Hello everyone. It is with sadness and mourning that I have had to put my beloved '06 Ridgeline up for sale but to replace it I have just purchased a '95 Odyssey and I'm glad to have found this group.

My Ody is what you'd call a "Mechanic's Special". The radiator is bad, the radio is missing, the fenders are a little bent up, three of the four windows don't work, the rear view mirror isn't on the windshield and even if it were half of it isn't a mirror anymore and to top it all off we broke the exhaust while loading it onto the trailer to bring it home. No worries though, I plan to have it fixed and on the road by the time the Ridgeline finds a new home. It is, after all, a car I only paid $1400 for!

I look forward to the kind of community here that I've been a part of over on the ROC for the past 4 years. See ya 'round!

Wrote this yesterday and apparently didn't post it!

I installed the new radiator into the Odyssey today. Not the hardest job but the old girl had some fight in her. That bleeder valve was a new trick to me, it worked well though.

It looks like the biggest problem with the exhaust system is that the hardware has rusted out. There's a spring missing from the front of the catalytic converter too. I'll be cutting the studs (they look like studs anyway, maybe just severely rusted bolts?) out tomorrow and replacing the hardware. The prices on replacement pipes are a bit outrageous if you ask me, especially for that short pipe between the cat and the front muffler. I think we should be able to get along at least for a little while with the current system once it's securely fastened back into place.

I also discovered a bad lower ball joint on the passenger's side today. That means complete disassembly of the steering knuckle, fun fun! :)

Today I replaced the hardware for the catalytic converter. I had to grind off and drill out the studs and bolts but it wasn't too difficult. I got it all put back together and discovered that the leaks in the small elbow pipe immediately behind the cat were much worse than I thought they would be from the visual inspection. The flange joint that connects the elbow to the muffler is also loose and leaking and there are some holes in the pipe just before the muffler. I'm going to leave the exhaust system as-is for now though, there are other more pressing matters for getting the van roadworthy.

After getting the exhaust back together I tackled the job of removing the right steering knuckle to replace the lower ball joint. Both the lower ball joint and the tie rod end on the right side had regular nuts on them instead of the castle nuts they should have had. When the regular nut was installed on the lower ball joint it wasn't completely tightened which led to the failure of this joint. I cut the nut off with my Dremel and disassembled everything else. Tomorrow (or the next time I can work on the van) I need to get the upper ball joint and the tie rod end to let go of the knuckle and I'll be able to replace the lower ball joint.

I discovered that the boot on the left side of the steering rack had a tear in it and Autozone doesn't have a listing for it. I ordered a new one from the Honda dealer and it was only $10, not too bad. It should be in on Friday and I should be able to get to installing it early next week.

Not much activity here in this forum, I guess I'll just keep posting to try to drum up some interest! :D

Thursday I finished removing the steering knuckle on the passenger side to replace the lower ball joint. The ball joint press tool that I rented from Autozone was useless however, it was way too big to fit properly. I took the knuckle to a local shop that does machine/press work on engines and car parts and they charged $25 to swap the new ball joint in. I put everything back together on Friday and unfortunately discovered some more issues that will need to be dealt with eventually. Both upper ball joints are a bit loose and both front wheel bearings are also worn to the point that they will need to be replaced soon. The van is going to need some new tires in a few months but I'm hoping to wait until spring for that, I guess it'll depend on how it handles the snow with the rubber it's got on it now. I won't put new tires on with these bad suspension parts though, so they'll definitely get fixed before new tires go on.

So I've changed my mind on some things. I've decided to go ahead and replace the front wheel bearings and the upper ball joints. I'm also going to replace the exhaust system.

The "good deal" I got on the van is getting a little less good all the time, but at least for the things that I'm dealing with I will know that they've been done and done right.

I started tinting the windows this evening. I found pre-cut tint on eBay for $30, can't beat that. I only did the side windows in the third row so far. This is the second time I've done window tinting myself and I must say that having the tint pre-cut makes it MUCH easier. Doing it in a driveway in the autumn wind isn't exactly easy though. The van will look much better with tinted windows. I won't be able to tint all of them until the door windows are fixed because they need to be rolled down a couple of inches in order to line up the tint on the edge. I'm working on that now and hopefully I can get it done before the mechanical parts start showing up.

I did take the van for a drive a few days ago and that's what led me to decide to replace all this stuff. The wheel bearings are pretty noisy and although I don't think that the exhaust is that bad I guess my wife would be embarassed to drive it this way. Replacing the steering rack dust boot was actually quite easy and probably the quickest job I've done on the van so far (other than changing the oil).

Welcome from Nor Cal! I just joined up myself and agree, gotta get this place movin! 95 huh? Cool, amazing how many of those I still see on the roads.

Hi there:

Well I am new to changing upper and lower ball joints. What sort of tools should I have.

I found a front end rebuild kit from EBAY for the Odyssey for $100. Here is the link:
http://stores.ebay.ca/Arm-Can-Auto-Parts_W0QQcolZ4QQdirZ1QQfsubZQ2d33QQftidZ2QQtZkm.

thanks Fred Flinstone

You guys can also try odyclub.com. Although this is a nice site, but odyclub seems to be a little more active.