Hello,
I have a 2013 RDX with 93k miles. I recently had a spark plug go bad causing a cylinder misfire. While changing the spark plugs, I noticed the rear 3 were much worse than the front 3, they had oil and carbon buildup, and it was one of the rears that originally went bad.

My engine has also started burning oil. It’s not too bad yet, only needs to be filled once or twice between every oil change, but I’m worried about it moving forward.

I know Honda reached a class action settlement with many V6 J-Series engines. One of these was the 08-12 Accord V6, which according to Wikipedia, is the exact same engine used in the RDX.

It would appear the issue is caused by bad piston rings, which is a 3-4k fix. Many mechanics recommend just replacing the engine outright.

Has anyone else dealt with oil fouled spark plugs or oil burning on their 2G RDX? Unfortunately, it doesn’t appear that the RDX is covered under the settlement. Plus, I already changed my spark plugs, so I’m not sure that the dealership could verify the issue anyway.

Am I holding a ticking time bomb? Should I plan on selling car soon?

 

Won't be no fib to say "well maintained". Just add "lady driven" to maximize sale dollars

 

I'd probably try to just pawn it off on a dealer. Although I'm sure they'll manage to sell it to some poor soul anyway.

 

Just spitballing here. Does the 2013 have variable cylinder management? There have been posts about fouled plugs and oil burning caused by shutting off three of the six cylinders under light load. Someone else might know 'which' cylinders are deactivated (the entire rear bank?). If the answers are yes then maybe all you have to do is disable that 'feature' with an aftermarket module and problem solved!

 

As an active member of the Odyclub (that also uses this engine and was subject to the warranty extension) I can offer the advise
from over there for vans that have exceeded the warranty before the issue shows up. Muzzle that thing! Keep the VCM from ever operating.
These units go from pretty cheap ($40.) with a simple resister to changeable resisters, to a dial to change the value to units with a logic board that never needs adjustment. The very best is: VCMTunerII Advanced that costs $120. & requires a small wire to the battery.

Some folks also run some seafoam or other cylinder head cleaner cleaner as well (the original Honda service bulletin on this called for their techs to "de-carbon" the engine) you don't have to, running all the cylinders all the time does clean them up eventually.

So, how does this snake oil work? They plug in between the coolant sensor and the wiring harness. All the best use factory connectors.
They fool the system into thinking the coolant is not quite warm enough to allow VCM to kick in. In most Honda's with VCM, there is an "ECO" light in the instrument cluster that lights up when VCM is active, so those owner know their Muzzlers are working. The ones with fixed resisters sometimes do allow VCM to still activate on warm days in traffic. Folks who use them report either no difference in fuel economy, a slight hit of maybe 1 MPG and others get better mileage on the highway. All of them report how nice it is to have all 6 cylinders working all the time. This hare brained scheme only helps Honda with their CAFE ratings. On an individual basis, the Fuel savings is minimal.

So so what happens if my car overheats? Well, you have to note where the needle is with the muzzler installed and realize that much above that is hot. The S-VCM and the VCMTunerII both shut themselves off and show the actual temp. The latter does this on a long idle as well, to facilitate idle re-learns or anything else a tech might need. (I'm on my tenth Honda since the mid 1970s and have never had one overheat)

installation advice: always install/remove on a cold engine. Fiddling with this sensor on a warm engine will set a check engine light.

 

Exactly. VCM is the culprit, not piston rings for the Accords and Pilots.

 

Oh it was the piston rings as well. Excessive blow by was an issue with Hondas that did not have VCM.
They used "low friction" rings on many different vehicles between 2008 and 2013. It's just not worth tearing down the engine for this unless Honda is paying.

 

Thanks for the detailed advice. I'm definitely going to pick up a VCMTunerII Advanced. Didn't know it needed to be installed on a cold engine so I appreciate the heads up there as well.

