Honda 2 Blown Engines, Very Sour Taste

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: Sylvatica
Deactivating cylinders: Because the 1981 Cadillac V-8-6-4 engine was such a brilliant success.

I will ask the local Acura dealer if I can get a great deal on a V-6 RDX, since it only runs on 3 or 4 cylinders when it wants to.

Kidding. No thanks. I would sacrifice any intermittent potential one mile per gallon increase, and I would keep the reliability, equipment durability, and performance of running all included cylinders, all the time.

An unfortunate CAFE/EPA consequence. Great engine otherwise.



Not everybody has buggered up MDS. Chrysler's implementation on the big HEMI engines has actually been quite good. We've owned two MDS HEMI's and neither gave us any issues. I love my 6.4L and its actually reasonably good on gas when you let the MDS work. Of course on the loud pedal with all 8 thundering away she swills gas like a drunken sailor.

 

[UncleDave]

The ridgeline drank like a sailor the first 1000 miles, and has slowed considerably since. Maybe 1/4 of the stick on the second 1000 miles.

Hopefully it will calm down further as break in progresses.

Curious if the car uses oil "abnormally"- Where is line where one gets to shift blame if it runs out?
I'll never assume thats going to be covered and I watch oil like a hawk in everything Ive ever owned.

I think MDS hemis have iron blocks, I couldn't say about the ring pack, but the Hondas have aluminum blocks and low tension ring packs.

Remove the additional compression that combustion adds and you have a "twofer" as the aluminum minus the heat allows for rapid cooling of the cylinder during deactivation and the low tension rings combined with the lack of combustion pressure results in a bit of oil getting around the rings.

UD

 

[LotI]

Originally Posted By: beastykato
I don't want to disagree with ya on owner responsibility. I do agree that it is your responsibility to keep fluids in your vehicle and account for normal levels of consumption.

Where I disagree is when abnormal oil consumption comes in and it runs low. I do not believe the owner is responsible for that. I think these companies are being given to much forgiveness and passing blame onto the consumer.

Even in my R18. It ran fine, burned no oil, until one day where it did. I was young then as I said and didn't keep my receipts. So, a tough lesson learned back then, and admittedly partially my fault... possibly. I can't say for sure because Honda never came to a conclusion in that case. The mechanics said my R18 was spotless inside and looked well cared for, but they could not find anything conclusive on how the oil burnt off.

I did find out though, from a little digging around on past posts in this forum, that this court case actually did originally include their 4-cyl engines as well. The 2nd plaintiff in the case was apparently paid off. The lawyers then changed the case from being listed as "excessive oil consumption" to "misfiring", which allowed them to narrow the case down to specific engines and trouble codes to limit their liability. All of this is apparently disclosed in the court documentation, but I have not dug through the whole thing yet for myself.

The more I read the more I hate them since it applies to my car. Of course, my car is currently being "fixed" for free, and it should be back on the road. And I know that every other company foreign or domestic would have done the same thing to protect their bottom-line. If it were me and my business I would have done the same. What I don't understand is how the domestic companies get bashed with front page news on these issues, but Honda has kept this so hush hush.

If I'm gonna have to buy a case of oil to keep in my trunk every 1000 miles I'll just go buy an RX-7/8

EDIT: Like your Ridgeline. That's absolutely ridiculous. I do not think you should be responsible for that. An entire quart of oil in the first 2 days of use on what I assume was a brand new vehicle?


So you checked the oil every tank of gas? Honda tells you to do so in your manual. It was free with purchase of the car. As they say RTFM.

You come across as a spoiled child who didn’t get the perfect car. Welcome to life.

 

[beastykato]

You can insult me all day. No, I didn't check my oil every time I filled my gas tank.

You come across as someone who will blame anyone who doesn't follow the manual to a T. The manual stating 1qt/1000 is not acceptable to many people.

You do understand that all the evidence, including a lawsuit to which Honda extended the warranty of these vehicles to 8 years, points to Honda. Yet, you still seem insistent on placing the blame on me and other owners. The oil in this case isn't even relevant. Honda made a flawed engine. And they should have to pay to fix each and every owner whose engine fails due to it. My car never even ran out of parameters on the oil level.