Honda V6 valve clearnace inspection

[rjundi]

I have an Acura MDX with 3.7 v6 motor.

It has come upon the A14 service which has a blurb about inspect valve clearance. I am doing a little price shopping as this particular service is over $400 at dealer. The service guy said most but not all of the time they are within spec but still have to pull the manifold, valve cover off to access the valves.

A few questions.

1) Risky not to do it? I only plan on another 50k in this vehicle and moving on.

2) Any reason to have a Honda/Acura specialist or dealer tech do it or any competent mechanic can perform it? I have an incredible Subaru indy tech (20 years wrenching) who does all. Just not sure up his ally or not. His rate is only $60/hr instead of $105/hr at dealer.

 

[Trav]

They should e done the first time as valve seat recession can make them tight and eventually burn.
Most of the time they are in spec but i have run across the occasional tight one. After the first time they tend to get loose if anything then you will hear it if they need adjustment.

Let the dealer do this, they can have the manifold off in a few min and the who job done fairly quick.
An independent without experience on these engines may take much longer burning up the difference in labor rates.
The dealer will have tech bulletins and inside knowledge available also if there are any.

 

[raffy]

You could also look for an independent mechanic that specializes in Hondas/Acuras. In our area, we have a shop that specializes in Honda, Toyota, Nissan and Mazda (and also some other Asian makes) that has a good reputation and is as knowledgeable, if not more so, than any dealer. I'm sure you have such a shop in your area; they should be cheaper and better than most dealer service departments.

 

[gfh77665]

Trav, I have a 2006 Odyssey with a non-VCM motor. This van is used for traveling only, so it has essentially 100% easy highway mileage. It has 77,000 miles and I use PP or PU with a NAPA Gold filter. I service the trans every 40K.

With all that in mind, what do you think it really needs service wise as it gets to 100K or 105K other than the timing belt? I don't mind paying at all, but I just want to make sure whatever I do is really needed, thanks.

 

[A_Harman]

Yes, if the owner's manual recommends a valve adjustment, just do it. Keep all of the receipts. Even if you are going to off the car in another 50k, keeping up with the factory-recommended maintenance is a selling point in your favor when the time comes to sell or trade.

 

[Trav]

Yes i recommend doing the job because regardless of the oil used and how well its maintained or easy driven it cannot prevent initial valve seat recession.
One Honda i did had 3 tight valves initially but needed no further adjustment for 250K.
The problem is with tight valves is you don't hear them making any noise.

After the first adjustment the quality oil will go a long way in preventing cam wear which helps them from getting "loose" due to valve train wear.

 

[rjundi]

Originally Posted By: raffy
You could also look for an independent mechanic that specializes in Hondas/Acuras.


Oddly enough there are no Honda/Acura independents in my area.

A few Subaru and lots of BMW,MB, Audi, and VW in coastal NH. Near my wife's work(Lawrence MA) there is a Honda specialist but not sure of reputation.

@Trav thanks for the recommendation on doing this. Makes sense. Definitely a high maintenance motor at 100k miles with timing belt and this on top.

 

[tdpark]

What they are charging is high- getting to valves as mentioned above is pretty easy on this engine- my Honda dealer did it for like $150 or less a few years back. Are you sure they are not including new plugs as well?

 

[rjundi]

Originally Posted By: tdpark
What they are charging is high- getting to valves as mentioned above is pretty easy on this engine- my Honda dealer did it for like $150 or less a few years back. Are you sure they are not including new plugs as well?


Maybe it includes the plugs too. I ended up doing that DIY this weekend and that was quite easy.

 

[buster]

Originally Posted By: Trav
They should e done the first time as valve seat recession can make them tight and eventually burn.
Most of the time they are in spec but i have run across the occasional tight one. After the first time they tend to get loose if anything then you will hear it if they need adjustment.

