Oil leak on the 2003 Honda Accord
Only 4 reports for this mode came with an odometer reading, which is too few for percentiles to mean anything. The page is here because someone linked to it; treat the figures as anecdotes, and see the full report for this year instead.
When oil leak gets reported
There are 5 reports of oil leak on the 2003 Honda Accord, 4 with a mileage attached. That is too few to place the failure on the odometer with any confidence.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 95,000 miles. It is the 47th most-reported problem on this model year.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | — | 106,000 miles | — | — |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Putting it right typically runs $250–$2,200 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 18 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2016, at a median of 200 miles, and latest on the 2004 at 150,000 miles.
By volume the 1996 carries the most reports, with 11; the 2003 has 5. A mode that appears across most years of a model is usually a design choice rather than a bad batch.
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
On october 20, 2010 I took my car to the honda dealer to change my transmission fluid as regular maintenance job on my 2003 honda accord ex-v6. They told me that they found that I needed to replace the rear main seal on my transmission due to regular wear and tear. However, I didn't do so at the time since it was going to cost $900 to do so. On october 29, 2010 my transmission started jerking my car as it was slipping while I was driving on the highway at 70 MPH. I towed my car to a reputable transmission shop and the cost to replace the parts was $2,956. I found many forums with hundreds of people with the same problem on the year and model. This is a lemon car that honda made and they need to man up, pay up, and recall these vehicles!
As a result of the recall on the power steering hose deteriorating, my power steering pump went out. I paid $700.00 getting it fixed in january 2013. I was told by honda of tiffany springs that my power steering pump going out had nothing to do with the hose deteriorating. I trusted them and had it fixed and paid in full. I took my car to another very trusted mechanic and was told otherwise. Since then, dealing with honda of tiffany springs has been a nightmare! About two weeks ago my steering started making a really weird noise. Low and behold, honda of tiffany springs told me my power steering pump was out again. Another $700.00 to fix it...they show no records of ever replacing my power steering pump, therefore there is no warranty. I have contacted an attorney about honda of tiffany springs. Not only have they lied about my power steering and stolen money from me on parts that were clearly under recall or warranty, they have stripped my oil pan plug for the second time and my car was leaking oil all over my garage. I paid my trusted mechanic to fix that problem not once but twice, which honda of tiffany springs should pay me…
Vehicle transmission has been hesitating for over a year. Dealership insisted that there was nothing wrong. Two months ago I was told the rear main seal may need to be replaced soon. Three days ago the car violently shifted into a lower gear and nearly caused the vehicle to be rear ended. I'm told that the transmission now needs to be rebuilt or replaced. When I contacted american honda I spoke to a customer services representative by the name of sopana. He first told me that because my car was over 120k mile honda would not provide any goodwill assistance, I reminded him my car was at 115k mile, he was then flustered and said well I mean 100k mile or whatever. *tr
Also reported on the 2003 Honda Accord
Other powertrain problem
Complete transmission failure
Other body or interior problem
Other electrical problem
Other engine problem
Premature brake pad or rotor wear
How far this goes
This page is kept out of search results because 5 reports is not enough to publish percentiles from. It stays reachable because somebody looking at this exact car would rather see the reports than be told there are none.
Complaints are voluntary, so 5 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does oil leak happen on the 2003 Honda Accord?
Across 4 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 105,000 miles. A quarter were filed before — and a quarter after —. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is oil leak on the 2003 Honda Accord?
5 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.0 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed