I recently bought a 2007 Type-S. It's a solid car, with no rust, but ran pretty poorly, so I have been trying to diagnose its issues this week. It has good compression, but failed a leakdown test, and I'm pulling the heads to see what's up in there. As I started disassembly, I discovered that the timing belt was off by a tooth or two on the rear head. As I started removing the alternator and pulleys, I found that the idler pulley has a bolt that's too long to remove. I had no such trouble with that pulley bolt when I did the timing belt service on my 2004 TL. That had me wondering if someone replaced the J35A8 with a J35 from an Odyssey or something. The intake is correct for the Type-S. Is there a stamping on the block or heads somewhere that would indicate that I have the correct engine in this car? Oh, I also discovered that the engine cradle has been replaced, welded up, or some such nonsense. What a mess.

 

VIN should be on engine. Compare it to one on frame.

 

front of the engine block should have stamp J35AX

 

The VIN plate on the heads matches. That's a relief. Dropped the heads off at a local machine shop. We'll see what state they are in soon.