU THAT I HAVE LEARNED FROM HONDA DEALERSHIP IN PETALUMA WHERE I HAD PURCHASED TWO NEW 2002 HONDA ODYSSEY VAN.....THANK YOU FOR THE INFORMATION RELATING TO MY 2002 HONDA VAN TRANSMISSION FAILURE THAT THANKS TO THE INFORMATION ON YOUR SITE, THAT THERE IS CORRECTION TO FIX TRANSMISSION PROBLEMS BEFORE OCCURRING........GREAT SERVICE.....GREAT INFORMATION..THIS IS WHAT AMERICAN IS ALL ABOUT! SHAME ON HONDA...SHAME ON THEIR GREED AND SELF-INTEREST...I WILL NEVER AGAIN BUY ANOTHER HONDA....

IN THE PAST I HAVE BOUGHT 4 HONDAS NEVER AGAIN...GREEDY BASTARDS!

JOE

Bought and own a 2002 Odyssey......original owners. It has always been serviced with Honda. First transmission went up at 60,000 miles was covered under OUR extended warranty. Honda put in a "remanufactured transmission" that one went up at 170,000 miles. Honda offered very little help to fix it.....i think 25% off the $4000 they quoted us. Are you kidding me?? why should we pay a dime for a SECOND faulty transmission you installed???? It's been sitting on the dealership lot for over a year. The van is not worth what it will cost to fix it. Not that anyone would buy it most people are aware of the tranny issues...........except for Honda who claims there are NO known issues with the 2002 Odyssey transmissions. We were stupid enough to buy a 2009 Ody before the 2nd tranny went up in the 2002. Having shifting issues with it.........I am on a personal mission to educate everyone I come in contact with about Honda and how they do NOT stand behind their products and how bad their customer service sucks. Toyota's from here out.

This POS lemon left us stranded on US 75S in Ocala, FL on our way to Disney. Car is smoking and jerking. Check engine light, Traction Control light is on and "D" is blinking. Since it was after 5 pm on Saturday, no one was open to help us. Rentals were closed and car shops were closed. We drove the POS slowly on to Orlando (so we didn't miss our vacation) and made it there! We had to rent a van for the week and then another van to get us back home to GA. We had Manheim Auctions tow it to their place and we left it there. We had a re manufactured transmission installed 26 months earlier (with a 3 year/36K mile warranty) only to discover the shop went out of business so now we have no warranty! Absolutely a perfect storm of Odyssey transmission problems! I am so disappointed because I really loved that car and now I can't trust it with my family. It has left me stranded too many times.

I have a 2002 Honda Odyssey with 72000 miles on it. The Check engine light came on and the computer error radout came to P0740. I changed the transmission fluid and after a week the light came on. 72000 miles is not much to have transmission issues. I called American Honda and gave them the diagnostic code and they tell me that I have to take to Honda Dealership and get it checked by their computer. I spent $120 for it and they also gave me the same reading P0740. I contacted American Honda and they tell me that its out of warranty and therefore they would not do anything. They made me take it to Honda service center and spend $120 to get the same result. Now I will have to shell out $4000 to replace the transmission.

It is ridiculus that after buying a car and at 72000 miles the transmission fails? Honda is turning a blind eye towards it. If there is a class action lawsuit, I'd like to know. I am not going to spend $4000 to get it fixed. I would also stay away from Honda Service center if I can. They cannot do anything and why should I go there to get it fixed, Honda wants more of my money?

After researching this issue, I find that there are many owners with the same kind of issues with their Honda. We need to get this out to Honda and get them fix the issue with their cars. "Never Buy Honda Again"

My transmission completely failed in this van. At first, while not happy, thought this was a rare problem with just my vehicle because of Hondas' perceived quality but now know this is a well documented problems with the transmissions in the Honda Odyssey. During a recall back in 2005 they brought vehicle in to inspect the transmission. I believe this was to just ensure the van would outlast the warranty because no work was done.

After 21 years with Honda and 5 Hondas; I have now come to the realization that Honda is no longer the company that produces quality vehicles and stands behind them.

Bought the car new in 2002 with 24 miles on the car. The car has been serviced in Cincinnati by Century Honda and now Kings Honda. I have not missed a service and provided the service for the recall back in 2004 timeframe. The dealer was nice - offered $3,750 and 3 years/36,000 mile warranty on the transmission. The service manager talked with his regional parts manager to see if they could get some money off the repair. Regional manager did not offer any discount due to the mileage on the car. Called 800 # of Honda corporate. Typical call center that must be outsourced to the lowest of low...They would not do anything for me so I didn't even bother fighting with someone like those guys...

Going back to the dealer to see if they can do anything else. Where can I get the "Don't buy Honda" sticker for my car. My Toyota Camry has 260K on it and the transmission runs perfect...Don't buy HONDA!!!!!!!

I purchased Honda Odyssey 2002 at 45000 miles in year 2005. This was Honda Certified Car and paid extra money for extended warranty. In 5 years at 113000 miles the Engine and TCS light came while coming from Tahoe. Fortunately reached home. The vehicle was serviced 3 days prior to the trip to Tahoe. Took the car to dealer where service was performed. Bang - Transmission Failure. Researched the web and found mine is not the only car. The cost is over $5000. The purpose of buying Honda was due to its quality and service. Extremely disappointed. Not sure if it is even worth to spend $5000 as there is no guarantee of failure in near future. This is my second Honda. The first one was Civic and ran over 160,000 miles without any problem. Looks like time for another lawsuit. If there are plans for one, count me in.

