Motor Mount Failures....

[Beaullieu]

My 02 Odyssey has 104k miles and I have been bracing for the dreaded transmission failure that seems to be haunting these vans. Two days ago, my wife told me that when she shifted from Park to Reverse, the transmission hesitated and made a loud clunking sound when it moved into Reverse.

I dropped off at my dealer late yesterday expecting to get news of the tranny going bad. However, what I heard about an hour ago was not what I expected. The service advisor called and told me that the tranny is fine but 2 motor mounts and the tranny mount are all broken and that's what's causing the clunk going into reverse. He quoted just under $1k to repair.

I politely shared with him that I fully expect for Honda to cover as all the mounts failing is not my idea of Honda reliability. Especially based on the long and reliable service I've received from other Hondas. I had an 87 Accord that went 235k before I sold it with no tranny or motor mount problems. So, the service advisor told me he would take my request to the General Manager and to Honda to see what they will do.

My question to you guys is what is the reasonable life of motor mounts? I've never had to replace them on any vehicle I've owned and I've driven a number of Honda cars and Toyota trucks to 200k and beyond.

Should I expect Honda to cover any of this expense? I'm hoping the dealer will help as I've purchased both a Ridgeline and CRV from them in the past 18 months.

[Black Pearl]

Try to search for a TSB on the problem and see if there is a note on goodwill consideration.

I would contact Honda Corporate and open a case. You are right, motor mounts don't seem to fall into the vaunted Honda reliability.

[Honda Tech]

There have been known issues with the front hydraulic mount deteriorating and causing idle vibration and harsh shifting. The TSB (06-030) indicates that normal warranty applies, which would have been 3/36 on your Odyssey.

The other mounts can fail if the rubber gets deteriorated, but you really can't accurately compare different vehicles and different model years to assess what 'normal' would be regarding mount failures. I have seen a frequency of mount failures on older and different model Hondas consistant with the number of Odyssey front mount failures.

If you had to replace all of the mounts, it would be less than $250 in parts (the front hydraulic mount is pretty expensive, but the others are all pretty cheap), so it sounds like your service department is quoting some very high labor if your estimate was around a grand.

[Beaullieu]

Thanks for the response everyone....

I've been checking around and was referred to an independent shop by a friend who is close with the owner. I was told by the owner of this shop that he has seen failures fairly regularly but he would charge in the neighborhood of $450 - $500 for the same work.

If Honda turns me down for any help, I plan to take it to the independent shop.....

[rberman999]

Beaullieu,

Sorry I can't speak directly to you motor mounts but I can speak to dealing with Honda. I don't want to re-direct this topic, but I found in dealing with Honda Customer Care for a left front coil spring that broke on my Honda Odyssey (2000 LX with ~ 118K, well out of warrenty) Honda "stepped up" if you want to call it that. When the spring broke it took the left ABS wheel sensor out along with the left outboard CV joint boot (Honda Tech, if you see this it might sound familar to you....). So Honda corporate was willing to pick up the cost of those parts (spring, CV joint boot and ABS sensor), the problem as I saw it was I could by the parts on the internet from an online Honda dealer for $112.00 plus shipping and tax (this dealer is in my home state). My thought was if I could buy the parts at "internet retal" for $120 (lets face it someone is still making a profit at this cost), then what was Honda really giving me, maybe $50-60 "good will"? What I was looking for was for me to cover the cost of a coil spring and the labor to replace it and have Honda cover the additional damage caused by the spring failure (parts and labor). When you look at the labor rate only, to replace the parts at full dealer labor rate cost of $110.00 per hour at a "book" time, the repair would have still been very costly to me, ~ $450 (for the labor alone). That was with me working first with my dealership, with them contacting Honda Customer Care (in CA) and me contacting Honda Customer Care (in CA). So what is my point? Well I would sugguest that if I had it to do over and if you want to get the best deal for Honda to pick up the most for you repair, you stand a better chance working directly with your service rep. at the Honda dealership along with the dealership service manager and the area Honda zone representative. Request a meeting so that the four of you are face to face so to speak. I feel that you would likely get far more that way than working through / over the telephone with a Honda customer care person in CA. You should also be able to get a decision fairly quickly, a day or two at most (it took almost 2 weeks to get the Honda Customer Care offer). Hope this helps. Russ

Sorry, I did not realize this was an old thread, but it still may help someone....

[dparrothead1]

I would be interested in finding the outcome of this situation.......