You mentioned you documented the oil dilution for warranty purposes. Unfortunately you won’t get any warranty help since you have the K-Tuner. You just voided it.
Accord 2.0T - OEM+ Build
Got the car in November 2022, it was the last 2.0 on the lot and I got it for a sick deal, couldn't pass it up. In the last 3 months I have pretty much completed all the mods I wanted to do to the car.
I will break down the mods with the product name, price, link to purchase, and whether it was worth it or not, and a small description. These are in the order I installed them in.
0. I didn't buy an intake - 0$ - Worth
- For this mod all you need is some silicone adhesive and/or silicone cement that can bond to plastic. I used some off the shelf stuff from homedepot that I had lying around and a piece of acrylic/plastic that is about 1.5" in diameter. When you open your factory intake and remove the filter, at the BOTTOM of the air box you will see a big round hole. This is the resonator for the intake, it creates turbulence when the intake sucks in air and reduces turbo/intake sound by about 5db, which is about 50% if 10db is double the perceived volume. Use the silicone cement to apply a nice layer to the top of the edge of this hole, and then put the piece of plastic on top to cover it up. VOILA. No need to take apart half your front end to reach this POS resonator. 100% works, tested by me, of course. If you installed an intake you already removed this POS and it was a pain in the ass wasn't it... I also purchased a basic K&N Air filter to add a little more sound, so 50$ there.
1. Mishimoto Catch Can - 230$ - Worth
- After 2000 miles the catch can was 1/3 of the way full with oil and gunk and smelled of gas. I did do an oil analysis, and came to the conclusion that the oil dilution is bad enough that I will be running 5w30 for the foreseeable future. 2% fuel dilution after 2k miles is pretty bad, and now that I have it documented for warranty purposes, I will move on. The catch can does have a known issue where the baffle/filter can walk out of the thread and make a click sound when on throttle. Mine doesn't have that, but the click did come from the hose physically shaking against the engine cover, I ziptied it do something and now no noise. After another 2000 miles the catch can was yet again, 1/3 of the way full. For perspective, the catch can can hold about 1 pint/16fl oz/450ml. So about 150-200ml of gunk ever 2000 miles that it prevents from entering the intake. Pretty confident my valves appreciate it.
2. Ktuner stage 2.1 v2 - 650$ - Worth
- By far the best mod you can do. I have ZERO engine mods (no exhaust or intake). The settings I used: K tuner stage 2.1, eco with factory boost targets. Throttle response - improved III, Maximum turbo response, early spool on, I also changed VSC to be medium (so medium ignition cut back, medium throttle cut back). This helps keep the engine in boost when you lose traction. So far no worries in the rain with the VSC thing. The difference between stock and stage 1 is minimal, but stock to stage 2 the car went from "quick" to "walking most stock v8's from a dig/roll". I mostly daily drive my car in the eco setting where the engine is in factory boost BUT still has all the benefits of the throttle response and turbo response.
3. PRL Front Strut Bar - 230$ - Worth
- Considering my accord coupe came with a strut bar from the factory, sad honda decided to cut this piece, as it does help the front end turn it WAY better. My camry XSE comes with a massive front strut brace that is literally welded to the chassis from the factory so the car handles so much better than the accord, but with this, your turn in will improve significantly. I am sure there are cheaper options but I like the clean look of this one and the fact that is easy to package just in case. The biggest issue is that you cannot remove the engine cover when the strut bar is installed. There is just zero room between the strut bar and the engine cover, so when you floor it, the engine torque's upward and touches the bar and makes a "click/tap" sound. No real way to avoid this without a solid side motor mount.
4. Accord Head Light Tint - 25$ - Maybe Worth
- I got the 50% tint, and most people say they notice it and it looks good, personally I can't see much of a difference, but if other people noticed it right away, I guess its worth the 25$. I don't notice any brightness difference since the tint seems to be mostly one way.
5. Accord Tail Light Tint - 21$ - Worth
- This just cleans up the white part of the oem tail lights, but I ended up getting different tail lights anyways so wasn't worth it but not much money.
