Never Buy a Vehicle With This Engine

**Should You Keep Your 2012 Honda Pilot? A Comprehensive Analysis**

**Introduction to the Honda Pilot and the Decision at Hand**

The video begins with a discussion about a 2012 Honda Pilot that was purchased used with only 4 or 5,000 miles on it. The owner is contemplating whether to keep the vehicle or sell it, as her husband suggests upgrading to a newer model. The owner, however, expresses satisfaction with the Pilot's performance and reliability.

**Reliability and Maintenance History**

The Honda Pilot has been well-maintained by its previous owner, who kept meticulous records of all service visits. The timing belt was changed at 95,000 miles, ensuring long-term engine protection. The vehicle's history of regular maintenance highlights its reliability and suggests that it could continue to run smoothly for many more years.

**Engine Details: V6 Engine and Timing Belt Considerations**

Under the hood lies a TAA 3.5 L V6 engine, known for its durability. However, it is important to note that this engine requires attention due to two potential issues: the use of a rubber timing belt and the Variable Cylinder Management (VCM) system. The rubber timing belt, while common in Honda vehicles, poses a risk if it fails, potentially causing significant damage to the engine.

**Oil Consumption and Its Management**

The VCM system, which turns off cylinders during cruising to improve fuel efficiency, can lead to uneven heat distribution across the engine. This imbalance may cause minor warping of pistons and cylinders, leading to oil consumption. The owner is advised to monitor oil levels regularly, checking them every few thousand miles or each time they refill gas. While the vehicle burns approximately a quart every 1,500 miles, this manageable expense ensures the engine's longevity.

**Comparison with Newer Models: Acura MDX**

The video contrasts the Honda Pilot with the newer Acura MDX, which shares the same platform but offers more luxurious features. The Acura MDX, priced at $77,000, is highlighted for its sleek design and advanced features, yet it fundamentally mirrors the Pilot's mechanics. Despite the allure of new technology, the reliability and lower cost of ownership of the Honda Pilot make it a compelling option.

**Corrosion Resistance and Build Quality**

The Honda Pilot demonstrates impressive resistance to corrosion, even in challenging Northeastern conditions where salt exposure is common. The vehicle's construction and anti-corrosion treatments have proven effective, ensuring structural integrity over time. This durability stands out compared to certain other brands, such as Toyota, which faced issues with specific models due to manufacturing oversights.

**Cost-Effectiveness Versus New Cars**

The video critiques the financial logic behind purchasing a new vehicle primarily for fuel efficiency. With an MSRP of $70,000, newer cars offer minimal savings in fuel costs that are quickly offset by their higher price tags. The Honda Pilot, with its lower mileage and reliable performance, presents a more economical choice for practical use.

**Conclusion: Should You Keep the Honda Pilot?**

In conclusion, the decision to keep the 2012 Honda Pilot is justified by its reliability, low maintenance costs, and robust build quality. While it may not offer the latest bells and whistles, it remains a dependable vehicle for daily use and longer journeys. The owner's proactive approach to engine care ensures continued performance. If well-maintained, this vehicle has the potential to serve for many more years.

**Bonus: Addressing Planned Obsolescence**

The video also touches on the concept of planned obsolescence in modern vehicles, advocating for the purchase of reliable models like the Toyota Corolla or Honda Civic that can be driven for extended periods. This approach minimizes environmental impact and financial strain associated with frequent upgrades. The preference for traditional features, such as keyless entry systems, is cautioned against due to their potential for breakdowns and higher repair costs.