I'm concerned that the damage has already been done to the piston rings. I have about 10k miles until the scheduled timing belt service is due and I'm wondering if it's even worth it at this point to replace the timing belt. If the piston rings are shot, maybe I should drive the current engine and timing belt as long as possible and starting saving money for an engine swap down the line? Do you have any idea how long engines typically last after they start burning oil? I have no problem replacing the spark plugs and topping off with oil as necessary.

 

A new VCMTunerII Advanced will come with instructions. The issue is with the cylinder shutting down with no firing in those cylinders. Once they are firing again, the oil burning stops and the plugs are no longer fouled. There are lots of Odysseys were the dealer refused repairs (out of warranty) and they just Muzzled and went on to 200k or more. If you are happy with this car and on the frugal side, I would have the timing belt done at an independent shop and drive on.
By the way, there have been isolated incidents of newer Odysseys, without the "experimental low friction" piston rings throwing the fouled spark plug codes. Several have been repaired on Honda's dime with lower miles.
This does remind me of another reason to muzzle: long term oil burning is going to ruin the catalytic converter or the sensors at least.

 

You are a wealth of knowledge sir. I'm going to order a VCM Tuner II Advanced ASAP and hope for the best long-term. It would seem Honda maybe hasn't made as much progress fixing this issue as they'd like us to believe.

 

Good advise on the above posts referring to your problem. To add , have you replaced the PVC valve on the engine,, they can become blocked and cause more blow by and increase oil usage. My Son
has a 2013 MDX with the same problem and when asking me I advised to try the PCV first , and that one thing helped greatly. The next thing we did immediately was to install an oil catch can , so as to clean up what was going through the PCV system.. I had to do the same thing with a BMW I bought new in 2003 that had the low tension rings. The above may not stop all of the usage all together , but it should greatly diminish the problem,,

 

Thanks for the heads up. I actually did recently order a PCV valve and plan on installing it soon. Right now my plan of attack is:

• Install a VCM Muzzler
• Replace PCV Valve

Then I'm going to replace the oil and monitor consumption until the next oil change. If those two steps don't seem to fix the issue I may also try:

• Doing a piston soak with Seafoam or another cleaner
• Adding seafoam to the oil for 20-30 miles before the next oil change

I did see somewhere else that an oil catch can help. How difficult are they to install? Are there any negative affects or risks to installing a catch can?

 

On the piston soak, I used the GM Upper Engine Cleaner and let the pistons soaking for about 6 hours then vacuumed the solution out and then turned the engine over without spark plugs. If you do that make sure the plugs are in the coils and hooked up so as not to burnout circuitry. Did that on my BMW a few times and it helped some. The oil catch can is simple to install. Below is a link that can help ,but bear in mind he's using a cheap catch can,,I would go with the Mitsibushi can,,bout 75 bucks. good luck

 

Thinking the catch can in the link below is the one I'm going to install. If you use this one, make sure that you do not use the filter, you would only want to use it in closed loop or sealed system only.

 

My wife's 13 RDX doesn't drink a drop of oil between maintenance intervals...that wasn't the case with the wife's 2011 Pilot, also equipped with VCM. IIRC, the Pilot consumed 1-1.5 qts per maintenance interval. I added S-VCM controller shortly before selling the Pilot to purchase the RDX and based on the short time I used it...the S-VCM controller had a positive impact on the Pilot's oil consumption.

You don't say how much oil your RDX consumes...are you using or have you thought about using a "high-mileage" specific oil? MaxLife Synthetic Blend is good stuff, but Valvoline also now makes a High Mileage Full Synthetic that I've now universally switched to for my fleet. I can tell you this...in the past, I measured less oil consumption when using MaxLife vs "normal" oil.

Depending on the extent of your oil consumption...adding S-VCM Controller and possibly switching the oil you use, might just get you back to very little consumption.

 

Just added a VCMTuner II yesterday. I'll monitor oil consumption over the next few months and report back. I don't put as many miles on these days working from home, so it might be 6 months or so before I have any data.

Sounds like my oil consumption is pretty similar to your pilot. My RDX burned a quart of oil after 5k miles. I really only need to top it off once at about the halfway point between oil changes. The maintenance minder on my vehicle seems to be pretty laid back with oil change intervals. It only recommends an oil change every 7-9k miles. I may start doing more frequent oil changes every 5k miles regardless of the maintenance minder.

