[PainlessDeath09]

Originally Posted by ImportedLlama

I don’t think it’s fair to judge honda too harshly on this. After all it was not an official honda quote/offer. This was proposed to me by the senior technician off the record. If anything the blame falls on him. I have rejected the offer and proceeded with the transmission overhaul from sehmbi. I will keep everyone updated as time goes on.

Hey!

Any update on your transmission issues?

I myself have a 2003 Accord 2.4 that I purchased as my first car right out of college about a year back and I’ve been following your ownership journey closely for a while.

I’m quite keen on what’s being done to the car as not a lot of ownership stories of the 7th gen V6 here.


Here’s to hoping you can get your “Toothless” back on the road!

[ImportedLlama]

Originally Posted by PainlessDeath09

Hey!

Any update on your transmission issues?

Hey man! I’m really glad to know that people enjoy the stuff I’m posting and my journey through it. As of now, there are no major updates.

The car is still at SEHMBI Bangalore after two and a half months, mainly because the one-way gear has broken. They told me this part never fails, which is why the build has been delayed. Sourcing the part has been a challenge, but they’ve finally gotten it, and I have given them an advance payment of 25k.

The part will be shipped out from overseas soon, and once it arrives at the workshop, I plan on going there to check it out. I really appreciate you following along, and I wish you many happy miles with your Accord.

I’ll come back once I have some more updates on the car. Here’s hoping Toothless is back on the road and shredding the streets!

[PainlessDeath09]

Originally Posted by ImportedLlama

Hey man! I’m really glad to know that people enjoy the stuff I’m posting and my journey through it.

Haha yes, I’ve even tried contacting you via the Instagram page you have for your car but it seems inactive. I’ve been keenly following since I was pretty much dead set on getting a V6 7th gen myself before settling for my 2.4 last minute due to all the reports of the transmission failures. I also considered buying one regardless and fixing the transmission if I did face issues but didn’t do so considering I didn’t have the requisite people in my circles who I know have done such a thing in mass and threads dedicated to such stuff are quite rare as well.

The car is still at SEHMBI Bangalore after two and a half months, mainly because the one-way gear has broken. They told me this part never fails, which is why the build has been delayed. Sourcing the part has been a challenge, but they’ve finally gotten it, and I have given them an advance payment of 25k.

The part will be shipped out from overseas soon, and once it arrives at the workshop, I plan on going there to check it out.

Ah. What’s estimated total damage done to your wallet? And what part is this exactly? Where's it coming from? Do you have a part number?

I’d love to have a deep dive and see exactly what went wrong. Before I settled for my 2.4, I spent the better part of 6 months trying to gain a deep understanding of everything 7th gen Accord related, to try and understand the car mechanically, inside out. I am slightly mechanically inclined and have worked with cars but never anything complex so many hours were spent scouring the forums and speaking to numerous Honda techs and specialists both in India and overseas.

From my research, as far as the transmission is concerned, it seems that there is a design flaw with the Hondamatic transmissions that were in the V6 Accords and Odysseys of the time where the the outer ring of the primary and secondary shaft bearings can fail because they weren’t built with the required tolerances. Due to the insufficiently sized bearings, with time and kms driven, it overheats, turns blue and breaks.

The second gear clutch pack is also prone to excessive wear and its failure can cause the car to slip like it’s in neutral whenever the car downshifts from 3rd to second or upshifts from 2nd to 3rd(anytime the clutches were engaged).

The 2.4L K24 Accords were unaffected by the transmission issues which is why I finally settled for one.

The 8th gen Accord mitigated these failures by stronger and sounder design and also by having the TCU cut the throttle for a split second during hard shifts. But the 8th gen V6 came with VCM issues that opens up a whole different can of worms which is why I didn’t even bother with that one when buying my Accord.

The transmission failures of the 7th gen V6s were common enough for Honda to issue active TSBs and later a free recall. The initial quick-fix involved installing a "jet-kit" that squirts trans fluid over the 2nd gear bearings and hoping that it doesn't overheat but this was a band aid fix and only delayed the inevitable failure.

