High oil consumption VCM engines

[blackman777]

Honda has extended the warranty on post-2008 VCM engines: Upto 8 years. Honda issued a Technical Service Bulletin (TSB #11-033) in July 2011 that "the variable cylinder management may be repeatedly switching on and off during light throttle operation, at cruising speeds, on flat roads." Essentially, the engine is working hard. 1,593,755 vehicles that excessively burn oil and need frequent spark plug changes.

I guess the 2005, 06, 07 models had no problems? (shrug)

2008-12 Accord
2008-13 Odyssey
2009-13 Pilot
2010-11 Accord Crosstour
2012 Crosstour

 

[wirelessF]

Even GM Gen IV LS engines had the same problem. DoD or AFM requiring engine rebuilds or replacement which I think the whole concept is a bad idea.

 

[mclasser]

My Pilot is included. Hopefully never have to use this warranty

 

[Chris B.]

my 2012 V6 Accord burns little to no oil in 5,000 mile oil changes. Runs better then any of the 20 or so cars I have owned in my life. GM makes nothing that can compare to Hondas quality. Lots of these engines running around with hundreds of thousands of miles and no problems.

 

[Rob_Roy]

Our 2008 Accord V6 had all of those issues. Oil burning, fouled plugs, skipping. After a year of messing around with it trying to reduce oil consumption and two sets of plugs, we traded it towards a Chevy Tahoe.

 

[NHGUY]

Transmission issues,engine issues,collision avoidance issues.....why would anyone buy an Odyessy minivan? Chrysler gets a bad rap for theirs,but they have come a long way in the past few years with the 08-14 generation.The 08/09s were bad,but have gotten steadily better.

 

[Trav]

Originally Posted By: blackman777
Honda has extended the warranty on post-2008 VCM engines: Upto 8 years. Honda issued a Technical Service Bulletin (TSB #11-033) in July 2011 that "the variable cylinder management may be repeatedly switching on and off during light throttle operation, at cruising speeds, on flat roads." Essentially, the engine is working hard. 1,593,755 vehicles that excessively burn oil and need frequent spark plug changes.

I guess the 2005, 06, 07 models had no problems? (shrug)

2008-12 Accord
2008-13 Odyssey
2009-13 Pilot
2010-11 Accord Crosstour
2012 Crosstour



The older VCM V6 had sludge problems.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

Originally Posted By: NHGUY
Transmission issues,engine issues,collision avoidance issues.....why would anyone buy an Odyessy minivan? Chrysler gets a bad rap for theirs,but they have come a long way in the past few years with the 08-14 generation.The 08/09s were bad,but have gotten steadily better.


Perception, my friend. People still believe that Toyota and Honda make 100% perfect vehicles.

If Honda pulled twice as much stuff as GM, Ford and Chrysler pulled in the 90s and 2000s ... guess what, they would still sell just as much as they always did.

 

[SteveSRT8]

Originally Posted By: Chris B.
my 2012 V6 Accord burns little to no oil in 5,000 mile oil changes. Runs better then any of the 20 or so cars I have owned in my life. GM makes nothing that can compare to Hondas quality. Lots of these engines running around with hundreds of thousands of miles and no problems.


We own a fleet of 3500 Vans and Silverados and have yet to get so much as a hiccup out of the AFM motors.

Note our last van sold had one half a MILLION miles on it, seems comparable to anyone IMO. Maybe not the GM Haters club...

 

[SwampSurvivor]

Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8
Originally Posted By: Chris B.
my 2012 V6 Accord burns little to no oil in 5,000 mile oil changes. Runs better then any of the 20 or so cars I have owned in my life. GM makes nothing that can compare to Hondas quality. Lots of these engines running around with hundreds of thousands of miles and no problems.


We own a fleet of 3500 Vans and Silverados and have yet to get so much as a hiccup out of the AFM motors.

Note our last van sold had one half a MILLION miles on it, seems comparable to anyone IMO. Maybe not the GM Haters club...


A Honda that piston slaps is okay; a GM that piston slaps is a pile of garbage.

A Honda that consumes oil is okay; a GM that consumes oil is a pile of garbage.

Personal opinion - I like both Honda and GM.

 

[Clevy]

Originally Posted By: wirelessF
Even GM Gen IV LS engines had the same problem. DoD or AFM requiring engine rebuilds or replacement which I think the whole concept is a bad idea.


Yet I've yet to read or hear of a hemi with mds with any of those issues. Mine certainly doesn't consume a drop of oil between changes.

 

[chubbs1]

Originally Posted By: Miller88
Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8
Originally Posted By: Chris B.
my 2012 V6 Accord burns little to no oil in 5,000 mile oil changes. Runs better then any of the 20 or so cars I have owned in my life. GM makes nothing that can compare to Hondas quality. Lots of these engines running around with hundreds of thousands of miles and no problems.


