In article <Xns9ADFDE621BC19tegger@208.90.168.18>,
Tegger <tegger@tegger.c0m> wrote:
>The 1998 Accord is, as far as I can determine, not part of the inherently
>defective crowd.
>
>Honda has very publicly admitted to the existence of several serious
>defects in V6 auto trannies for the '99 to '04 model years of various
>models, and has been generous in fixing them.

Wasn't 1998 the first year of that design of Accord that went until
2002 (1999 was the first year of a new design Odyssey minivan)? If so,
wouldn't it have similar issues as the 1999-2002 Accord (perhaps worse,
being the first year of a new design)?

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In article <MPG.22ec2f6b65289da98a243@208.90.168.18>,
dave@compassnet.com says...
> In article <Xns9ADFDE621BC19tegger@208.90.168.18>, tegger@tegger.c0m
> says...

> > The 1998 Accord is, as far as I can determine, not part of the inherently
> > defective crowd.
> >
> > Honda has very publicly admitted to the existence of several serious
> > defects in V6 auto trannies for the '99 to '04 model years of various
> > models, and has been generous in fixing them. Honda has had its eye on
> > Toyota and their past troubles with certain 1MZ-FE 3.0 V6's, and is not
> > eager to be tarred with the same brush.
> >
> > Your '98? Well, it's ten years old, with ten years of potential neglect and
> > abuse. The wrong fluid, neglected changes, who knows what.
> > To "mashup" Curly and the rock group REM, "What's the Code, Kenneth?"
>
> OK. I mistyped the model year in my original post. It's a '99, not a
> '98. Purchased with 41K miles on it, as a certified used car from the
> same dealer that's serviced it since then. The maintenance intervals as
> specified in the owner's manual for severe conditions have been followed
> since then (it gets well over 90 degrees here for several months out of
> the year).
>
> Since the tranny fluid changes have been performed at a Honda dealer, I
> assume they're using Honda ATF. But this is the same dealer whose
> service department aggressively pushes powerflushing the transmission
> whenever the topic comes up. I have always refused to have it flushed,
> but I did have them do a drain-and-fill (once, not 3x) about three
> months ago when they said the fluid didn't look too good. It was due for
> a fluid change at 120K (we're only at about 115K now), but I didn't want
> to risk waiting for the 120K service if the fluid was showing its age.
>
> I finally had a chance to drive the car today to get a better feel for
> what was going on, since the extent of my wife's description of the
> problem so far has been "it's shifting funny". For the first part of our
> trip today, it drove fine, with no problems. About midway through our
> errands, after driving maybe 15-20 miles, I noticed a rough downshift -
> much rougher than normal, almost enough to chirp the tires. By the time
> we made another couple of stops, it was very hesitant to upshift. The
> engine would rev higher, but the car would barely move, and when it did
> finally upshift, the upshifts were very abrupt and jerky. Downshifting
> was similarly delayed and rough - the car would come to a complete stop,
> and sit for a couple of seconds before the final downshift would occur.
> It eventually got to the point to where it was almost undrivable, and I
> wasn't sure we were going to make it home, but we did. Oh, and the CEL
> has yet to come back on since it was reset.
>
> My wife mentioned that the problem seems to be worst in the afternoons,
> which are obviously the hottest part of the day. I was hoping to buy a
> little time to research the problem further, but based on our drive
> today, the car is unsafe to drive with the transmission acting like
> this, so I'm going to have to do something sooner rather than later. My
> father suggested taking it to a transmission shop to see if it can be
> repaired as opposed to swapping it out for a remanufactured tranny, but
> I'm more inclined to start with calling Honda's US customer service
> department. Since the model year is outside the scope of the warranty
> extension, and since it would've been past the warranty period at this
> point anyway, I don't expect a free ride, but I don't think some sort of
> consideration is unreasonable. With proper maintenance, there's no
> reason a transmission shouldn't last for the life of the car.

