Honda Pilot Transmission Trouble

S

Shann

Joined
Sep 2, 2004
Messages
5,249
My wife blew the transmission on her Pilot. She did some research online and found this to be a real problem with Pilots. I'm kind of wondering if its worth spending the $4,000 to replace the tranny on a 2005 Pilot with 120K. Money is tight right now and I wasn't looking forward to buying a new vehicle but it might be the right way to go.

How do you decide to fix or replace an older vehicle?
 
Look at it this way, Honda engines can get 300K + without much trouble, New Hondas are in short supply and prices are up. What would you replace it with?
 
It is almost always less expensive to keep repairing the vehicle you have rather than buy new or pre-owned. This is not universally true, but I think a good general rule. Safety, reliability and the hassle factor are also considerations, but its my belief that if cost is the only factor, it is better to make repairs than switch vehicles.

Consider also a tranny rebuild instead of replacement. When my Ford Explorer's tranny conked out, I got it rebuilt for $1500. So maybe look around and see if you might chop down that $4000 figure. Good luck.
 
Check to see if there is a recall for it. My mom and aunt who drive Honda Pilots recently got notices to bring theirs in.
 
yes check for recalls. if there isnt the rebuild it.. please make sure you keep fresh tranny fluid in there.
 
You might also find a better price on a low milage used transmission from a salvage yard. They often carry short term warranties. I've done well with replacement engines and transmissions purchased this way.
 
rebuild or boneyard for used. At 120 k your Honda has a long remaining economic lifetime..we get >200K on our Detroit iron..change the oil, filters and buy/rotate/check pressure on tires and an occasional battery and windshield wipers has been about it. Our F150 at 225K now w/100K of that on a boneyard rear end.

Curious as why do you think your wife "blew" the transmission - hot rodder or just happen to be driving it that day?

Best wishes.
 
Unk said:
rebuild or boneyard for used. At 120 k your Honda has a long remaining economic lifetime..we get >200K on our Detroit iron..change the oil, filters and buy/rotate/check pressure on tires and an occasional battery and windshield wipers has been about it. Our F150 at 225K now w/100K of that on a boneyard rear end.

Curious as why do you think your wife "blew" the transmission - hot rodder or just happen to be driving it that day?

Best wishes.
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If you look on the internet for Honda Pilot transmission problems, you'll find more, but basically, the radiator goes bad and the coolant somehow infiltrates the transmission and displaces the oil and by the time it is discovered, your transmission is toast, more often than not. I got mad and stopped reading after a while, but at least for the 2005's and up there is no recall and Honda basically tells people too bad so sad. A lot of people had it happen at 70,000 miles, so I guess I'd be even madder if that happened.

She's not exactly a hot rodder, although she did probably hurt things by continuing to drive when the problems started. In all fairness, it was dark and she was on a rural back road, so she didn't really have a choice.
 
Shann said:
If you look on the internet for Honda Pilot transmission problems, you'll find more, but basically, the radiator goes bad and the coolant somehow infiltrates the transmission and displaces the oil and by the time it is discovered, your transmission is toast, more often than not. I got mad and stopped reading after a while, but at least for the 2005's and up there is no recall and Honda basically tells people too bad so sad. A lot of people had it happen at 70,000 miles, so I guess I'd be even madder if that happened.

She's not exactly a hot rodder, although she did probably hurt things by continuing to drive when the problems started. In all fairness, it was dark and she was on a rural back road, so she didn't really have a choice.
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Sorry to hear about your trouble. I think the best solution for that particular trans problem is to have a shop remove the OEM radiator cooler and replace it with a quality aftermarket unit. This of course should be done during the installation of the new or re-manufactured transmission. You should go to your local Honda dealership and talk with the service department. When I worked for Honda, I saw people get transmissions replaced that were out of warranty. There should be some sort of recall or service bulletin for the particular problem you have experienced.
 
Shann said:
If you look on the internet for Honda Pilot transmission problems, you'll find more, but basically, the radiator goes bad and the coolant somehow infiltrates the transmission and displaces the oil and by the time it is discovered, your transmission is toast, more often than not. I got mad and stopped reading after a while, but at least for the 2005's and up there is no recall and Honda basically tells people too bad so sad. A lot of people had it happen at 70,000 miles, so I guess I'd be even madder if that happened.



