1999 Odyssey transmission

I have a 1999 Odyssey which we bought new. It now has 109K miles. My son has
been driving it, and reported that the transmission sometimes slips. I took
it to the dealer and they said they got the transmission to slip, the codes
reported by the transmission indicated a failing clutch, and that the
transmission would need to be replaced. They said my car was beyond the
warranty (which I believe ends at 100K miles for my car) and the replacement
would cost $2700. So now for my questions:

Does this sound like the symptoms of the transmission failure for which the
warranty was extended?

How does the failure typically progress from here? Should I expect a sudden
catestrophic failure which would leave me stranded, or do they generally
degrade gradually while maintaining some ability to get home?

What are the odds that the problem stays at about it's current level (which
is not a big deal) rather than progressing?

Has anyone had success with fluid changes or flushing (or for that matter
anything other than a complete replacement)?

Are there cheaper alternatives than the dealer for transmission replacement,
and if so, with which national brands (if any) have people had success?

Thanks in advance,

Frank Kerfoot

 

I have a great relationship with my Honda dealer. And I know how their
system works with respect to Honda. I also have an 02 Odyssey, which is
a different transmission than yours but which was subject to its own
recall. I do not plan on ever--EVER--paying to replace or repair the
transmission.

Were I you, I would calmly head to your dealership service manager and
ask that this be taken care of--quietly. You bought the car with
Honda's reputation in mind, and everyone knows that Honda's bean
counters dropped the ball on these things BIG TIME. In addition, you're
only 9K miles out of the official warranty.

Honda provides its dealers with a decent amount of latitude to take care
of its customers in situations like this. I know that were I you, I
would not have to pay for the transmission repair, or even ask more than
once to have it covered under goodwill. (That's the key term for Honda:
goodwill. You must acknowledge that technically Honda owes you nothing,
but perhaps they'd fix it under a goodwill policy.)

 

Also try calling Honda. By the way, this is one reason to get dealer oil
changes. You can always try giving them a guilt trip when something like
this happens if routinely bring the car for service there.

 

The clutches went out in my Dodge Durango at 90+. I thought that would
mean a new tranny, but the clutch pack was changed for about $250.
Maybe aftermarket has different ideas about how to fix this.

You have a 100,000 mile warranty? I had a failure on a Ford at 106,000
that I whined about and they agreed to cover the parts, I pay for labor.
When I picked the car up, they said that the warranty had picked up the
part, and the dealer was covering the labor.
I had none of the routine maintenance done at the dealer.

Also on the Ford... I found that different dealers are very much different
in their knowledge of Technical Service Bulletins (TSB). When the intake
manifold cracked, the dealer where I had it towed knew nothing about the
extended warranty, but my selling dealer said it was covered. I had some
trouble with the dealer where it was, but that was eventually covered,
although it was not a pleasant experience. I had to provide the TSB
number. My dealer looked it up by VIN. Don't they all use the same
system?

 

odyclub.com Search there, lot's of discussion on this. Good luck.