Update: took the car to the dealer, and as I expected, the tranny was
toast. The dealer quoted $3450 to replace it. I told them I would be
requesting a goodwill repair from Honda, and immediately faxed a polite
letter to American Honda documenting my long history of Honda ownership
and awareness of the problems with V6 trannies over the past ten years
(including a citation of the applicable TSB number). Within a couple of
days, I got a phone call from a case manager in Torrance, and as soon as
he talked to the dealer to verify the service history of the car there,
Honda offered to cover the cost of a remanufactured tranny if I would
pay for the labor to install it ($560). That was all I was really hoping
for, and I expressed my appreciation to the case manager for Honda's
consideration. The new tranny has a 3/36 warranty, and he said he hoped
I wouldn't ever have to use the warranty but it was good to know I'm
covered if future problems arise.

Got the car back yesterday, and the difference is unbelievable. Judging
by how smoothly the new tranny shifts, I have to think that the old one
had been going south for some time, as it shifted much more roughly than
the new one even before it started exhibiting clear signs of imminent
failure.

Interestingly, I'd just had a brake job done about a month ago, and at
that time discovered that the front motor mount and one of the side ones
were cracked, so I had them replaced. When they pulled the tranny prior
to installing the new one, they found the tranny mount was also worn out
and replaced it as well. I'd been thinking that something in the front
suspension was worn out because the car seemed to be riding rougher over
bumps than it used to, but after the various mount replacements, the
ride is back to normal. I don't think I've ever had to replace motor
mounts on any of the cars I've previously owned.

This was really the first major repair I'd had to have done on this car
in the 75,000 miles we've owned it. Prior to this, aside from normal
maintenance of brakes, fluids, and batteries, I'd only had to replace
the starter, an O2 sensor, and the factory CD player (which was covered
while the car was still under warranty). Here's hoping for another
similar stretch of relatively trouble-free motoring.

Dave

 

Yeah, it's said that Honda cares much more about their customers.

I recall reading about the weaker differential bearings disintegrating
and plugging up the strainer in these transmissions. This starved the
clutch packs of ATF and they burn up in no time.

The plugged strainer/filter is a reason, aside from hard part failure
plugging it, why I like to change ATF much more frequently. And for
transmissions with replaceable strainers/filters I do those too
12K-15K miles, and wipe the worn clutch/steel materials off the pan
and magenets.




On Aug 3, 12:07 pm, Dave Garrett <d...@compassnet.com> wrote:
> Update: took the car to the dealer, and as I expected, the tranny was
> toast. The dealer quoted $3450 to replace it. I told them I would be
> requesting a goodwill repair from Honda, and immediately faxed a polite
> letter to American Honda documenting my long history of Honda ownership
> and awareness of the problems with V6 trannies over the past ten years
> (including a citation of the applicable TSB number). Within a couple of
> days, I got a phone call from a case manager in Torrance, and as soon as
> he talked to the dealer to verify the service history of the car there,
> Honda offered to cover the cost of a remanufactured tranny if I would
> pay for the labor to install it ($560). That was all I was really hoping
> for, and I expressed my appreciation to the case manager for Honda's
> consideration. The new tranny has a 3/36 warranty, and he said he hoped
> I wouldn't ever have to use the warranty but it was good to know I'm
> covered if future problems arise.
>
> Got the car back yesterday, and the difference is unbelievable. Judging
> by how smoothly the new tranny shifts, I have to think that the old one
> had been going south for some time, as it shifted much more roughly than
> the new one even before it started exhibiting clear signs of imminent
> failure.
>
> Interestingly, I'd just had a brake job done about a month ago, and at
> that time discovered that the front motor mount and one of the side ones
> were cracked, so I had them replaced. When they pulled the tranny prior
> to installing the new one, they found the tranny mount was also worn out
> and replaced it as well. I'd been thinking that something in the front
> suspension was worn out because the car seemed to be riding rougher over
> bumps than it used to, but after the various mount replacements, the
> ride is back to normal. I don't think I've ever had to replace motor
> mounts on any of the cars I've previously owned.
>
> This was really the first major repair I'd had to have done on this car
> in the 75,000 miles we've owned it. Prior to this, aside from normal
> maintenance of brakes, fluids, and batteries, I'd only had to replace
> the starter, an O2 sensor, and the factory CD player (which was covered
> while the car was still under warranty). Here's hoping for another
> similar stretch of relatively trouble-free motoring.
>
> Dave