Planning to buy 03-07 Accord Coupe v6 6sp.-got some questions

[user-90]

Hey everyone, I'm planning to buy a used 03-07 accord coupe v6 6sp (most likely the 03-05 models). I would like to know their common problems and some of your personal experiences about their reliability.

I've done some research and some owners have mentioned that a few of these cars may have high oil consumption problems and tranny issues.

In addition, do the 7th gen accord suffer from precat failures. I'm asking because my previous car (03 Sentra SER Spec V) had precat problems. Their precat sat too close to the motor which caused the internal materials of the precat to break apart and recirculated back into the motor scoring cylinder walls causing oil consumption and loss of compression.

[sbowden99]

1.) Get the 6-6.
2.) Remove the restrictor valve in the slave cylinder.
3.) Have fun!

In all seriousness, I picked up an 05 6-6 in April with 90k miles. Only issue I've encountered so far is a vibration at 60 mph. I replaced the front and rear motor mounts and replaced a bent rim, and the vibration (while less severe) is still present. I think it may be a tire issue.

Other than that, the car has been rock solid. Of course, around 105k, it'll be time to replace the timing belt and water pump.

And if you're in the Northern VA area, I can recommend a fantastic mechanic.

--Seth

[07AccordEx-L]

You are right about the precats being close to the motor. Most 6-6 owners just get pre-cat deletes which do wonders for this car in terms of performance.

I personally use castrol conventional with no issues. (140k on the odometer)

Only tranny issue is the 3rd gear grind/pop out. GM synchromesh or Amsoil synchromesh will fix it.

Only other major issue is the creaking clutch pedal which is because of the master cylinder. It's a flawed design so every once in a while you have to lube it.

Otherwise, it's a solid car. You won't regret it. I love mine.

[user-90]

Thanks for the reply guys. Just out of curiosity, how many 7th gen accord actually had their precat failed and motor damaged? I know for some cars with precats, the occurrence of precat failures is not as often as other cars. I live in CA so smog is a pain in the rear. If all possible, I would like to retain the stock precats on the car to avoid the hassle of swapping them back and forth with aftermarket ones when smogging if the precat issues isn't that common with these cars.

[07AccordEx-L]

As far as I know, to date, no one has reported any failures. I think you would only have to worry if you track your accord.

[user-90]

I'll be using this car as a commuter and with it being a 6sp with 240hp, I'm not going to lie, I will be giving it short burst of full acceleration when getting on the highway from time to time (maybe 3 times a week). I won't be modding this car to it's full potential. Maybe intake and catback at most for some growl. Precat deletes will be the last performance mod if I do decide to do that.

Otherwise, this car will remain pretty much stock. I will track this car at the dragstrip once bone stock and a second time with intake, catback, and maybe precat deletes. But daily, I'm a very mild and conservative driver most of the time-I don't like to break things on my car.

[05AV6-6]

How.... Do you turn off the check engine light if you take out the cats ? My old Jeep Cherokee only had 1 cat and I just made an o2 sensor simulator, and it went away..... Doesn't the upstream o2 sensor heavily influence the air to fuel ratio and is critical if it throws a code ? As in seriously hurting mpg and power ? You guys make it sound so simple.... "aw just take it out". But the 800 lb gorilla in the house is the CEL and upstream o2 ?



As you can see... My dog doesn't like cats....

[fazio767]

Hey there my friend,

I just got my 2004 Accord coupe, two months ago used. Unfortunatly, I have had problems with it right off the bat. The most serious issue was with my EGR valve (which had become clogged with carbon, and had to be cleaned). What happened though, i was driving down the road one day, start slowing down to stop at a rural stop sign, and the car just died. Wouldent idle (the valve couldent open and close properly to allow the car to do so). So, if you were able to start the car you could only run it by keeping the gas on.

I did have it fixed, for $300. Unfortunatly im questioning weather or not it really was fixed right as my car can be hard of starting sometimes...

[07AccordEx-L]

No need to worry then. If you do a lot of road racing then you would wanna worry. Hope you buy it. It's a great car with a lot of potential. It's very underrated.

[07AccordEx-L]

Originally Posted by 05AV6-6

How.... Do you turn off the check engine light if you take out the cats ? My old Jeep Cherokee only had 1 cat and I just made an o2 sensor simulator, and it went away..... Doesn't the upstream o2 sensor heavily influence the air to fuel ratio and is critical if it throws a code ? As in seriously hurting mpg and power ? You guys make it sound so simple.... "aw just take it out". But the 800 lb gorilla in the house is the CEL and upstream o2 ?



As you can see... My dog doesn't like cats....

The precat deletes are 2.5" pipes that replace the precats. You don't simply just remove them. Also, the precat deletes come with defoulers, so no need to worry about CEL

[07AccordEx-L]

Originally Posted by fazio767

Hey there my friend,

I just got my 2004 Accord coupe, two months ago used. Unfortunatly, I have had problems with it right off the bat. The most serious issue was with my EGR valve (which had become clogged with carbon, and had to be cleaned). What happened though, i was driving down the road one day, start slowing down to stop at a rural stop sign, and the car just died. Wouldent idle (the valve couldent open and close properly to allow the car to do so). So, if you were able to start the car you could only run it by keeping the gas on.

I did have it fixed, for $300. Unfortunatly im questioning weather or not it really was fixed right as my car can be hard of starting sometimes...

With any used car you buy, you are taking a risk. Everyone takes care of their maintenance and upkeep differently. If you are like me, you do scheduled maintenance and even preventative maintenance. Other people, well they use cheap gas, and don't change the oil when they're suppose to, etc. I bought this car used and it was indeed neglected but I wasted no time replacing parts with new ones and flushing out fluids and filling. As of today, this car runs with zero engine problems.

[user-90]

Originally Posted by 07AccordEx-L

With any used car you buy, you are taking a risk. Everyone takes care of their maintenance and upkeep differently. If you are like me, you do scheduled maintenance and even preventative maintenance. Other people, well they use cheap gas, and don't change the oil when they're suppose to, etc. I bought this car used and it was indeed neglected but I wasted no time replacing parts with new ones and flushing out fluids and filling. As of today, this car runs with zero engine problems.

Agreed. I am mechanically inclined, so I do all the preventative maintenance on my car myself for experience as well as to save money. There's really nothing you can't learn especially with the DIY on the forums and FSM available online.

[mschumacher]

Originally Posted by 07AccordEx-L

Only tranny issue is the 3rd gear grind/pop out. GM synchromesh or Amsoil synchromesh will fix it.

Only other major issue is the creaking clutch pedal which is because of the master cylinder. It's a flawed design so every once in a while you have to lube it.

Originally Posted by sbowden99

1.) Get the 6-6.
2.) Remove the restrictor valve in the slave cylinder.
3.) Have fun!

So is the problem in the master cylinder or the slave cylinder? And what will removing the restrictor valve do?

[07AccordEx-L]

The master cylinder is what causes the creaks/squeaks.
The restrictor valve in the slave cylinder causes the clutch to slip during hard acceleration and makes the clutch feel inconsistent.

[mschumacher]

So what is the purpose of the restrictor valve? To give a smoother shift at the cost of clutch slip? I've come across something like this on one of the cars I built with a Tilton pedal box where the owner insisted on putting something like this to give a smoother shift (on a racecar, no less.). One race and a busted clutch later, the smile was on my face lol.