Ownership Verified: My American Japanese: 2003 Honda Odyssey

I kinda need two sets of rims. I have no idea what the GDPO has done.

Summer rims look all like this one:


This is the worst of winter rims:

2016-10-29_03-43-14

Voyager has the same bolt pattern and only 10mm difference in offset. Also the hub is larger in voyager but I have spigot rings in order so I can use the studded Hankooks GV has in this.

CRV has exactly correct dimensions, so I try to find couple sets from that. I doubt I can get original Odyssey rims with reasonable price so another model has to be accepted.

The power antenna did not work so I tore dashboard open to check connections.

2016-10-29_03-42-37

The wire could not be found, and I felt quite stupid when I found out why. This does not have a power antenna. :mrgreen:

Found out one issue, there is a leak somewhere, roof is wet where it meets the A pillar. Door sealing looks fine so I think it could be a bad windshield replacement job that causes this. I will ask service to check on Monday if they can fix it.

2016-10-29_03-42-04
 
I had some moisture like that in the E34, I think. It only appeared when I parked the car in a certain way.
 
I forgot to mention but remembered after seeing that interior photo - you can slide the passenger side 2nd row captains chair to the right to separate the two - they (and Mazda) did this on their vans so people could have the best of both a 2nd row bench (easy 3rd row access) and captains chairs (kid separation)
 
Yeah, I'm testing both versions. Both have their plus sides with kids...

As a bench it is good that exiting third row does not wake up sleeping kids in the middle. Unfortunately the seat belts are not integrated to the seats, so they are a bit in the way of third row access.

As captain chairs they are a bit easier to buckle up when you don't need to reach as far in the middle of the car.

Ps. I did not make this up either

2016-10-30_12-57-45
 
Last edited:
luokyio said:
Found out one issue, there is a leak somewhere, roof is wet where it meets the A pillar. Door sealing looks fine so I think it could be a bad windshield replacement job that causes this. I will ask service to check on Monday if they can fix it.

2016-10-29_03-42-04
Click to expand...

My girlfriend has a 2003 Honda Jazz, that also had a roof leak... through cracked sealant under the rubber strips on the roof. Try removing the rubber strip from the roof and look for cracks under them. On Jazz removing the rubber strip was really easy:
Push the rear of the molding forward to release the rear bracket, lift the rear, pull the molding back to release the front bracket and remove. It takes about 2 seconds and no tools are required.
Click to expand...
 
Thanks for the tip, I will try that!
 
Service found one worn bushing, nothing else negative news. Even the old transmission fluid was fine, no metallic particles was found. Next service scheduled for Friday to get the worn bushing changed, and also they check if timing belt looks newish and change it if it does not. Annoying service history: full of stamps but no info what was done each time. So pretty much everything will be changed now to get a good starting point for ownership. Today engine and transmission got new fluids, air filters and brake fluids were replaced too.

samulis said:
Apollo XIII spaceship's name was Odyssey.
Hard to imagine how it looks IRL as sister's grand voyager is huge and if this is bigger.
Click to expand...

Odyssey is tiny bit longer and taller but a bit narrower. Inside not really a difference in real life. Trunk is more usable in Odyssey because it goes deeper than the floor, whereas Voyager has a flat floor everywhere.
 
Last edited:
Waiting on cam belt kit to arrive from the US, delivery got delayed so the belt check is pending too. During tire swap (two tires got stuck on when annoying rusty torx nuts would not budge, so had to get some help...) service noticed that power steering cooler is leaking. They bypassed it for time being (probably not an issue, as we're at -10?C with no sign of warming up) and ordered a new cooler.

In the meantime got the adapter rings for Voyager's steelies, and put them on with fake Honda hubcaps I bought off ebay. Crappy quality on the hubcaps, as expected. Two of them cracked on first install. But hey, I guess you get what you pay for. Still better than the horrible alloys that came with the car.





