Pics- 2006 Honda Ridgeline 3.5L 106K miles valves

[thooks]

Here are some pictures I took recently when I replaced the valve cover gaskets on my Honda 3.5L. I have had this since 8800 miles and have been doing OCIs of generally 8-10k miles with Pennzoil Platinum or Mobil 1. Filters have been either Supertech, Wix or Napa Gold.

The only build-up I could find was a tiny bit on a couple of bolt heads. A gentle swap with a q-tip moved most of it. I have been told to try to swab the bottom of the oil pan and see what's there. I will try to remember to get some extra-long q-tips before the next oil change.

Overall, it looks great to me.

 

[johnsmellsalot]

Looks like it only has 1,000 miles. How often did you change your oil?

 

[LeakySeals]

What was wrong with the valve cover gasket?

 

[HTSS_TR]

Originally Posted By: johnsmellsalot
Looks like it only has 1,000 miles. How often did you change your oil?


OP states: "OCIs of generally 8-10k miles with Pennzoil Platinum or Mobil 1"

 

[Hokiefyd]

Thank you for the pictures. Looks fantastic to me. Have you ever had to have the valves adjusted?

 

[JavierG]

Looks great! Mine has been on a steady diet of PU with Supertech filters. I hope she's just as clean in another 50k miles.

Why did you remove the valve covers? Just to sneak a peak?

 

[daves87rs]

Nice! Look good!

 

[Artem]

Looks pretty clean. That's a lot of highway miles though, in a very short amount of time, so i'm not surprised by the cleanliness.

 

[david_ES2]

is it just me? or do i see some varnish ?

 

[crw]

Nice! So nice it makes me want to get one...

 

[tig1]

Ah! The value of 10K OCIs with a quality synthetic.

 

[Smokefan1977]

Looks as clean as it should. Both are fine products

 

[thooks]

Thanks to all....

Valve cover removal- Well, Honda does somewhat specify to remove the valve covers and do a valve check/adjustment around 105k. I did check a few. It's a PITA...it's tight in there as you can see. I believe they also say to replace the gasket. I did.

I will say the old gasket was somewhat firmer, harder, than the new ones. So were the spark plug tube seals....What a PITA to get out!

If there is some varnish, it is very thin. I could wipe the yellow on the cover and it would more or less come clean. Most of what you see is a thin coat of oil. This was also before an oil change (I changed it directly after this).

Yes, a good bit of highway mileage. Although the truck was put in service on March 2005, I bought it at 8800 miles in December of 2007. Don't know who or what owned it for almost two years and I wonder how many oil changes it saw during that 8800 miles. It was changed at 8800 when I bought it.

I was very impressed and pleased to see what you see in the pics, as I have encountered a few folks that still believe in the 3k mile OCI.


I also did the timing belt job on this truck the weekend prior...I am very proud of myself. I did it all by myself. I'm far from a mechanic or even a shadetree. Always wanted to tinker with cars, never really have other than oil changes and minor repairs on GMs...you know...alternators, water pumps, Tstats, headline....no, no upholstery work.

 

[Travis99LS1]

It looks good!

 

[bodeh6]

Very nice

 

[4x4chevydude]

that looks fantastic keep up the good work...some people dont realize what good maintanence will do for a vehicle but this is proof

 

[SLCraig]

No need to change anything that's for sure.
I'm curious to see what my Civic 1.8L looks like after a few years myself.

 

[webfors]

Perfect! Maybe 10k oci's with quality syn really is the way to go

I have a hard time going past 10k km... I need to get an odometer in miles!

 

[Bill in Utah]

Originally Posted By: tig1
Ah! The value of 10K OCIs with a quality synthetic.


This engine is easy on oils. While I never had the chance to take my Dad's 3.5l valve covers off (it was totalled eariler this year) here is a photo of fill hole and you can see it is like new.

OCIs following the OLM which was around 7-8k with ANY 5w-20 oil (and he ran anything incl Mobil 5000, PYB, QS, Chevron, GTX and Halvoline DS) but never ran syn.

So until you run BOTH oils the same in the same engine please don't think that x type of oil is the ONLY way to get something done because its NOT.

Again, easy on the oil engine same results with pretty well anything. And my Dad's Vue did not see mostly highway.

The big thing we can learn here is that 3k OCIs (esp with highway use) is a waste and Honda built a EXCELLENT easy on the oil motor!

Bill

 

[Bill in Utah]

Originally Posted By: thooks

I also did the timing belt job on this truck the weekend prior...I am very proud of myself. I did it all by myself. I'm far from a mechanic or even a shadetree. Always wanted to tinker with cars, never really have other than oil changes and minor repairs on GMs...you know...alternators, water pumps, Tstats, headline....no, no upholstery work.

This is what impressed me more than anything. My Dad's just passed 110k miles when it got totaled and I was planning on the timing belt this past summer.

Every time I changed the oil (don't miss the oil filter changes on that VUE) I just looked at the engine and timing belt covers and dreaded the thought of changing it.

Good job! (And I know it WAS one!)