In summary, the 2012 Honda Pilot emerges as a practical and cost-effective choice, exemplifying the benefits of maintaining reliable older vehicles over investing in newer, less durable models.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enrev up your engines all right we got a 2012 Honda Pilot they bought used with just I know four or 5,000 miles on it she wants to know should I keep it or should I get rid of it right her husband says get rid of that old thing and she's like I don't like the new ones now realize same basic platform behind the pilot Acura MDX yesterday I filmed a brand new Acura MDX loaded okay fancer of course but same basic profile V6 engine it was a $77,000 car do you really want to spend that kind of money now you can see she doesn't care about little scrapes here and there she says she likes driving on road and this thing she moves back and forth people get out of the way she's happy with it she actually didn't like the way the new ones rode she felt safer in this big old thing okay what's under the hood TAA 3.5 L V6 engine they're very good engines other than they have two problems now this one is older so of course it has rubber timing belt but I just looked at a brand new one it is a rubber timing belt too Honda's kind of crazy about that 95,000 Mi she had the timing belt change changed at 100,000 she changed at 95 so she didn't have to think about that for a really long time she doesn't have to worry about that now a lot of people don't know that these are interference engines if the timing belt breaks Pistons sit the valves goodbye engine right if you're going to buy one of these used you want to make sure there's an actual record and a reputable mechanic that the timing belt has been changed and even if they say it has but they don't really kind of wonder about it you can take the plastic cover off the top pretty easy you can look is that an old worn out belt or is it a new one with new numbers on it it's pretty easy to tell number two is a little more Insidious as you can see this is a 3.5 VTEC but it is a vcm where sometimes it turns some of the cylinders off when you're just cruising you do get better gas Modge but at what cost your engine is a thermal system you got six pistons when it's running they all put out the same Heat until vcm kicks in then you got cold cylinders that aren't firing they warp I'm not talking about something you can see you're only talking about a few thousands of an inch here there but instead of having perfectly round Pistons perfectly round cylinder bars they warp and become oval and I'm not talking about like an egg I'm talking about they're not perfectly round anymore then they start burning oil they run okay but they burn oil this Honda yes it does burn some oil from what I figured it's probably burning a quart every I know 1,500 miles nothing outrageous as long as you realize it's going to do that check your oil maybe when you fill it up or every once every th000 miles and if it burned half a quart have a jug in the back and put it in I've had many many customers they're still driving these things they got 250 300,000 mil on them they know they burn oil so they add oil but if you're the type of person who doesn't pay attention to any of that stuff the engine will blow up because it will run out of oil she hardly ever checked it at all she had to changed and stuff but she thoughts Honda you know Hondas they don't have problems right just like Toyotas I have seen Toyotas also blow up because they ran out of oil that engine that Toyota made some of the matrixes had it they didn't build the piston rings right and so they burnt oil and of course people who own Toyotas are used to oh it's a Toyota you know I don't even check the air in the tires right still got the original wheels that one's okay this one's kind of corroding cuz it lives up north and the Northeast so the salt kind of gets to it but see what kind of structure is happening here and voila clean out a whistle now I lives on these Co you saw how clean it was under there Honda made these things pretty well they they didn't really have a rust problem with these and this thing pretty much lives outside it barely fits in the garage you just told me that's how she got the scrape on the back it barely fit in the garage and then coming out you scrape the side of itself now it lives outside all the time you can see Rost isn't particularly a problem with these vehicles even though this is a Northeastern vehicle so that's not something you really got to worry about they're pretty solid built and the anti-corrosion stuff they put on when they build them is pretty topnotch just like Toyotas strangely enough the only Toyotas that had real corrosion problems were those pickup trucks where the frames rotted and that was because Toyota didn't make the frames they had some stupid American company build them and then they sued that company and they got millions from the company for selling the bad frames and it's unfortunate that Toyota didn't replace everyone's frame they did some but I have customers that they refused to one guy in Chicago they refused him but one guy in Indiana they gave him a new friend so who knows so here we go a fancy hotel scanner beeping so it's already started to do its thing detected the vehicle Standalone diagnosis full topology scan so here we go while we're doing it we'll see not bad for Honda it's only got 11,1 167,000 Mi on it loves the leather seat she was looking at a new red 4 but they don't offer leather seats anymore and she really likes the leather seats and all the space this thing has now this thing gets about 22 miles G on the highway and in the city I'm looking at the thing here probably gets about 18 19 mes a gallon it's a big vehicle with a big Honda engine but as she said if I'm going to buy a car and a new car is $70,000 you can buy