I have 2000 Odyssey with 114,000 miles. No problems so far. Knock on wood!
-jasper

Jasper, you're lucky! I do like my van, considering it's a van and all! LOL! Since the repairs it's running well, and I am going to keep my fingers crossed just incaseÂ

I hope I won't need to the transmission for my 2002. You have a link. But both rear quarter windows are not working. I don't think Honda will cover that.

Yuck! My 2001 Odyssey EX just lost it's transmission at 144,000 miles. We had an Accord and Civic that both ran their original transmissions past the 200,000 mile mark. But, not the Odyssey. Ouch!!$$!!

A friend of mine lost his transmission in his Honda Odyssey after 70,000 miles. It was either out of warranty or nearing the out of warranty mark. At first, the dealer said he would have to replace the transmission and mentioned nothing about and corporate help with the cost.

At this point, I did an on-line search and found that Honda had admitted to a problem with some of their tranmsissions (in certain years) and was replacing or repairing these at the company's expense, but did not spread the word. Some service technicians had not been informed by their management about the coverage. It was like pulling hen's teeth to get the coverage, but my friend did get his covered by putting Honda's service bulletin before their eyes.

Do you want to know the "REAL DIRTY SECRET" about special policy warranties? Let me get some data so you can see what actually happens.

Honda Odyssey transaxle, remove and install, and overhaul. Mitchell Labor time guide is 15 hours.

Honda Odyssey transaxle remove and install remanufactured unit, Mitchell labor time guide is 8.1 hours.

These are the approximate labor times you should expect to pay if this repair is being done at the dealer, or at an independent. But the manufacturer does not pay Mitchell times. They establish their own times, and it's quite often only 50-60% of the the Mitchell times!

Imagine yourself going to work today, you expect to get "a full days pay" for your efforts. Somewhere through the day a customer has an issue and SOMEONE ELSE decides it's in the companies best interest to take care of the customer, so they do what ever it takes for free. You are the person assigned to do the task, and you work just as hard, as any other day, maybe even harder in some cases. Then for the trouble you had to deal with when you get your paycheck, you see you only got paid for 1/2 of the day, even though you worked the full day. You didn't cause the customers problem, but if you were not involved in it, you would have made your normal wage for the day.

That's a pretty good example of what happens to dealer techs when a car that is out of warranty, suddenly gets adjusted into warranty.

Now I'll ask you. If this happened once or twice, it would probably be no big deal, right? What if it happened once or twice a week? Would that paycut hurt you? What if it happened all of the time, and it got to the point that it was rare to "get your full days wages"? Would YOU go out of your way to find out if something should be under a warranty for a customer? If the customer is truly loyal to the business, most will say "sure". But what if this "customer" is only seen in times like the transmission failure?

BTW, take note I'm not proposing any answers to this situation, I only am trying to make it clear what is occurring on the other side of the garage door.

Magic warranties are one of the reasons I left the dealer world. I could not afford to continue to subsidize the dealer, nor the manufacturer(s).

That is called " flat rate ". I've worked that way for 35
years. The word WARRANTY is a very bad word in the tech
language. now Straight Time is the good word. Prime exp.
I have a 95 taurus that needs the E.G.R. tube replaced.
Warranty says 1.5 hours. Flat rate is 2 hours. It's actually easier to pull the motor to replace this tube.
I replaced one tube after the motor was removed for trans.
repair and it took me 3/4 hour with a oxy- acetaline torch.
The exhaust end of that tube is NOT visible when the
engine is in the car. One dealer i know charges 6 hours
to change that tube off warranty. If you know how to use a
pencil you can make a lot of money even at warranty. I know how to use a pencil. I used to average 12 - 14 hours a
day flat rate. I didn't starve. Mind you, you had better
be very good friends with the time keeper and tower operator. They can make or brake you.

The biggest problem with flat rate is IT ISN'T FLAT!!!!

Your right john. I could turn a one hour flat rate into 3 if i didn't like the customer or repair it in half hour
if i needed the money. We had a guy doing transmissions. He
was doing 1 a day sometimes 2 and that included R and R.
The time keeper was having a BIG problem trying to figure
out how to pay him. He wouldn't dare submit the time to
G.M. because G.M. would drop the flat rate and every transmission guy would suffer if they couldn't be as fast
as our guy. I had the same problem with G.M.'s heater
motor speeds. No low or medium but high blower would work.
It was electrical and straight time warranty. I'd fix it in
10 minuets, run the clock and go to the bar for a few hours. If i punched off on this car in 10 minuets G.M.
would have put in a campaign for ten minuets and screwed
every one repairing this problem. Yes,i Could go to the bar. I was that good and they knew it. They never bothered me. Mind you i NEVER came back to work drunk and customers
were never allowed in our stalls. If a customer got back to
our stall we were told to lock our tool box and leave the floor until the customer was removed and the clock kept
running. Too bad i retired. I'd love to get back to the dealership. I actually miss it. Nothing important. Just
some good old memories i had. The kids that i taught still
go to the bar at lunch. Not much has changed. These kids are very good at what they do. Actually the entire staff of most dealerships i know hit the bar at lunch. The best thing about working at a dealership is the car is still clean. No grease or rust. Oh Yah. Here is the bad thing about working in the automotive trade and working at home too. You need two sets of tools. Big money.

I only have time for a couple of quick hits here.

1. If the guys were making the kind of money that they should earn as a career, none of them would work at home on the side. They would have lives. like everyone else.

2. I disagree with the "go to the bar" routine. As a business owner I would not tolerate it at all. Don't get me wrong I LIKE my beer. It's in the fridge at home, waiting for me when I get done at work.