I just ordered some Valvoline high mileage full synthetic per your recommendation. I'll use that at my next oil change and report back. Really hoping between disabling the VCM and switching to a high mileage oil, that the oil consumption on my RDX stops.

Really appreciate your feedback. It's helpful hearing from folks who have been down this road before.

 

Did the VCMtuner solve all your oil consumption problems? I have a 2013 Acura RDX that's starting to drink/burn alot of oil and its not even close to 90k miles.

 

Yes. My RDX started burning oil around 70-80k miles and was burning a quart of oil every 5k miles. Installed VCMTuner II at 95k miles. No oil burning whatsoever since then. Now at 120k miles.

Because of the oil burning, my spark plugs fouled early causing a cylinder misfire at 93k miles. If you've been burning oil, it might be a good idea to replace spark plugs early to avoid that. New spark plugs look way better as well since installing VCMTuner.

 

I had installed the VCMtuner and a few months went by and noticed that I had to top off my oil before the next change. That was with about 40k miles . A couple of oil changes later with topping off of oil still going on, I replaced the PCV valve and afterwards haven't
had to top off oil again. Now have 106K miles on the ride.

 

Here's some relatively recent experience of mine which might be helpful...

As I wrote 1.5 years ago in post #15 above, my wife's 13 RDX was essentially perfect in the oil consumption department. This while wearing an S-VCM Controller from pretty much day 1 when we bought it over 4 years / ~100,000 miles ago and using Valvoline Full Synthetic 0w-20 motor oil exclusively. It's easy to get complacent about checking oil with a vehicle that never consumes any oil...regardless, I make it a habit to regularly check the RDX along with the rest of our vehicles. A couple of oil changes ago, I noticed a dramatic change in that I had to add approx 1.5-2 quarts during that service interval. I always service on the MM, which winds up being ~7-7.5k miles. This change in consumption was not gradual or incremental...but almost like a "switch had been flipped." D*mn! Because it came on so quickly...I thought there had to be an event "triggering" this oil consumption and not just age / mileage gradually catching up on this RDX with ~150k miles.

The first things which came to mind were possibly the PCV valve had become clogged or the S-VCM Controller had died. This RDX has ~150k miles on it now and I've never changed the PCV valve, so it definitely was time. Regardless, replacing the PCV valve gave no perceptible improvement in oil consumption thru the following service interval.

Next question...had the S-VCM Controller stopped working? I checked its connection to the battery, and inspected to see if there was anything obvious amiss...nothing, everything looked good. With my previous Hondas equipped with VCM (Odyssey, Pilot), those were easy to determine if VCM active as the "ECO" came on. With the RDX there's no light and being my wife's vehicle and it's a vehicle I rarely drive...so my "seat of the pants" is not well-tuned to this RDX's VCM cycling on/off.

I sent a note to the S-VCM email address I had and explained the situation. Their response was quick and helpful. They suggested I should hook up my OBDII scanner and dynamically read engine coolant temperature...if I saw a reading of <167 degrees after engine warm-up, the S-VCM Controller was working as it should. If >167 degrees, then the S-VCM Controller was not working. I plugged in my bluetooth OBDII scanner, fired up the Torque-Lite app on my phone and went for a drive. After the RDX was up to temp...the engine coolant temp hovered between 180 - 188 degrees. Not good...as apparently my S-VCM Controller had stopped working...after 4 years and ~85k miles.

I relayed my findings to S-VCM and they confirmed my unit was dead. Being 3 years out of warranty, I was pleasantly surprised by their offer to replace my unit for shipping / handling from Canada ($27.50). I accepted immediately and they shipped my new S-VCM Controller the same day. The S-VCM unit arrived a few days later. I installed the unit and once again plugged in my bluetooth OBDII scanner, fired up the Torque-Lite app on my phone and went for a drive. Success! The new unit is working and the RDX is displaying a dynamic Temp reading of no greater than 165.2 degrees...see screen shot.




