I've owned Honda's since the late 1970's and never had to add oil to any of them. I had a 2005 V6 Odyssey with VCM (the 1st US Honda to have that) and had it serviced at the dealer with non-synthetic oil and filter changes every 4,000 miles. Traded it in with move than 190,000 miles on the odometer and the only engine-related issue that I had was a leak from the VTec actuator requiring a new o-ring/strainer.Betchya my Dollars against yer doughnuts that if there was a lack of timely oil changes - it was the most salient contributing factor. But I'm posting out of my freshly picked nose here - no amount of preventative maintenance and SuperSILK-2000 hootchy cootchy manly-man-dude oil's going to smooth over a manufacturing issue.
That said, *I* haven't really ever, never seen any Honda power plant lube failure issues stemming from timely, proper by-the-book-oil-changes. Oil. Filter. Change. Repeat. Profit! 🤟
It's the college kid or the elderly mums that pinches pennies and ignores OEM book/OLM/Walmart windshield sticker reminders that run into trouble....? Maybe this one sample is a one in a million or two outliers that left the factory with three of her wheels in the grave?
EDIT: It bears mentioning that this may simply be a middle man problem. I trust that the majority...not all - oil manufacturers that can make product to spec and API guidelines will make a trustworthy product. I also trust that an *EXPERIENCED* auto manufacturer will stand behind their product and put it forth in the best of faith and will to honor a warranty as long as an owner follows reasonable guidelines between the petroleum folks and an upstanding automaker.
It will and seriously, egregiously fall to shambles if the *OWNER* themselves does not take due and proper diligence on their behalf to see to it that their machinery isn't maintained to minimal specifications. I suspect that there is more to this sordid tale.
Cheers, friends!
07 Odyssey Valve Cover Photos and Cam Scoring
- Thread starter The Critic
- Start date
Yes, indeed. But you stepped up and owned her responsibly.
Yes?
I've also had many, grand (if bland) Toyota's thrive under my palms that I advised and worked on for friends and family.
Barring absolutely flagrant failures of oil choices, changing schedule and (hidden) manufacturing faults? There simply, absolutely shouldn't be a single, simple reason a 'Yota or Honda should leave your @zz left for dead in BumFlackCroatia.
(No offense to any Croatian sisters & brothers)
Not sure if I understand your comments? Seems like you are speaking in generalities.
You're actually - ineffably and likely most correct.
I'll try to stop drunk posting. My only saving grace ATM is severely accurate adaptive, predictive text and spell correction.
<<<Ignore me>>> (Venture Brothers Style)
So you’re new here? Your posting style seems familiar, did you have a different user name before the site change?
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It’s time for my 1999 Honda Accord story. Owned for 17 years since new. Oil changes every 3,000 miles using conventional. Got it to about 289,000 miles before I sold the thing - it was using oil at that point - quite a lot actually...maybe a quart every 500 miles or so. Great car. 4 cylinder vtec.
But I’ll never pretend it was an easy journey, although I imagine much easier than if it had been something other than Honda. But in that time I replaced...3 sets of engine mounts, evap canister twice, gas tank, vtec solenoid, transmission switches, EGR valve, power steering rack, entire exhaust twice, struts, control arms three times (upper and lower), an endless number of sway bar links front and back, the front cradle (a known defect because of the ac evaporator hose goes right inside of it), a radiator, two timing belts and water pumps, brake lines (twice), fuel lines, and calipers twice.
Still had original starter, alternator and transmission (drain and fills every 20,000 miles). I also never had to change the valve cover gasket...although the oil pan gasket started leaking/weeping at 15,000 miles slightly, and I never replaced it. The oil pan was pristine when I sold it (not a spec of rust on it).
Give me a Honda K24 motor or any J series motor over any Hundai/Kia/GMC 2.4L and then some!!!!
I am so glad that my 2007 Ridgeline did NOT have VCM. My take on the OP's photos of the valvetrain wear is that the owner caused it by not keeping the engine oil topped off. What good happens when an engine frequently runs with a low oil level? Running out the OLM to 10% or zero likely was not that much of a problem.
I agree in general always best to keep oil topped up. That said, we really have no proof that engine was run dry - others have said the same and Mike even chimed in on this.
Made me laugh out loud.
The cam lobe looks like it has voids showing. I guess a measurement will tell if that was the way it was new or it wore down and exposed the voids. It seems strange since the follower has a roller, and rolling doesn’t cause much sliding wear. Voids in cast iron are a defect in manufacturing. At least the head looks removable without taking the cams out, I think. Toyota, the one I have, the cams have to be removed to access the head bolts.
Yeah, long ago I was just plain old "wolfox". The email account associated with that login for recovery is no longer accessible to me, so I started from scratch. BITOG in the day was crazy over GC-green 0W-30...🤪
Absolutely. I succumbed to it myself, using the AutoZone discount card and buying it up all over town.
Guilty as you too. I went so far as to picking up unopened cases of it at a time that they stocked behind the shelves on paydays. There wasn't an AZ that didn't see me for a 40 mile radius. That stuff seemed to make any 5W-30 application purr like a kitten. Was it me, or did that stuff smell like you could drink it? Like, gummybear candies or something?
Yes, especially around the cylinders that shut off. On the i-Vtec VCMs, frequent oil changes (5k tops conventional, 7.5k synthetic) along with frequently checking and cleaning the PCV is a must. Disabling VCM is probably the best way to mitigate damage; if disabled early enough in the vehicle's life, most of this carnage will not occur.Is this one of those engines that is varnish friendly? I recall the vcm thing. Maybe it was a similar engine someone else posted. Was that you?
btw, I like real pictures. Thanks for posting. Pictures are much better than I have used xyz oil with 10K oci and the car is still running ... therefore it must be a good oil.
I had a 2006 Touring that now has 207k on it, and my stepson has owned it for about 15k miles (but about 1000 idling hours!
). When I had it from 134k to around 192k, I used 20s, 30s, and 40 wt oils. Engine seemed happiest on Pennzoil Euro 0W40 and UOA confirmed oil was fine. Since then, it's run Harvest King syn for the whole time. Due to insanely excessive idling (they will leave it running 30+ minutes while visiting friends) the varnish has definitely gotten more noticeable. Still no ticks, just had a new timing belt and valves adjusted at 200k.Again, disabling VCM is the best thing you can do for the Odysseys; with that solved the engine is actually fairly good.
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I remember the old "German Castrol" sticky that used to be here. I don't think I ever saw the original green GC. It was already the amber GC by the time I ever saw it in real life.
Consider yourself lucky. Only because the GC "amber" change formulation and it went back to smelling like, well - oil.
Dear God help me. I just realized I sniff freshly opened oil jugs. 😞
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Haha I think we all here do that, whether we freely admit it or not
The old classic RP Synerlec oil had a very unique smell. It had that weird "rubbery" smell like atf.
Out of curiosity, what did it cost you for a timing belt and valve adjustment in your area?
Amen...!!!!
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