3. My customers enter my FRONT door. They can talk to me "almost" anytime. Sometimes the demands of the job when assembling an item, or especially during diagnostics do not readily permit me to be distracted. But otherwise, the open nature of my shop makes for a better customer relationship.

If a tech drinks during the day, he/she may still perform at a certain level of technical competence, but to think that level isn't impeeded is a mistake. The "stereotype" portraited by running time as you outlined, and going to the bar, are IMO exactly the reasons many techs don't earn the living they should be at their jobs, and end up doing side work. I do everything that I can to break that stereotype.

Actually we were policed very carefully. We hit the bar at lunch. Sometimes. Usually at pay day because we cash our
cheques there. No tech in his or her right mind works on a
customer's car drunk. You are automaticaly fired. We have to make the dealership at least seventy five percent of our
wages to keep the stall open or your fired. No i don't work
on the side. My second set of tools is for my our use at
home and one set at work. I see cars 8 hours a day. I don't
work at home. We were payed very well. Mind you that was
back then. Our transmission guy made $47,000.00 one year
and averaged $45,000.00. That was in 1982. As i said before our time keeper had one hell of a time trying to
figure out how to pay him without G.M. finding out and lowering the flat rate. There is the bad side though. If you get a " come back " you do it for free as in you don't
get payed. not one dime. You can also get a debit. That
happends if your sick and not at work and another tech works on your come back. The money you made on that car from before is removed and given to the other tech. Three debits in one year and you are usually gone. If your not
running time, specialy on warranty, you go broke. Evacuate
and recharge an A.C. on warrany pays .8 You make damn sure you find something else wrong with it and run time on it.
You don't do that to a customer but you stick it to the
factory warranty big time. That is how you make money.
I did very well for a 30 year old tech. back then. I realy
don't know what is happening with the new techs. now. I've
seen and read things on this site that have happened to
customer's and their cars. If any of that stuff happened
when i was working the tech would be gone in an hour. It's
not the same any more.

1982. I was a 22yr/old, brand new ASE CMAT. Ford CTP zone first place winner, second place regional. (First place in the region won a trip). Had our first and only child on the way, and switched from being a Ford tecnician to being a GM one. (Started out on used cars for them).

The steel mills were all in their third year of shutting down as the industry in the area collapsed. I averaged four carb overhauls a week, somewhere around ten state inspections, and the associated repairs, and could R&R and rebuild up to two automatic tranny's in a single day.

I was making $6.50/hr, not flat rate hourly. The Ford dealer tried to offer me a $0.25 raise to stay. The GM dealer gave me $7.25/hr flat rate. Four years later (1986) I took first place in the nation in the GM Master Technician examination for Buick. I was making $8.50/hr flat rate...

I was the second highest paid technician in the shop, the "experienced" shop foreman made slightly more.

$40,000+ in a year is something I never saw until I started out on my own...... My wife has never worked before I went on my own and when that happened she worked for me.

Any wonder why I hate the stereotype?

The numbers you posted didn't exist in this area, and for probably 80% of techs still don't even today.

Probably because our cost of living is the highest in Canada. Our provincial income tax is 37% our federal tax is
18%. I seem to recall in 82 our flat rate was $10.50 per hour and the labour rate was $32.00, maybe $30.00 ?
Barry and myself were trimmers, you know what they are, and were offered a garranty of 6 hours a day flat rate.
We both refused because you have to stay there 8 hour to collect. If there is nothing in my stall i go home even if
it's 2 in the afternoon. We both threatened to quit one
afternoon and go to work for Ford. We got our flat rate up
to $12.75. That is $25,500.00 in a 200 work day year.
I remember those Master Technician exams. Every tech participated in those. I have a drawer full from Ford,G.M.
Chrysler, and Toyota. No offence but they didn't mean much.
They didn't increase your wages. Our average labour rate
now is between $85.00 to $105.00 per hour. If you go to a
Specialest dealer like B.M.W. , or Jaguar it is about $150.00 to $200.00 per hour. Now that is the place to work.
I'ts usually straight time and if your good and don't mine
night mares you write your own ticket. I remember working
For Canadian Tire in the 70s making $15,000 - $20,000 a
year. We were payed half of the labour rate plus commision
on parts. It was good. Just a follow up on customers in our stalls. That was an absolte NO,NO. The insurance company took a very dim view of that. If my customer was waiting for his car i could go and bring him to his car if
i had questions. I had to escort him to and from his car.
Now that you mention it. I remember working for Dominion
Motors ( ford ). The service shop was on the second floor.
A horrible place to work. Hot as hell and you froze in the
winter. Everything was done on the floor. No lifts. That was 1975. They payed $8.50 an hour just to get someone to
work for them. They were the highest paying dealer in the
city. Seems no one wants to pay any more to keep their guys. My nephew started out last month on the grease rack for Ford. They are only paying him $12.00 per hour straight time. He wants to go into diesle mechanics. They only pay $15.00 per hour for first year appentice. No wonder no one wants to work anymore. Don't get me wrong.
I'm not a smart mouth. You don't servive up here very long at $15.00 per hour with our cost of living. Here is an
example. An A.C. tech on a commercial job or roof top
makes $47.17 per hour. An industrial A.C. tech. on a 20 ton chiller makes $52.73 per hour. If you bring your home
computer into a shop for servicing or virus removal it's
$90.00 per hour. If you bring in a brake rotor for turning it's $30.00 each. $22.00 for a new one. Spin balance a tire is $18.00 each plus weights. In 1992 i was being payed $27.00 per hour installing gas pipe in new homes and
i was the low man on the pole. Just a little F.Y.I. on this side of the border. Have a good one.

Forgot one thing. Our gas is now $5.40 a galon. It will be
$6.00 before summer vacation starts. They do that here.
After September the gas price goes down again.