Soon enough, Honda was served with a class action lawsuit and a 1 million+ vehicle recall was issued in 2004. Of course, with the Accord being quite rare in India back then, the V6s even more so, none of the recalls made it to India.

Fun fact, the bearing and clutch pack failure was happening primarily when the car was driven softly or primarily driven with light to medium throttle. The softer gear changes would spin the clutch a lot more than it was designed to handle and would keep the bearing slipping for longer to ensure smooth, imperceptible shifts. Interestingly, Accord V6s owned by younger and/or enthusiast folks back in the day who were prone to "gunning it" with full throttle faced a lesser rate of failure.
Before the issue cropped up, you would've noticed that the time taken for the transmission to shift felt slightly longer and the shifting operation itself a lot softer when you drove with a light foot compared to the harsher shifting with a slight jerk(ever so slightly, easy to miss) when if you floor the throttle. This softer shifting that takes longer than the harsh "quick-shift" is the TCU slipping the clutch and hence the bearing.

I’ll come back once I have some more updates on the car. Here’s hoping Toothless is back on the road and shredding the streets!

Haha yes, here's to hoping indeed. Do keep us posted on how things go. Hopefully your car is back on the road soon with that V6 roaring like it's supposed to!

[ImportedLlama]

Originally Posted by PainlessDeath09

Haha yes, I’ve even tried contacting you via the Instagram page you have for your car but it seems inactive.

Yeah my I’m inactive on that instagram page haha, while doing my research on my car before buying I did see that the transmission failed on the V6 5AT but since these failures were reported at 200000 miles+ in the USA I thought I’d be safe since mine only had an equivalent of 60000 miles when I bought it. Sheer dumb luck I guess.

What’s estimated total damage done to your wallet? And what part is this exactly? Where's it coming from? Do you have a part number?

The initial quote given was 80k but that has jumped by 25k since a part that wasn’t supposed to be broken had broken. It’s a part of the planetary gear system, and the sprag bearing. I’m not too sure exactly what this is but from what I can tell it’s a part of the 1st and 2nd gear clutch systems. I think it’s the bearing and the actual gear itself but again I’m not too sure.

I’d love to have a deep dive and see exactly what went wrong. Before I settled for my 2.4, I spent the better part of 6 months trying to gain a deep understanding of everything 7th gen Accord related, to try and understand the car mechanically, inside out.

Yes, I’m fairly certain whatever was meant to go wrong on this transmission, went wrong and it was reported by the technicians at SEHMBI that the clutch packs are shot and are being replaced as a part of the overhaul that they’re performing. I was also promised a thorough breakdown of how these things work and what went wrong by the technicians at SEHMBI when I go to get the car so I’ll be sure to share all that information when I get it.

The 2.4L K24 Accords were unaffected by the transmission issues which is why I finally settled for one.

Good choice, looking back on my purchase if I knew this was going to happen to me, my naive self would’ve probably still bought the V6 because, well it’s a V6 and it pulls like a dream. But I’m sure the rational side of me would’ve taken over and bought an accord with the K24 Manual.

The 8th gen Accord mitigated these failures by stronger and sounder design and also by having the TCU cut the throttle for a split second during hard shifts

The 8th gen accord was on my list for sure because of the numbers that both variants produced horsepower wise. But then I realized that this was the largest accord ever produced and with that they had done away with several downgrades in multiple aspects. The interior was less driver focused compared to the 7th gen, the suspension was the biggest factor in me not buying this car. It handled well but it was absolutely boring compared to the double wishbone suspension setup on the 7th gen, specifically the V6 which got double wishbone in the rear as well. And the 7th gen in my opinion just looked better than the 8th.

The transmission failures of the 7th gen V6s were common enough for Honda to issue active TSBs and later a free recall.

Aw man how I wish I’d be able to get the recall done here, It would’ve saved me so much money, time and stress.

Fun fact, the bearing and clutch pack failure was happening primarily when the car was driven softly or primarily driven with light to medium throttle.