an awful lot of gas Elite it doesn't make sense to buy a new car to save money on gas you're not saving money you're spending a Fortune of money to save a little bit of money and in the end the big Fortune you paid to buy it was a lot more than the little you saved in gas mile okay now it's an old car it's 12 years old and it's got six trouble codes they probably don't mean much but we're going to start checking them out control unit lost communication with seat heater control unit well may have lost control at some point in time but she said the heated seats work perfectly fine so we'll erase that code too who knows maybe at some point in time the battery got low and then it was replaced it'll trip codes and then unless you have a machine like this to reset it it'll stay in the car Forever Until somebody resets it so we'll try the next one power windows well that was a communication one too cuz it's gone and the seat heater that's the same code and the power tailgate it's got a code now our son backed into something and they replace parts and plastic stuff C breaking that cost a fortune we'll end up taking it for a spin but first we're going to start it up and we'll look at live data here we go live data remember Black's good Red's bad we'll see if anything is odd ma have Cent is good ma have sent is good the air fuel Lambo okay it's 0.99 1.0 well it was perfect for a second then it's off one 100 so I got to say it's running pretty good and it's got all the rocker arm control for the variable cylinder manager you can see it's all off cuz it's not working now we're just idling it can't turn the cylinders off at idle because if it did it would idle like crap so at least it doesn't turn the system on when you're just idling or it'd be shaking and idling wouldn't accelerate right they weren't that dumb they didn't make it work that so let's take it for a spin okay so look a real parking brake you step on with your foot not that electronic crap and even though it's older check it out it's got a backup camera maybe a little on the dark side but you can see doesn't shake it all at idle over the big hump this doesn't have any problems it's high up in the air the electric doy locks work they just lock themselves and way we go on the horrible Rhode Island roads and really for a car that's just old it still rides pretty smooth so we're looking here and it's a good thing we looking there's the police and here we go we St on the gas engine still sounds good shifts like a dream Honda knew what they were doing when they built these things and I do have to say I can understand why she wants to keep it because it's a very solid safe feeling vehicle you know well now you can see we're back none of them came back so they're not important things now sure it's got scratches on it she didn't care about this thing could run a long long time now since your husband's got this diesel Audi I'm not an Audi fan but they like it doesn't have that many miles on it and it is a diesel it's not a gasoline version they can take trips and drive around and that and this can be her knock around car to do what she pleases go to work and stuff if she keeps changing the oil and adds the oil she always changed the oil she have to add it now because of that stupid variable cylinder management does burn a little bit of oil now she knows so she can just add oil every once in a while check it when she fills it up with gas and add a little oil if needs me if she does that this thing will probably still be going down the road 10 years from now i' tell her to keep now if this was a one-owner car she was the only driver lived by herself she wanted to impress people to take long trips yeah you probably say ah maybe you want to upgrade but these things can be great cars for your knock around car that can last a really long time you so that transmission still shifted like a dream they're good Transmissions the engines other than the variable cylinder management they are good engines it could last a long time as long as you keep oiling them and she's already changed the timing belt so she doesn't have to worry about that that so I say keep it don't get rid of it and she doesn't want to throw her money away so she's happy maybe her husband won't be maybe he wants a new vehicle secretly you know I don't know but I tell her keep it if you brought this car to me I'd tell you hey if you don't mind not having this and that go ahead and keep it it can go a long way still got tons of life in it and here's some bonus questions and answers hii says what's the best remedy for planned obsolescence maintaining old stuff or boycotting new stuff well a combination of the two right you really want to get rid of PL obsolesence get a Toyota Corolla or Honda Civic and just drive it forever that's the best because you just keep them going you don't have to think about oh well that new stuff all those computers are going to break as they get old and la la la buy something solid like that take care of it and drive it forever don't get all the stupid bells and whistles you know don't get a vehicle that if I can kick my leg under the bumper and then the trunk will open la la la all that crap's going to break right have cars with actual keys then you don't have to worry oh man my keyless remote system broke it's going to cost me 1,200 bucks to get it fixed right no you got a key that you can get cut at a locksmith always have two like I do I hide them in the drawers I always have a spare then if you get down to your spare go to locksmith get another one made so you got another spare as long as you have two keys hey old technology is better now everybody want oh I want my car to wipe my nose guess what it's going to probably tear your face off one day when it breaks so if you never want to miss another one of my new car repair videos remember to ring that Bell\n"