Let me give you the full timeline. About 1 month ago...everything was working fine. Then one day the passenger side door started to skip when closing, but it closed. A few more times of that and it just skips mostly and didn't close or open reliably. It deteriorated very fast.

So we disengaged the power door mechanisms and operated both doors by hand. The driver side door operates very smoothly. You can use one hand to open and close. The passenger side door was a different story. There is noticeable resistance when operating by hand, but it still closes, opens, and latches properly by hand.

So I did the easy fix and just replaced the center rollers on both sides since neither has ever been replaced just to see if that fixed the problem. In the process of doing that, I tried to slide the passenger side door while the cables were not attached and the door slid very easy...worked wonderfully. I finished reattaching the cables and putting all panels back on. Tried the power door mechanism again and still had the same problem.

The fact that the door worked beautifully without the cables attached tells me that all rollers are working fine and the door is aligned properly. The cables had no visible damage to them that I could tell.

The door still had stiff resistance when operating by hand with the cables attached and I'm fairly sure this is the reason for the skipping when the power mechanism tries to open and close the door.

All of this tells me the source of the problem is in the cabling/motor mechanism...pulley or something...who knows. This is why I'm looking for your expertise to guide me in the right direction.

That's about it. Let me know if there is any more information that you are looking for.

Regards,
John

Hi HondaPlatinum,

You helped me with an Odyssey 2005 RT sliding door skipping. I did order the cable and motor from a junkyard and I put it in. It is installed and working properly...the cable/motor that is. The door still skips. I'm not interested in paying another $29 to help diagnose, but would you still be interested in helping figure out what is going on? I have since learned more about what is going on. I can add a bonus or something like that.

Let me know.

Thx,

John

OK Thanks. More information. For a very long time...since we had the van probably...the RT sliding door latch has always operated difficultly. It works, but you really need to pull up on the handle. I suspect that is at the root of the problem. As I stated earlier, the skipping started and really started to deteriorate very fast. What is interesting is I could "feel" the skipping in the handle when it was skipping. I could feel the vibration. So that tells me the part that is skipping is the assembly in the door that unlatches the door when it is opening...or releases the door from the stopper when it is closing. My guess is the hard to operate latch mechanism ultimately caused the gearing mechanism to start to skip.

So here is what I'm really looking for...I would like to replace any component in the door that will allow the door to operate smoothly and easily like the driver side door. What part of the door latching mechanism needs to be replaced that has the skipping gear? What about the difficultly latching problem? Have you heard about that? Could you give me the Honda part numbers just to make sure we are talking about the same part(s)?

FYI - Since putting in the new motor and cable, the door opens and closes much more easily. I feel good about that.

Thanks,
John

Can these be purchased from a salvage yard? Or should they be bought new?Also, do all three parts need to be replaced?

Is the replacement of all three parts necessary? Which of the three parts has the gearing mechanism that is skipping?

Also, you mentioned making sure the bottom and center rollers are not damaged. I just replaced the center rollers. How do I check the bottom roller? All i know is that the door slides smoothly, closes properly, and is nice and square in the door frame when the door is shut.

Thx,

John