New transmission for 1999 Honda Odyssey??

[Lifeblood]

As mentioned before on this forum, I have a 1999 Honda Odyssey with 174K miles. I lost power on the highway last night, perhaps from leaking transmission fluid getting into the clutch (?). I had it had it towed (thanks Better World Club!) and the garage is recommending I replace the transmission with one that has 100K miles, guaranteed for 6 months. Estimated cost: $2,600. I am trying to decide it it makes sense to fork over the money, since it hopefully will give us another few years, or spend more for a different car. Thoughts? I am not in a position to do anything related to engine maintenance myself, unfortunately.

[humblefi]

In general, the following rules have served me well for my 20yr old car.
+ 2 major repairs back to back...sell the car
+ Repairs more than the value of the car....sell the car
+ Repair cost of < $1000...drive the car for one more year.
With the above rules, I would not invest $2600 on the Odyssey.

In addition, some more thoughts are listed below:
+ Since the guarantee is only for 6 months, the worst case is you lose $2600 for 6 months. This seems like a risky bet for me.
+ How far do you have to drive? If it is a long distance, then I would not take that bet. If it is 1-2 miles, then maybe.
+ If you have highway segments for your commute, then I would not do it.
+ If you ferry kids, then I would not do it.

For all these reasons, I would look to put $2600 into another car.

Hope that helps.

[Matthew]

Probably good advice from humblefi.


Looking around CL, it seems like you could get a replacement van for about $3k.  I'd guess you could sell your broken one for $800-1000.  Then there's registration and the hassle involved - all told, replacing costs about the same as repairing.

For your consideration, here is another price point.  We had our tranny replaced on our '04 Odyssey last summer.  It cost $3800 for a remanufactured tranny, with 2yr/24k mile warranty.  That's in Alaska, so about $400 was shipping costs.  So $2600 for yours seems high.

[cartechguy]

Is that for a rebuilt transmission?  That is a bit high it should be around $1800 installed. The timing belt will need to be changed as well in the future.  How is the shape of the car overall? My suggestion is to get the car checked over by a reputable mechanic and see IF anymore work needs to be done. 

This is a tough one and I can't give you anymore advice at this time.

[Gone Fishing]

I would at least get a second opinion.

[pagoconcheques]

Let's say your Ody with the blown transmission is worth $400 (probably more, but keep it low for the assumption).  With the $2,600 you're not spending, you "have" $3,000 to spend on a newer car that is more economical to operate.  If you can spend a bit more, all the better. 

The Odyssey transmission is prone to expensive failure.  A junk-yard transmission (sounds like what you're getting in the quote scenario you provided) will be like rolling the same dice again.  Also, there are many stories (I recommend you post on odyclub.com) about transmission replacements that subsequently necessitated big bucks in computer upgrades, a mistake more likely to be made by a shop that does not specialize in these. 

Your car is about 16 years old.  Despite all the stories about glorious 20-30-year runs with cars, your car is at or has exceeded the typical life span for a vehicle that has had known issues for a long time. 

BTW, your timing belt is not due again until 210,000 miles, so don't bother including that in your calculations. 

[Lifeblood]

Update: I had another mechanic who came highly recommended take a look at the car. He went over to the original garage with the intent of driving it back to his shop, but it wouldn't move AT ALL. So he did an initial analysis and says there is a 95% likelihood that the transmission needs to be replaced. He offered three options:

1) Install a used transmission, which will likely have high mileage. Cost would be $1,500-1,600 plus $793 labor = $2,393. This is basically the same service offered by  the service center at the dealership for slightly less money. This seems like a terrible option given the risk involved.

2) Install a re-manufactured transmission from Jasper which would be god quality, come with a 3 year/100K warranty. This would require the installation of an auxiliary cooler. Parts would be $2,813.75 + $882 labor + tax, etc.= $4,125. Expensive, but this seems like a good option given the warranty. Though pricey, this option would prevent the premature scrapping of an otherwise good van -isn't that better from an environmental perspective, and thus more Mustachian?

3) Install a rebuilt transmission with a  2 year/24K warranty for $2,300 parts + labor, taxes, etc. = $3,470

He mentioned scrap value would be very minimal (i.e. $250-500).

Somebody punch me.

