2008-2012 Honda Accords

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Bird's_Garage

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I'm in the market for a cash car and have found a 2011 Honda Accord that is in my price range and seems to be in good shape. It has 200k miles on it at the moment.

The Carfax shows it was a 1 owner. It has had almost all its oil changes at Valvoline. Most were done between 5k and 7k miles, with one oil change going 16k miles. It may have had a change between that long interval that wasn't documented, not sure. Besides Valvoline, it had 4 oil changes done at Walmart 300 miles from the "hometown." I assume they were visiting family on those occasions because it was one a year in the same month for 4 years straight. The transmission fluid was changed, along with belts, air filter, etc, by the local dealer at 138k miles.

This car seems to have a well documented service history and seems to have been well maintained. It's an LX automatic 2.4 4 cylinder. Should be the K24Z2.

Does anyone have any experience with the 8th generation Accords or the K24s? Any common problems I should look for when I test drive it Monday?
 
OK, I'll ask-how much? 200K is quite a few miles, but the Accords seem pretty tough. The 7th gen '07 K24 my son bought sure has been-but it's only around 80K miles so far.
 
I've had a 7th generation Accord V6 6MT from new. It has been a terrific car (aside from the 6 speed manual transmission which was replaced in the first few weeks because it jumped out of both first and second gears).

It has almost 190,000 Km (120,000 miles) on it. I've replaced a couple of bulbs, the battery in one remote, rear brake pads, discs and one caliper (my fault for not having them serviced), batteries, tires, hood struts and that's about it.

You might want to pay special attention to the automatic transmission as that's one place you could run into expensive trouble.
 
Get on the honda forums and ask questions, and do research for a post about common problems with that generation. I bet its in there somewhere.
 
Other than the high mileage, if the price is right to you, go for it. Sounds like the car was very well taken care of and if it really is a 1-owner that kept it for 200k miles, that says a lot.

I'd anticipate little things like suspension bushings being well-worn at this mileage but that's not to be unexpected.
 
My wife's ex - daily driver is now mine. It is a 2009 Honda Accord with 187,000mi on it. Garage kept since day one. Runs and drives like new these days. Just brakes and fluid changes and tires. About 2 years back with about 160,000mi the ECU failed due to a bad main wire in the harness. Replaced the wire and a new ECU and she was cranking and running like new again. So one out of the last (4) Accords we owned has has the ECU changed. That is so far the only main component other than replacing one radiator on a 2002 Accord we have experienced repair wise since we been buying and driving them beginning in 1997. We always go for the 4 cylinder automatics in the Exl trim. I did notice within the last 12 - 14 months (when watching) the used Accord pages in the area , they are asking insane prices for a used one. Guess that is the norm for the times we are in now. ?
 
Rear calipers bind up in salty areas if not frequently cleaned/lubed
VTC actuator grind on cold starts isn't unheard of
VTEC solenoid/Valve cover gaskets can leak
High mileage oil consumption ❓
K24s can use oil with time
Has the transmission been serviced?

It might be a good car, depending on the price
 
Bird's_Garage said:
I'm in the market for a cash car and have found a 2011 Honda Accord that is in my price range and seems to be in good shape. It has 200k miles on it at the moment.

The Carfax shows it was a 1 owner. It has had almost all its oil changes at Valvoline. Most were done between 5k and 7k miles, with one oil change going 16k miles. It may have had a change between that long interval that wasn't documented, not sure. Besides Valvoline, it had 4 oil changes done at Walmart 300 miles from the "hometown." I assume they were visiting family on those occasions because it was one a year in the same month for 4 years straight. The transmission fluid was changed, along with belts, air filter, etc, by the local dealer at 138k miles.

This car seems to have a well documented service history and seems to have been well maintained. It's an LX automatic 2.4 4 cylinder. Should be the K24Z2.

Does anyone have any experience with the 8th generation Accords or the K24s? Any common problems I should look for when I test drive it Monday?
Click to expand...
I bragged about owning several Accords and the most repair work I paid for has been the ECU in the 2009. There are Honda forums I have stumbled across that do list problems with near every year Accords... some years not so much. Yet also if you look at other brands and models the only one with a lot less issues listed is the Toyota brand. Not any one specific, reoccuring item for the Accords except about ten years ago. So while there are some problems listed , keep in mind they sell a hell of a lot of them. The Accord and The Camry are the top two selling sedans in the USA. We trust them enough to keep buying them and the last one for the first time was bought used / Honda Certified Used. The wife loves it so that is what counts.
 
had a 2011 a few years ago. 2.4 EX-L.

the 2012s have a more comfortable seat. VTEC solenoid go bad around 50k miles. Not sure if it was just meant to be or if it was due to running 5W30FS instead of 0W20 like recommended.

other than that never did anything outside of wear items. Brakes, tires, and one blown strut.
 
