Honda Passport reliability

[The_Jeff]

To quote another member, would you rather own a 100K mile engine with a 100K chain or a brand new belt? Food for thought.

And would you rather have two or three little round oil seals to maintain or an entire cover with many linear feet of gasket or RTV?

The people that grouse about timing belts also tend to hate drum brakes, which they don't understand either, and their mechanical abilities peak at about a 4 out of 10.

 

[jayjr1105]

I get my 100K timing belt service done for around $600 every 8 years or so by a mechanic friend and that includes Aisin and OEM parts(belts, plugs, pump, coolant, stat). If you're paying $2-3 grand for 100K service, you just dumb. It's not like it needs to be done annually. How is a timing belt mickey mouse?? Rather have that than the slop that develops way too soon on many timing chain engines then need to have a very labor intensive timing chain replacement. Honda has had some questionable practices lately but they are still very reliable cars. All the things people have brought up in this thread (motor mounts, VMC) are fixed with a fifty cent 82 ohm resistor on the thermostat sensor. Or you can pay for the official Muzzler around $100.

 

[zzyzzx]

And would you rather have two or three little round oil seals to maintain or an entire cover with many linear feet of gasket or RTV?

The people that grouse about timing belts also tend to hate drum brakes, which they don't understand either, and their mechanical abilities peak at about a 4 out of 10.

My hatred for timing belts mostly comes from when they put them on interference engines, which is extremely dumb. I'm OK with a timing belt on a non-interference engine.

 

[Kuato]

Expensive engine mounts that wear out, VCM issues, crappy paint that tends to fail early, brake pedal pulsation issues every 20-40K miles if you are hard on brakes, etc.

Thanks for that...after a bit of reading I believe disabling VCM is the way to go.

Someone mentioned 4Runner...although dated, the reliability is certainly there.

 

[Hall]

Timing belt, plugs and valve adjust are a $2-2.5k affair every 105K

In all seriousness, is that California pricing ? Independent shops charge $500-700 for timing belt/water pump/tensioner jobs while the Honda/Acura speciality shop charges $1200 (and he only uses Honda parts). I realize this doesn't include plugs or valve adjustment but can't see either or both bringing the cost up to $2000+.

 

[The Critic]

In all seriousness, is that California pricing ? Independent shops charge $500-700 for timing belt/water pump/tensioner jobs while the Honda/Acura speciality shop charges $1200 (and he only uses Honda parts). I realize this doesn't include plugs or valve adjustment but can't see either or both bringing the cost up to $2000+.

The valve adjustment alone is 4.5 hr for labor. It varies a bit by application, but 3.5-4.5 is average for the valve adjustment. Plugs add an extra .5 or 1 hr. Many dealers have a menu price for the valve adjust and spark plugs, but it comes out to $800-$1100.

 

[Hall]

Heh, I didn't realize a valve adjustment took that long. Honda doesn't even recommend this anymore as "routine" maintenance anyway, only if they're "noisy", as I recall.

 

[The Critic]

Heh, I didn't realize a valve adjustment took that long. Honda doesn't even recommend this anymore as "routine" maintenance anyway, only if they're "noisy", as I recall.

Some of the older Honda J-series VCM engines, Fits and Elements have issues with exhaust valve seat recession. You will find the intake valves to be within spec, but the exhaust valves would have very little clearance remaining. This would result in misfires. Loose valves will be audible, tight ones will not.

The valve adjustment is a much bigger PITA than the timing belt job on the van/SUV models.

 

[Sparky16]

I don't know much about Honda Passport, but my Acura MDX shares the same 3.5 J engine plus many more with Passport and such.

Front shocks on my 2015 Acura MDX were shot, aftermarket shocks are STILL NOT available after 6 model years. Just checked with RA, they don't list any shocks for Passport or Pilot as well. OE shocks(yes, just the stick) are about $200 apiece, the lowest you can't find online. Plus some have active damper (or something), these costs a fortune to replace.

 

[ARB1977]

Save yourself some headache down the road and disable the VCM with a S-VCM muzzler. Keeps all six cylinders firing vs shutting three cylinders at cruising. My wife has a 19 Pilot AWD 6 speed. The six speed is as easy as they come when changing atf.