Well, my older son has been driving my parent's 2011 Accord since May, for his Pharmacy School internship, mainly for a 100-mile commute every day. On Monday, he called and said CEL came on and car started running rough, but he made it to an out-of-town destination. On Tuesday he got the trouble code read, P0303 - Cylinder #3 Misfire. I was about to go buy a coil and plug, drive to where he was and fix it, when I remembered that my parents had some misfire repair work done previously. So I called the local Honda dealer, and they said that they had replaced the plugs and re-flashed the PCM as part of a recall in March 2017, but there was a second procedure if the first attempt "didn't take". I met my son at the the closest out-of-town Honda dealer, told them about his experience, and they starting talking about tearing the engine down and basically doing a re-ring job. Huh? For cylinder misfire? They assured me it was a warranty / recall issue. I googled this after I got home and found out about Honda TSB 13-078 "Warranty Extension: MIL Comes On With DTCs P0301 Through P0304", that extends powertrain warranty to 8 years from in-service date, unlimited mileage. Wow! Apparently Honda has had issues with VCM in 2008-2012 V6 Accords. Sad, because the car only has 72K miles, but is still within the warranty period. Hopefully the repair will correct this issue. The car is my parent's secondary vehicle and has been well-maintained, but as I said, my older son will be using it until next Spring. Anyone else have similar experience / offer any tips? Thanks.
2011 Honda Accord V6 VCM Lawsuit / Recall Work
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Once it’s fixed look into a VCM muzzler. Keeps the engine on all six cylinders. No matter what.
+1 ^
Disable the VCM and enjoy one of the best V6 engines out there
Disable the VCM and enjoy one of the best V6 engines out there
Find another dealer,these are usually repaired with a brand new short block and sometimes a long block long block not a re ring job done by some yobo out back.
When its fixed Mobil 1 0w40 and a VCM muzzler. Before anyone chimes in with "use whats in the owners manual, the engineers know best" remember those engineers are the same morons that put you in this position in the first place.
It is one of the best V6 engines out there with no VCM, with VCM the POS is right up there with the Vega and HT4100, some of the worst engines of all time.
When its fixed Mobil 1 0w40 and a VCM muzzler. Before anyone chimes in with "use whats in the owners manual, the engineers know best" remember those engineers are the same morons that put you in this position in the first place.
It is one of the best V6 engines out there with no VCM, with VCM the POS is right up there with the Vega and HT4100, some of the worst engines of all time.
Ring jobs are very common on these engines...
My theory is the issues are caused by having the valves closed on the VCM side of the engine when running on three cylinders... The pistons continue to move of course which creates a vacuum and wears out the rings...
That's my theory.
My theory is the issues are caused by having the valves closed on the VCM side of the engine when running on three cylinders... The pistons continue to move of course which creates a vacuum and wears out the rings...
That's my theory.
As far as I know the Honda dealer doing the work is really good; they are up the road from me about 90 miles; I used to live close to them and am familiar with their work. They have been in business since Honda automobiles came to the US, and I know several people even in my area that use them a lot. I have a 2002 Civic that had all maintenance done by them before I bought it, and have no complaints. I'll ask the shop what all was done when I pick it up; I have a printed copy of what the TSB calls for. Reading a few internet posts on this VCM problem, some people mention periodic (30K miles or so) PCV replacements. I noticed that the PCV is not listed on the TSB, so I may replace it myself if needed.
Where can I get this "VCM Muzzler"? Will it cause a CEL if used?
Where can I get this "VCM Muzzler"? Will it cause a CEL if used?
Originally Posted By: ARB1977
Once it’s fixed look into a VCM muzzler. Keeps the engine on all six cylinders. No matter what.
This. Your 1mpg or less lost is going to be much cheaper than another re-ring job.
Once it’s fixed look into a VCM muzzler. Keeps the engine on all six cylinders. No matter what.
This. Your 1mpg or less lost is going to be much cheaper than another re-ring job.
Originally Posted By: badtlc
Originally Posted By: KrisZ
+1 ^
Disable the VCM and enjoy one of the best V6 engines out there
One of the "best" v6 engines out there wouldn't require garage hacking to keep it alive.
Yep.
Originally Posted By: KrisZ
+1 ^
Disable the VCM and enjoy one of the best V6 engines out there
One of the "best" v6 engines out there wouldn't require garage hacking to keep it alive.
Yep.
Originally Posted By: Mr Nice
Originally Posted By: badtlc
Originally Posted By: KrisZ
+1 ^
Disable the VCM and enjoy one of the best V6 engines out there
One of the "best" v6 engines out there wouldn't require garage hacking to keep it alive.
Yep.
It dates back to the early 90s and the NSX, if it weren't a great design it would not have survived this long. Honda designed it to be easily upgradable, which has proven itself true over the decades.
The VSM is a poor attempt to improve the fuel economy, proving that Honda, just like any other manufacturer, is capable of great designs as well as poor ones.
Originally Posted By: badtlc
Originally Posted By: KrisZ
+1 ^
Disable the VCM and enjoy one of the best V6 engines out there
One of the "best" v6 engines out there wouldn't require garage hacking to keep it alive.