Actually, interestingly enough, the death of my transmission was completely sudden like a flip of a switch. Also I was completely unaware that the bearing and transmission failure was happening on cars that were driven sedately and not with aggressive drivers. I will say I drove the car pretty aggressively because well, I’m 20 years old and I love hearing VTEC kick in, and I thought that It was because of that, that the transmission failed. And I was planning on driving it way less aggressively after i got it back. This is some interesting information and I’ll talk to the people at SEHMBI to see what they think about this and do some research.

Haha yes, here's to hoping indeed. Do keep us posted on how things go. Hopefully your car is back on the road soon with that V6 roaring like it's supposed to!

I really appreciate you sticking along throughout the journey, If you like you can PM me for my contact details and we can talk a lot more about this stuff. Thanks for reading man!

[Sumedik]

Originally Posted by ImportedLlama

The car would rev but not gain speed.

I am a bit too late in this thread and it seems that you have gone through a lot in the meantime.

However I was wondering: Should the torque converter not be replaced first and the car tested to see if that sorts out the problem? If not, then the transmission needs to be looked into.

Torque converter is the liquid clutch which performs torque multiplication function too. This takes all the toll of harsh driving, low/contaminated ATF usage etc. So it usually fails first and in this processs somehow shields the other parts of the gearbox (usually planetary).

[ImportedLlama]

Originally Posted by Sumedik

I am a bit too late in this thread and it seems that you have gone through a lot in the meantime.

However I was wondering: Should the torque converter not be replaced first and the car tested to see if that sorts out the problem? If not, then the transmission needs to be looked into.

Torque converter is the liquid clutch which performs torque multiplication function too. This takes all the toll of harsh driving, low/contaminated ATF usage etc. So it usually fails first and in this processs somehow shields the other parts of the gearbox (usually planetary).

Interesting information, however this doubt has been cleared since they opened up the transmission and found bearing material and a broken C clip along with a broken one way gear. I’ll attach the pictures here so you can see, and, the people of the community can give some input. I’m hoping the torque converter is safe as I have heard that they rarely ever fail and the team at SEHMBI said that the torque converter is not damaged to their knowledge.

[PainlessDeath09]

Originally Posted by ImportedLlama

Interesting information, however this doubt has been cleared since they opened up the transmission and found bearing material and a broken C clip along with a broken one way gear.

Attachment 2733756
Attachment 2733757
Attachment 2733758
Attachment 2733759

Ah yes, looking at the pictures, this seems to be the exact same issue that's mentioned on the TSB and my comments above. You can see that the outer stabilizer rings of the shaft bearing is pretty much disintegrated. This is pretty much what gets 90% of all the V6 Accords of this generation and is a well known issue at Honda.

Originally Posted by Sumedik

However I was wondering: Should the torque converter not be replaced first and the car tested to see if that sorts out the problem? If not, then the transmission needs to be looked into.

The Torque Converters are usually rarely damaged, the weakest point of failure on these Hondamatic Transmissions is the bearing stabilizer rings. They had very little clearance and were not built to spec so they disintegrate, particularly happens with the second gear shaft. The damage is usually catastrophic since bits and pieces of the journal clog up the transmission solenoids however, it can be rebuilt.

Originally Posted by ImportedLlama

The initial quote given was 80k but that has jumped by 25k since a part that wasn’t supposed to be broken had broken. It’s a part of the planetary gear system, and the sprag bearing. I’m not too sure exactly what this is but from what I can tell it’s a part of the 1st and 2nd gear clutch systems. I think it’s the bearing and the actual gear itself but again I’m not too sure.

Yep, that's the same bearing sleeve rings I've mentioned in my previous comment. It surprised the folks at SEHMBI since this is usually an uncommon failures on transmissions but it is the cause of 90% of 7th Accord V6 transmission failures. It was a design flaw from Honda's part, of which they did give out quite a few replacements for free overseas. And yeah, while you're this deep in, it makes sense to of course change the clutch packs.

