2007 Accord V6 varnish

[Vikas]

Mine looks like your first picture but I do have almost 190K on it and it still has the original PCV valve which I cleaned few thousand miles ago. It has been fed nothing but bulk conventional oil from local shop with OCI somewhere in 3-5K range.

From my understanding, the rear valve cover will be lot nastier even on a NON VCM engine. I recall reading about it in another forum http://www.odyclub.com/forums/24-1999-20...rs-removed.html

If you want the most mature audience for asking Honda J series engines, this where all the soccer dads hang out Seriously, it is good resource for Honda V6 drive train.

 

[JMHC]

Originally Posted By: stang5
glad you posted this, your not alone. Heres my wife's 04 Accord V6 that we've had since new. I kept the OCI at 4k miles with name bramd 5w20 conventional thinking it would keep the valve train spotless but thats not the case. At 30k miles I replaced the PCV valve and ran an ARX treatment and just recently started using lube control to help with the varnish. 1st picture was taken at 50K miles, 2nd picture at 60K miles and the last picture at 75K miles. The car currently has 80k miles. PCV valve in these cars are not suppose to be replace as part of maintenance and they cost about $30.

So that is how mine went too...I did not notice it until recently above 70 K...mine looks about the same as the third pic at 79K. Now here is the thing...Honda would not be allowing this if it was a problem so my assumption is the it is harmless. In the top end there is not a lot of oil flow just the passages at the cam bearings. So you have a thin film of oil in a hot area making deposits of gunk easier. Notice the junk at the top of the bolts. Oil does not flow there so it sludges. It just sits there and cooks. However it is quite possible the bottom end and rings are fine. I will run the pp for a couple of cycles but beyond that I will not be too aggressive. Seeing others looking the same puts me at ease.

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: JMHC
Now here is the thing...Honda would not be allowing this if it was a problem so my assumption is the it is harmless.



Well, we could say the same about Toyota and their sludgers, GM and their LIM gaskets...etc

There's always some oversight with a mass-produced vehicle.

 

[mrcoolguy]

My brothers 1997 Toyota Avalon with the sludger engine looked really clean after 5k with Pennzoil Ultra. I wonder if the higher temperatures the valve train saw actually helped dissolve the varnish. Just a theory.

 

[termigator]

My wife has an 07' Accord V6 that currently has 130,000 miles. Before coming across this thread, I took a peak into the crankcase a few days ago and it looks super clean (just like Tig1's Fusion pic). Until recently (before loading up on Peak Synthetic from AAP clearance), I always ran Motorcraft Synthetic Blend 5w20 (It was $13 for 5 qt. jug at Walmart a long time ago and I loaded up). I only did OCI's when the OLM indicated 5% left (between 7000 & 7500 miles).

Not sure if the synthetic blend made a difference or not. The only other possible difference I can think of (assuming your Accord's miles were city miles)is that almost all the miles came on the highway. My wife's commute to work is about 50 miles each way on the highway, so my guess would be 95% of the miles came from highway miles.

 

[steve20]

"""So that is how mine went too...I did not notice it until recently above 70 K...mine looks about the same as the third pic at 79K. Now here is the thing...Honda would not be allowing this if it was a problem so my assumption is the it is harmless. In the top end there is not a lot of oil flow just the passages at the cam bearings. So you have a thin film of oil in a hot area making deposits of gunk easier. Notice the junk at the top of the bolts. Oil does not flow there so it sludges. It just sits there and cooks. However it is quite possible the bottom end and rings are fine. I will run the pp for a couple of cycles but beyond that I will not be too aggressive. Seeing others looking the same puts me at ease."""

If you do not believe this area gets a lot of oil flow---? Try letting the engine idle with the oil fill cap off. Seriously, if you try this, have a rag handy, and do not wear good clothes

 

[JMHC]

Originally Posted By: steve20
"""So that is how mine went too...I did not notice it until recently above 70 K...mine looks about the same as the third pic at 79K. Now here is the thing...Honda would not be allowing this if it was a problem so my assumption is the it is harmless. In the top end there is not a lot of oil flow just the passages at the cam bearings. So you have a thin film of oil in a hot area making deposits of gunk easier. Notice the junk at the top of the bolts. Oil does not flow there so it sludges. It just sits there and cooks. However it is quite possible the bottom end and rings are fine. I will run the pp for a couple of cycles but beyond that I will not be too aggressive. Seeing others looking the same puts me at ease."""

If you do not believe this area gets a lot of oil flow---? Try letting the engine idle with the oil fill cap off. Seriously, if you try this, have a rag handy, and do not wear good clothes


Funny, I forgot to put the oil cap back on my last car once and it fell off the engine and was lost. I drove around for a couple of days not knowing this, and when I did I was surprised there was NO OIL ANYWHERE. The hood insulation was totally clean, none on the motor, etc. I bought a new cap and that was that. I was not an OHC engine, it was a pushrod GM 3800, which may make some difference since there are no cam bearings to lubricate.

 

[Hokiefyd]

The Honda V-6 will not spit oil out of the oil fill cap when it's off. At least our 3.5L version doesn't. Ours also has no sludge in this area. I will take a picture tonight and post.

Our 2.4L Honda I-4, now...that one will spit out out of the fill hole if you leave the cap off.

 

[Brons2]

Pushrod engines squirt oil up the center of the pushrods. It will make a mess in short order if the valve cover is not on. As for the cap only, I guess it would depend if there was a baffle or not.

 

[JMHC]

Originally Posted By: Hokiefyd
The Honda V-6 will not spit oil out of the oil fill cap when it's off. At least our 3.5L version doesn't. Ours also has no sludge in this area. I will take a picture tonight and post.

Our 2.4L Honda I-4, now...that one will spit out out of the fill hole if you leave the cap off.


Please do post pics! That does confirm my theory, thanks. Mine doesn't really have sludge...neither does stang5's pics. It's definitely varnish, that yellowish coating over everything. The only thing close to sludge is that thick, dark oil on the tops of bolt heads and in the nooks and crannies that do not drain. I would bet oil does not "flow" over the tops of bolt heads and such, but rather a "misting" accumulates there. Since that never washes away with oil, and you cannot get that out when you change it, that oil just sits there and "cooks" causing sludgy deposits in certain areas. Still, despite all this, at 79K I thought following the maintenance minder my engine would be cleaner than this. Is it harmful? We can debate that for years and never know. Due to the amazing PP rebate I get to run that for a couple of cycles and see if it helps. I am comforted though, that there are others out there that look the same as mine with regular maintenance. Also, this car gets about 50/50 city highway for the entire 79K with numerous long trips (2+ hours) each year so it's not a severe duty cycle.

 

[Hokiefyd]

The dark oil that's on the bolt heads on ours is simply discolored oil. It brightens right up if fresh oil is poured over it as if during an oil change. I'll try to get both pictures tonight. In the current state and after I pour a few ounces of fresh oil into it.

 

[Hokiefyd]

Here is our Honda V-6...a 3.5L non-VCM engine in a 2005 Acura MDX.

First picture is as it sat with 2,000 mile old Mobil 1 0W-30. The second picture is after I poured in a few ounces of new Mobil 1 0W-30, just to show that the discoloring on the head bolt is in the oil only, with no sludge left behind.

History on this car is conventional oil at approximately 5,000 mile intervals through about 58k miles, when we bought it from my parents. Since then, I've used various conventional and synthetic products, and also at 5,000 mile intervals. There was really nothing to "clean up" when we got it...it looked as good then as it does now...or the other way around depending on how you want to look at it.