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1.4 Million Honda V6 Engines Under Investigation, 249K Already Recalled

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#41 ·
14v6 said:
I thought GM is only addressing unsold vehicles.

For Honda, we still don't read about engine failures at high levels and it seems like some aren't covered anyway, outside the population. Meanwhile, Honda continues to run out the clock. Still no answers as to how many engines have been replaced and if the failed engines that were eligible for repairs/replacement had the knock that IMO all of these engines have. The media isn't much help either, they just throw out large numbers for a headline but buried in the story is that a tiny fraction of the population to be checked will receive a fix. Does this mean you own a ticking time bomb and once out of warranty you're SOL or is it a low impact liability to Honda and Honda owners. I don't think we will ever know unless the government isn't satisfied with Honda's plan. IMO this one is a yawner but how Honda deals with it creates the interest.
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Correct for GM. It is a voluntary recall for sold vehicles, mandatory recall for unsold vehicles.
 
#42 ·
jareister said:
Just a reminder that the engine failures that triggered the recall were caused by out of tolerance crankshaft connecting rod bearings. The problem was caused by improper machine configuration during crankshaft manufacturing. That's according to Honda anyway. My memory is fuzzy on this, but I think they might have tracked the problem down to one particular parts supplier.

So the recall is about a manufacturing issue that affected a small number of engines that were built with crankshafts that might be out of spec,and among the vehicles recalled less than one percent were expected to actually require repair. Again, that's according to Honda. The recall had nothing to do with a design issue or poor lubrication.

The current investigation of engine failures on vehicles that weren't in the recall is just that - an investigation. There isn't enough information available publicly to know if it's the same problem as the recall, a different manufacturing problem, a design problem, or maybe even not a problem at all (i.e. the number of failed engines might be within the normal range).
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Yes, well our 2017 Ridgeline had the exact same problem, the exact same issues, and Honda kept our truck for over a month after I filed a complaint - and after a month they declined to do anything at all. They wanted $12000 for a used engine replacement. We are having our mechanic see if he can just replace the rod bearings instead. Horrible service.
 
#43 ·
dirty-jack| said:
It would seem that not all of the vehicles built within those date ranges are included in the recall. My 2018 doesn't show up in the NHTSA search either.
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Yes, well our 2017 Ridgeline had the exact same problem, the exact same issues, and Honda kept our truck for over a month after I filed a complaint - and after a month they declined to do anything at all. They wanted $12000 for a used engine replacement. We are having our mechanic see if he can just replace the rod bearings instead. Horrible service. Ours was not included in the recall either.
 
#44 ·
kathy_grey said:
Yes, well our 2017 Ridgeline had the exact same problem, the exact same issues, and Honda kept our truck for over a month after I filed a complaint - and after a month they declined to do anything at all. They wanted $12000 for a used engine replacement. We are having our mechanic see if he can just replace the rod bearings instead. Horrible service.
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What was the issue it had? The failure mode is a spun bearing which is not debatable and requires replacement.
 
#45 ·
Suddenly all the lights came on and it was making a loud noise, the same thing that the other cars incuded in the recall had. And both our mechanic (who used to work for Honda) knew right away what it was, and so we had it towed to the Honda dealer who told us the same thing, the connecting rod bearings, and wanted to charge us $12,000 to replace the engine with a used one - just because ours was not included in the service recall. AND it took them over a month to let us know that they would not cover it after I initiated a complaint and had a case number. Seems like they could have let us know that in the first week instead of keeping our truck for over a month.
 
#46 ·
kathy_grey said:
Yes, well our 2017 Ridgeline had the exact same problem, the exact same issues, and Honda kept our truck for over a month after I filed a complaint - and after a month they declined to do anything at all. They wanted $12000 for a used engine replacement. We are having our mechanic see if he can just replace the rod bearings instead. Horrible service. Ours was not included in the recall either.
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Can you get your mechanic to mic the crank rod journals?

Honda has stated that the problem is that the crankshaft connecting rod journals were ground incorrectly, resulting in a convex shape. The result of this is that the middle stripe of the rod bearing sees by far most of the load and over time this area of the bearing degrades leading to fractures in the surface material which leads to flaking of the surface material which exposes the copper bearing substrate which gets beat up which causes play in the bearing which escalates the problem until you start to hear rod knock.