6. Eibach Rear Sway bar - 250$ - Worth
- This is single-handedly the best mod you can get for handling. The rear end is at least 3x more planted. I live in an area with a lot of corners, sweeping turns, onramps, etc, and the difference is so dramatic that I wish I did this first. Thing is, I never really believed in sway bars and thought it was most people just "imagining things" but I have driven some good cars in my life that handled really well and the accord didn't feel planted AT ALL from the factory compared to my v6 coupe. The suspension feels very over sprung and over dampened to the point that the rear end is more of a liability in the corners. Left to right/right to left transitions were pretty much a no go as the rear would get so confused and unsettled you had to be very careful with your steering inputs. This solves all of those issues except the over sprung feel. The car still feels like it flouts on the pavement instead of digging in like older hondas or even my freaking camry. I think I will be looking at different springs, maybe not lowering, but just something that is not so stiff that makes the car hop/bounce over repetitive bumps.
7. Accord 6MT engine mount - 73$ - Maybe Worth
- This is a much less perceived difference. 99% of the time you won't even need this unless you are launching from 0 and trying to get the most traction out of the car, honestly better tires would probably do the same but for 70ish bucks...its worth a try.
8. XGenAuto V8 OEM+ Tail Lights - 380$ - Worth
- I simply love these tail lights. They stick to the OEM look which I very much like, I think every other tail light out there for the accord is straight up RICER but I am from the 80's/90's so I guess kids are into RICE these days so forgive the jargon, to each their own, but I wanted to keep the car looking as OEM as possible with simple touches. I will note that the fitment could be better. I will put some pictures here, but I feel the housing that sits on the fender could have tighter tolerances. So if you want a perfect fit, I would stay away from any XGen Auto parts, they are affordable, but not perfect.
9. "JDM" Honda Badges - 40$ - Maybe
- Only if you want it, I gave it a go just because, fitment could be better, but looks alright. I didn't want any red on the car, don't like the rice as you can tell from above. So I went with black. Shipping took for ever though. I managed to get all the mods done before I even got these. I also don't know what is JDM about them....do we call everthing JDM these days to make it seem cooler?
10. Blacked Out Badges - 20$ - Worth
- Cheap enough that I don't care, worth, looks good, matches the blacked out "spoiler" (its a freaking line not a spoiler honestly).
Most of these mods aren't visible other than the lights and badges, but I will say the sway bar and strut bar made a huge difference, and the tune was worth it. Over all, My OEM+ sleeper is done, quiet, smooth, and not to be messed with (lol). This is about 2000$ worth with taxes and shipping, over all, was it all worth it? Yes because I bought the car bellow MSRP which helped, if I had to pay sticker (34,755) + taxes and fees which would put me at well over 35 grand I wouldn't even buy this car because there are better options for that price on the used market. This car had 2000 miles on it and they let it go for much less than MSRP.
I will break down the mods with the product name, price, link to purchase, and whether it was worth it or not, and a small description. These are in the order I installed them in.
0. I didn't buy an intake - 0$ - Worth
- For this mod all you need is some silicone adhesive and/or silicone cement that can bond to plastic. I used some off the shelf stuff from homedepot that I had lying around and a piece of acrylic/plastic that is about 1.5" in diameter. When you open your factory intake and remove the filter, at the BOTTOM of the air box you will see a big round hole. This is the resonator for the intake, it creates turbulence when the intake sucks in air and reduces turbo/intake sound by about 5db, which is about 50% if 10db is double the perceived volume. Use the silicone cement to apply a nice layer to the top of the edge of this hole, and then put the piece of plastic on top to cover it up. VOILA. No need to take apart half your front end to reach this POS resonator. 100% works, tested by me, of course. If you installed an intake you already removed this POS and it was a pain in the ass wasn't it... I also purchased a basic K&N Air filter to add a little more sound, so 50$ there.
1. Mishimoto Catch Can - 230$ - Worth
- After 2000 miles the catch can was 1/3 of the way full with oil and gunk and smelled of gas. I did do an oil analysis, and came to the conclusion that the oil dilution is bad enough that I will be running 5w30 for the foreseeable future. 2% fuel dilution after 2k miles is pretty bad, and now that I have it documented for warranty purposes, I will move on. The catch can does have a known issue where the baffle/filter can walk out of the thread and make a click sound when on throttle. Mine doesn't have that, but the click did come from the hose physically shaking against the engine cover, I ziptied it do something and now no noise. After another 2000 miles the catch can was yet again, 1/3 of the way full. For perspective, the catch can can hold about 1 pint/16fl oz/450ml. So about 150-200ml of gunk ever 2000 miles that it prevents from entering the intake. Pretty confident my valves appreciate it.
