Hi!

My Name is Shea Laking, I just discovered this forum tonight. It's sure good to know there's a place on line to find helpful information.

I just purchased a '01 Odyssey EX from my in-laws last week-we NEEDED something bigger to carry the family on trips, it's a 2 hour drive to the in-laws, plus I was tired of cramming my two 4 year old daughters and myself into my old Chevy Cavalier. ;)

Must admit I'm rather scared by all the postings about transmission failures I just read through here...I had heard about this problem from a friend who works for Honda (Dealer Parts Manager) but didn't realise it was SOOO common! :eek: I'm hoping I can pick up some good tips to help mine last for a good, long time. The van's in quite good shape and we got a really good deal on the price.

Look forward to meeting some nice people and learning some new things to help me look after my new "baby."

Regards,
Shea:)

I would strongly suggest that you should replace the transmission fluid regularily regardless if you drive alot or little also try to accelerate gently, I've seen many people when driving off from the stop light goes very heavy on the accelerator to look " KOOL"- never a good idea regardless what vehicile you drive.

Inshan,

Thanks for your reply and driving tips.;) Although I'm a 38 year old male, I drive like most people's grandmas, so jackrabbit starts are "out" for me.

I'm waiting to hear back from my Father-In-Law this week with regards to service records they have on the van and the next time I visit my pal at the dealership, I'm going to get him to check for factory service, repair and warranty history as well.

I LOVE this van so far and hope to keep up a happy ownership fpr a good long time to come. :)

See you on the forum.

Regards,
Shea:)

Hi!

Must admit I'm rather scared by all the postings about transmission failures I just read through here...I had heard about this problem from a friend who works for Honda (Dealer Parts Manager) but didn't realise it was SOOO common! :eek: Regards,
Shea:)

You got to remember, when something happens to somebodys car, one of the things people do is go online and research it and they find forums. Then they post about it. So it may seem more common than it really is. I have heard that about only 20% have problems.

You got to remember, when something happens to somebodys car, one of the things people do is go online and research it and they find forums. Then they post about it. So it may seem more common than it really is. I have heard that about only 20% have problems.

Thanks, your right, it may just be paranoia on my part.

Nonetheless, I'm giving it a "dump and refill" tomorrow night with Honda ATF-Z1.

Certainly can't hurt. Unfortunately, I haven't yet heard back from my Father-In-Law to find out when they last serviced the tranny...:( Better safe than sorry in my book.

Great info here so far. Thanks for the friendly input, folks!:)

Regards,
Shea:)

I forget to mentioned that you are approaching the timing belt replacement, when doing this project make sure you replace the water pump, auto tensioner, coolant, power steering fluid ( with genuine Honda parts ) and probably spark plugs the same time regardless of condition also these vans have a well known problem of leaking coolant at the thermostat base housing and broken front coil springs, should you need to replace the coil springs I would strongly suggest you purchase the ENTIRE sensatrac assembly from Canadiantire or Partsource and not the original from Honda , too expensive and WILL BREAK AGAIN.
Goodluck.

I forget to mentioned that you are approaching the timing belt replacement, when doing this project make sure you replace the water pump, auto tensioner, coolant, power steering fluid ( with genuine Honda parts ) and probably spark plugs the same time regardless of condition also these vans have a well known problem of leaking coolant at the thermostat base housing and broken front coil springs, should you need to replace the coil springs I would strongly suggest you purchase the ENTIRE sensatrac assembly from Canadiantire or Partsource and not the original from Honda , too expensive and WILL BREAK AGAIN.
Goodluck.

Timing belt, et al was done by my in-laws about 40k ago.

My Honda pal made me aware of the leaking seals at the thermostat tube, as well as front suspension bushings which tend to wear out.

I had not been told about the breaking front springs, I'll have to keep an eye on those. NO WAY I'll buy 'em through Crap Tire or Partsource, though-I'll take my trade discount pricing anyday over those full-list retail ripoff artists! :eek:

Thanks for the tips-good to hear about bad stuff so I can be "somewhat" prepared for it BEFORE it happens!:)

Regards,
Shea:)

Got my trans "dump and fill" done tonight. Made a noticeable difference in shift smoothness.

