Troys Toy 70

Hold it to the floor for 5 to 8 seconds.

Now the rest of the story....

2016 Honda Pilot 41000 miles. In shop multiple times broken rear strut, new rack and pinion steering, and the latest and last straw was mis-fire which keep setting off all the intricate computer systems. In shop twice for this problem

They tried Sea form, readjusted the valves, and the last step they replaced the injectors. It's all fixed they tell me.

Ahh... Ok, now why did this happen, and what will keep it from happening again? The answer is that they believe the valves built up carbon due to the 9 speed transmission and the engine just doesn't run at high enough rpms to burn the carbon.

Ahh...Ok, we drive 30 miles one way to work one way driving most of the way at 55 mph, climb 400 feet in 3 miles each evening to return home and this isn't sufficient to burn the carbon off?

No, Honda tec recommends that when it starts acting up, warm it up, and then hold it to the floor for say 5-8 seconds.

Ahh... Ok, that would have made sense to me when I was 16 and thought that's how you fixed things. There is one problem, there is no pre-cursor to the problem. So how do I know when to do this?

Troys Toy 70

We will get with Honda and get back to you.

That was the last I heard from them, and given the problems I elected to trade it off before I called back.

Before it starts, I have bought way more American vehicles than foreign, and I have had some problems there too.

GM didn't have what we wanted in a vehicle at the time we bought the Pilot. We had an Acadia years ago, and these didn't change much over the years. At any rate, we are driving a Tahoe now. It's a little larger than we wanted, but we are enjoying it so far.

I Just thought everyone would like to know how far we have come with technology. 😮

cherokeepeople

what he wants you to do is called an italian tune-up.in other words every so often go out and beat the $#it out of it.

steverw

My dad use to call it burning the soot off the valves when he would floor it.

oldcutlass

We called it blowing out the carbon, I periodically do it on all my vehicles.

Fun71

Same here, but for me periodically is every time I drive.

47 Convertible

[QUOTE=Troys Toy 70;1001490]Hold it to the floor for 5 to 8 seconds.

Now the rest of the story....


No, Honda tec recommends that when it starts acting up, warm it up, and then hold it to the floor for say 5-8 seconds.

Ahh... Ok, that would have made sense to me when I was 16 and thought that's how you fixed things.
____________________________________________

Well and good if in fact the engine was building carbon but in this day with computers,sensors and fuel injection there isn't an excuse for a car to build carbon.

It does sound to me like they were trying to avoid fixing the real problem by having you repeatedly do a 70 year old trick to address the most obvious symptom.

I would think if the engine was 'carboning up' you should have been getting a trouble light and a code(s). Even if you weren't their shop should have done an electronic analysis, brought up all the codes and addressed them instead of weaseling out.

I would agree its as likely to happen at a U.S. made car dealership as a foreign brand dealership.
Jerry

RandyS

ROFLMAO - Me Too!!

Koda

I refer to it as clearing out the secondaries, but that's on a 4 barrel.

Carbon build up certainly does happen, especially on the new direct and port injection cars. You can get a mass airflow code, egr malfunctions, or misfires. There's no carbon sensor directly.

Troys Toy 70

I would understand the carbon buildup a bit more, if we puttered around or drove it just a few minutes or if we have had that problem with other vehicles over the years.

Personally, I believe it has to more with the auto stop, which shuts off the car at stop lights. There was a button that would turn it off, but you had to do it every time you started the car. You cannot permently disable it. Sometimes you forget, and it ends up with a lot of startups in gear.

One thing I known, blowing the carbon out wasn't in the owners manual.

toymobile

I think they wanted to REPLACE the engine, 5 to 8 sec at WOT not many engines can survive that kind of RPMs.

Johnny

zeeke

Dito!

Olds64

That's a bummer that the Honda stealership didn't diagnose it correctly. It takes a good technician to diagnose a drivability problem correctly and not just throw parts at a car. Hopefully the Tahoe treats you better.

