It could be a faulty ABS/wheel speed sensor. I've heard alot of people say they had the same issue and it came up as that. The misfiring is a separate issue.

Sent from my SM-N976V using Tapatalk

 

It could be a faulty ABS/wheel speed sensor. I've heard alot of people say they had the same issue and it came up as that. The misfiring is a separate issue.

Sent from my SM-N976V using Tapatalk

It's odd it would be faulty at the exact moment my cel comes on and having issues with burning oil/cylinder issues. But at this point who knows.

 

Your engine is in limp mode and so the VSA is locked out. There's almost certainly nothing wrong with the stability control; the van is just telling you that it has been turned off because there is a serious problem with the engine (hence the Check Engine light and P0301 DTC) and it is being prevented by the engine computer from attempting full power. No full power, no need for stability control. I think the extra lit up VSA indicator is Honda's way of getting you to hit the panic button a little bit quicker and get whatever is wrong looked at sooner.

Given the looks of that spark plug, I'd say that it's pretty likely that VCM has just claimed another victim (in a van that "shouldn't" have that problem). Put that nasty spark plug back in the engine and let the dealer find it. Don't reset any codes either. Those are the first steps in getting Honda to help fix the engine.

Edit: Actually, since you are under warranty still, Honda may cover the entire repair for you. But regardless, DO NOT try to repair anything yourself. Your friendly neighbourhood Honda dealership needs to see your van running as badly as possible.

 

Your engine is in limp mode and so the VSA is locked out. There's almost certainly nothing wrong with the stability control; the van is just telling you that it has been turned off because there is a serious problem with the engine (hence the Check Engine light and P0301 DTC) and it is being prevented by the engine computer from attempting full power.

Given the looks of that spark plug, I'd say that it's pretty likely that VCM has just claimed another victim. Put that nasty spark plug back in the engine and let the dealer find it. Don't reset any codes either. Those are the first steps in getting Honda to help fix the engine.

Edit: Actually, since you are under warranty still, Honda may cover the entire repair for you. But regardless, DO NOT try to repair anything yourself. Your friendly neighbourhood Honda dealership needs to see your van running as badly as possible.

Yup, I put that nasty plug right back in and the CEL is still on and engine running rough. I just hope this new dealer doesnt try to bs this as another problem or something. The dealers here hate warranty work, and it's pulling teeth to get them to admit fault or cover cost of anything. The last dealer didn't even check the plugs, and tried to say bad gas and wanted $300 for a fuel test, and $75 for a diagnostic fee, all of which I declined and refused to pay. The literally told me that the cel had to be on for warranty work and a readable code, they didn't care if I had to limp it there or destroy the motor while doing it....

 

Thanks, that post has some good info. Funny, looking at the reference photos of the spark plugs in that service bulletin, there version of a bad spark plug looks way better than mine right now lol.

 

Dropped off at dealer this morning, said it would be a few days before they got back to me. Also stated if it wasn't something engine related that is causing the cel I would be charge a diag fee of $175.

 

if it wasn't something engine related that is causing the cel

What twisted logic! All the check-engine light codes are for the engine! And those that aren't are covered under an emissions warranty for longer than the 5/60 drive train warranty!

Once this is resolved, get a VCM disabling device and be done with this issue in the future forever...

-Charlie

 

OUCH! And the VCM problems roll into the '16 models, great!

As per the pro posts above, force Honda to make good here. Document the heck out of this, get everything serviced and then install a Muzzle (VCM defeating device) and you'll never see these issues again.

We got our '16 EXL with 41k on it and I Muzzle'd it shortly there after, now coming up on 49k no issues to date. Transmission fluid swaps and front brake rotors/pads replaced (not using the crappy Honda parts!). These three things are the main items to manage/consider with this generation of Odyssey.

Good luck and keep us in the loop!

 

Update....

Dealer called me today, they say that cylinders 1, 2 and 3 are bad, needing spark plugs and for sure piston rings replaced. They are going to inspect it more once they get it opened more, but for now just the back 3 cylinders. All is covered under powertrain warranty as well.

On a side note, the service advisor said that it looks like the same issue as the older models had, and even though there isn't a tsb from honda yet, they have seen a large amount of 14 thru 16 year models with the same issues and the "upgraded" pistons and rings don't seem to help solve the issue. So once it's all over, I'm definitely going to get the Vcm disabled and hope it doesn't happen again.

 

Update....

Dealer called me today, they say that cylinders 1, 2 and 3 are bad, needing spark plugs and for sure piston rings replaced. They are going to inspect it more once they get it opened more, but for now just the back 3 cylinders. All is covered under powertrain warranty as well.