Knock on wood, I hope I got it in time. My Father-In-Law called my wife yesterday to tell her it was last changed in January '08. Unfortunately, he didn't give her the km's. :( I'll be grabbing service records next time we go to visit...just so's I can know where I'm at with it.

Just noticed tonight while test-driving it, that the delay wipers automatically speed up when the vehicle's speed increases...cool feature. I was just glad to see that Honda finally got past their stupid "one speed only" intermittant wipers...I HATE that about my wife's Accord.:rolleyes:

Thanks again for all the info and tips. Seems like a helpful and friendly group here-I like that.:)

Regards,
Shea:)

Okay, well the delay wiper thing was just my fat finger slipping up and hitting the "speed" dial on the control stalk...:o

Anyway, when I bought the van, the right side power sliding door didn't work...My in-law's mechanic thought it might need a new motor and I was working on that assumption as well, until insomnia struck tonight (this morning)...

I did some looking around on the web and discovered that apparently the power doors can get "out of sync" if they're bumped or stopped during closing. I found a "relearn" procedure and thought "what the heck" so out to the driveway I go at 2:30AM...ten minutes and a couple of smokes later (during the wait period) I now have TWO working power sliders!! WOO-HOO!!:D

The only problem is, now I'm too excited to go to sleep.:D

Have a HAPPY day, everybody!

Regards,
Shea:)

Went to visit my Honda friend tonight...He drove my van and sez that there are no symptoms evident of possible transmission failure (keeping my fingers CROSSED!). :D

Just finished calculating my mileage for the first couple of weeks' ownership...

16.15 MPG mixed (mostly city, some out of town).

27.66 MPG JUST highway.

Better mixed mileage than the '93 Cavalier sedan it replaced and less than 3 MPG lower than the Cavi's best posted highway mileage...and all with FOUR USEABLE SEATS!!!:D

Yep, I'm happy.

On another note-is anyone here also a member of www.odyclub.com ?

I tried to register over there as well, however I get the message "e-mail address banned." What's up with that?

Regards,
Shea:)

Went to visit my Honda friend tonight...He drove my van and sez that there are no symptoms evident of possible transmission failure (keeping my fingers CROSSED!). :D

Just finished calculating my mileage for the first couple of weeks' ownership...

16.15 MPG mixed (mostly city, some out of town).

27.66 MPG JUST highway.

Better mixed mileage than the '93 Cavalier sedan it replaced and less than 3 MPG lower than the Cavi's best posted highway mileage...and all with FOUR USEABLE SEATS!!!:D

Yep, I'm happy.

On another note-is anyone here also a member of www.odyclub.com ?

I tried to register over there as well, however I get the message "e-mail address banned." What's up with that?

Regards,
Shea:)


Glas to hear that your van is treating you well. Yes I am a memeber of odyclub too. The reason why you are getting the message that your email address has been banned is because you are using a yahoo email. I had the same problem. I just made a email with gmail and fixed my problem. I guess years ago they got attacked by someone with a yahoo email.

Glas to hear that your van is treating you well. Yes I am a memeber of odyclub too. The reason why you are getting the message that your email address has been banned is because you are using a yahoo email. I had the same problem. I just made a email with gmail and fixed my problem. I guess years ago they got attacked by someone with a yahoo email.

Hmm... My Network Service Provider is Rogers Cable, who use "Yahoo" as their standard browser homepage. We have switched our homepage to MSN (my wife prefers it, I could care less) and I have always had an MSN Hotmail account... my e-mail addy is sheaman71@hotmail.com and this is the address which I used to apply.

On the other hand, I DID notice when a "e-mail the webmaster" prompt came up it defaulted to my wife's Rogers account which would, I suppose, be recognised as a Yahoo e-mail, though it end in "rogers.ca."

I even tried to e-mail the webmaster over there from my hotmail account and haven't yet received a response...

Guess I'll have to look into setting up a "G-MAIL" account later on, when I have some spare time (after kids are in bed).

Thanks, Kscha41 for taking the time to reply. the help is most appreciated.

