New-to-me OG 1995 Honda Odyssey. It replaced the Hyundai Accent (which went on to a musician and now carries drum sets around the USA).
Ended up with some cash leftover from the whole deal, so can't complain there .
Bought the Odyssey in Raleigh and drove it to Charlotte. It almost made it...
- Vehicle Speed Sensor gave up the ghost 30mins from Charlotte, causing the speedometer to freak out, transmission start to throw codes, and a check engine light to top it all off. The van kept on going though, so a $100 DuraLast VSS was picked up before I got home that day. Installed it next morning and so far so good.
- All evidence points to this van sitting somewhere for a long time... Tires were so dry rotted that I fully expected them to blow any second, but they made it! Yay! Tried to find some Acura TL Type S "Waffles" on marketplace, but they seem to go for TE37 & RPF1 prices these days... So I found a set of these Acura TL wheels with new tires for $430. Another yay! These tires are larger than stock, but actually ended up correcting the speedometer speed VS GPS.
- The van has a fresh valve cover gasket, as well as new timing belt and water pump. Yay, don't have to worry about that for a while. Thanks previous owner.
- The biggest issue was the smell... I'm actively battling that with my "Little Green" extractor. Got the back half of the van done, smell is gone 85%, still gotta finish the front half.
- Initially the van was making the typical Honda smoke cloud under WOT. I approached that issue by draining the oil and refilling with 2 bottles (~1qt total) of STP Synthetic Engine flush and 3qts of Castrol Edge 10W-30. Ran that at idle for 30 mins. Drained, refilled with SuperTech 15W-40. After 100 miles drained that too and swapped the oil filter. Refilled with more SuperTech 15W-40. No more smoke clouds. Yay!
- Cruise Control didn't work, but a small adjustment on the brake light switch fixed it.
- Currently the van returns 20-21MPG, which is quite low apparently. I suspect a stuck OPEN thermostat is the issue, since the temp gauge never goes above the level on the picture below, over the last 500+ miles. So I'll swap the thermostat next I guess.
- Other issues are just these lights. Haven't tried to deal with them yet. SRS is always on. ABS comes and goes as it pleases. If you got any pointers, chime in below. Thanks!
- This van is quite nice. (Only dads get to say this ) Needs a tint though, ASAP... Literally a fish bowl. But AC works to its best ability. Pretty acceptable, considering the age and technology.
Never thought I'd actually be excited about an AUTOMATIC 4-banger Honda from the 90s... But I am, at least for now I also now realize how much I missed cruise control.
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