I need some help from all you Honda Accord guys (and gals) out there.

Ever since I can remember, I've loved the styling of this generation. Now that I'm old enough to buy my own car, I was looking into buying one for myself.



As any smart used car buyer would do, I did some research about these model years to see any big problems / defects. I found something that really disappointed me. I read that the automatic transmissions, espeically for the V6 models, had "an almost 100% failure rate." The transaxle would break down and clog the fliter, in turn starving the transmission for fluid, causing the transmission to slip.

I find this hard to wrap my head around, surely Honda couldn't make something that terrible. It wasn't the complaint that bothered me more than the actual number of these horror stories... all of which seemed to be identical. I can remember my family owning a 2001 Honda Accord which we bought brand new in the summer of 2001 (I think I'm remembering that correctly.... oh well.) We only recently got rid of it, and it had 166,000 miles on it. Not once can I remember hearing my parents or my sister (Who drove it from 2006 until this summer) complain about the transmission.

Is there any truth to these stories? I know Honda automatic transmissions take a certain type of automatic fluid, but do these transmissions that seemed to have been plagued with mushy torque converters only fail if you fail to maintain them properly? I know that the owners manual says that every 30,000 miles you should do some transmission service. I also read that the replacements offered by the Honda extended warrenty weren't any better, some only lasting 75,000 miles or less.

Any and all input would be appreciated.

 

They were apparently more problems than usual, but certainly not all Accords of this vintage suffered trans failure, far from it. I don't know statistics but would suspect failure rate at < 5%. Thats huge if normal is 1-2%

You should be able to find a good unit but pay close attention to maintenance on the trans.

You might want to consider going for a 2003 model.

good luck

 

I'm not sure if you want an automatic or manual transmission. The manual transmission for the 98-02 accords did not have the problems of the automatics.

If you decide to go with an automatic, you may want to find out if the 94-97 automatic transmissions would work with your accord, because they did not have the premature failures.

 

Thanks for the input. I went to look at a 2000 coupe today, V6 model. The transmission felt fine, and the car ran well. Drove well too. There was only two hairs in the soup...

The first was the price. They were asking $4,800 when it had 131,000 miles on it.

Secondly, it was a few hours away, so I couldn't take it to a mechanic I trust to get an honest opinion about the cars condition. Sigh. Though, good things come to those who wait.