She's not exactly a hot rodder, although she did probably hurt things by continuing to drive when the problems started. In all fairness, it was dark and she was on a rural back road, so she didn't really have a choice.
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i would be raising pure T hell at the dealership and emaling honda multiple times. eventually honda will recall them and refund your money so keep ALL receipts and etc.. long story short toyota did this with our 05 corolla's computer
 
Just found out from my mechanic that I have exactly same problem with my 2005 pilot. It has 108 k miles on it and just passed 100k miles warranty few months ago. Problem started when my wife was driving this morning and I had to drive it to mechanic and was told it costs $4000. Now I have to look for my options.
 
raopati said:
Just found out from my mechanic that I have exactly same problem with my 2005 pilot. It has 108 k miles on it and just passed 100k miles warranty few months ago. Problem started when my wife was driving this morning and I had to drive it to mechanic and was told it costs $4000. Now I have to look for my options.
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Sorry to hear that. We ended up trading it in and getting a Subaru Forester. We replaced the radiator and the dealer "thought" that the transmission was okay. That didn't sound much like a guarantee to me so we got rid of it.
 
I like the forester, great car. On the up-side.. if you can call it that... in my limited experience, once an automatic transmission starts to fail, it will. nothing will "bring it back" so driving it home from a remote area, and getting home safe is better than leaving it. you didn't do any more damage. Sometimes if its just a fluid problem, that can be fixed and everything is fine, but actual damage to the clutches and plates is just that.
 
Honda makes great vehicles but they have had many auto transmission issues over the years and especially in their 6 cylinder engine models. It has been the same with their Acura badged vehicles. In the 4 cylinder models and all models is is imperative to change the transmission fluid often. I realize that this will not help the issue with the Pilot but is is necessary in Honda's. It just seems they have not perfected their 6 cylinder engine/auto trans. problem. I knew a guy in town who had three auto. trans put in his top of the line Acura RL before the issues was seemingly fixed.
Many are also saying that Honda quality has gone down recently............especially when the 2009 model year began. Even the new 2012 Honda Civic has been a flop and Honda has already announced a re-design for a car that was just recently unveiled. Meanwhile, Hyundai and Kia are becoming what Honda used to be.
 
Shann, I just read your thread and I am surprised. Things are happening to me exactly whatever happened to you. After my mechanic told me that I have to rebuild trany and replace radiator as the fluids mixed. Then I called dealer for advise and he said that there is no need to rebuild the trany but need to replace radiator. So I ended up having it fixed by dealer. He replaced radiator and flushed tranny few times and asked me to comeback after 1000 miles to have ti flushed trany few more times. So far it is running ok. My personal mechanic told me to trade it asap as he is not confident what dealer did. But as you said I am thinking to get rid of it soon. Probably I might go for Subaru Tribeca or Forester.
 
raopati said:
Shann, I just read your thread and I am surprised. Things are happening to me exactly whatever happened to you. After my mechanic told me that I have to rebuild trany and replace radiator as the fluids mixed. Then I called dealer for advise and he said that there is no need to rebuild the trany but need to replace radiator. So I ended up having it fixed by dealer. He replaced radiator and flushed tranny few times and asked me to comeback after 1000 miles to have ti flushed trany few more times. So far it is running ok. My personal mechanic told me to trade it asap as he is not confident what dealer did. But as you said I am thinking to get rid of it soon. Probably I might go for Subaru Tribeca or Forester.
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Our situation exactly. The dealer "thought" that with the radiator fixed the transmission was fine, but with 120K on the odometer, I wasn't willing to take a $4,000 gamble with the transmission. The only downside was that I was the one scheduled to get the next new vehicle and now that's pushed back a year or so, so I'm still driving my 9 year old Ranger with 140K on it.

I personally didn't care for the Tribeca. For the price difference, I liked the Outback or Forester better.
 
This is really interesting! My 2004 Pilot developed trans overheating at 85,000 miles. My wife loved that car so we sold it and bought a 2011. Just last week it was in for a "check engine" issue, turned out the catalytic converter had been damaged in shipping and needed to be replaced.

I hope this Pilot holds up, my wife put 20,000 milers on it the first year and she doesn't commute!

Win
 
Win Heger said:
This is really interesting! My 2004 Pilot developed trans overheating at 85,000 miles. My wife loved that car so we sold it and bought a 2011. Just last week it was in for a "check engine" issue, turned out the catalytic converter had been damaged in shipping and needed to be replaced.

I hope this Pilot holds up, my wife put 20,000 milers on it the first year and she doesn't commute!

Win
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Pretty amazing that in our little community so many people have had this problem! As far as I know, Honda never did a recall to fix the problems and just let their customers twist in the wind. As much as I liked the Honda, I'm going to be hard pressed ever to buy one again.
 
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