22nd Aug 2006, 14:37

It sounds like you just had a fluke accident. GM and Ford would have never paid to have it fixed, so be glad you bought a Honda.

22nd Aug 2006, 16:24

I just looked at the condenser on our Dodge Caravan with 70K miles. It is packed with small stones and pretty beat-up in the areas in front of the lower bumper openings. It shouldn’t be a surprise to any manufacture that the condenser has to be sturdy enough to take this abuse.

24th Nov 2006, 14:58

MY 2005 Accord had the same problem! apparently it's widespread, as my service tech said "we keep the parts in stock since we see it happen so much on the CR-V and ACCORD models." I haven't been so lucky as to have Honda reimburse me, but I'm not ready to give up yet.

6th Mar 2007, 21:56

I had a dead bird inside my air condenser in my 1994 Honda Civic Si. That car was amazing and never gave me a single problem. A/C was pretty cold too.

21st Jun 2007, 00:34

Had bad condenser too. Common problem. Even service tech admitted he saw many rock damaged leaking condensers in newer Odysseys. Fragile design. Bad Honda.

21st Jun 2007, 14:46

Terrible car because of one part. I am buying a van from the domestics. Maybe they are not reliable or safe, but darnit! I need my A/C.

16th Jul 2007, 17:56

Me switch to Toyota? NEVER! While they are just as reliable as a Honda, they are not that fun to drive. The reason Toyota's are the #1 selling car is because they offer you a well built American clone, whereas Honda makes a car with a sport feel on all their vehicles. If you can live without the pure joy you get from driving a Honda, then fine go buy your Toyota.

As far as quality goes, Toyota also has some issues. Just as many as Honda. So you are going to have to walk down a dark hole because there is no research to prove Toyota will be more reliable.

18th Jul 2007, 14:10

Design Flaw in the Odyssey!!!

Rock!!! debris!!! seem to be the best defenses of these Service managers at Honda's dealerships. Sooner or later they will have to pay for the flimsy AC condenser that so many Honda ownwers had problems with.

Not all of us were so lucky and having Honda fix the problem, so for now, I just keep spending money on freon because it is just too expensive to replace the condenser. After all, replace it to just debris hit it again.

My warranty will not replace and I do not want to file a claim with my insurance CO as the service manager suggested to me.

If enough owners complain about this issue... Honda is going to have to do something about it.

7th Dec 2008, 20:45

Funny Honda would have such a poor design. My sisters 11 year old 1998 Chevrolet Venture cools as good now as when she bought it 5 years ago.

4th Nov 2010, 14:34

I too had to replace my condenser on my '06 Odyssey. Honda said it was a rock and wanted $800 to replace it. I took it to Ford, and they charged me $300, and my insurance covered the rest. It was a rock, like a rock hitting your windshield, so the insurance helped.

My biggest problem has been the sliding doors. Poor design. The last repair bill was close to $2000, of which my local dealer helped to reduce the price by 75%.

3rd May 2017, 22:26

I just bought an after market lower grille for about 45 bucks off of e-Bay, trimmed it, and it took about 20 minutes to install the grille because of little instructions. Works like a charm, especially driving through resurfacing highway projects.

8th Jan 2020, 03:40

I would still deal with an A/C compressor or condenser any day than the numerous transmission failures of Gen 2 Odysseys. I know they still occur after 2005, but don't seem nearly as bad as they once were.

Cars are gonna have issues. It doesn't necessarily mean that Honda is bad, but things do happen. I got 9 years and 150k out of 2 Camry's. I paid a total of $4500 for both; one was $1,500 and one was $3,000. Were there issues along the way? Sure. But overall I was happy. Close to a decade of motoring.

Issues will always happen with any brand. The thing to realize when doing research is what issues are most prevalent with models you are interested in, and decide basically what you can potentially live with. Most cars, if not all are going to have mechanical breakdowns. When you increase size, engines, curb weights, etc. The stresses on components can be greater. I'd say if you had this van long term and only replaced a condenser, then you aren't doing too bad at all. If you can give me a solid engine and transmission, anything else for the most part isn't too bad, depending on brand and level of equipment.