The 8th gen accord was on my list for sure because of the numbers that both variants produced horsepower wise. But then I realized that this was the largest accord ever produced and with that they had done away with several downgrades in multiple aspects. The interior was less driver focused compared to the 7th gen, the suspension was the biggest factor in me not buying this car. It handled well but it was absolutely boring compared to the double wishbone suspension setup on the 7th gen, specifically the V6 which got double wishbone in the rear as well. And the 7th gen in my opinion just looked better than the 8th.

Haha, you got that right. The 8th gen Accord was subject to a lot of cost cutting compared to the 7th gen. The suspension setup left a lot to be desired, no steering mounted audio controls and the interiors are a massive step down compared to the previous gen which had soft touch material pretty much everywhere. And just in general, the 7th gen just feels way better built and put together compared to the 8th gen. I recently happened to drive an 8th gen and was shocked to see how differently they age and the difference in the quality of materials used compared to the 7th.

But I will say, the 8th gen certainly moves and sounds better. The engine is a quite a bit more punchy, I can definitely feel the extra horses on the 2.4 of the 8th gen compared to the 2.4 K24A4 of the 7th gen. But it's a double edged sword since the 8th gen AT returns an average of around 5kmpl in the city whereas I average about 7kmpl on Bangalore traffic with my 7th gen 2.4.

Coupled with the downgrade in quality, the fuel efficiency was the last straw for me since I use this car on a daily, to and from office. That's why I ended up getting a 7th gen instead of the 8th and I didn't mind the drop in performance.

If you would've gotten an 8th gen V6, you would have to deal with a whole different set of problems because of Honda's god-awful VCM system. And I'd say, diagnosing a transmission here in India is easier compared to mitigating the issues VCM causes.

Actually, interestingly enough, the death of my transmission was completely sudden like a flip of a switch.

Well, again, this is expected. Those bearing are subjected to constant wear and when the outer rings (eventually) break, they give up in an instant and stop transmitting the power. And the shaft bearing centers the next gear shaft so without the power being transmitted to the journal, it's impossible for the transmission to shift gears and this happens in an instant since the bearings pretty much disintegrate.

But I'm surprised how you didn't see any signs of the transmission failing earlier.

For these Accords, before the impending failure usually, you would have had a few warning signs.
A typical symptom of failing shaft bearings is the transmission sometimes acting like it's in neutral when on Drive and the RPMs rise for a bit before the bearings grab and it manages to engage the next gear with a bit of a vibration. This is the bearings slipping for a moment and trying to grip again and is a sure shot sign that the Hondamatic is on the verge of failure. This problem worsens as the bearing race and ring metal gets shaved off and the problem would exacerbate to a point where you'll have to come to a full stop and shift to Neutral and Drive again to have the bearings grip. Once this starts to happen, it's pretty much game over for the bearing outer shells.

From everything you have told me, it seems that the way the transmission has failed is exactly as expected for a 7th gen V6, nothing seems out of ordinary. You've encountered the textbook documented failure so rest assured that it can be fixed. If you have other troubles like a flashing D light or something else that was broken, I'd start worrying then. But since you didnt, rest easy and let the car come back in its former glory.

Aw man how I wish I’d be able to get the recall done here, It would’ve saved me so much money, time and stress.

The only recalls we got were the Airbag recalls from the Takata Airbags fiasco, I got my Accord's airbags replaced right after I got it last year, I hope you've done the same.

I really appreciate you sticking along throughout the journey, If you like you can PM me for my contact details and we can talk a lot more about this stuff. Thanks for reading man!

Definitely man! I'm a big advocate of keeping these older but golden cars on the road and if there's anyway I can help, I'd be glad to.

Keep us posted, do put in any and all updates, I hope we hear about Toothless soon!

[ImportedLlama]

Finally, we have some movement on the Accord. I just received information from SEHMBI that the final part, which had been pending for over two months, has arrived in Bangalore. I was sent a picture, which I’ll attach below. The part looks incredible from a machining point of view—definitely looks equivalent to a factory part. The extra price I paid for this now seems justified.

I spoke to the technician at the Bangalore workshop, and he told me that most of the work on my car’s transmission is finished. They should be able to mount it back onto the car tomorrow. After a long road test to ensure everything is functioning to spec, I’ll finally be able to get my beloved car back home.