We own a fleet of 3500 Vans and Silverados and have yet to get so much as a hiccup out of the AFM motors.

Note our last van sold had one half a MILLION miles on it, seems comparable to anyone IMO. Maybe not the GM Haters club...


A Honda that piston slaps is okay; a GM that piston slaps is a pile of garbage.

A Honda that consumes oil is okay; a GM that consumes oil is a pile of garbage.

Personal opinion - I like both Honda and GM.


+1 Miller88. There is no question of a double standard. People are so ingrained that Honda and Toyota can do no wrong. As you said I like both, but I have had my share of Honda's most were excellent but the models after My 07' accord VP were less than stellar.

 

[OVERKILL]

Wasn't Trav speaking about this issue a couple of years ago and was crucified for it and essentially called a liar by the "Honda can do no wrong" crowd?

Weird.........

 

[rjundi]

Originally Posted By: NHGUY
Transmission issues,engine issues,collision avoidance issues.....why would anyone buy an Odyessy minivan? Chrysler gets a bad rap for theirs,but they have come a long way in the past few years with the 08-14 generation.The 08/09s were bad,but have gotten steadily better.


Agreed buy a Sienna

which seems to have avoided these issues and retains excellent resale.

 

[rjundi]

The vast majority of Honda sold(Accord, CRV, Civic top sellers) does not use this particular engine. They all use the timing chain equipped 4 cylinders thankfully not equipped with this bleeding edge tech. Yes Accord has v6 option but its a minority in sales.

The transmission and engine issues with Honda seem to always have a common theme, V6 engine.

I would not equate the entire company to "junk". Just issues with a particular configuration like every other automaker has. Fortunately not their majority of sales which I believe why folks give Honda such a golden view.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

Originally Posted By: rjundi
The vast majority of Honda sold(Accord, CRV, Civic top sellers) does not use this particular engine. They all use the timing chain equipped 4 cylinders thankfully not equipped with this bleeding edge tech. Yes Accord has v6 option but its a minority in sales.

The transmission and engine issues with Honda seem to always have a common theme, V6 engine.

I would not equate the entire company to "junk". Just issues with a particular configuration like every other automaker has. Fortunately not their majority of sales which I believe why folks give Honda such a golden view.



No one ever said all Hondas were junk. However, the same people that are defending Honda as a generally good company with a few faults, are the ones completely writing off GM for similar problems on a select few vehicles.

 

[demarpaint]

Originally Posted By: Miller88
Originally Posted By: rjundi
The vast majority of Honda sold(Accord, CRV, Civic top sellers) does not use this particular engine. They all use the timing chain equipped 4 cylinders thankfully not equipped with this bleeding edge tech. Yes Accord has v6 option but its a minority in sales.

The transmission and engine issues with Honda seem to always have a common theme, V6 engine.

I would not equate the entire company to "junk". Just issues with a particular configuration like every other automaker has. Fortunately not their majority of sales which I believe why folks give Honda such a golden view.



No one ever said all Hondas were junk. However, the same people that are defending Honda as a generally good company with a few faults, are the ones completely writing off GM for similar problems on a select few vehicles.


+1 Or Chrysler, Ford, and Toyota.

 

[threeputtpar]

Yes, I just received the class action info in the mail over the long weekend. I'm not overly worried at this point, as this extended the 5/60 powertrain warranty on this one issue, so if anything happens down the road they will fix it. That's how a car company should address any post-launch issues that arise.

We only have 6600 miles in so far and I plan on changing oil on a 5k mile basis with 0W-20 for now and then use up my stash of cheap QSUD 5w30.

IIRC, there is also a recall having to do with a batch of faulty piston rings in the 3.5 V6. It only affected a small number of engines, and thankfully ours was outside of the VIN range.

I also proactively changed out 3.5 quarts of ATF at the first 5k mile OC to give the trans the best possible chance of a long life, but I'm not worried about that either. The 6-speed auto didn't have the problems the 4 and 5-speeds did.

 

[Redpatches]

I have had a 2007 Odyessy with the VCM engine(88,000 miles)for over 1 year now and have not had any problems with sludge or oil loss so far. I will just continue doing 6 month OCIs with quality synthetics and hope for the best.

 

[Clevy]

Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
Wasn't Trav speaking about this issue a couple of years ago and was crucified for it and essentially called a liar by the "Honda can do no wrong" crowd?

Weird.........

I recall him mentioning his experiences fixing them and scraping out sludge,which then led to trying multiple additives to try to clean without tearing into the engines.
So there were a couple of rips on the guy. First the Honda thing,then him writing about how auto-RX wasn't effective whereas kreen was.
Yeah. He got pounded on from a few sides.