Hello All, I am experiencing the same problem. I have a Honda Pilot 2010, and I kept it very clean with only 65K miles, maintained all the service record from dealerships. Two weeks ago, the VSA and engine lights came up. I took the car to McDavid Honda in Plano Texas, where they diagnosed the “Engine Misfire” problem and told me that it will be covered by the extended warranty. A week later they are saying that the Warranty company wants to see if this issue is due to misuse of the vehicle, and they will not cover the labor cost of bringing down the engine and it will be my responsibility!
Why should an engine need to be partially or fully disassembled to determine a misfire. Someone is way, way misguided if they have to resort to this.
The most obvious would be spark plugs, coils, or worst case; low compression due to a tight valve. The compression issue is easily determined without disassembling any of the engine.
The warranty company sounds like a 3rd part outfit and stonewalling any claims are not rare although the TV commercials make it sound like they pay everything presented to them without question. Not.
Unfortunately aftermarket warranty companies don’t pay for “tear down” or inspection fees, you will be responsible for the labor charges if the claim is denied. If the claim is approved the dealer shouldn’t charge a tear down fee.
Honda has extended the engine warranty for this problem to 8 years. The delivery date for this vehicle was probably more than 8 years ago, you should check when that was. You may want to contact Honda (the phone # in your owners manual, not the dealer) and ask if the warranty can be applied in this case even if the in-service date was more than 8 years ago. Don’t offer them the information that you have an aftermarket warranty that may pay for this.
Thank for your response. Actually I bought this car in November 2010, and am the single owner. I will contact the American Honda Company about the service date. Thanks again.
After the diagnosis, I was told by the service department of the dealership that the misfire is due to the malfunctioning of ring/ piston. They have mentioned that inspector from the Warranty company have confirmed the problem and suggested to disassemble the engine to look inside to find the real cause. And they will not be responsible for the 5 hours of labor charges.
They have given me the phone number of the warranty company to deal with them directly. I am not sure how would I convince them against their inspector’s diagnosis. Thanks again.
A compression test won’t prove the cause of oil fouled spark plug, Honda knows that there is a common problem with the piston rings but the warranty company won’t approve the repair until it is known that the cause of the problem isn’t because of coked piston rings due to the lack of oil changes or poor oil. This is their standard procedure, because of the known problem it is doubtful that they will be able to deny the claim but they will try.
Honda corporation can confirm your in-service date, if you are the first owner it should be the date when you bought the vehicle but if this is a vehicle that a buyer purchased then back out of the deal the in-service date may have been recorded at that time.
It is your service writers duty to check for warranty eligibility but sometimes they fail to check because of a difference in profit, Honda pays 9 hours labor for this repair but the service department may be able to get 20 to 30 hours of labor from the warranty company.
Here is the conclusion. I end up paying $1800 from my pocket to fix piston problem caused by the VSA system. I spoke to service manager and American Honda, and both accepted the fault in the part but did not pay for the full repair. Mcdavid Honda gave $700 discount toward the repair.
I don’t understand how the vehicle stability system could be the cause of the piston problem. Do you mean the way you discovered there was a problem is b/c the VSA warning light turned on? If so, it probably turned on b/c the computer determined there was a problem with the engine, not the other way around.
Hi. I have 2009 honda oddesey having a misfire p0303. I didnt know about warrenty extension in 2016 so I put the car in local repair shop to change sparkplug and ignition coil with my pocket. But now the engine sign and vsa warnign showed up again and I jist heard about warrenty extensio of honda misfire. I contact honda customer service center. They said I am out of warrenty and no responsible at all… omg what do i have to do. I am single mom who doesnt have any idea about vehicle… plz help any advice.
I don’t see any bulletins specifically related to misfires on that engine, v6 3.5L. There’s one customer interest bulletin that could possibly be related, but seems unlikely.
09-042, camshaft position sensor problem due to excess camshaft thrust
Your misfire problem most likely has nothing to do with the piston rings rotating into ill-advised alignment. When you hear hoof-beats, think first of horses, not zebras. Misfires are usually cuased by ignition system problems, so ask your shop to start there. This problem is usually diagnosed by swapping ignition parts around, and seeing the problem follows the swap to a different cylinder. Spark plugs, spark plug wires, and coils are where to start. If you see that particular spark plug is oil fouled or otherwise much different than the other three, then indeed you may have piston ring problem. But don’t assume it at this point. Best of luck.
BTW, if you’ll post your problem as a separate thread, you’ll get more answers here. Click “maintenance/repairs” above left, the “new topic” above right.
Edit: I do see reference to a misfire related bulletin 13-080 dated 05/18/16, here it is.
Apparently owners of the affected cars were mailed a notice in October 2013. In any event, that 8 extended warranty appears to have expired.
I had the pistons done at 90k on a 2010 honda odyssey and at 145k the problem is back and it’s past the 8 years and honda won’t fix it. So i now change the spark plug once every 2 months. I’m at the point that I can change the cylinder 2 spark plug with my eyes close. Never had this issue with the 2008 model. Pos vcm
My 2010 has encountered misfire problem twice. Three spark plugs changed each time (numbers 4-6). I need to decide to fix piston rings for $800 or change spark plugs periodically (every year?). 120k miles on vehicle. Any advice?
Rule out everything else, as well . . . in other words, a proper and complete diagnosis
test for proper spark on all cylinders
Compression test on all cylinders
fuel pressure test
injector balance test
check and adjust valve lash as needed . . . do NOT let anybody tell you that a quiet valve train means everything is okay. Not necessarily. Insufficient valve lash will produce no noise, but it can result in lowered compression and misfires