Valve lash adjustment

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Good friend of mine has an Acura/Honda RDX same as a Honda Pilot it's at leased 10 years old with 200,000 miles V6. It is running real rough so he took it to our local Honda dealer and they said the valves are out of adjustment and to do the job it takes 6 hours and will cost $700.00 does this price sound correct?
 
Call a couple other dealerships and see what they quote for the job. They are probably quoting flat rate from their shop rate book.
 
Too much. Find an independent garage that works on Hondas or a decent shop that works on anything. A valve adjustment isn't rocket science. Any mechanic worth his salt can do one.
 
Sounds about right for the V6 engine, the V6 rear bank is a PITA, the price is okay if it includes the plenum, VC gasket and tube seals. Up to 2012 they used an L4 IIRC.
 
Seems a bit high! Before I left the dealer it was 3 hours total putting it at 300$ not including parts. Those dealer valve cover gaskets are made of gold..... lol
Just checked Alldata and it says 3.0 hours for the repair fyi
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How did they know the valve clearance was out of spec unless they checked it?

Anyway, it might take 3 hours if you tie one hand behind your back. The hardest part is fitting the feeler gauge in there on the rear bank.
 
Do not keep driving like that because a valve can burn, if it hasn't already. If it runs rough while driving not only when idling, it is probably another problem or more than just valve adjustment.
 
Originally Posted By: mk378
Do not keep driving like that because a valve can burn, if it hasn't already. If it runs rough while driving not only when idling, it is probably another problem or more than just valve adjustment.


I would suspect running rough with 200,000 miles is more likely a burned valve. I would not trust this dealer's diagnosis unless they explain it thoroughly. After the $700 valve adjustment doesn't fix it, they might say oh, it's a burned valve and a clogged catalytic converter - that'll be another $2000.
 
Originally Posted By: eyeofthetiger
How did they know the valve clearance was out of spec unless they checked it?

Anyway, it might take 3 hours if you tie one hand behind your back. The hardest part is fitting the feeler gauge in there on the rear bank.


Fluctuating vacuum cold at idle gradually smoothing out as temps increase. It does take longer than 3 hours.
This can be checked with a mechanical gauge or OBD lean fuel trim once the engine goes into closed loop but not quite full operating temp.
As valve clearance increases with aluminum heads (opposite of iron) the FT or vac gauge will stabilize as the valves seal.

Edit: There are other ways to test inc leak down hot/cold but I doubt they went that far. It could be a burned valve for sure but these engines are known for this as they get high miles and rarely have a burned one, the sodium filled stems dissipate the face heat pretty well.
 
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Originally Posted By: atikovi
Done it on a Saturn Vue a few times which has the same engine and the rear exhausts are a pain to reach.

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Impressive clean internals.
 
Originally Posted By: atikovi
Originally Posted By: ARB1977
Impressive clean internals.


Yep, pretty nice for 224,000 miles.


That looks more like 2240 miles. What oil/filter/OCI?
 
No misfire code? If no misfire code and the engine runs fine, insists on getting evidence that valve adjustment is needed. Just recently, a great YouTube video was posted by Wells Electronic on exactly how to do that using pressure transducer waveform. I bet there are probably total of 3 shops in the world who have that capability :) By the way, that Honda V6 had about the same mileage but had random misfire which could not be attributed to any other cause.
 
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