Can Honda VCM problems be fixed with short OCi's?

[candoo]

Finally changed the PCV valve on my 2013 odyssey (78000 km). hope these pictures turn out - my first pictures attempt. Anyway, the old and new valves are obvious, and I found that the removed one had an oily slime on it, I'm not sure if I'd call it sludge, but maybe the precursor. One of the small ports on the end had this slime filling it - the bottom hole. But the rest were open. BTW - I've always changed the oil (mobil1 0w-20) well before the 0% on the oil minder. Probably somewhere in the order of around 40% (or approx, 10000 km). Hope this helps shed some info on the matter.

 

[jetfishn]

This system is flawed and cannot be corrected, it leads to oil burning in the engine and eventual coking of rings til they cannot move on the ring lands, and leads to eventual rebuild, this is nothing new, Chev still has same problems, just read the forums. Its as simple as, you turn off a cylinder then when it fires again, the oil in that cylinder flashes and starts the ring coking process. I cannot believe Honda would ever consider using this system. It cannot be perfected.

 

[SubieRubyRoo]

I know way less about VCM2 than Trav does, but I do know my very first purchase when we picked up a 2006 Odyssey from a family friend was the VCMTuner to disable the Eco mode.

There was definitely varnish present in the oil fill hole, but the PCV was still free at 135k. No clue how many times it had been replaced prior to our ownership.

Anyways, I put the van on a solid diet of PUP and alternated with A3/B4 oils on usually a 7.5k OCI and had good UOA, and a couple Kreen flushes mixed in for good measure. We put about 52k on the van in just under 2 years before I recently gave the van to my stepson and his family.

Because he's an extremely poor manager of money for maintenance and repairs, I have instructed him to use the Harvest King full synthetic 5w30 (which is d1G2) and change it on a hard 6 month/5k limit to try to avoid issues. It's got about 189k on it now, so I'll probably try to get some VC pics when it needs another timing belt around 200k.

I don't know offhand if VCM-2 can be disabled with something like VCMTuner, but if it can I would personally buy one ASAP. I only saw a minimal hit to mileage, maybe around a solid 1 mpg when averaged over a long road trip. It's obviously easier on the mounts, trans, and not driving you nuts as well by kicking on and off.

 

[Schmoe]

Get a VCMuzzler. It tricks that computer into staying in the V6 mode all the time. The difference in gas mileage is minimal. 1000's have used this and love it. It's simple to install, won't affect the computer and won't show up on a OBDII scan. If you're taking the vehicle in for warranty work, simply remove it.

 

[Schmoe]

I'm in the process, or search mode, for a 2017 Accord Coupe, EX-L, V6 AT, last production run of the Accord V6's. As soon as I find one, that's the first thing I'm going to do is buy a VCMuzzler. Check out the Honda Accord forums and research that. It's a big topic and lot's of input from actual users.