Happy Trails

That's what my Dad calls it. When I was a kid he used to take me out in the country for a drive where he would blow out the carbon. I still vividly remember one trip where he was getting on it and off in the distance we could see the county sheriff coming towards us (back when they had big lights up top). I thought for sure my Dad was going to get a ticket, but as we drove past the sheriff all he did was shake his finger pointing down to suggest that my Dad should slow down. Oh, the good old days.

joe_padavano

Yet another example of why I do all my own work. I have yet to find a competent mechanic who 1) had a clue and 2) didn't treat me like a complete idiot when I asked questions or pointed out symptoms.

Happy Trails

This vehicle is still covered under the manufacturer's warranty, so taking it to the dealer is probably the right way to go in this case. I hope Honda makes this right by the OP.

joe_padavano

Yeah, I missed that.

OK, still another reason why the newest cars I own are 1985 D88s.

Olds64

Hopefully whenever the OP's Honda was at the dealership he got a courtesy car. I know all warranties don't cover that. Even if they do it's a PITA having to take your new car into the dealer.

oldcutlass

Perhaps a new dealer is in order.

TripDeuces

I used to work at a Honda dealership. You need to call Honda directly and get them involved. What you got was a load of BS. As a consumer who's car is still under warranty you have the right to have a vehicle that runs as intended throughout it's life. You won't find a Honda tech manual that states to 'hold it to the floor for 5-8 seconds'.
While you're at it call your state attorney general and the local news station that investigates fraud on unsuspecting consumers. This story is absurd.

droptopron

Everyone raves about Hondas but they can build a POS just like everyone else. we had a '12 MDX. It had it's share of problems & the dealer was a PITA.

Junkman

He solved the problem, by letting another dealer having to deal with it. Sometimes, this is the best way to fix a problem.

Troys Toy 70

Just had the opportunity to reply to the tread.

We have a winner. I traded it for a Tahoe.

In fairness, Honda paid for all the work out of "Goodwill" as it was past 36,000 miles. Who knows it may never have that problem again.

Not having a good answer, did not leave me warm and fuzzy, nor did my prior experience with the rack and pinion. That one the first answer was it's just the noise the tire makes when you turn it on concrete. That was when I asked for their best mechanic to ride with me. 20 seconds into the ride, the noise occurred and I emphatically stated, "that's not tires rubbing on concrete". He replied "who told you that?" I said you guys did. "Oh".

Happy Trails

Engine issues should have been covered by the 5 year/60K mile powertrain warranty, but "Goodwill" works too.

lweinmunson

FWIW I had a similar problem with my Pilot and there was a warranty extension out to 100K for my '13. It s a problem with ECO mode where it tries to shut down cylinders. The lack of a combustion event draws oil past the rings into the cylinders and causes fouling and a misfire. The dealership took mine in and re-ringed the engine in less than a day to fix it.

Troys Toy 70

Yea, this was another discrepancy between what was said and what we thought was the case. Another reason to move brands as this is the only dealership in the area. Next closest is 50 miles away in the wrong direction.

Troys Toy 70

I did do some reading up on that. We usually turned the Eco mode off, but still understood that it would drop cylinders for fuel economy. I guess they drop the back three, then the front three alternating the middle cylinders. I am not sure how that maintains balance on a V6 reciprocating mass, but I am not engineer.

Maybe this would explain the wear on rings?.

jpc647

The autostart on my company truck requires this. I ended up taping the switch. It stays off. And it's been like that for a couple months, all is well.

Not a fix to your carbon problem, but a possible. Google your car nad auto start stop, I'm sure someone has figured out a way to bypass it.

lazy394

Common thing it would seem. After a cruise night the 98 'goes off' a little from all the idling around. im lucky i have open road on my way home and have been known to 'Take her to sea' on occasions and it does clear out a bunch of crap.
Ps the car has 4 colours on the speedo
Scott

droptopron

We had an Acadia like this. I leased one in '07 when they first came out. It was great. I bought an '09 and nothing but problems, to the point that we sued GM & got 10% of our purchase price back.
@ 41K the steering rack went bad. They covered it under goodwill but I saw the paperwork that went to GM on it. If I went out of pocket it would have been a $2300 job. I dumped it after that.