Honda Pilot 2021, V6 maintenance recommendations

D1dad said:
It’s not the miles allowed, or the parts themselves. It’s the fact it a huge expense for most at a time when, if taken care of, shouldn’t really need any serious maintenance. My Volvo belt looked great @100k, still didn’t change the fact that I had to spend almost $2k on a car that had saw nothing but tires and brakes and still drove like new. It’s a dumb design when a chain is just as easy to use. Plus you have all the vtec and valve adjustments….and people rip on Nissans.
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I agree it is an annoying additional maintenance item and cost. Both my Civic and Camry have chains that should last forever and I love that fact.

But I would take a Honda J35 engine with a belt over most other makes with a chain seven days a week.
 
skaughtz said:
I agree it is an annoying additional maintenance item and cost. Both my Civic and Camry have chains that should last forever and I love that fact.

But I would take a Honda J35 engine with a belt over most other makes with a chain seven days a week.
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I felt the same way about my T5 Volvo. That car idled and drove so smooth that I overlooked the 2 belts I had to replace. I sold it right before it needed a 3rd with 275k and that was after I gave it to my 16 yr old daughter who blew the strut through the mount and proceeded to drive it like she was a stunt double for dukes of hazard. Rubber over metal does make for a very smooth engine.
 
skaughtz said:
But I would take a Honda J35 engine with a belt over most other makes with a chain seven days a week.
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Agreed. I don't understand the aversion folks on this site have to belts. It's not like you're doing the belt 5X in the life of the car. For most people it's a 1 time thing. Valve adjustments too.

This is simple stuff compared to things like cam phasers getting out of sync from chain stretch.
 
ctechbob said:
I still can't fathom why Honda changed the recommendation on valve adjustments. They went from a ~100k mile check to 'don't mess with them unless they are noisy', which makes zero sense.

Tight valves, in general, don't make noise, but they do burn up and trash motors.

Noisy valves, on the other hand, usually have plenty of clearance and don't cause many issues unless excessively loose.

J Series motor exhaust valves tend to get quite tight over time. It is well worth putting a feeler gauge on them. (And all the others, but if they are loose they will probably be ok leaving alone).
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We been driving Honda Accords since the 1990s. In all those years and all of the cars, I had the very first one (1997) in the dealership for valve adjustments under 12,000mi mark due to thinking engine was too too loud. Result was barely noticeable after the adjustment.

Of all the other Honda Accords (have two now) I have not felt the need to bring any of the others in for valve adjustments. All of them really do not require any kind of scheduled valve adjustments.
 
I had a CRV with K24 engine. I did the valve adjustment around 150k because it needed the sparkplug gaskets (oil filling the wells). It was very easy to do and only had one valve out of spec, which was an exhaust valve which was too tight. No gap at all. Drove it to 308k and have no idea where it is now. Niece traded it.

Burbguy - this is totally within your capabilities.

All the advice above looks stellar. Will recommend the dual pump fluid if the Pilot is all wheel drive. All of the ones we had required it and it seems like the newer CRVs had a little more slop in the system than the old ones.
 
$3-3500 is about right for the full service including valve adjust.

It's a pretty easy job if you have done a lot of them, can get it done in under 6 hours. No special tools required. But if it's your first time, plan on 1-1.5 days.

Valve adjust can probably be delayed if finances are tight.
 
rijndael said:
Agreed. I don't understand the aversion folks on this site have to belts. It's not like you're doing the belt 5X in the life of the car. For most people it's a 1 time thing. Valve adjustments too.

This is simple stuff compared to things like cam phasers getting out of sync from chain stretch.
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Because most people would go to a dealer and at today’s labor and parts rate would add an extra $350 a year to the cost of ownership. Let alone brakes, tires, wipers and blah blah blah. That’s assuming you keep the car for 10 yrs and only drive 10k a year. A timing chain adds none of that expense. I<3oil is 100% correct that this is a dealer money grab put out by Honda. Or even worse, they wanted to save a few bucks. I love most things Honda, except this. Lots of great cars were built with belts and I can guarantee that the belt was the call of the “two bobs” and not engineering.
 
Just do the valve adjustment yourself. It's really easy. I also recommend not putting it off. As Echaust valves get tighter over time on Honda engines, and a tight valve will destroy your engine. As it will burn up the valve and tight valves dont make noise.
 
skaughtz said:
I used the AISIN timing kit, which I HIGHLY recommend being the ONLY kit that you use and ONLY from Rock Auto if you do not go to a dealership for the service. All of the parts in the AISIN kit either are or at one point were the OEM parts for Honda (AISIN is also the OEM for many Toyota parts). There are also plenty of counterfeit kits on Amazon and eBay so use Rock Auto or nothing.

I wouldn't bother with the valves both to save money and unless there is a noticeable noise or issue.

For piece of mind, I would do a drain and fill on the transmission unless you know it has been done every 30k miles. The ZF9 likes to cook transmission fluid and the 60k recommendation for fluid changes has been shown to be too long. The Honda Type-3.1 ATF is around $30 per quart and a drain and fill takes four quarts. It is relabeled ZF Lifeguard 9 if you can find that instead. Pentosin ATF9 is the only aftermarket fluid I would ever consider using since it was designed specifically and only for the ZF9 transmissions, which use a specifically lower viscosity ATF.

If you have $140 to add on, a VCM muzzle is also recommended. In our generation Pilot, VCM doesn't seem to cause the same issues as previous generations as frequently, but I would rather have it disabled. And I do. I paid for six cylinders and I am going to have them running.

Finally, BITOG is the best forum, but you are going to want to check out piloteers.org. It will expand on everything I have brought up here.

Edit: I forgot to mention that Honda does not sell an "OEM Timing Kit." The dealer will have all of the parts individually, but you will not be able to find a "Genuine Honda" kit online. Those that you see on Amazon and eBay whose price seems too good to be true are not legitimate.
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Agree on most. However:

- get OE parts. Honda parts now, Conicelli, and a number of other dealer discounted sites sell at good prices.

- coolant can be dealer, Zerex Asian blue or Pentofrost Asian blue (A3 iirc)

- drain and fills of the AT are simple. Should just be a plug with a square connector. Fill through dipstick. But verify fluid and service videos online

- agree on the vcmuzzler and that Honda doesn’t sell timing equipment in a kit

- look at the various DIYs on the forums. Lots of info out there

- do your research on stretch one time use bolts. Some timing idler bolts may be that kind, and reuse can be at your peril.

- prepare for mounts. I had to do one midway. Chinese from autozone was $48. US made from Conicelli (dealer) was $53.

- get the heavy wall crank socket. And a paint pen. Getting the belt on proper and verifying for peace of mind is important.

I made some other comments here:

https://www.odyclub.com/threads/2023-another-timing-belt-thread-2015-honda-odyssey.371968/
 
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