On a side note, the service advisor said that it looks like the same issue as the older models had, and even though there isn't a tsb from honda yet, they have seen a large amount of 14 thru 16 year models with the same issues and the "upgraded" pistons and rings don't seem to help solve the issue. So once it's all over, I'm definitely going to get the Vcm disabled and hope it doesn't happen again.

Does it make sense if I say that I both feel bad for you and also very happy for you?

I'm super glad that the dealership you're working with isn't giving you any static and being pretty upfront with you about what they're seeing in your van and in others. I wish it didn't come to this for you. I wish it wasn't so predictable after seeing your first post.

Disabling VCM will absolutely prevent this from happening again. There's a few good options available out there and if you want to talk through making a selection, we can help with that. When you get your van back, it will have pretty much a newly rebuilt engine. You'll have to break the rings in again and having VCM disabled right from the get-go will help that process; you want all the cylinders firing evenly and consistently.

I hope it all continues to go smoothly for you. Keep us posted. ?

 

Thanks. I've seen a few options to disable, and I like the vcm tuner, the upgraded model that you don't have to adjust, as my wife drives it mainly and she doesn't want to have to mess with it.

VCMTUNER II - Advanced - 2007+ for Honda Acura 3.5L I-VTEC Disable VCM / ECO mode

Accepting Backorders. See below. Read Reviews | Vehicle Fitment List Current Shipment times will be between 1/3/2022 - 1/7/2022 on new orders placed as of 12/27/2021. Please see Contact link for more details. Note: You will receive a tracking number upon shipment. Customers with 2007-2008...

www.vcmtuner.com

If there are better options out there I'm open to those also.

 

Thanks. I've seen a few options to disable, and I like the vcm tuner, the upgraded model that you don't have to adjust, as my wife drives it mainly and she doesn't want to have to mess with it.

VCMTUNER II - Advanced - 2007+ for Honda Acura 3.5L I-VTEC Disable VCM / ECO mode

Accepting Backorders. See below. Read Reviews | Vehicle Fitment List Current Shipment times will be between 1/3/2022 - 1/7/2022 on new orders placed as of 12/27/2021. Please see Contact link for more details. Note: You will receive a tracking number upon shipment. Customers with 2007-2008...

www.vcmtuner.com

If there are better options out there I'm open to those also.

I also wanted something I didn't need to mess with since my wife usually drives it and likely wouldn't notice if the ECO light started coming back on.

I'm very happy with VCMTUNER II which I have had installed in my '07 Touring for 1 year and 15K miles. I started a thread on it which you might find useful: VCMTuner II

As far as price when shipping was factored in (Canada to US vs. Inter-US) it was only about $15 more expensive than the S-VCM as I recall which I felt was worth the extra capabilities. It came very quickly, and I found Brock Eastman who sells it was responsive to some E-mails I sent him.

 

That's probably the best one out there. If you're comfortable with the price, it's the way to go.

 

Not that I want to spend that much, but I guess it beats having to deal with all this again.

 

In that case, maybe the S-VCM controller would be more your speed. If the VCMTuner II is 100/100 in terms of functionality, the S-VCM controller is about 99/100. Opinions on how important the differences are will vary, but these two are much more similar than they are different.

They both disable VCM the exact same but the S-VCM has to be manually turned off for certain maintenance procedures like idle relearns, throttle body work or coolant replacement (it's not hard - you pull out its inline fuse). The VCMTuner II has an accelerometer built into it that lets it recognize when it's being warmed up at a standstill (like in a shop bay) and it shuts itself off. Otherwise they're pretty much interchangeable.

The S-VCM controller is a bit cheaper than the VCMTuner II.

S-VCM Controller - Disable VCM / deactivate VCM and stop ECO in Honda Acura

Deactivate Honda VCM in 3.5L V6 SOHC engines. The S-VCM Controller is an automobile grade, high precision tool that can reliably disable VCM 100% of the time, and would safely bypass in case the engine overheats. It does not use a fixed resistor or manually adjusted potentiometer, and is a much...

www.svcmcontroller.com

 

There are also resistance-based options like the Max Muzzler (made by our very own @maxud ) or the VCMuzzler II (made by @verbatim).

The Max Muzzler uses a potentiometer to adjust the readout the engine computer sees from the ECT1 sensor. The VCMuzzler II uses swappable resistors to do the same thing. You can PM either of these gentlemen here on Odyclub to get their best prices.