If your mechanic uses a set of micrometers to carefully measure across the journal and finds that it's thicker in the center compared to the edges, then I would think that would be pretty compelling evidence that your crankshaft has an improper grind. With that evidence, I would think that Honda would want to see your vehicle.
 
#47 ·
Wisconsin_Mike said:
Can you get your mechanic to mic the crank rod journals?

Honda has stated that the problem is that the crankshaft connecting rod journals were ground incorrectly, resulting in a convex shape. The result of this is that the middle stripe of the rod bearing sees by far most of the load and over time this area of the bearing degrades leading to fractures in the surface material which leads to flaking of the surface material which exposes the copper bearing substrate which gets beat up which causes play in the bearing which escalates the problem until you start to hear rod knock.

If your mechanic uses a set of micrometers to carefully measure across the journal and finds that it's thicker in the center compared to the edges, then I would think that would be pretty compelling evidence that your crankshaft has an improper grind. With that evidence, I would think that Honda would want to see your vehicle.
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Thank you so much, I have contacted everyone that I can find and had not heard this, so guess we will see what our mechanic finds!!
 
#48 ·
kathy_grey said:
Suddenly all the lights came on and it was making a loud noise, the same thing that the other cars incuded in the recall had. And both our mechanic (who used to work for Honda) knew right away what it was, and so we had it towed to the Honda dealer who told us the same thing, the connecting rod bearings, and wanted to charge us $12,000 to replace the engine with a used one - just because ours was not included in the service recall. AND it took them over a month to let us know that they would not cover it after I initiated a complaint and had a case number. Seems like they could have let us know that in the first week instead of keeping our truck for over a month.
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How many miles were on the truck?
 
#51 ·
kathy_grey said:
1072 miles are on the truck
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Really only 1072 miles? Or 107K miles?

It seems like some zeros must be missing somewhere, unless yours failed within weeks of driving it off the lot, but then the recall wouldnā€™t have been in effectā€¦ I am confused.
 
#57 ·
HonduhNewb said:
Not saying Honda isn't "at fault for premature engine failure" but asking a manufacturer to put a new motor in for free after it has over 100k miles is a tall order.
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well it is a stretch but those of us growing up seeing Honda's made in Japan running 300k trouble free miles over and over leads us to keep buying their vehicles, Now being made in America and owners are happy getting to 50k miles trouble free makes me shake my head. But it would be a stretch to think Honda would help with a high mileage engine and not knowing how it has been operated. I think Honda is now where the big 3 are and anything we buy nowadays is a crap shoot
 
#58 ·
john brown said:
well it is a stretch but those of us growing up seeing Honda's made in Japan running 300k trouble free miles over and over leads us to keep buying their vehicles, Now being made in America and owners are happy getting to 50k miles trouble free makes me shake my head. But it would be a stretch to think Honda would help with a high mileage engine and not knowing how it has been operated. I think Honda is now where the big 3 are and anything we buy nowadays is a crap shoot
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I don't disagree. The J35 is one of the best motors Honda has ever made and this really taints the image a bit. But I doubt you'd find any manufacturer now, or before that would put a motor in a vehicle for free past 100k miles.
 
#59 ·
HonduhNewb said:
I don't disagree. The J35 is one of the best motors Honda has ever made and this really taints the image a bit. But I doubt you'd find any manufacturer now, or before that would put a motor in a vehicle for free past 100k miles.
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Yes except that is exactly what they have been doing for over a two year peeriod for those in the prooper vin number regardless of mileage -" Honda recalled about 250,000 vehicles in November of 2023 to fix the same problem. But the agency says it has 173 complaints from owners who reported connecting rod bearing failures, yet their vehicles werenā€™t included in the recall" (this from the NHTSA). And since November of 2023 there have been a whole lot more. And when I filed my complaint the Honda rep said that since our mileage was low it would not be a problem - even tho it is some over 100,000 miles. It is absolutely Hondas fault, and that this happened during the manufacturing process, yes, they are replacing those in the VIN group with over 100,000 miles.
Which is why I am wondering why, if the connecting rod bearings are being fixed by replacing the motor, why can they not just fix the connecting rods themselves - which is what my mechanic is going to attempt to do, although he is not positive until he gets it apart whether or not that will work. But the truck is in excellent condition other than that and I don't know what options we have. Honda wants to charge us $12,000 to put in a USED engine!! I'm sorry, but that is wrong, but hope if it works to replace the rod bearings, we might get at least a couple more years out of it.
 
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