2003 Accord EX V6 - Transmission dead at 3000miles!

Well folks, I just went to the dealer to pick up my car, which I
dropped off yesterday for it's first oil change and some door rattles.
I also asked them to check the tranny because it took a bit to engage
into drive from P, R or N (1 2 second delay to engage D). Actually, it
engages then again about a second later. No biggie, I thought...this
is normal.... I was hoping that they would say that but..... it has
also been like this from day #1...

Nope, "Re manufactured Transmission" has been ordered. Service told me
that this is condition is not "normal". They also told me that they
have replaced transmissions on other '03's. I didn't ask for details
but I did want to let you all know because I have seen posts on these
boards with this same symptom.

Question: They tell me that a "Re manufactured Transmission" is not a
"re built transmission" because ALL the innards are new (perhaps used
casing) and it's not assembled in an assembly line, but rather by
humans at Honda motors... Is this true? I also demanded a new torque
converter.. they told me that Honda only sends them as together to
eliminate contamination concerns. Does anyone have the facts on these
two items? Anyone out there work or have worked in Service? Lastly,
has anyone had a tranny replaced before? If so, what everything right
after that major repair (alignment, rattles, no damage, etc.) They
tell me that the car will not need wheel alignment. Can anyone confirm
that? Sorry for the long post, but given all the tranny issues and
questions, I thought the replies to this one would be helpful for
others as well. Thanks!

 

Could you elaborate on the symptoms?

My 02 Odyssey takes its sweet time engaging D, and has from day 1.

 

I have a 95 Accord and it takes about a second to engage from the time
I place the shifter into drive and the transmission engages. I think
that this is a normal amount of time. By saying "takes it sweet time"
how much time are you referring to?

 

Well I cannot tell you whether or not the come with all new internal parts,
but I can tell you that Honda reman transmissions do come with a new torque
converter. (I've seen at least one VERY old Honda tranny.... 1987 Legend
Sedan.... that came with a "remanufactured" torque converter)

 

Thanks for the info.

 

I had a 5 speed with a bad synchro at 600 miles in a 99 I4. Honda wanted
to replace the transmission, but none were available -- waited over two
months. I drove the car by double-clutching into 5th. Finally, I told the
dealer to fix the trans themselves -- new 5 gear etc. They found that is
was incorrectly assembled by the factory. Dealer did a great job and I
never had any further problems. Hope they can a transmission for you faster
than my experience.

 

Tom: The new tranny arrives tomorrow so it took about a week. I can
only hope that a day and a half of labor to get the old one out and
the new one in doesn't create other problems or a really crappy
looking engine compartment. Does anyone have any experience with
this??

 

The transmission on my 2000 EX V6 was replaced shortly after I bought
it. The swap fixed the "clunk in reverse" problem, and other than
that, you couldn't tell that they replaced the transmission. Don't
worry about the engine compartment... it'll look exactly the same.

 

MDT, that 60k failure mileage you said you saw for a Taurus, it
it were actually true, is starting to look pretty good.


mike hunt

 

Thanks for the reassurance. I took it in today and will pick it up
later this week. I'll give eveyone an update at that time. Anyone
have any other comments/experiences to add?

 

My '99 Accord V6 tranny was replaced at ~51,000 miles when it was less
than 3 years old. Because of premature tire wear soon afterward I had
the alignment checked and both of the front wheels had too much
negative camber. My case could have been coincidence, but I would
think a reputable dealer would have no problem with being asked to put
the car on the alignment rack to demonstrate that it is within spec in
this situation. On a related note, my Honda remanufactured
transmission is starting to exhibit behavior similar to my original
one. I plan to take it to another Honda dealer shortly.

Good Luck!
-James

 

I have a 99 EX V6. I am curious what "behavior" is being exhibited with your
vehicle.

From day one (with mine) I noticed the odd way it downshifts, just as you
are about to bring it to a stop (i.e. speed approx 5 mph). It seems to
pause/slip in the midst of the downshift, letting the vehicle travel a bit
further than the driver anticipates. Then at the end of the downshift it
grabs into first, causing the vehicle to slow quicker and travel a bit less
that the driver anticipates.