On side note, I found the car was part of a recall (automatic transmission). However, I never received a note about recall. The dealer mentioned that the transmission was replaced as part of recall but do not have information when and who performed it. The transmission can be replaced once only.

There are major problems with the transmission in these vehicles. This was my first Honda and my last. It should not die at 97,000 miles. They offered to pay half of what I feel is an inflated price $4900 (with a mandatory new computer).

When I called Honda USA I got some guy who could not even make a decision on helping me further. He just told me that it came from above and that that person did not talk to customers. BAD customer service!!! I don't expect a brand new transmission for free I just wanted a little better offer as way to keep me as a customer -- oh well.

I have a 2002 Honda Odyssey. I have never had any major issues with it. It is at 109k miles right now. However yesterday, my wife was in the process of pulling the van our of our driveway, and when she shifted from park to reverse, the engine died a second later. Then she shifted back to park, started up the engine successfully again, and then shifted over to drive and the engine died a second later.

When I got home I repeated the same process and had the same results. I even let the engine run for 10 minutes before attempting it again, and yet the same thing happened.

I called my local Honda Service Shop and they said they were unaware as to the cause. Then when I finally had it towed, the repair shop told us that the cost would be in the range of $4300 + tax. I don't have $ money like that right now.

For those that have had some or any success with getting help from Honda, I would greatly appreciate any advice. Thank you!

I am very upset.

I purchased this van in 2004 at 30,000 miles. In 2005 at 44,000 miles, I was having transmission slipping problems and the drive light started blinking. I brought it in and was told "the bad news is you need a new transmission, the good news is that it's covered by a recall".

ok. Flash forward 5 years later. I only have 80,000 total miles on the car. 36,000 miles since the "NEW" transmission was installed.

Same freaking thing. Rapid deceleration, trouble changing gears, drive light blinking. I brought it in and I need a new transmission. AGAIN...36,000 miles later.

Did I mention I'm not a race car driver? Just a mom who's driving exists of taking her kids to and from school and sports practices?? ok you caught me, we go to the beach in the summer too. Point is, I'm not treating the transmission badly.

Since they already paid for one transmission, they are not too keen on paying for another one. I'm still going to try though. This is my 5th Honda, they are the only cars I ever owned. All my services have been at Honda, and if Honda does not do good by me, they will never see another cent from me.

The way I see it, is that they can replace this transmission free of charge and get my oil changes, muffler repairs, brake repairs and other crap that breaks for the next five years or so (when I expected the van to die anyway), and get lots more money from me when I buy another Honda because they treated me well. OR....or they can lose a good customer who is going to tell everyone she meets about her experience and convince everyone she knows to never buy another Honda.

2002 Odyssey LX with 158,000 miles, very well maintained and serviced.

We got the towing package which included a transmission oil cooler, but we only occasionally use it to tow a tent trailer. I suspect that the cooler and maintenance may have helped us get more miles before failure than most seemed to get.

Two weeks ago it suddenly started missing the shift on downshifts while coasting in 'stop and go' on the freeway. It would drop completely out of gear into neutral. You would step on the gas, and instead, the engine would just race without load. After a short period, usually after coasting down to the next shift, it would re-engage. Then a few nights ago at 60 mph, three different times it suddenly kicked into a low gear and threw my wife forward like stomping on the brakes. After that, the Check Engine locked in and Transmission drive indicator started flashing.

Since we are going to drive it until the wheels fall off, we definitely wanted a long term repair. We went with the mechanic that has done right by us, multiple times in the past.

We got a re-manufactured unit and paid $4,200, which included replacing the torque converter, oil cooler, rear main seal, and solenoid, but not the computer (which is $900, and which the dealers insist on replacing too). It is now driving very smoothly and really has thrown to light how much we had been putting up with squishyness, clonking, and hard gears changes for the last couple of years.

I have been researching Honda transmissions since this started two weeks ago, and what it appears is that in the 3rd gear, the clutch materials are either inferior, or somehow wear prematurely. This causes little bits of material to become loose in the fluid, which then cause things to happen that should not happen. The loose material interferes with the hydraulic valve system preventing valves from closing properly, or causing actuation at inappropriate times.

Replacing/flushing the fluid might buy a (very) short reprieve, but does not fix the core problem of the clutch material wearing and interfering hydraulically.

The Mechanical Engineer who posted earlier on this board, raised an interesting possibility, that that earlier recall 'fix', the 'Transmission Oil Injector', may starve the 3rd gear clutch pack by rerouting too much transmission oil to the 2nd gear and lowering pressure too much in the 3rd gear clutch pack. I'd sure like to know what percentage of those with total failures, had the recall fix first.

This total failure problem is common enough that I think this should have been a recall issue. We took ours in for the 'other' recall, but the only fix for this kind of problem is to replace the transmission. If we had less mileage, I might try to fight Honda about it, but at this point... I wish the class-action lawsuit folks had pressed on this when it first started becoming more widely reported. If anything ever really gets going on the class action front, you can count me in.

In nearly all other ways though, we have been quite happy with it (oh yeah...except for the airbag system).

If your looking to buy a used Odyssey, both the 1999-2001 and 2002-2004 models are probably ticking transmission time-bombs. Locally, mechanics and friends have told us they see Odyssey transmission replacements happening regularly, so what you see on this board is just the tip of the iceberg. Given Honda's rather pathetic response to pretty significant problem that should have been a replacement recall, I'll definitely be thinking very hard before I consider buying another Honda. Especially since Honda's transmission problems are definitely not limited to Odysseys.