Comments for Donner's Daily Dose of Drama

Comment on Honda Accord 2003 EX-V6 Transmission Failure by Pat

Pat — Wed, 15 May 2013 16:54:20 +0000

My 2003 Accord Ex V6 had 103k on it, always knew there was something a bit wrong with the transmission but nothing serious ever occured. Took it to Honda & they said the transmission fluid needed changed, and on wednesday (a week later) my transmission completely died. Put it into drive or reverse, just acts as if it is in neutral. Is there any way I can put the blame on Honda here? or to atleast split the cost. Please any help would be greatly appreciated.

Comment on Honda Accord 2003 EX-V6 Transmission Failure by Sebastien Cadieux

Sebastien Cadieux — Fri, 10 May 2013 00:05:57 +0000

Me too, 2003 Accord LX with 144k miles. Only my first, third and fift speed are “working”.

Comment on Honda Accord 2003 EX-V6 Transmission Failure by Imran

Imran — Fri, 03 May 2013 19:07:49 +0000

Me too, 2003 Accord LX 97K miles

Comment on Honda Accord 2003 EX-V6 Transmission Failure by BrandonF

BrandonF — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 23:17:34 +0000

@Carla Kraetsch “I bolught my 2003 Honda Accord V6 EX in Aug 2003. Have always maintained my car, one and only owner. 84,777 miles transmission is gone.”

Sounds just like me, I bought my Accord Ex V6 in the summer of 2003, 85k miles, well maintained, one and only owner, love this car. Three days ago the very same transmission failure that has happened to everyone on this board happened to me.

What are our cars worth now if we fix the transmission and sell them? Local mechanic referred me to another local shop and said I was looking at a little more than $3200 3yr/36,000 mile warranty. If I could fix it for $3200 and dump it for $6500 I’d probably do it. Looking in Auto Trader, the asking price in my area is from $7k-$9k

Comment on Honda Accord 2003 EX-V6 Transmission Failure by Tom

Tom — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 00:41:23 +0000

Add me to the list too…. 2003 V6 EXL 143,000. Driving down the toll road at 70 mph; all of a sudden bam! Auto trans drops down into 2nd gear, then 1 sec later back into 5th, then 1 sec later back into 2nd. WOW… glad I had my seat belt on, tires chirped… thought I left the transmission behind me. Good thing no one was tailing me or I would have been rear ended. I am an engineer and this was anything but safe driving… I would not want my wife or one of my kids driving when something like this happens… It was surprising to say the least. I then drove in 2nd gear 45 mph (as it would not shift any higher) to Honda and they quoted me 5k for a rebuilt and could work the price down some…

Comment on Honda Accord 2003 EX-V6 Transmission Failure by Vivek Maharaj

Vivek Maharaj — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 15:24:16 +0000

I am a proud owner of a 2003 Accord fully load; its well maintained and clean. File a report with NHTSA about the vehicle’s transmission in 2/22/2013 and I called today 4/12/2013 and they are still reviewing it and does not think its a urgent filing….

Call American Honda and they are not able to assist in any way with this problem. I have a call in to my local dealership and that may end up the same way as well.

Long story short….when I brought this car in July of 2003 it was special ordered fully loaded, power everything. Today that strong reliable vehicle is now sitting in my garage collecting dust at 133,000 miles.

I’m so disappointed in Honda lack of research and honesty to fix what they know is a huge issue. I wanted to sell it or even trade it before I knew of this issue, but can’t do either now…won’t be Honda.

Cost to repair is ~$4,000.00 from Honda. Local Aamco and other folks are saying they can do it for ~$2,700 – $3,400 with a better warranty than Honda…lifetime of the vehicle.

Now I hear the entire cause of this transmission issue is the computer…technology. Yet when I called Honda today they are not aware of it at all!

What should I do?

Comment on Sauna woes by Kelly

Kelly — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 20:28:50 +0000

Just wanted to add a thank-you to your post. I purchased a home that was built in the early 90’s that had a sauna added about a year after the house was built. At the showings the sauna did not work and the previous owner admitted that they had not used it much. They did however say they would put it in good working order before we closed. Well they got it to start by having a handyman come out a press the little red buttons on the rear of the heater. No one bothered to check to see if the thing would heat for anything longer than about 15 minutes or to 120 degrees F. Because if they had, it would have been discovered that the high temp sensor would trip and then as you experienced, you wait for it to cool and you can start again. After many calls and many trips by the “not-so-expert-handyman” we were nowhere. To add salt to my wound the previous owner now refuses to provide what they promised, a working sauna. To them, the fact that the heater now does turn on, is in their opinion, the end of the story. I called Tylo and they were no help at all. So I began to search the web and look for a sauna heater repair person in my area. A really nice guy at a local pool installer helped me through the way these things work over the phone. He assumed the sensor switch was weak due to the fact that the heater is over 20 years old. But he did tell me about the temp sensors which I could not locate. (they are hidden under the handle) I had him order a new switch and he said he’d call when it was in. After we talked I felt a bit better but continued to poke around on the web and found your blog. I immediately located the high temp sensors (thanks for your picture) and lowered them. The sauna is now working perfectly and the thermometer is regulating the temperature. Your site is the only one that has shown any detail about how to troubleshoot these problems. Thanks again!

Comment on Honda Accord 2003 EX-V6 Transmission Failure by Mr H.

Mr H. — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 19:47:15 +0000

Proudly owner of Honda accord EX 2003, until my transmission start failing at 150000 miles, previous to this failure I did change the timing belt, hoping to pass 200000 ……….. Honda … I was so close to re invest my money on a newer model ………. Sorry ..like my transmission ….my money is not longer going to Honda …. Lemon aide…

Comment on Honda Accord 2003 EX-V6 Transmission Failure by horacio schneider

horacio schneider — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 15:18:57 +0000

i share everybodys problem downshift from third gear to 1 gear ,i didnt know that was a common problem i have 80.000 miles.

Comment on Honda Accord 2003 EX-V6 Transmission Failure by Carla Kraetsch

Carla Kraetsch — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 05:16:43 +0000

I bolught my 2003 Honda Accord V6 EX in Aug 2003. Have always maintained my car, one and only owner.
84,777 miles transmission is gone having a new one put in this week. Not happy any more with Honda. Will looking in to selling it soon after it is fixed. Have loved my car up to this point.