Let the dealer do this, they can have the manifold off in a few min and the who job done fairly quick.
An independent without experience on these engines may take much longer burning up the difference in labor rates.
The dealer will have tech bulletins and inside knowledge available also if there are any.


+1

 

[Vikas]

I will say it again; if you want to get a broad and wide sample of V6 Honda engine, you need to visit the Odyssey Club. Then you can make your own judgement about the necessity of this service.

This service is expensive because it does take a while to remove everything which is in the way. EricTheCarGuy has a great video showing it from start to finish and he shows each and every single step.

Which model year is your MDX? As far as I can see, this is exactly what Acura says "Adjust the valves during servics A, B, 1, 2, or 3 if they are noisy."

 

[SubLGT]

Originally Posted By: rjundi
I have an Acura MDX with 3.7 v6 motor.
It has come upon the A14 service which has a blurb about inspect valve clearance. ....................................


Just curious, at what mileage is this service required?

Years ago, when I had some air-cooled flat-four VWs, a valve inspection/adjustment was required every 3000 miles, as I recall !

 

[JTK]

Originally Posted By: rjundi

1) Risky not to do it? I only plan on another 50k in this vehicle and moving on.

2) Any reason to have a Honda/Acura specialist or dealer tech do it or any competent mechanic can perform it?


It's a tough call. IMO, it all depends on your confidence level with your shop. You can almost bet your average Honda dealer never performs this service, especially as a stand-alone service.

I think independent shops in my area would hesitate to perform this unless you were having issues. Too much to touch. Too many chances for subsequent problems, be it caused by this or otherwise.

FWIW, I've got ~62K miles on our 2008 Odyssey LX. Nothing under the hood has been touched except fluids/lubes.

 

[Vikas]

There are bunch of Odyssey with 200K+ miles which never had this service done. This is not very common service on the Honda given manufacturer says do it only if noisy. However, tight valves don't make noises and if you don't adjust and had that case, you would have significant expense to fix the resultant damage. Very few steps overlaps between valve adjustment service and timing belt service and thus there is no advantage in combining these two services.

Make your own informed judgement and take the responsibility for the decision.

 

[mattd]

I would do it. I have done many and there have been a good amount with tight valves on the exhaust side. If they become tight enough, they will burn and cause misfire codes. On many of these engines i have found the intake valves to be a little loose as well. I have found the best performance and noise on the tight end of the range for both intake and exhaust valves, .008 and .011 respectively.

Manifold is easy to remove on these, as well as the covers. In the video he has unbolted throttle body. This is not necessary. Leave it on the manifold.

 

[Vikas]

But if he leaves the throttle body bolted to the manifold, then won't he have to disconnect the coolant lines going to it?

 

[Trav]

Yep 2 small lines, they don't leak much at all. I yank the whole thing, quick and easy.

 

[SubLGT]

Originally Posted By: mattd
I would do it. I have done many and there have been a good amount with tight valves on the exhaust side. If they become tight enough, they will burn and cause misfire codes. .........


Burnt valves is something that is showing up on the Subaru forums, often well before 100,000 miles, with Subaru's DOHC 2.5L turbo motor. Subaru does not call for a valve lash inspection at any mileage, and valve lash adjustment requires removal of the camshaft.

 

[rationull]

Originally Posted By: SubLGT
Originally Posted By: mattd
I would do it. I have done many and there have been a good amount with tight valves on the exhaust side. If they become tight enough, they will burn and cause misfire codes. .........


Burnt valves is something that is showing up on the Subaru forums, often well before 100,000 miles, with Subaru's DOHC 2.5L turbo motor. Subaru does not call for a valve lash inspection at any mileage, and valve lash adjustment requires removal of the camshaft.


I hadn't heard that before, but it's pretty concerning. Especially considering on the WRX at least, the service manual actually recommends *removing the engine* to adjust the valve clearances.

 

[Vikas]

i have yet to see burnt valve on Odyssey forum. Of course, most are junked when they have to replace the transmission 7th time