Now that I have a new / functional S-VCM Controller installed...I'll report back on the effect on oil consumption in a service interval or two....

 

Circling back for an update. It's been a little over 5k miles since I replaced the S-VCM Controller in the wife's 13 RDX-Tech. Since then I've monitored the oil level once / twice per week. I can report that the oil consumption level is back to "imperceptible." I also hooked up the OBDII scanner, just to confirm the S-VCM Controller was still functional...it is.

In sum...the wife's 13 RDX-Tech with ~150k miles on it began to noticeably consume 1.5-2 qts / interval for two maintenance intervals. The S-VCM Controller was found to be dead. After S-VCM Controller replacement in the next 5k mile interval, oil consumption was negligible. Is correlation causation? I believe in this case...yes.

 

Thank you very much for sharing your experience!

 

After reading your story, I purchased and installed S-VCM today. Hopefully this will help with my oil consuming/burning issue. My RDX after very in-depth checks has no oil leak and blows no dark smoke. I am dumbfounded by where the consumed oil is going. I've been adding 2 quarts between oil changes and my problems started after my local Acura dealership replaced the timing belt and water pump. Acura after a half day check up said they found zero evidence of anything wrong with the vehicle. Hopefully this VCM device fixes the problem. Any noticeable difference in fuel economy after install S-VCM?

 

If your experience is like mine, others, or that which MinnesotaRDX (this thread's starter) had...then you should look forward to your oil consumption returning to "negligible" with the S-VCM Controller. I would also advise maybe switching to a high-mileage full synthetic blend oil, such as the one Valvoline offers if you don't get the full effect you're looking for from the S-VCM Controller. My previous experience does indicate a slight decline in oil consumption with Valvoline's High Mileage motor oil products.

I started this thread: 2013 RDX-TECH AWD - MaxLife ATF + S-VCM Controller right after I purchased the wife's RDX. Lot's of good info there (and other threads) regarding the S-VCM Controller and VCM deactivation devices in general. I think it'll be well worth the read.

Good luck and circle back to let us know what your results are.

 

So after a month, I've noticed that oil consumption is down by about 50% thanks to the S-VCM device I installed. This is still not an acceptable amount of oil consumption in my opinion. There is still no traces of an oil leak or black smoke from the tail pipe. It feels like nothing is wrong with the engine, Acura dealership gave it a clean bill of health, but the engine continues to consume oil.

 

Very interesting, is this problem a factory defect on certain engines or the result of poor engine maintenance?

 

That's disappointing...and frustrating. Based on your previous posting(s), that puts your consumption at approximately 1qt per oil change after the S-VCM installation?

Do you perform your own routine maintenance or have the dealership / shop do that? If you do it yourself, I would suggest going with Valvoline's Full Synthetic high-mileage blend to see if you realize another incremental improvement in oil consumption. If you have a shop perform your routine maintenance, see if they'll allow you to provide your own oil if they don't offer a high-mileage blend as an option.

Good luck and keep us posted.

 

the car has been dealer serviced since day 1 with some maintenance done before even the reminder tells you to do it such as the water pump and timing belt. I think it’s just a crappy engine design.

 

There is not a single complaint on the https://www.carcomplaints.com/ 2013 RDX about this, my RDX is 210k. miles and oil consumption is 0. There is not a single recall about the engine. Such a used engine costs $1000-1500, which means that he does not need anyone. Well, I dare to assume that this is not a crappy engine design.

 

It may not necessarily be a big issue on the 2013 per say, but Acura engines in general have had a history of similiar issues (especially on the 2009-2011 TSX). Getting the correct service intervals does make a huge difference though.

 

My RDX consumes 0 with 180k miles on it. I doubt it's bad design, I think it's bad service, how often did you change the oil at the dealer and what kind of oil did the dealer use? The guy at job was changing the oil at the KIA dealer until he accidentally found sand on the dipstick. I think a person who works for a dealer for the minimum wage is worse than a person who works in a shop not for the minimum wage.