2. Ktuner stage 2.1 v2 - 650$ - Worth
- By far the best mod you can do. I have ZERO engine mods (no exhaust or intake). The settings I used: K tuner stage 2.1, eco with factory boost targets. Throttle response - improved III, Maximum turbo response, early spool on, I also changed VSC to be medium (so medium ignition cut back, medium throttle cut back). This helps keep the engine in boost when you lose traction. So far no worries in the rain with the VSC thing. The difference between stock and stage 1 is minimal, but stock to stage 2 the car went from "quick" to "walking most stock v8's from a dig/roll". I mostly daily drive my car in the eco setting where the engine is in factory boost BUT still has all the benefits of the throttle response and turbo response.
3. PRL Front Strut Bar - 230$ - Worth
- Considering my accord coupe came with a strut bar from the factory, sad honda decided to cut this piece, as it does help the front end turn it WAY better. My camry XSE comes with a massive front strut brace that is literally welded to the chassis from the factory so the car handles so much better than the accord, but with this, your turn in will improve significantly. I am sure there are cheaper options but I like the clean look of this one and the fact that is easy to package just in case. The biggest issue is that you cannot remove the engine cover when the strut bar is installed. There is just zero room between the strut bar and the engine cover, so when you floor it, the engine torque's upward and touches the bar and makes a "click/tap" sound. No real way to avoid this without a solid side motor mount.
4. Accord Head Light Tint - 25$ - Maybe Worth
- I got the 50% tint, and most people say they notice it and it looks good, personally I can't see much of a difference, but if other people noticed it right away, I guess its worth the 25$. I don't notice any brightness difference since the tint seems to be mostly one way.
5. Accord Tail Light Tint - 21$ - Worth
- This just cleans up the white part of the oem tail lights, but I ended up getting different tail lights anyways so wasn't worth it but not much money.
6. Eibach Rear Sway bar - 250$ - Worth
- This is single-handedly the best mod you can get for handling. The rear end is at least 3x more planted. I live in an area with a lot of corners, sweeping turns, onramps, etc, and the difference is so dramatic that I wish I did this first. Thing is, I never really believed in sway bars and thought it was most people just "imagining things" but I have driven some good cars in my life that handled really well and the accord didn't feel planted AT ALL from the factory compared to my v6 coupe. The suspension feels very over sprung and over dampened to the point that the rear end is more of a liability in the corners. Left to right/right to left transitions were pretty much a no go as the rear would get so confused and unsettled you had to be very careful with your steering inputs. This solves all of those issues except the over sprung feel. The car still feels like it flouts on the pavement instead of digging in like older hondas or even my freaking camry. I think I will be looking at different springs, maybe not lowering, but just something that is not so stiff that makes the car hop/bounce over repetitive bumps.
7. Accord 6MT engine mount - 73$ - Maybe Worth
- This is a much less perceived difference. 99% of the time you won't even need this unless you are launching from 0 and trying to get the most traction out of the car, honestly better tires would probably do the same but for 70ish bucks...its worth a try.
8. XGenAuto V8 OEM+ Tail Lights - 380$ - Worth
- I simply love these tail lights. They stick to the OEM look which I very much like, I think every other tail light out there for the accord is straight up RICER but I am from the 80's/90's so I guess kids are into RICE these days so forgive the jargon, to each their own, but I wanted to keep the car looking as OEM as possible with simple touches. I will note that the fitment could be better. I will put some pictures here, but I feel the housing that sits on the fender could have tighter tolerances. So if you want a perfect fit, I would stay away from any XGen Auto parts, they are affordable, but not perfect.
9. "JDM" Honda Badges - 40$ - Maybe
- Only if you want it, I gave it a go just because, fitment could be better, but looks alright. I didn't want any red on the car, don't like the rice as you can tell from above. So I went with black. Shipping took for ever though. I managed to get all the mods done before I even got these. I also don't know what is JDM about them....do we call everthing JDM these days to make it seem cooler?
10. Blacked Out Badges - 20$ - Worth
- Cheap enough that I don't care, worth, looks good, matches the blacked out "spoiler" (its a freaking line not a spoiler honestly).
Most of these mods aren't visible other than the lights and badges, but I will say the sway bar and strut bar made a huge difference, and the tune was worth it. Over all, My OEM+ sleeper is done, quiet, smooth, and not to be messed with (lol). This is about 2000$ worth with taxes and shipping, over all, was it all worth it? Yes because I bought the car bellow MSRP which helped, if I had to pay sticker (34,755) + taxes and fees which would put me at well over 35 grand I wouldn't even buy this car because there are better options for that price on the used market. This car had 2000 miles on it and they let it go for much less than MSRP.