Yep.
It dates back to the early 90s and the NSX, if it weren't a great design it would not have survived this long. Honda designed it to be easily upgradable, which has proven itself true over the decades.
The VSM is a poor attempt to improve the fuel economy, proving that Honda, just like any other manufacturer, is capable of great designs as well as poor ones.
Well sh!t. Dealer is trying to get me to commit to another $2K out of pocket for items resulting from multi-point inspection. Timing belt, timing belt tensioner, and drive belts. Bank 2 spark plugs and piston rings. Oil pressure switch Bank 1 and 2 (is this one switch or two?). The biggest problem I have with this is that I think they are trying to double-charge for labor, when the engine is already largely disassembled. Now the battle begins.
There are two Oil Pressure switches on this engine, one for each bank.
There should be no labor charge for the timing belt, tensioner and belts since those were already removed.
If the misfire is only on cyl3, Honda only covers replacing the pistons and rings on bank 1. They will not pay for any work to be done on bank 2. Also, if they are only working on bank 1, only the cyl head for bank 1 is removed.
I am guessing that they are trying to sell you the piston and ring replacement for bank 2 since there is some labor savings to do it while they have the engine partially apart.
There should be no labor charge for the timing belt, tensioner and belts since those were already removed.
If the misfire is only on cyl3, Honda only covers replacing the pistons and rings on bank 1. They will not pay for any work to be done on bank 2. Also, if they are only working on bank 1, only the cyl head for bank 1 is removed.
I am guessing that they are trying to sell you the piston and ring replacement for bank 2 since there is some labor savings to do it while they have the engine partially apart.
As soon as you said the are doing a ring job I smelled a rat. Call Honda corporate and make some noise, you will probably get a new long block out the them. I had 2 customers with this issue and it took a bit of howling but both got new engines and AFAIK paid nothing out of pocket.
Edit: Its probably too late now, they have it apart already and committed to re ringing it. there should be little or no labor for most of what they want to do. To Hades with them call Honda zone anyway and let er rip.
Edit: Its probably too late now, they have it apart already and committed to re ringing it. there should be little or no labor for most of what they want to do. To Hades with them call Honda zone anyway and let er rip.
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Originally Posted By: Trav
As soon as you said the are doing a ring job I smelled a rat. Call Honda corporate and make some noise, you will probably get a new long block out the them. I had 2 customers with this issue and it took a bit of howling but both got new engines and AFAIK paid nothing out of pocket.
Edit: Its probably too late now, they have it apart already and committed to re ringing it. there should be little or no labor for most of what they want to do. To Hades with them call Honda zone anyway and let er rip.
They do these in car.
https://honda.oemdtc.com/215/mil-comes-on-with-dtcs-p0301-thru-p0304-2008-2012-honda-accord
6.2 hr warranty time for this job, which is terrible pay for a job of this nature.
As soon as you said the are doing a ring job I smelled a rat. Call Honda corporate and make some noise, you will probably get a new long block out the them. I had 2 customers with this issue and it took a bit of howling but both got new engines and AFAIK paid nothing out of pocket.
Edit: Its probably too late now, they have it apart already and committed to re ringing it. there should be little or no labor for most of what they want to do. To Hades with them call Honda zone anyway and let er rip.
They do these in car.
https://honda.oemdtc.com/215/mil-comes-on-with-dtcs-p0301-thru-p0304-2008-2012-honda-accord
6.2 hr warranty time for this job, which is terrible pay for a job of this nature.
Looks like they are trying to get it done the cheapest possible way with this half arse rebuild including giving the mechanic a good hosing. 6.2 hours is ridiculous, I guess this is the best (for them) they could negotiate in the court settlement.
Between the VCM issues, PS pumps and transmissions and all sorts of other failures I don't even like to work on them any more, yet people cant wait to bust VW/Audi, MB and BMW and sing high praise for these rolling commodes .
Between the VCM issues, PS pumps and transmissions and all sorts of other failures I don't even like to work on them any more, yet people cant wait to bust VW/Audi, MB and BMW and sing high praise for these rolling commodes .
Well, although I talked with them about it, my parents agreed to have Bank 2 re-ring done. All the other work they will have done later at a local shop. One of the disavantages of being out of town when stuff breaks. I will tell them about calling Honda corporate to complain. I would do it, but since I am not the legal owner, Honda probably won't talk with me. That's okay; my mother can chew a$$ really well and knows more about cars than most women. Maybe they can get compensated for the work.
I searched online and found a device called VCM Tuner, an adjustable-resistance VCM modifier / canceller. Anyone have experience with this? Adjusts with a screwdriver instead of changing plug-in resistors like other models.
Danke Trav. Sie sind der Hauptberater!
I searched online and found a device called VCM Tuner, an adjustable-resistance VCM modifier / canceller. Anyone have experience with this? Adjusts with a screwdriver instead of changing plug-in resistors like other models.
Danke Trav. Sie sind der Hauptberater!
Why would you have them reassemble the car with the old timing belt?
There is no way that a local shop can do the timing belt cheaper.
There is no way that a local shop can do the timing belt cheaper.
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