[atomsplitter]

Two weeks ago when leaving the grocery store, the CEL, VTM, and VSM lights came on. Car seemed to be running fine - maybe a little intermittent shudder but maybe I'm imagining things. Got home and hooked up the code reader - P0303 Cylinder 3 Misfire. Left the car parked in the garage until a couple days later when I was already going to my mechanic's for tires, brakes, and alignment. Told him about the code and I grabbed new OEM plugs to replace. When he pulled the plugs, all 3 on the backside of the engine were oil-fouled and the electrode corroded. Seemed odd to me that all 3 plugs were impacted with the misfire only on 1 cylinder. The car had been losing oil some over the past 12 to 18 months but there were no leaks to be found. The tailpipe had some heavier than expected black "soot" indicative of burning oil. After some digging, found the Service Bulletin 13-082. Sounded exactly like what I was experiencing. Anyway, changed out the plugs and reset the code. Labeled and retained the old plugs and took pics to support my discussion with the dealer. Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised when the dealer said they will do the piston cleaning and ring replacement (etc.) under the extended warranty via the TSB. Set up a date (today) to bring it in after Christmas.

The P0303 code is still gone. However, 4 days after replacing the plugs, code P0430 popped (Catalyst System Efficiency Below Threshold Bank 2). If you had to guess, do you think this is related to the cylinder misfire issue?

As I said, the car is at the dealer today. They said they are going to do the piston work and it would take a few days.. However, I am skeptical since they made the commitment over the phone without looking at the fouled plugs or the saved code. Just took my word for it. Now I am waiting for them to call and act like none of the previous conversations had taken place.

 

[dr bob]

Time and mileage are consistent with reports from others where the dealer refused to do the repair under warranty. I'm cynical, and worry that they will have the car apart and only then find out the repair isn't covered. It's several $thousand for the work, and I just looked yesterday and didn't have that much cash in my wallet for impulse spending. Maybe we will all be pleasantly surprised, but that possibility would still have me keeping a spare set of clean shorts handy.

Share back the results please. Inquiring minds and all that...

 

[jimmaki]

Two weeks ago when leaving the grocery store, the CEL, VTM, and VSM lights came on. Car seemed to be running fine - maybe a little intermittent shudder but maybe I'm imagining things. Got home and hooked up the code reader - P0303 Cylinder 3 Misfire. Left the car parked in the garage until a couple days later when I was already going to my mechanic's for tires, brakes, and alignment. Told him about the code and I grabbed new OEM plugs to replace. When he pulled the plugs, all 3 on the backside of the engine were oil-fouled and the electrode corroded. Seemed odd to me that all 3 plugs were impacted with the misfire only on 1 cylinder. The car had been losing oil some over the past 12 to 18 months but there were no leaks to be found. The tailpipe had some heavier than expected black "soot" indicative of burning oil. After some digging, found the Service Bulletin 13-082. Sounded exactly like what I was experiencing. Anyway, changed out the plugs and reset the code. Labeled and retained the old plugs and took pics to support my discussion with the dealer. Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised when the dealer said they will do the piston cleaning and ring replacement (etc.) under the extended warranty via the TSB. Set up a date (today) to bring it in after Christmas.

The P0303 code is still gone. However, 4 days after replacing the plugs, code P0430 popped (Catalyst System Efficiency Below Threshold Bank 2). If you had to guess, do you think this is related to the cylinder misfire issue?

As I said, the car is at the dealer today. They said they are going to do the piston work and it would take a few days.. However, I am skeptical since they made the commitment over the phone without looking at the fouled plugs or the saved code. Just took my word for it. Now I am waiting for them to call and act like none of the previous conversations had taken place.

Nothing in writing? No work order describing what's to be done? They work off memory? Even when I leave a car with my mechanic who is very honest and ethical, I write down everything that's a symptom and what I expect to be done about it and tape it to the inside of the windshield passenger side. He appreciates it. He's honest but like us all, sometimes memory fails to serve especially in a busy shop with many cars and mechanics.

 

[atomsplitter]

I spoke to the service advisor this evening and confirmed they are executing the service bulletin as written in the document from Honda. Tearing down the engine and cleaning pistons 1, 2, and 3, replacing rings on the same, and replacing plugs 1, 2, 3, and 4. All under the warranty extension.

 

[Tequilero1998]

Does any one knows the location of the upstream and downstream 02 sensors 2009 pilot?

 

[dr bob]

They are in the exhaust just above and below the catalytic converters. On mine, there's a catalytic converter for each bank front and rear. Easy to see the downstream sensors just looking at the pipes under the engine. The upstream sensors are up higher, closer to the exhaust ports and above the heat-shielded converter bulges in the downpipes. Still more easily accessed from the bottom. I had the car raised for oil service so an easy look.

 

[Tequilero1998]

Thank you dr bob.

 

[atomsplitter]

Picked up the car last week. The service bulletin has been completed and the vehicle is running well. Also have the list of work the dealer recommended totaling nearly $4000. I asked about any overlap in labor and wouldn’t you believe it, the advisor and mechanic made and error and took nearly $1000 off the price. In either case, I told them no. It does need work - power steering pump leaking, spool valve leak, maybe a battery, and the cat had an efficiency code shortly after the misfire condition code came up. I’m not touching the cat for now - code is reset and hasn’t come back in a few 100 miles. Steering pump and spool valve are getting replaced for a fraction of what the dealer wanted. Quite frankly, I don’t trust dealerships - I have too many family members that work at dealerships that have stories about how the advisors and managers push to inflate bills for unneeded work and, in my case, don’t credit labor overlap when multiple jobs are done.