Thanks everyone. I'm going to look at it tomorrow. I looked over the Carfax again and it actually had the transmission fluid changed twice in its lifetime, both by the local dealer. First one was at 70k and the last at 138k. Hopefully it drives good, because the maintenance history (via carfax) is better than most.
 
I’d keep an eye out for the usual K24 maladies, many forget to do the valve adjustments on these. The V6 models were the 2nd model to get VCM after the 2007 2WD Pilot refresh and 2005 Odyssey. That generation of Accord was the last double-wishbone suspended model. Honda, in the interest of cutting costs moved the 9th gen Accord to MacPherson strut. Naturally, more bushings are involved.

These models can chew through brakes - I blame how the EBD function in the ABS/VSA modulator is coded to apply the rear brakes more aggressively than before.
 
I can't offer any personal experience, but my stepdaughter and her husband had one for years. An '08, or possibly '09 Accord that was run into the ground from new to 220k miles. It was a low trim model with 2.4 4 cyl. and manual trans. It received extremely little love over its 10 year lifespan. I would make an educated guess that it had about 7 or 8 oil and filter changes, ever. Probably about 75% of its miles were all short trip. Defying all logic, their problems were few. I do recall an alternator replacement and a coil or two. They ran the brakes to complete nothing twice. The clutch failed completely at about 215k. After a 125 mile tow home they paid a Honda dealer to fix it. I don't know why. A short time later it went to the scrap yard for many other issues. I suppose the old adage (older models only) that "nothing wears like a Honda" are true.

At 200k miles, I would consider it not all that long for this world. Suspension and drive components alone.
 
Solid cars. 2011-2012 models had improved engine design to fix the oil consumption issues that some earlier models have. Things to look out for on the K24 would be oil consumption, VTC actuator grind on cold start (more of a noise than actual problem IMO), and timing chain stretch. The car has 200k so don’t be surprised if it needs some attention in other areas.

These do have a solid drivetrain if maintained so don’t be afraid to purchase if everything checks out.

My sister had 220k on hers when it got totaled and it drove like a new one.

My 2012 only has 68k but it drives like a new car also. Things I’ve had to replace have been 2 rear calipers due to sticking, and one rear wheel bearing/hub assembly. Other than that it’s just been gas, fluids and brakes.
 
Basically what everyone else has already mentioned.

I’ll also add that the 8th Gen accord is the most unAccord like generation to date. They were big in size. Honda didn’t have a large car to compete with the Chevy Impala and Toyota Avalon in the large car category, so they made the 8th Gen bigger. Many generational accord drivers didn’t like the large sedan. Honda also cheapened out on material quality on these. The interior plastics are easy to scratch and scuff, and it was more on par with GM offerings at the time. Interior road noise was higher. In Texas, it’s common to see 8th gen Accords with dry rotted window weatherstripping.

And probably the most detrimental characteristic of the 8th gen Accord was it no longer had class leading EPA MPG ratings. The ‘08-‘12 Malibu ate into a lot of the ‘08-‘12 Accord market share. Honda corrected their misjudgment with the redesign of the 9th Gen ‘13 Accord.
 
Well I checked it out today.

The bad:

The power steering pump was about to go out and howled horribly, with a full reservoir. It also had a small leak. The interior looked great in the pictures, but was the worst I've seen in quite a while. I removed the oil fill cap and felt more blow-by than I thought possible for an engine that actually ran. A flashlight inside the valve cover showed an inch of thick sludge. It looked like the catalytic converter and O2 sensor were recently replaced. I'm sure it was an oil burner.

For the good:

The A/C was very very cold. The exterior looked like a brand new car. It had new tires. And it drove fairly well.

Clearly the Carfax didn't tell the whole story, as the car was in rough shape. I really don't believe the claimed oil change history.

I finished the test drive and told the seller about the power steering pump. Also told him we'd be too far apart on price, so I wouldn't waste his time. I left feeling like I made a good choice passing this one up.
 
Had a 07 Accord with the 2.4 and traded it in with 386000 on it... Still had original water pump and alt. Great car with no issues just normal maint. IMO the 2.4 is one of the best 4 cylinder engines around...also it has a chain not a belt...
 
hrv said:
Had a 07 Accord with the 2.4 and traded it in with 386000 on it... Still had original water pump and alt. Great car with no issues just normal maint. IMO the 2.4 is one of the best 4 cylinder engines around...also it has a chain not a belt...
Click to expand...
I agree the 7th Gen accord was a better car. But the OP is looking at 2008-2012 8th gens.
 
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