I’ll keep updating as I receive information. Fingers crossed I can pick it up this weekend.

[ImportedLlama]

Today, 26/4/2025, I made the long trip to the SEHMBI Bangalore workshop. I had recently become friends with another TBHP member, @PainlessDeath09, and he had very kindly offered to come with me to the workshop, which I am extremely grateful for. We hopped in his friend's Audi A6 and headed down. I was extremely anxious and excited on the drive there. Unfortunately, I got a call from the mechanic I had been in touch with, and he said the car was not shifting past second for some reason. I told him I would be there anyway and to see if he could figure it out while I came.

I was not too worried because just a few days ago I received a video of the car driving and shifting flawlessly, so I was hoping it was simply a loose connector or something. Once we arrived, I greeted Yash, who was the mechanic I was in touch with, and he came off as a very knowledgeable person who knew what he was doing. He told me the shifting issue was simply a loose connector and that the car was now driving perfectly fine.

I was genuinely so happy to see my car again after almost 4.5 months of waiting. I just sat there admiring this beauty. I did notice a few cosmetic things, some of the pinstriping on the taillights had peeled off, but this was not a big deal. However, one of the Honda emblems that was on the right side rear wheel was now missing, which I was unhappy about. I had proof that the badge was still on the day I had the car towed to the shop, so he said he would arrange for a replacement promptly. After that, I went out for a test drive.

I was completely overjoyed to have my car back up and running again. It shifted just how I remember it, probably a little better and snappier, although it revved a little higher before shifting than I remember, but I am sure that will adjust itself once the TCU learns the shift patterns after some more driving. @PainlessDeath09 also mentioned that he had driven rebuilt transmission cars before and there was always something off about them, but this rebuild thoroughly surprised him with how well it was done. A problem I noticed was when getting above 60 kmph, the front end of the car wobbles a lot. This was because, during the lowering of the subframe, the lower control arm rear bushings were completely mangled. SEHMBI was not willing to reimburse the costs for this, as it was my word against theirs on when it was damaged. I did not want to drag this out too much, so I simply approved just the bushing replacement, which he offered to install without labor charges, which was appreciated.

Apart from that, I went to play some music and I noticed that all speakers except the passenger door card speakers were no longer working. The head unit had power and seemed to be working fine. The balance was also set in the correct position. This stressed me out. I mentioned it to Yash and he said he would have an electrician look it over. This was not an issue before I had given the car, and I have video proof of all the speakers working just a couple of days before sending it out to SEHMBI. I am hoping it is something simple, or even if it is not, that SEHMBI will own up to this and have it fixed at their expense because it is very obviously due to the work carried out by them. Speakers do not just spontaneously fail, especially with no use over extended periods of time.

Overall, I am satisfied with the mechanical repair of my car. Now all that is left is to button up the few issues left over. I am really hoping the speaker issue is resolved simply. If anyone is experienced in this domain, please feel free to provide some suggestions as to what could go wrong that could be directly related to the rebuild job itself. Perhaps battery disconnections and ground points, I am not too sure.

I am thoroughly impressed with Yash and SEHMBI's rebuild skills. I saw numerous really cool cars in the workshop, like a Lexus LS400 with a V8 and a Mercedes CLK. I am hoping they are able to button things up and smooth everything over with my car, and have it back to its former glory soon. The estimated wait time on the bushings is around a week. Hopefully, in the meantime, they can resolve everything else. I will attach some pictures below.

Thanks for reading and stay tuned for the final updates once the car is back home.

Peace.

[White bird]

For the transmission to fail, your Accord must be old, really old may be around 20 years minimum. For such Hondas , it is normal for random parts to fail continuously. In fact the general idea is to keep a honda for 10 years and then get rid of it as soon as possible because parts are bound to fail and are expensive. But engine and transmission failures are not common. So you are lucky that you didn't have any expensive repairs till now. Looks like the workshop you mentioned specializes in old cars . That lexus in the photo, is an ancient model. I admire your for taking the risk of keeping such an old Accord.

