PhD in 4th gen Odyssey alternator swaps...

[Alex_V]

I have two customers with 4th gen Honda Odysseys. Both vans live a typical life of lots of around-town, sub-15 mile trips. No other complaints about the vans except the danged alternators - one failed at 99K, the other at 114. The Honda dealer is an hour drive away, and the OG alternators are friggin' pricey + not proving to be real long lived, so both got replaced with Advance Auto reman units. 116K-mile one lasted 1.5 yrs. (can't remember the mileage but it's not like they put 50K+ a year on it), and the 99K mile one lasted exactly 30K and 2.5 years. Thankfully I have a good relationship with the local AAP so getting replacements was no sweat, but this is starting to get unreasonable. I have more hands-on time with 3rd gen Odysseys of varying mileage and don't remember seeing the original alts fail anywhere near this early.

I just hope the one I replaced on a '15 Pathfinder (recently, 148K) outlasts their ownership/my proximity to the vehicle because that job is not for the faint of heart.

 

[14Accent]

Not much you can do with a cheap reman... I used Denso alternators exclusively and never had an issue.

Were either of them oil soaked? Valve cover/VTEC leaks will ruin any alternator in short order.

 

[Nick1994]

As they say, the cheap comes out expensive.

 

[ET16]

I saw an Odyssey the other with a great bumper sticker: "my other car is an Iliad."

 

[eljefino]

Believe that generation, or the one just before it, has faulty AC relays that drain the batteries when the vans are off. If driven daily this might not be noticed, but the alts will work overtime.

 

[brages]

On the Odyssey forums they will jump all over you with the "Denso reman only!" if you mention using a store alternator.

I did put an AAP one on years ago on the first ody I had, and I think it was ok although the alt light did come in a few times.

Oil leak from the spool valve is the top killer of Odyssey alternators. Consensus is you must replace the spool valve with a genuine Honda part, because it supposedly has a defect fixed in the original design. IMO, this is questionable.

The fact is that the spool valve gasket is not sold separately by Honda, and the fake gaskets s that look like they are sold by Honda are poor quality that will leak again quickly. I put a Dorman gasket on mine that has been holding up pretty good.