Oil Recommendation? Highish miles Honda Pilot

[CaddymanLNL]

1. What kind of vehicle you have - 2006 Honda Pilot 3.5l V6
2. What your owner's manual says -- API 5w-20
3. Where you live - DelaWHERE!
4. How you drive (easy? hard? fast? slow?) WIFE - Drives hard.
5. What your daily drive is like (short trips? long trips? city? highway?) Daily is a mix highway and city. Many miles from driving to kids practices and competitions from DE, up to NY and down to SC.
6. Whether your car has any known problems - at 170k it blew a spark plug out of the block, I helicoiled it and never touched it ever again

so after number 6 up there, the engine has a decent knock. not exactly sure why, my guess is when the spark plug blew, and my wife drove it for about 20 seconds to pull it off the road when which it sounded like a dying elephant that the debris from the plug and plug hole scored up the cylinder walls, possibly, maybe.

the car runs strong, even after 50k miles of that happening. it sounds like it has a moderate to light knock but it runs strong and even.

what really has me confused is the fact that it burns oil, sometimes quite a bit, i have seen it burn a quart in about a week. but i have NO IDEA where the oil is going.

it doesn't leak that i see, no spots on the driveway and the pan is clean.
it doesn't smoke and i have driven behind her to make sure.
there is no oil in the coolant, head seems ok.
so where is it going?

any ideas? with this knock anyone have a suggestion on a good oil to use? i usually just run 5w-20 synthetic whatever is on sale.

Thanks!
-Chase

 

[901Memphis]

Have you checked the pcv valve? I'd use Quaker State defy 5w20

 

[threeputtpar]

Does this Pilot have VCM that deactivates cylinders at cruising speed? That has been known to cause oil burning and also ate up a few camshafts.

There's a monster post on here about a guy's 2009 Pilot that you might want to read.

Here is it: http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/3170265/1

 

[CaddymanLNL]

yes it does have VCM, I will read that now, thanks!

in a testament to honda quality, idk if its the vcm or general nature of this stout v6, but this thing SIPS gas.

 

[HangFire]

Since you get great mileage and have VCM, I think you have the FWD version. I have an '05 and love it, but it's 4WD/AWD and doesn't exactly sip gas.

The oil consumption could be the EGR and/or the PCV system. If you go to Piloteers.org you'll find a how-to's on cleaning the EGR and intake manifold, which can become cruddy over time. The PCV Valve is trivial to replace, there's no scheduled service on it other than "check it" but I like to replace mine every 100K miles.

The oil consumption could also be a groove in the cylinder where the spark plug was ejected (most likely overtightened during a service). In that case the only thing you can do is try different oils, see what burns the least, and live with it.

The knock could be any number of things, including a helicoil or spark plug extending into the cylinder too far, some debris knocking around, a damaged valve from the spark plug incident, a bad camshaft, rocker, or something worse in the lower end.

A valve adjustment is recommended at the same maintenance interval as the timing belt replacement (it has had a timing belt replacement, right?) around 105K miles. Even if you had that done back then it wouldn't hurt to do it again, and might fix the knocking sound issue. It's a bit of a pain for the rear 3 cylinders, especially on the more complex VCM variant. One trick is to buy the screwdriver-like tool and cut part of the handle off so it fits between the head and the firewall.

Good luck and please tell us what you come up with.

 

[CaddymanLNL]

O I should add I change the oil roughly around every 5k miles. and we bought it new.

it has been to the dealership once since we bought it to do the timing belt/water pump service cause it was a good deal ($750) and i didnt want to do it.


eta: yes it is a 2wd/fwd. thanks for that post. i replaced the egr a while ago and will check the pcv, never replaced it. the spark plug was probably my bad as i do those (dont tell the wife) lol

never had the valve adjusted, really, not comfortable with it myself and im cheap

i might get it done soon, but this car may be getting replaced soon too...maybe....again though, im cheap.

 

[tony1679]

If VCM works the same way GM's Active Fuel Management did in that era, then that's where your oil is going. My Impala burned through a quart every 750 miles with AFM. No leak, no smoke. Now with it off, not a drop is lost. I doubt it is worthwhile to deactivate it at 220k, but I think a stout HM oil like Maxlife would do some good.

 

[Chris B.]

For what it is worth my 2012 VCM V6 Accord does not burn a drop of oil in 5,000 mile OCI on Mobil 1 0w20. Best car I ever bought. Not a single problem!

 

[wag123]

I think that you would benefit from switching to a High Mileage 5W-30 motor oil, and since you are doing 5k OCIs and are adding quite a bit between OCIs, you could even go to a better quality conventional high mileage motor oil like Pennzoil High Mileage 5W-30.
I also think that you are an ideal candidate for trying a Liqui-Moly MoS2 treatment. Many members say that it benefits worn engines much more than newer engines and are reporting much better compression and much lower oil consumption after treatment.
The combination could help to lower your oil consumption.

 

[wag123]

BTW, Honda's recommended oil grade IS 5W-30 in most of the rest of the world outside of North America, so you should not be the least bit concerned about using it.