[guitar_stitch]

The remanufactured transmission sounds like a good option.  I'm not sure why it would require an add-on cooler though...  Sounds like someone padding their profit.

[Stash Engineer]

If an aux cooler wasn't installed from the factory, I also don't understand why that would be required.  You should look up the Jasper warranty information yourself (not take the mechanic's word for it) and verify whether or not the cooler is required to honor the 3yr warranty. 

[fodder69]

$4100 is a lot of money to put into that car. It may be the best option for the van, but I doubt it works for your budget. At that point I'd start looking at prices of cars/vans in your area.

[zolotiyeruki]

We had a similar situation about 3 years ago with our '01 Odyssey (same generation, same transmission problem).  Keep these in mind:

1)  There's a huge difference between "rebuilt" and "remanufactured" transmissions.  "Rebuilt" means they replace all the worn parts (the friction discs, seals, etc).  "Remanufactured" means the whole transmission is restored to as-good-as-or-better-than factory condition.  This may include replacing bearings or other parts.
2)  We paid about $3800 to get the remanufactured Jasper transmission.  It came with a lifetime warranty.  Had no complaints afterward.
3)  With these transmissions, a rebuilt transmission won't do the trick.  There's an actual design flaw in the transmission--basically, it wasn't designed to take the load of a minivan.  The Jasper includes some improvements (including the extra cooler) to the design which compensate for the faults.

[thurston howell iv]

Check ebay.
Here's an example. Rebuilt trans $750.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1999-2000-2001-HONDA-ODYSSEY-AUTOMATIC-TRANSMISSION-3-5L-rebuild-/291371971180?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item43d71f726c&vxp=mtr

Good luck.

[paddedhat]

The remanufactured transmission sounds like a good option.  I'm not sure why it would require an add-on cooler though...  Sounds like someone padding their profit.

I would bet that Jasper requires it to honor their warranty. Jasper is a solid company that has a rep. of understanding why a product has failed prematurely, and what they need to do provide a superior replacement that doesn't fail again.

[Lifeblood]

Thanks for all the comments. I did some research on Jasper and came across this interesting video: http://www.jasperengines.com/video-customer.php.

More info: I went through my file on the Honda Odyssey, which I use but is in fact the property of my in-laws. Turns out my father-in-law had the transmission replaced in 2009 at 131K with a remanufactured unit (Cost: $3,000). That unit came with a 3 year/36,000 mile warranty. That transmission lasted until 174K. Thus, the second transmission lasted just 43K. The Jasper transmission I am considering comes with a 3yr/100,000 mile warranty, so there is obviously greater confidence in the product. Thus, the transmission would be warrantied until 274K. But will the rest of the van last that long? What other major repairs are likely to come in these next 100K?

[cartechguy]

No jasper!! Trust me on this they have gone WAY down hill over the years.  I stopped using them the last 10 years in my business.  Still a tough call on this one.  Can you pay CASH for a used car? 

[Gone Fishing]

I would send it down the road.  The Odyssey tranny is widely known to be defective and all sorts of rebuilds, remans, bubble gum, coat hanger and duct tape repairs have not reliably fixed the problem.  If you have something else to drive in the meantime, you can try selling it for parts (as a whole) on craigslist, it was a popular model and should bring more than $250( which would probably be the drop-it-off at the scrap yard price).  I got $800 for a 13 year old banged up Civic with a shot motor.  If you are real adventurous you can try parting it out your self on craigslist and e-bay.  (This is one of my possible post ER hobby funding ventures).   

[Forcus]

If you could throw in a used transmission on your own I'd do that. Since that clearly isn't you (not a dig at you at all), I wouldn't bother. The 100k transmission swap is a non-starter. So the only reasonable option is throwing $4k+ at a van that probably isn't worth $4k. I'd hit Craigslist and Autotrader and eBay pretty hard and see what you come up with, I'm sure there are better options out there for $5k.

[Sid Hoffman]

As others have said the Odyssey in specific and basically every V6 Honda/Acura from the mid 1990s through 2005 or so uses a transmission design that is prone to failure.  If you replace it now, plan on replacing it again in 30-50k miles.

[TheAnonOne]

Eh, do you need a van? For the $5,000 your about to dump into this, you could get a pretty nice car.... or a semi-decent van...