Also found new summer shoes. 17" original CRV rims, managed to get them for just 150 ?. Almost perfect condition, two of them have really minor marks. Already ordered 225/55R17 Nankang tires from Camskill, ~250 GBP shipped. Some 50 ? more to get them on wheels, altogether quite cheap set.



Also trying to improve the lights with new bulbs, haven't installed yet so cannot comment on the difference.

 
luokyio said:
Two of them cracked on first install. But hey, I guess you get what you pay for.
Click to expand...
Apparently it isnt direct fit for the gv steelies? I had some problems with Citroen steelies and hubcaps because of some differences on the "lip"
luokyio said:
Also trying to improve the lights with new bulbs, haven't installed yet so cannot comment on the difference.
Click to expand...
Brighter but I heard shorter lifespan... interested to see what you think about them vs old ones.
 
My Volvo has H4 bulbs, and fairly good headlights i believe at least, got similar bulbs as you got too.

Don't think i've had a car with anything else than H4s... are the others really that much different when it comes to light? i mean.. most other bulbs look tiny.
 
I don't think theres a great difference between different halogen bulb types (H4, H7, H1, etc). Reflector or lens design has much larger effect to the light output than the type of halogen bulb utilised.
 
Last edited:
sifu said:
Brighter but I heard shorter lifespan... interested to see what you think about them vs old ones.
Click to expand...

Installed them. Cannot really tell the difference tbh. Passenger side swapped in this picture.



Also swapped the headunit. The old was blue, which was really annoying in the dark. This has RGB lights, so I could get the color match quite well to the dashboard lights. However the hole in the dash isn't quite big enough for standard 2-din surroundings. It is like 3 millimeters too small. The headunit itself fits fine, but the plastic surrounding that should cover the gap between the radio and the dashboard doesn't fit. I ordered a custom trim for Hondas, which hopefully solves this: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/252164349604




New plates! This small model fits so much better to the US holder than the oldfashioned bigger plate.

 
Last edited:
villej said:
I don't think theres a great difference between different halogen bulb types (H4, H7, H1, etc). Reflector or lens design has much larger effect to the light output than the type of halogen bulb utilised.
Click to expand...
The biggest difference between H4 and the others is that H4 has high and low beam in the same bulb and you can't use both at the same time. I did some night driving with a H4 car recently for the first time in years and it felt strange at first when the road in front of me went dark when I put the highbeams on.

sifu said:
Brighter but I heard shorter lifespan... interested to see what you think about them vs old ones.
Click to expand...
You can have lifespan or light output, but not both. Take your pick.

My experience with all these uprated bulbs is that the H4 ones are noticeably better while the H7 ones are a bit less so. I think the H7 bulb is stressed as is, there's not much you can do to improve light output without sacrificing lifespan too much. Many cars eat through H7:s like crazy to begin with.
 
Cam belt and worn bushing replaced. All was well, for two hours. Ignition lock started to get stuck and is more and more difficult to operate... Ordered new lock now, hopefully gets here soon,as I don't dare to drive it now...
 
Last edited:
Ignition lock took three weeks to arrive, and then... It was for 2008 model... So did not fit. They had to send both old and new lock to a locksmith on another town, who replaced the insides from the new to the old, so now it works. Apparently it is better and improved version of what the correct lock would have been, but anyway works now.
 
Last edited:
yikes, I was wondering what happened. Hurray on getting it back together!
 
First time ever I had car repaired under warranty. Airbag inflators, upgraded pipe to transmission and upgraded part to ignition lock got replaced today at manufacturer's money. Now crashing is safe again!
 
luokyio said:
First time ever I had car repaired under warranty. Airbag inflators, upgraded pipe to transmission and upgraded part to ignition lock got replaced today at manufacturer's money. Now crashing is safe again!
Click to expand...

How does it work if the car was never sold in Finland. Wouldn't that give all sorts of headaches to your local Honda dealer?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top