Regards,
Shea:)

Hmm... My Network Service Provider is Rogers Cable, who use "Yahoo" as their standard browser homepage. We have switched our homepage to MSN (my wife prefers it, I could care less) and I have always had an MSN Hotmail account... my e-mail addy is sheaman71@hotmail.com and this is the address which I used to apply.

On the other hand, I DID notice when a "e-mail the webmaster" prompt came up it defaulted to my wife's Rogers account which would, I suppose, be recognised as a Yahoo e-mail, though it end in "rogers.ca."

I even tried to e-mail the webmaster over there from my hotmail account and haven't yet received a response...

Guess I'll have to look into setting up a "G-MAIL" account later on, when I have some spare time (after kids are in bed).

Thanks, Kscha41 for taking the time to reply. the help is most appreciated.

Regards,
Shea:)


You will not get a response from the webmaster. He has been MIA since 2005. A couple of months ago the spam was getting bad because all the mods left. Well finally someone got in touch with the webmaster and we got new mods. This is a nice site but odyclub has so much more info. Yes try gmail because thats what I had to use to sign up there.

Okay, so I did the G-MAIL thing, FINALLY got registered...I visit ODYCLUB.COM tonight for the first time in a few days...and I'm BANNED?!?

I was a member for all of about 12 days. I know this is a forum for owners of family-type vehicles, but WTF?!:confused::confused:

I don't even think I posted anything offensive over there...If I did, could some of you other crossover members please pass on my apologies to anybody I may have offended?

I'd really like to know what I did wrong?

Regards,
Shea:)

Okay, so I did the G-MAIL thing, FINALLY got registered...I visit ODYCLUB.COM tonight for the first time in a few days...and I'm BANNED?!?

I was a member for all of about 12 days. I know this is a forum for owners of family-type vehicles, but WTF?!:confused::confused:

I don't even think I posted anything offensive over there...If I did, could some of you other crossover members please pass on my apologies to anybody I may have offended?

I'd really like to know what I did wrong?

Regards,
Shea:)

I bet it was a mistake. The mods accidently banned a member on there that had over 1000 posts. Once they ban them, they can't take it off. What I would do is register under a different name. Just put a 1 after your old user name. If you like I can pm a mod over and find out what happen. People psts crazy stuff over there all the time so I don't think they banned you purpesly. One mod said that they ban over 100 spammers a day.

Thanks, Kscha41.

You know, the internet can be such a great resource of information and a wonderful way for people of like interests to share ideas and help each other out over long distances. This is one of the wonderful things I've found being a car enthusiast, all the great people out there willing to share their experience. :cool:

It's too bad some jerks have to ruin it for the larger majority of us who just want to share, by their spamming or flaming, or whatever. That sliding door how-to I found at odyclub.com was great. My father-in-law was soo pissed when he found out it only took me ten minutes and zero $ to fix the non-operative right power slider. His mechanic told him, I guess, that it needed a new motor and actuator (they were actually HAPPY it cost us nothing to fix, but I think he felt a little "bitten" by his mechanic). :mad:

Anyhow, guess I'll try signing up with a new username over there. Guess I should start hanging out here more, too! :) Thanks again for the help.

Regards,
Shea:)

I was a member for all of about 12 days. I know this is a forum for owners of family-type vehicles, but WTF?!:confused::confused:


Again. Sorry about the accident. I am hoping we have worked out the incident and given you the pertinent details etc.

Kscha41 is correct. In that version of vBulletin, we cannot unban folks. He is also right on the free email accounts. Back in 2005 odyclub got hacked bad and Jim the owner banned some free email providers then.

I see some one racking up posts over here. :D :D

I see some one racking up posts over here. :D :D

Wow I didn't realize I had 50 posts already(actually this makes my 51)

You got to remember, when something happens to somebodys car, one of the things people do is go online and research it and they find forums. Then they post about it. So it may seem more common than it really is. I have heard that about only 20% have problems.

If the car is under warranty, usually the first thing people do is call the dealer, and arrange for service. A high % of Ody owners are female, who usually don't come to internet forums.

I believe the lowest online poll we've seen to date indicates the failure rate is 36%. One consumers union poll has the failure rate at 86%. While shopping for 2 04's, I noticed the failure rate 50%, with about 25% having multiple failures.