2006 Honda oddesey V6

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Feb 6, 2021
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This engine has ran 5w20 its whole life and as specified on the cap, but at 80k miles its developed lifter tick, at 99,988 miles it has a very noticeable tick sound. I live in a warm climate aswell. I dont work on these honda engines but does anyone think putting in 5w30 or 5w40 will help this? I think the vvt will be interfered with different viscosities. Could it be a lack of lubrication?

Any thoughts? I run all my other cars great with 15w40 and no lifter tick has ever come up, is why.
 
Op, Honda's have manual lash adjustments on their valvetrain, so I think your car needs to have its valves adjusted. Being that this is a J series V6, it will be a little bit of a harder task since the intake manifold will need to be removed before access to both front and rear engine covers are granted. Per the manual's maintenance advisory, it informs that valve adjustment is needed only when noisy, which is your case (lifter tick).

To better assist you with this matter, May you please provide me the trim level for such minivan? This will help determine the specific engine found in your application.


As for oil, 20 weight for these engines have worked for years, but switching towards a slightly heavier viscosity will not hurt. Your mileage will vary on this however.
If you have been persistent on oil changes with decent oil, My personal opinion would be to stick with it. Proper maintenance is far more important than viscosity grade.
 
If it's an EX-L or Touring it will have VCM, which opens up the possibility of some other issues, but in general go ahead and do or have done the valve adjustment. 2006 will call for it every 105k, newer Honda's only call for it 'when noisy' (Which is dumb since valves can get tight and have no noise and be a MUCH WORSE problem).

Anything other than an EX-L or Touring, use whatever oil, you want at around a 7500 interval and don't worry about it.
 
This engine has ran 5w20 its whole life and as specified on the cap, but at 80k miles its developed lifter tick, at 99,988 miles it has a very noticeable tick sound. I live in a warm climate aswell. I dont work on these honda engines but does anyone think putting in 5w30 or 5w40 will help this? I think the vvt will be interfered with different viscosities. Could it be a lack of lubrication?

Any thoughts? I run all my other cars great with 15w40 and no lifter tick has ever come up, is why.
If it's a lack of lubrication then that's a mechanical issue with the engine.
 
05 Odyssey owner here. I use Xw20 weight in the winter but switch to 5w30 in the summer. Since I've owned the van (80K miles and up) I've never had valves adjusted. Engine is still nice and quiet. I would suggest having it done.
 
Try a valve adjustment, but more likely, it has worn cam lobes and/or rocker arms on the front bank.
 
Try a valve adjustment, but more likely, it has worn cam lobes and/or rocker arms on the front bank.
What??? How could this be? The engine has had timely done oil change intervals at 7 thousand miles on synthetic blend castrol gtx 5w20 and the rpms never exceeded 3,000. I'm guessing its more of a vertical engine reason, never had this problem with my german vehicles after all this abuse and what not. Never had lifter noise on any of them. The Honda odyssey my parents drive is a EX model, the one without the electronic trunk. @Hypergalaxy
 
What??? How could this be? The engine has had timely done oil change intervals at 7 thousand miles on synthetic blend castrol gtx 5w20 and the rpms never exceeded 3,000. I'm guessing its more of a vertical engine reason, never had this problem with my german vehicles after all this abuse and what not. Never had lifter noise on any of them. The Honda odyssey my parents drive is a EX model, the one without the electronic trunk. @Hypergalaxy
The scored cam lobe issue is somewhat common on the J-series from that era. I posted pictures of two examples recently.

Edit: here's an example:

It can happen to either bank but it is usually the front camshaft. The issue is fairly visible once the valve cover has been removed.
 
The Honda odyssey my parents drive is a EX model, the one without the electronic trunk.
Without electronic tailgate, that means it's NOT the Touring model. There's an EX-L with the "L" standing for leather interior. Anyway, around '05 and '06, the lower trim models did NOT have VCM (ctechbob referred to this above) but at some point, Honda added it to all trims if I'm not mistaken. We had an '05 EX and it didn't have VCM.
 
Chatty valves are happy valves.... much better than valves which get strangely quiet... I would not hesitate to go 5-30, and frankly with my own, 10-30 would be preferred. the vcm-savvy may have better feedback, but I suspect any 30w would be fine.
 
What??? How could this be? The engine has had timely done oil change intervals at 7 thousand miles on synthetic blend castrol gtx 5w20 and the rpms never exceeded 3,000. I'm guessing its more of a vertical engine reason, never had this problem with my german vehicles after all this abuse and what not. Never had lifter noise on any of them. The Honda odyssey my parents drive is a EX model, the one without the electronic trunk. @Hypergalaxy
Nice. This trim level will be the one without the dreaded early VCM unit. rock solid without any issues.
 
Chatty valves are happy valves.... much better than valves which get strangely quiet... I would not hesitate to go 5-30, and frankly with my own, 10-30 would be preferred. the vcm-savvy may have better feedback, but I suspect any 30w would be fine.
Is vtec sensitive to different viscosities? Do you get this when running 10w30?
 
If it’s that loud it probably has a damaged cam lobe.
Pull the valve covers and do a thorough visual inspection and if you see no damaged cam lobes adjust the valves.
 
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Here are some videos of other J-Series Motors for reference. A J35A8 and J30A4, both mine, both well maintained, both have good valve adjustments, both running Havoline HM 5W30:







Additional info in the title of the videos.
 
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