 

Update, dealer called and said they were done. Seems very fast to rebuild half the engine, they just started the work Friday afternoon, and I'm not sure how much they would work over the weekend, and done by noon Monday (today). Going to pick it up to note, probably going to pull all the plugs and check them, also I have a wifi endoscopic camera, going to check the cylinders also. I'm afraid that only replacing 1, 2 and 3, but may have issues with 4, 5 and 6. I'll update later.

 

5 and 6 are always running, 4 is only shutdown in 4-cylinder mode. 4/5/6 should be all good, no worries there.

There was a thread on here where a tech posted that the rebuild takes something like 6-8 hours of labor, so if they worked on it Saturday, it would likely be done today. (they would have to test drive, heat cycle, etc. along the way) Crazy fast, eh? I think they have plenty of practice at this point!

-Charlie

 

It's possible that it got done that quickly. The techs who get these re-rings assigned to them get pretty practiced at it.

You don't have to worry about cylinders 5 and 6 - VCM2 doesn't operate on them. They fire all the time regardless and they don't get anything done to them. It's likely that the dealer tech had a look at cylinder 4.

Edit: @phattyduck beat me to it. He's bang-on correct. Don't worry.

 

Thanks everyone for the support. They did say they were doing the test drive when he called me, so hope it turns out OK. I'm going to inspect the plugs and run the scope in each cylinder when I get it back tonight just for peice of mind. I'll update.

 

So got the car back tonight, everything seems to be running OK. Smooth idle, no issues I can feel thus far. As promised, i did pull each plug and inspect the plug and scoped the inside of the cylinders to see if they cleaned them as the procedure states. Cylinders 4, 5 and 6 were not affected and the original plugs looked good, piston heads were clean.
Cylinders 1, 2 and 3 new plugs looked good and the piston heads looked clean. The only issue I found were on Cylinder #1 (the one that started all this) the valves were a bit dirty and Cylinder #1 spark plug well had fresh oil inside. Not sure if the tech somehow got oil on the plug and it got in the well, or the gasket is leaking and oil is getting into the well.

I've posted a video of the plugs and scope of each cylinder if interested.

 

That looks pretty good in there. Obviously it's hard to know where that bit of oil came from. You just need to watch it a bit and see if it's just a careless dribble or if something is leaking.

Now muzzle that sucker so that the new rings get broken in properly and this never happens to you again. If you don't have a VCM disable device yet, then just drive with a heavier foot to keep VCM from activating while the new rings break in. Enjoy the newly refreshed engine. ?

 

Now muzzle that sucker so that the new rings get broken in properly and this never happens to you again. If you don't have a VCM disable device yet, then just drive with a heavier foot to keep VCM from activating while the new rings break in. Enjoy the newly refreshed engine. ?

Agreed, but the problem is you can't properly coast with VCM engaged too, which is half the break-in process for the rings... They need to seal in both vacuum and compression.

-Charlie

 

Good choice! Please keep us posted on what both you and your wife think of how the van runs now. ?

 

Did the dealer hit you for any fees at all, or was the entire job covered?

 

Well, the first dealer that we went to after the cel came on the first time tried to charge me the $75 diag fee since the light went off on the way there, and they claimed they couldn't see the code, I told them I'm not paying it as I'm still under the powertrain warranty. I then took it to another dealer once the cel came back on again, and I had to pull teeth to get them to give me a loaner, and they told me if it wasn't covered under warranty, it would be a $175 diag fee. I had tons of evidence and photos ect, as I was expecting to have to fight them, but they called me and said it was all under warranty. In fact, they had 2 others in the shop for the exact issue, and I guess it's k own that the issue carried to the later year models, but no tsb for them yet.

They did try to sell me a $75 cabin filter and a $175 fuel cleaning service.. Oddly the same price as the diag fee lol. I declined both and bought an oem filter on Amazon for $12.

 

Thanks for the response, I'm glad you got it fixed under the warranty finally. I truly believe that a group is going to have to get together again and initiate another class action lawsuit against Honda to force them to admit fault and fix the failed VCM design in the later model years that are not covered in the original lawsuit. It seems when people post here with their VCM issues, that it's a roll of the dice if it will be covered or not depending on what dealership they bring their van to or what service manager they dealt with at the time, and that should not be the case. It should be made that any model with VCM issues such as yours is automatically covered in full, no questions asked, no jumping through hoops, no pleading with Honda corporate to get it fixed. There's got to be plenty of people who don't frequent these forums and just pay for the repair or sell/trade it at a loss because they don't have the time for Honda's games...