[ImportedLlama]

Small note: The speakers are working fine, there seems to be an issue with the aux connection. FM radio plays on all speakers normally. My mistake on not checking thoroughly that day. When I finally pick up the car I’ll investigate deeper. I’m hoping it’s just a slightly unseated aux cable at the head unit. Shouldn’t be too big of a deal.

Originally Posted by White bird

For the transmission to fail, your Accord must be old, really old may be around 20 years minimum. For such Hondas , it is normal for random parts to fail continuously. In fact the general idea is to keep a honda for 10 years and then get rid of it as soon as possible because parts are bound to fail and are expensive. But engine and transmission failures are not common. So you are lucky that you didn't have any expensive repairs till now. Looks like the workshop you mentioned specializes in old cars . That lexus in the photo, is an ancient model. I admire your for taking the risk of keeping such an old Accord.

It is quite an old car, it’s a 2006 model so that would make it around 19 years old this year. Just 2 years younger than me haha. The transmission failing on this accord was a factory flaw with several layers of issues causing it. Mainly a weak bearing clip and improper shift logic. It was sort of bound to happen especially since india didn’t receive the updated transmission design that the USA got in 2006, and neither did they receive the recall that kind of fixes the issue. I have not had any expensive repairs except for the transmission. I have spent a good amount of money on maintenance however, I don’t plan on letting this car go as it would not sell for much in the first place and it is an absolute gem. The workshop takes care of many many older and newer cars, I saw an audi A6 with the petrol V6 and an RS5 transmission being rebuilt. I also saw a V8 Land rover. I am very confident in their ability to rebuild this and that is exactly what I noticed when i took a short test drive in my car, the shifting and feel of the car was amazing. I want to drive this car as much as I can before I either leave the country or the car finally gives out. I hope it stays with me forever though. Thanks for reading, Peace✌️

[PainlessDeath09]

Originally Posted by White bird

For such Hondas , it is normal for random parts to fail continuously.

That is quite a generalisation.

I own a 2003 Accord that’s even older than this one. I’ve had absolutely zero failures apart from the usual maintenance. The Accord I have was a company car that was pristinely maintained with service records spanning 21 years so I don’t expect any failures either.

Matter of fact, I’ve had lesser issues with my 21 year old car compared to my friend’s new Kia Seltos turbo for which he had faced constant issues and keeps visiting the ASC. And his car is brand new.

There is no such rule that random parts will fail “continuously”.

I have done 4 different road trips in my car covering nearly 1600 kms.

Except for an aging coolant hose, I’ve never had any part fail on me “continuously”. That makes no sense for a part to fail “continuously” if the car has been maintained well.

Originally Posted by White bird

In fact the general idea is to keep a honda for 10 years and then get rid of it as soon as possible because parts are bound to fail and are expensive.

Wrong again. The age of cars has nearly nothing to do with parts failures. It all comes down to maintenance.

I would choose a well maintained car that’s 15 years old over a poorly maintained car that’s 5 years old.

The only reason OP’s transmission failed was because it was a well known failure as the V6 transmission had an engineering flaw that is very well known. This issue was also only limited to the V6 and the 2.4 didn’t have it either.

The rest of the car is very reliable and troublefree as long as maintenance is conducted as per spec.

These Accord’s are near indestructible. They are commonly used as people's primary vehicles in the US and Dubai with zero issues, even in UAE’s extreme climate. Average age of cars on the road in USA and Dubai is around 13 years.

https://youtu.be/EF9EqGSAWhg?si=kG1nOQWLOe7lSe5D

Here is an Accord that has done 16L kms with zero issues

So yes. What you said may be true for some cars but not all.

Don’t get me wrong. Maintenance is still very hard for my car due to unavailability of parts. But I trust the reliability of my car way better than any of these new cars that are built like plastic.

[nova.19_exe]

Originally Posted by ImportedLlama

Thanks for reading and stay tuned for the final updates once the car is back home.

Glad to hear that your baby is coming home soon! I can only imagine how it feels to have your most prized possession sitting in a workshop for months

Looking forward to hearing more about you, your car and your adventures together!