Some days/times it seems to be more noticeable than others. One day shortly
after I bought it, I asked the head of service of Elway Honda to take a
drive with me. Of course, it didn't occur to a degree that was very
noticeable on that drive. But he did share an interesting comment with me.
It was along the lines of: "...these transmissions are a fair bit better
than what we used to deal with...". He also explained that the downshift is
actually from 3rd to 1st. Think how that might feel if you attempted that in
a car with a manual tranny and you get the idea. Honda engineers probably
think they are gaining some engine braking by doing that, but if they were
to ask (which they won't) I would tell them to go back to the drawing board.

This tranny is also supposed to have "grade logic" in it, which I think
contributes to the problem in that at times the tranny does some weird,
unanticipated, mid-stream shifting depending on the speed, accelerator, road
grade, etc. I could live without that also.

Don't they get it? Trannys should not shift in a fashion to cause driver
distraction.

My son will probably use this vehicle for his upcoming driver's test.
Hopefully the examiner won't think he is inexperienced when it comes to
stopping - especially when he is stopping behind another vehicle at a
stoplight. The examiner could easily get the impression that a letup in the
brake peddle pressure (right at wrong moment) was the cause and not even
suspect the tranny was grabbing/slipping/grabbing.

I am betting this is a design quirk (some could easily say flaw) that shows
up in lots of V6 Accords. V6 drivers, what say you?

Jon

 

My 98 Accord V6 tans with 99k has the following glitches: Every 10-20
reverse engagement I will get a clunk that seems to come from the
right front of the car. Also, when I accelerate medium/hard from a
stop I get a clunk I'm hoping it's a motor mount but it's likely the
trans/torque converter.

 

At around 45k miles, my original trans began to hesitate slightly
while up- or down-shifting into 2nd gear. By the time it was replaced
it would sometimes take 2+ seconds to switch into 2nd - a little
alarming when pulling into traffic. When this hesitation occurred the
engine would also climb towards redline if you didn't take your foot
off the accelerator. My first trans also had the infamous "thunk"
when reversing, but I never considered that to be much of an issue.
The diagnosis of this trans was burned out 2nd gear clutch packs.

The replacement trans worked great for about 15 months/25k miles. It
would downshift when slowing, but never abruptly. About a month ago
it started shifting abruptly into 1st gear. As an example, while
travelling on a 2 lane road at 40-45 mph with the trans in in 4th
gear. I slow down to 25-30 as a car in front of me is turning. I
press the accelerator about halfway down to rapidly speed back up -
not insanely fast, but quickly - the trans shifts into 1st gear, RPMs
climb (but stay matched unlike trans #1), the trans slooooowly engages
1st gear, then the car lurches forward. Harder acceleration seems to
make the lurching more noticable.

I took my car to a Honda dealer last night. They drove it for about
45 minutes and determined that it is "slipping" and they are looking
it over today in order to diagnose the problem.

Take a look at the nhtsa.gov website. The 99 Accord has ~152 TSBs,
many of which deal with drivetrain issues. There are 2 TSBs dated
12-02 and Jan. 03 that deal specifically with diagnosing transmission
problems by examining the fluid.

Both of my trannys have done this, but neither were very noticeable.

As the owner now of 2 Accord V6 transmissions, I vote for flaw. I
think the broad scope of issues seen in the transmissions shows that
the entire design needs to be thrown out. Can anyone verify if the
2003+ versions are really new or if they have just been altered? I
would also like to know what issues, if any, have actually been
addressed with the "improved design" that failed which was supposedly
installed in my car in 2002. Repeated calls to Honda's Customer Care
line and speaking to service managers at 3 dealerships have not
cleared this up a bit.

-James

 

Agreed. Anyone have any insight on that? My trayy was replaced last
week and still exhibits the same delay that resulted in it being
replaced in the first place. the dealer is considering my request for
a new car.