Faults:
With all the previous incidents of door and transmission problems,
I must say that I too have been a victim of similar mechanical failures.
The first occurrence was on a trip to Florida where the power sliding doors failed. Since the van was still under warranty (approx 15000 miles), the service department in Orlando was very accommodating and repaired the problem the day after we experienced the doors failing to open.
The second failure occurred at 60000 miles, and yes, it was the transmission or so the service department in Dallas denied. It failed on our trip home from Houston—no power and locked in D4. I had to pull to the side of the road in 100 degree weather with the hope that letting the engine cool down would help. Luckily this at least allowed us to limp home. The service department kept the car for over three weeks and came up with various issues --- blaming us for clogging the fuel pump and stating that the transmission was not the problem (until I stated to the service writer 3 of the 4 symptoms listed in the recall notice). After the repair the van never had the power that it had before the transmission failed.
The most current failure at 76000 miles was identical to the problem encountered at 60000 miles, or so I thought. We were again on a trip returning from Houston when the transmission locked in D4 and the engine lost RPMs and forced us off the highway. I limped at 1500 RPMs in D4 (did a little test and found that anything over 1500 RPMs or 45 mph caused the engine to lose power). I had to rent a car to return to Dallas while my wife limped in to the service department in north Houston. The service department kept the van for four days and stated a new problem I have not seen on the site. The V-TEC solenoid valve had failed causing the engine to not have any power. This WAS NOT a warranty item and cost $484 dollars to replace. The repair statement also noted that this really may not fix the problem as HEAD replacement may be needed to repair the problem fully.
Also, the service writer alluded that we have not been changing the oil properly (stating that this caused the current problem) which is bunk since my wife religiously had the oil serviced every 3000 miles.
24th Apr 2009, 22:43
Bought new in 2000, great for a few years, but then the transmission wasn't right.
At about 70000 miles, the trans was replaced.
At 96000, the replaced trans went out, took it to the dealer and traded in, end of my Honda saga.