[ImportedLlama]

The Long Road to Repair
Yesterday, 10th May, Toothless finally returned home. After an excruciating 5 months of the car being down, she's finally back. This post will be an in-depth look and review of SEHMBI and the wonderful people in their team who helped my car get back up and running, hopefully forever. I'm just going to brush over the initial stages of this car in case someone reading hasn't seen the previous posts, and then I'll get on to the final updates.

The Initial Problem
Around 5 months ago, my Honda Accord V6’s transmission had a catastrophic failure, rendering the car grounded and unable to drive. An inspection from my Honda ASC led to a 5 lakh bill, not including labor, to have the transmission and torque converter replaced. This surpassed the price I had paid for the car and was totally not an option. After doing some research, I stumbled upon SEHMBI, and after speaking with Harjeet, he gave me a confident confirmation that he could get my car up and running. The car was then towed to SEHMBI around 5 months ago. The initial quoted timeframe for the repair was 15 days. You might be asking yourself how that turned into 5 months, and honestly, me too. Due to several delays in retrieving parts from overseas, the time taken was stretched another 4 months. I will say this is definitely not SEHMBI’s fault, as they are unable to control these situations. Now onto the final review.

The Moment of Truth
I and another TBHPian hopped into his 2.4 Accord and went to meet up with some of his friends to grab lunch. I received a call from Yash, the mechanic working on my car, and he said that the car had been buttoned up and sent for a wash, and would be ready by the time we reached there. I sat waiting anxiously while eating some Taco Bell just thinking about how close I was to getting my car back. After everyone was finished, we hopped into the car and started the 1-hour journey to SEHMBI. I remember counting down the minutes and growing restless as we inched closer to the workshop. Finally, after what felt like days, we arrived. And there it sat, my beautiful car. Washed up and shiny. From what I had read in other reviews, I was expecting the car to be dirty, but I was pleasantly surprised to see that both the inside, outside, and underbody were completely clean. The missing Honda badge on the wheel was replaced and everything looked perfect.

The Rebuild: What Was Done
Apart from the transmission job: 3 engine/transmission mounts were replaced, and all the control arms were fully refreshed with all new bushings (I was under the assumption that they would only replace the two large damaged ones, but they replaced all of them — I am extremely happy about this), and the front lower ball joints for both passenger and driver side were replaced. The ball joints were fine but during the disassembly of the lower control arms they were damaged. SEHMBI took full responsibility for this and replaced them free of charge (extremely impressed with this). After admiring my car once again, I took her for a test drive. I fell in love all over again. The way this thing pulls and sounds is absolutely ravishing. I floored it into VTEC and heard the cam profile switch over with my exhaust open. It rides like an absolute dream. Especially with all new bushes and ball joints, the car was absolutely stuck to the ground with not an inch of body roll or instability. The transmission was shifting flawlessly, kicking down gears and picking up with ease. Even the jerks that were felt before shifting between drive modes had significantly reduced due to new mounts and new transmission internals. Everything was perfect.

A Moment of Connection: Talking with Yash
I was a happy man, I was ecstatic. My friends were happy to see me so overjoyed. After parking the car back at the workshop, I started speaking a little more with Yash to get a better understanding of everything going on. It was then that I discovered that he was a fellow Maharashtrian. We continued our conversation in Marathi, and it became a lot more relaxed. He went over all the details involved in the car, and it was also then that I discovered that he too owned a V6 Accord of the same generation as mine and that he bought his car with a failed transmission and rebuilt it. My confidence in this rebuild skyrocketed. Someone who had already done this exact same project before and had all the experience that came with it fixed up my car. Not only did this show that he is very well experienced in this, but he also knew all the workings and auxiliary systems that would need to go along with it. Essentially, he knew exactly how to do everything properly, and that was so reassuring to hear. He also informed me that he had serviced my axles by regreasing the ball bearings, which I hadn't even asked for, but he did it anyways completely free of charge. Huge wins going all around here.

