Are there any common problems or headaches with it? It has 80k miles, would assume just looking out for timing belt/water pump and maybe spark plugs.

Just wondering if this car has any hidden demons

Thanks!

 

Have you checked out the excessive oil consumption threads? Acura does have an extended warranty to repair if you are around the 1 qt per 1000-2000 mile range (not sure about the upper consumption limit). Spark plugs, timing belt, water pump, etc... are not due until the 105,000 mile service. You should plan on putting fresh fluids and filters anyways if you don't have the service records.

 

I've seen some of those threads yep, but is that ALL of the MDXs have the oil consumption problem? Or just some? And so worst case I'd just need to add a quart every once in a while? In the grand scheme of things that doesn't seem terrible.

 

The majority of the J37s post 2010 does indeed have Oil Consumption issues its not only the MDX but also the TL, ZDX, etc...
That is adding 1quart every 1000miles which IMO is beyond excessive… There is also the issue with the 6 speedo trans which can have erratic shifting behavior.

The 07-09MDXs with the J37 seem pretty much un-affected. My MDX does not consume oil between the 15,000k oil changes for reference..

 

I'm about 1 quart per 9000 mile oil change interval on my 11 MDX with +133,000 miles. It hasn't changed since I purchased used back in 2014 with 30k on the odo. It can be hit or miss and various degrees of consumption per MDX. I haven't seen a set of conditions that will make oil consumption more likely than not per MDX? There is also a firmware upgrade for the 6AT to fix the trans shifting issue. I had it done to my MDX and it smoothed out the shifts and improved combined and hwy mpgs. I think Acura applied the fix to all 2012-2013 MDXs at the assembly line after the 2011 model year?

 

I would look at a Toyota before I would consider any 2010 - 2013 MDX.

Where does the oil go when it is consumed/burned?
It goes thru the emissions system. First it coats the O2 sensors then oily residue is handled by the catalytic converter. Eventually the cat becomes clogged.

You spend $2,000 on new sensors/cats and are still burning oil and clogging the new cats.

When oil got past the rings, back in the 60s it didn't ruin any catalytic converters. It just came out of the tailpipe as blue smoke.

 

^ This hasn´t been confirmed by ANYONE having oil consumption issues though... So hear-say.

 

The oil gets past the "oil control rings" and then where does it go?
An oil catch can will capture most of it, but if there is no catch can, where does the oil go?

Many Acura 4 cylinder engines, at about 150,000 miles develop oil consumption/burning and within 50,000 they can not accelerate up an onramp, because the catalytic converter is clogged and the exhaust can not exit. The solution is to remove the catalytic converter and gut it or use a straight pipe. Then put an angled O2 adapter at the secondary bung, before reinstalling the secondary O2 sensor.

 

The oil gets burned off by the engine some of it goes back to the EGR system (I would say most of it) and some goes down the exhaust..
You would think by the amount of oil being consumed in the bad J37s the cats should be replaced every 50k but nope.. So far I haven´t seen a single (Not a single) thread of Clogged cats in a MDX.