Hello all. First of all good to meet you I am new to AcuraZine. Excited to be a member. I have some questions. I have a 2006 MDX and the timing belt has snapped due to what I believe to be a broken hydraulic tensioner. Very unfortunate situation but it has happened and I am trying to figure out what to do from here.
I can either swap the whole engine with something that is preferred to be as plug and play as possible. Or I pull the heads to see if I just bent valves, and can maybe get away with just swapping heads. I have found multiple 04 MDX's out in my local junkyard that have j35a5 motors in them. But according to car-part.com it says that they are not interchangeable. Is that true or not? My next question if that is true is what about a j35a6 from an 06 Odyssey? Keep in mind I would like as much plug and go as possible here with minimal part swapping.
With heads wise I have never done them on this motor. Is it possible to change heads out without yanking the motor? If so can i swap the heads from say an 04 MDX or the j35a6? In your opinion is the motor even worth trying to yank the heads off or just go with replacing the motor. I am just unsure of what the right move here is. Any help is very much appreciated.

 

The J35A5 is pretty much your only option shy of a more expensive and somewhat more rare J35A8. The J35A6 will not bolt up to your transmission.

 

I forgot to write, your best option if you don't want to shop for a new motor is to have the heads either rebuilt or replaced. The odds of piston damage is pretty low compared to valve damage.

 

On a side note...I believe the 2008 (not the hybrid) Highlander v6 has a chain. Between $7 - $11K

 

So at the moment I leaning towards doing the Heads on the j35a5. Does anybody have a guide maybe? Or perhaps can just tell me if you can yank the heads with the motor still in the car?

 

Yes, you can pull the heads with the engine still in the vehicle; yank'em, send them out to be reconditioned, and put them back on (along with a new timing belt and associated components).

 

Welcome to the board Vintagesheep. A few years back a 2006 MDX owner did a plug-and-play engine swap, "the j35a8 mounted into the mdx perfectly" (Acura RL / TL Type-S engine has more hp and torque).

Here's the thread:
https://acurazine.com/forums/1g-2g-m...d-help-987397/

He referenced this site as very useful as well:
http://www.v6performance.net/forums/...sticky%2A.html

Hope this helps...