Settling the Bill: Costs and Additional Advice
Then it came time to settle the final bill. On top of the 25k that I had paid in advance, they had stuck to the initial promised quote of 80k for the transmission rebuild. Here is where I would like to give people who may need to go have their transmission fixed (God forbid) some helpful advice. If you have an old car like mine, with worn engine mounts and suspension components, please set aside an extra 15k for your project. These old parts are made of rubber and will be fine with normal driving, but with something like a rebuild where a subframe would need to be dropped and a transmission would need to be removed, they will fail. With that out of the way, I paid 6940 for 3 mounts — 2 transmission and 1 front engine — and another 6k for 6 bushings total for my control arms. Around an extra 13k. They have not charged any labor for the installation of these parts. The total cost for this came up to approximately 1.18 lakhs. I will admit the price is a bit on the higher side, but the job was executed with such professionalism and perfection that I'm satisfied paying this much. It definitely beats the 5 lakhs offered by the Honda dealership by a long shot. Not only was this a transmission rebuild, but a slight front-end refresh. A small quirk I've noticed is that when the car is cold and I start driving it, shifts from 1–2 are a little hard, but it smoothens out after I drive it for 10 mins. I will speak to Yash tomorrow to understand this a little better and closely monitor it. SEHMBI has provided a 6-month warranty with unlimited kilometers in that timeframe, which is awesome.

The AUX Issue: A Mysterious Problem
The only issue that had come up was my AUX connection. It still wasn’t working, but the radio played on all speakers normally. I brought a screwdriver and quickly disassembled my center console. I was greeted with a bunch of scraps of paper and plastic — it looked like trash to me — and I discovered that the internal AUX cable connection was shredded. I breathed a sigh of relief since it was a cheap 200 rupee fix and wasn’t an issue with the expensive adapter that goes into the head unit. I was concerned about the trash, however. I asked Yash if his team had anything to do with it and if they had been in the center console. He denied any involvement with that part of the car and said the only work he did was up in the front. I believed him because he has been nothing but transparent and professional up to this point. Considering that my speakers were working 5 days before I had it towed to SEHMBI initially, the only place it had been in that timeframe was my Honda ASC. I have reason to believe they were messing around with the inside of it while trying to diagnose the transmission issues and put it in as makeshift sound deadening. Some of the papers in the center console have some printed information on them. I’ll go take a look, and if it's proof that Honda did this, they’ll be receiving a very angry phone call from me. Not only was the center console filled with garbage, but the AUX cable was also destroyed in the process. Anyways, I just picked up a fresh AUX cable on the way home and installed it in 2 minutes. No big deal.

Final Rating & Verdict
I am beyond satisfied with my car's performance and the quality of the rebuild done. A special thanks to Yash at SEHMBI Bangalore for speaking with me countless times and providing regular updates, while also performing a fantastic job on the rebuild and overall reassembly of my car. Without someone as professional and experienced as him, I don't know how well my car would have been reassembled, or if it would have even been possible. I would also like to thank Harjeet, who from Mumbai handled my frustrations about delays with extreme professionalism and did his absolute best to expedite the parts needed for my car. He has been extremely transparent with me on everything, and I was not given any unforeseen surprises.

Overall, I rate SEHMBI a solid 9.5 out of 10. If only it hadn't been delayed so much, I'd give them an 11/10, but I am extremely satisfied and happy with the quality of work carried out. It definitely beats the 5 lakhs offered by the Honda dealership by a long shot. Not only was this a transmission rebuild, but a slight front-end refresh. I'd also like to thank a fellow TBHPian @PainlessDeath09 and his friends for coming along with me on the drive and helping me out whenever I needed it.

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go and drive my car.

Drop a gear and disappear.

Mine and @PainlessDeath09's cars next to each other:


And I'm back to taking pictures anywhere this car goes haha



(Dear Moderators, I have posted this where I have seen other SEHMBI reviews. If it needs to be merged with my existing thread please do so. Thanks in advance.)

[nova.19_exe]

Glad to see that Toothless is back to its original glory!!

Were the papers shoved in by Honda ASC? Because if so, then that's very damn unprofessional by them

Wishing you a fuss-free ownership from here onwards!!

VTEC kicked in yo