Head gasket failure on the 2003 Honda Odyssey
Only 3 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 head gasket failure gets reported
There are 4 reports of head gasket failure on the 2003 Honda Odyssey, 3 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 115,000 miles. It is the 28th most-reported problem on this model year.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | — | 147,000 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 $1,400–$4,000 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.
This mode is classified as critical, which means a failure can leave the car unable to stop, steer, or stay out of the way of traffic. It is weighted accordingly in the risk score.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 4 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2002, at a median of 60,000 miles, and latest on the 2003 at 145,000 miles.
By volume the 2002 carries the most reports, with 5; the 2003 has 4. 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.
Engine gasket failure. Noticed a small oil leak on the garage floor. We were told that a new head gasket was needed for $1,861. Got a call today and was told that the bolts in the engine were stripped (it has not been touched by anyone since manufacture) and that we can pay an additional $400 to have the bolts reseated or buy a used motor for $2,900. Neither seems fair. Transmission failed in october and was $5,200 but given a $1,800 discount. This is the 6th major repair to this van since its purchase as a new vehicle. The consumer wants to know if the complaints she found from other consumers that had similar problems with their vehicles like her were made at the same plant around the same time her vehicle was manufactured. Updated 01/05/10. *jb
Engine gasket failure. Noticed a small oil leak on the garage floor. We were told that a new head gasket was needed for $1,861. Got a call today and was told that the bolts in the engine were stripped (it has not been touched by anyone since manufacture) and that we can pay an additional $400 to have the bolts reseated or buy a used motor for $2,900. Neither seems fair. Transmission failed in october and was $5,200 but given a $1,800 discount. This is the 6th major repair to this van since its purchase as a new vehicle. The consumer wants to know if the complaints she found from other consumers that had similar problems with their vehicles like her were made at the same plant around the same time her vehicle was manufactured. Updated 01/05/10. *jb
I noticed quite a bit of oil leaking on the garage floor and took the vehicle in for service. I was told that the head gasket was leaking and there were 2 known issues that may be the cause: a head bolt issue or engine pitting. They wouldn't know until they 'opened it up'. It turned out to be the head bolt for cylinder #6, which they said seemed to be a known issue on the internet and other sites they had access to. Honda is even aware of this issue as they created a repair kit specifically for the issue. When our certified mechanic called the dealer, the dealer recommended replacing the engine, which was obviously way too expensive. They then recommended the time-sert thread repair kit. Once the mechanic got into things they also realized that 2 of the bolts were stripped, so they repaired both. I just got off the phone with honda automobile customer service and was basically told there is nothing they can (or will) do to help offset the $2500 repair cost for this known issue. It is terrible that honda offers no assistance despite this clearly being a defect in the strength of the bolt or the threading process. There are just too…
Also reported on the 2003 Honda Odyssey
Other powertrain problem
Complete transmission failure
Other body or interior problem
Other electrical problem
Other engine problem
Airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault
How far this goes
This page is kept out of search results because 4 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 4 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 head gasket failure happen on the 2003 Honda Odyssey?
Across 3 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 145,000 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 head gasket failure on the 2003 Honda Odyssey?
4 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