5th Oct 2009, 10:39

I don't understand why so many people are having problems with their Hondas. I own 4 Hondas and 1 Ford. I just finished a job on my 97 Prelude H22. Changed the transmission and resealed the engine. I did all belts including timing and all gaskets, including valve seals and head. This car has 220K on it and has never had any problems until now with the auto trans. It is the original trans vins match.

I also have a 2000 Accord 4cyl that has 170K on it. Never any problems. Engine and trans are original.

I do all of the work myself because I am a mechanic but Hondas are very self explanatory.

Many people talk about the EGR problems. 99.9% of the time it is not the EGR at all, but the intake being clogged. No you do not need a drill to solve this problem. just some carb cleaner and a wire hanger. Clean it out, put the EGR back on and be on your way.

My wife has a 2003 Civic and my brother in law drives my 94 Civic Del Sol. Each of them has had no problems and each gets over 40mpg (not hybrid).

I did say that I own a Ford. I will never own a Ford car again that's for sure. However Ford trucks are some of the most reliable dependable trucks I have ever owned. I have owned Nissan, Chevy, GMC, and Toyota. The Toyota was a good truck until it got hit. I NOW own a 99 Ford F150 4x4 Super Cab Step Side with a 4.6L V8. I use this truck mostly for towing new Honda toys that I buy. Believe it or not (doesn't matter to me) I get 26 mpg on the HWY and 22 mpg if I am pulling a car. Nobody believes me until they ride with me to get a car and see it for themselves. The truck is a 99 with a 4.6L auto trany 4x4 super cab. Everything is original, Engine, trany all of it. It has 218,000 miles and still going strong.

I think that it is all in the way that people drive their cars and how they personally maintain them. For example, the very few times that I have to stop for gas I check everything, all fluids, tires, brakes, and glass. By the time the tank is full I am done inspecting and ready to go again. There is a saying "Take care of the little things and the big things will take care of themselves." I have been a self Honda tech for the past 7 years, and found that if you take care of the little things along the way, it prevents the bigger things from happening at all. (yes I am an ASE mechanic, but not with any company spec. training).

As I stated before, each car is going to wear out according to the way that it is driven. The biggest thing to making a car last; patience is a virtue. If everyone drove their vehicles with a little more patience and leave time for the unexpected in a trip, their cars might last as long as the little old lady driving her 87 Accord that everyone gets angry at for doing 5 miles under the limit.

To each their own. Yes some things that go wrong with cars are not the driver's fault and should be taken care of by the manufacturer. But you have to stand in their place and see yourself through their eyes. They don't know how hard you drive your car. Your tranny may have gone out at 40K miles, but they don't know that you drive as if life were a drag race. They see your car lose its tranny, and you don't know why it only lasted 40k and neither do they. They see it and compare it to the other 500 same cars they see, and say "Now these cars don't have this problem, so why does this one?" Out of all the people who complain about their cars, that is all you are ever going to see. You see the hundred or so people who complain, but never see the thousands that have never had problems.

People need to treat their cars as if it were a part of their family. After all you trust it to transport and protect your family, so why would you neglect it? It does not matter what brand you drive or who your loyalties are to. Take care of the one thing you need most in this world; YOUR CAR.

Hondas, Fords, Chevys, Dodges, Toyotas, luxury and non luxury, I have seen almost every brand of car you may think of with well over 400K miles on it and still running great. Make the effort to include your vehicle in your family as if it were you closest member, and see where it will take you.

Remember that the machine only does what you make it do. Machines are not perfect and they will break eventually. How you take care of them determines how soon that breakdown will happen.

Hope everyone stays safe and God bless.

27th Mar 2010, 17:18

I have a 2000 Honda Accord that I TOTALLY LOVE!!! But today my transmission went out. Anyone who knows me thinks I am crazy with this car. No one has EVER sat on my seats or put their feet on my floor boards. This car looks brand new inside and out.

I have had 2 recalls on my transmission. The transmission has been replaced, and when I felt the same problems again, I was told that what I felt was normal.

My SRA light has been on forever. My seatbelts have been replaced, but I still loved my car.

I don't know what to do. I can't afford to fix it, but I have over 100000 miles and I can't get a new car. So if anyone has any suggestions, I would be grateful.

28th Mar 2010, 12:48

"I have had 2 recalls on my transmission. The transmission has been replaced, and when I felt the same problems again, I was told that what I felt was normal."

Actually that IS normal... for Honda. With Honda having its own massive recalls now for brake issues, I think I'd look at getting a more reliable domestic vehicle.

29th Mar 2010, 17:43

And of course blatantly overlook the huge GM recall for cars that completely lose powersteering. Not to mention the review on this very site of someone who has had a transmission failure in their 2010 Ford Fusion. Comments have started gathering there about other failures of the same year vehicle. Would hate to see a trend start there.

29th Mar 2010, 17:50

Honda did have to recall 410,000 vehicles due to brake issues. However, you will notice it only took three reported accounts for them to respond. It took GM quite a while to respond to their 1.7 million vehicle recall on the Cobalt due to powersteering failures, as you can see from the complaints on this site dating back a few years. At least Honda is willing to admit their mistake and fix it.

Also, I've said it before and I'll say it again, I myself notice a big quality difference in American built Honda's and real Honda's (that is, the ones built in Japan). No issues with my Japanese built CR-V, but I was surprised by the issues I found in my American built Civic.

12th Nov 2010, 13:44

My 2000 Honda Accord LX has been giving me problems for about a year. It has about 160,000 miles on it. Sometimes when I start it, the engine will jump, then die, and it will do that several times when I try to start it. Finally, if I can get it started, I then have to keep the gas on so it won't die again.

Also, every time when I put it in drive, it will stall for a few seconds, then jump, then finally go. I don't know what is going on, we have taken it to several places, and they couldn't find out what was wrong either.

Also I have the SRS light on all the time since I've gotten the car, and the brake light comes on frequently, and also the side air bag comes on.

Someone please tell me what's going on with my car?

27th Dec 2010, 22:30

I have a 2000 Accord EX V-6 Sedan.

Problem: When I try to start the car, all lights light up on the dashboard, dim, and then I hear a really fast click, click, click, click, click sound. The car will not turn over. Battery changed 2 years ago. If I try a few more times, I can get the car to turn over, but only if I tramp down the gas pedal. I can then drive the car, but there is a GREEN KEY LIGHT on the dashboard that continues to flash. I had a new key cut a year ago. Could that be the problem?