The End of the Road

[tledjazz]

After 8 years, seven months and almost 223,000 miles, the dreaded tranny jinx has killed the second installed gearbox in my '03 Pilot EX-L. Rather than pony up $3K for a rebuilt transmission in such an old vehicle, it would appear that my days as a Piloteer are coming to an unexpected end.

My oldest son was in second grade when we bought the Pilot. Now he's in high school. My middle son was an infant. He'll be nine in a few months. My youngest was still three years off. The old Pilot has served us well, but this transmission thing has left a bad taste in our mouth. To quote the letter I sent American Honda today, we are now former Honda customers.

It was a blast being an early adopter, but we've paid the price for buying a first year model. I'll update this thread when we make a final decision. Either way, best wishes to the Piloteer community.

[noanswer]

Originally Posted by tledjazz

After 8 years, seven months and almost 223,000 miles, the dreaded tranny jinx has killed the second installed gearbox in my '03 Pilot EX-L. Rather than pony up $3K for a rebuilt transmission in such an old vehicle, it would appear that my days as a Piloteer are coming to an unexpected end.

My oldest son was in second grade when we bought the Pilot. Now he's in high school. My middle son was an infant. He'll be nine in a few months. My youngest was still three years off. The old Pilot has served us well, but this transmission thing has left a bad taste in our mouth. To quote the letter I sent American Honda today, we are now former Honda customers.

It was a blast being an early adopter, but we've paid the price for buying a first year model. I'll update this thread when we make a final decision. Either way, best wishes to the Piloteer community.

If it's trouble free otherwise, I wouldn't give up on it yet...

Give these folks a call... Gator Transmissions

There have been a bunch of Odyssey owners that have used them or got their transmission from them and had them installed locally...

Gator Transmissions replaced mine and it's AWESOME! - Honda Odyssey Forum : Odyssey Minivan Forums

[95se]

My wife has always owned Honda's and refuses to drive anything else. Our '05 Pilot is her 5th Honda over 20+ years. The transmission has ended the life of 3 of her 4 previous Honda's (the 4th being traded in for the pilot when the first kid arrived). I fully expect the transmission will fail on this pilot as well, which is why we'll trade it in before we hit 100k miles. I'm not just bashing. We'll be buying another pilot (hopefully the '12). My brother just traded in his '03 odyssey with a failing tranny and also bought another Honda. For all the positives of a Honda, the trannys have been the Achilles's heal for 25+ years.

[sblvro]

close to 188k miles on the original engine and tranny. hope I don't eat my words but regular maintenance is the key!

[rocky]

So how many miles did each tranny last?

BTW, the insurer for a friend with 190k on his 03 and original tranny just dropped $8k in repairs after an accident. Your Pilot repaired would make a great car for your high schooler to use and take to College.