2002 Honda Accord Coupe V6 any known issues?

[Rolla07]

Friend of mine is having one inspected tomorrow to buy it. About 70k miles only..I dont know much about that car/year. Its an auto trans also. Anyone know of anything to pay special attention to? Any known issues/trouble areas? Any advice appreciated

 

[slacktide_bitog]

The transmissions on those cars are TERRIBLE! Even with frequent fluid changes, they can still fail before 100k.

Applies to every V6 Honda of the time. Accord V6, TL, Odyssey, etc.

 

[mclasser]

The ATs on those V6s are known to grenade.

 

[The_Eric]

An awesome engine coupled to a terrible transmission, stuck into a great car.

 

[Nick1994]

Yup to all the above.

If he can find one with a 5-speed go for it.

It doesn't matter that this has low mileage, the transmission will grenade at any time

 

[spackard]

Another thing - the multi CD changer has a weak spring and eventually it jams.

 

[Schmoe]

Autotrans and sometimes the paint.

 

[KrisZ]

My friend has an 04 Acura TL and sure enough his tranny did grenade at about 100k mile mark. It's pretty much a guarantee.

 

[Charlie2015]

Great car; just keep some money saved up for when the transmission fails. Also, I would check if the timing belt and water pump have been done yet. The 3.0 and 3.2L V6 engines are non-interference, but you don't want to get stuck somewhere with a crank/no-start situation. It is common for the power steering to leak near the P/S pump. This generation accord is the first to have a cabin air filter, too. It's fairly labor intensive to get to.

 

[columnshift]

If that's the same 5 speed automatic as on the 2003 (I dont know if it is from 2002) it commits suicide shortly after 100k. Previous roommate had one that died at 103k just after warranty and ate $3500 out of pocket to replace it - Honda told him to pound sand after his 100k extended warranty was up.

I'm told the problems were fixed in later transmissions - ie a replacement should hopefully not die as quickly - but i'd either get a line on a newer junkyard swap to put on the shelf for the likely fail within a couple years or bargain the price down accordingly.

 

[darryld13]

The 2002 did NOT have problematic 5-speed automatic transmissions - 2003 was the year that the 5-speed was introduced for the Accord. The 2002 4-speed automatic transmissions were pretty reliable and had the bugs worked out.

 

[dmark]

2002 had the 4 sp. I copied below from an earlier post of mine regarding the Odyssey but some applies.

99-01: 4 speed, some bearing problems(or defects?). I have a 2001/80k+ mi, a great car. No regrets.
02-03: 5 speed. Design defect, insufficient oiling of 3rd gear. Recall was issued in 2003 to install ATF line from drain plug to fill hole. Would need to pump out and fill fluid through dipstick. This is the problem that gave Honda transmissions a bad rep.
04: Check VIN; early 04 had previous tran and later had 05.
05-06: New housing to add ATF line internally to 3rd gear.
07-current non-Touring: 5 speed Ridgeline tranny used is much tougher. Best tranny for v6.