Odyssey Transmission

My 02 transmission started slipping at about 95k. It had 50k on the clock when I bought it, and I've done Honda ATF changes (drain/fillx1) every 15k. At 98k it was barely drivable, threw codes, flashed D4, and gave huge jolt when dropping from Park to R, so I changed the front and (pass) side motor mounts (both were broken), the spin-on ATF filter, cleaned and checked ohms on all solenoids, and replaced all the solenoid screens/gaskets. Added BM 70268 SuperCooler from amazon, flushed out old ATF radiator, and put a magnefine filter on as well. Van then drove fine for another 3k, including a 500-mile road trip, with no codes and only an occasional hesitation in 2nd gear. Then week before last, my wife gets stranded in Atlanta after a 400-mile road trip. Van was failing to go into gear sometimes, eventually wasn't letting her manually use D1-D4, and was downshifting on the interstate without warning, causing the van to suddenly slow down; she had to pull over several times to let it cool down.

My options were to tow it home to Memphis ($400) and spend 2 weeks putting a reman Honda tranny in it myself ($2095 from stevewhitemotors on ebay) and new PCM 37820-P8F-418 ($717+s/h at bernardi); a jasper transmission for ~$3200+installation costs; or have Honda dealer do it and try to get goodwill from American Honda as many have recommended here. So I called AH's cust service number (800-999-1009) and told them I wanted them to help with the installation cost of a new tranny. Wife took van to Ed Voyles Honda (where we bought it) that morning, and by afternoon had an offer from AH for 25% off the quoted $4320 (even though I have done all work myself and have never taken it to Honda for anything, though I did produce receipts for several Honda parts orders). Dealer said goodwill from Honda has slowed to a drip with the economic downturn. Told dealer I couldn't do the 25% off, and they came back with another $500 off as their final offer ($2700). Since that was cheaper than I could do it myself, I said ok (even though I know many others have gotten 50% off offers). Then dealer calls and says based on the code (P0845) they had to first change the 3rd clutch pressure switch 28600-P7W-003 for $200. Dealer calls next day and says after driving 40miles w/new switch, tranny seems fine, but no guarantees. I said I was flying down in 10 days to get it, and to keep driving it. Thankfully, 3 days before I was to pick it up, it failed to go into 2nd gear (just once). They replaced tranny next day, and total bill (with only $4 tax) was $2881. Drove the van back to Memphis with no issues. Hoping I get more than 100k out of this one (with aux cooler and filter).

While some have said working on their solenoids seemed to fix their issue, apparently the damage to my tranny was already done, so the solenoid and aux cooler/filter fix only bought me another 3k miles. Hope others can gain from my experience.