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Firstly, no, that doesn't. The tune would actually fix the fuel dilution by burning more of the wasted fuel.
Second, it has to be proven in court that the reason the engine failed is the tune, considering the engine had fuel dilution PRIOR to the tune, its on the OEM, hence the evidence and mileage of purchase.
Thirdly, I can flash it to stock, and fuel dilution will still kill the engine if its bad enough, therefore, it makes no difference.
Magnuson-Moss act makes it so that modifying your car doesn't immediately void your warranty.
And it works with a good lawyer which there are A LOT of great car enthusiast lawyers.Good answer but good luck if something happens.Firstly, no, that doesn't. The tune would actually fix the fuel dilution by burning more of the wasted fuel.
Second, it has to be proven in court that the reason the engine failed is the tune, considering the engine had fuel dilution PRIOR to the tune, its on the OEM, hence the evidence and mileage of purchase.
Thirdly, I can flash it to stock, and fuel dilution will still kill the engine if its bad enough, therefore, it makes no difference.
Magnuson-Moss act makes it so that modifying your car doesn't immediately void your warranty.
Firstly, I understand why you wouldn't tune, but I would never run 87 on a turbo car, period, ever. Every single person I know who believed that ended up with blown motors. 89 a minimum, 91 recommended. Honda's own tune (according to Hondata) is geared for 100 octane, the rest is ignition pull back, which is risky. The reason they allow 87 octane is to show to the USA DOT and EPA that the car is "efficient" and "affordable", just like telling us to use 0w20 when in EU honda's run highest octane and 5w30. So Please, do your own research, but I wouldn't trust 87 octane on ANY turbo car. I did some testing on the factory tune with the K tuner to get base line k.con readings, and with 87 octane on the stock tune they were at way over 0.75 (you wanna be bellow 0.6) and with 91 octane I was around 0.51 and with 93 around 0.45. With the tune, K.con was around 0.49 on 93 octane and around 0.8 on 89. On the factory tune I logged about 20 cylinder knocks within a 30 minute drive to work, even with the tune and 93 octane I don't get more than 1.
Second, the catch can is a must on any turbo car. The reason its not included is because its a 250$+ part AND its a maintenance item. Again, to fit the EPA spec, having more maintenance items = more taxes paid by honda per vehicle. This is another reason why manufacturers moved to 10,000 mile oil changes, LOWER EMISSIONS TAXES. This has nothing to do with "improved" technology. Catch cans have been proven to not only prolong the life of a turbocharger by limiting the amount of oil and gas that gets sucked back into the intake, but also limits the amount of carbon build up on the valves in GDI engines. If you have a non turbo, port injected engine, yes, its pretty much useless. But, to maintain the PCV system better, catch cans are a MUST, PERIOD. Do your own research but the evidence is more than abundant. (Think about it, imagine honda spending an extra 300 million on catch cans in the US alone, PLUS EPA taxes).
Third, as I sad, the headlight tint is ONE WAY, it does not affect the brightness of the headlights. But it is cosmetically visible.
Fourth, Yes, the Rear Sway Bar is by far the single best improvement out of all of these other than the tune. Worth the money. Its a total pain in the ass to install though, I highly recommend you DON'T remove the exhaust to pull out the factory sway bar, it can be done with a rubber mallet and if you try to turn the factory bar linear to the car, it should slide out. To install the new one I recommend you set the car down as low as you can, so the wheels touch the ground. I understand not everyone is as slim as I am but this will make it much easier to line up the sway bar links to the control arms, otherwise, hammer is the way.
Hope this summarizes my logic
Happy modding.Disclaimer, this is based on my own research, and my own opinion, nothing here should be taken at face value without personal inquiry.
i hope you can understand that if i am to choose between believing a manufacturer with billions poured into R&D, versus a rando on the internet, i will probably side with the manufacturer. if using 87 would damage the engine, they wouldn't recommend it. i understand that there are financial reasons for doing this but i simply don't believe honda would put their reputation on the line if that was the case. its been 5 years of only ever putting 87 and i haven't had a single issue. there are millions of these cars on the road, i am pretty sure they are all not blowing up like you claim. 0w20 is recommended because of the colder climates in NA and it is true that the oil becomes too thin at high operating temperatures to maintain lubrication and will evaporate faster. but this is my daily driver. im not drag racing it every day. i rarely ever go WOT but ill open it up a few times every driving session (and when i do, it does it with no knocking, no nonsense, it just delivers lots of power).Firstly, I understand why you wouldn't tune, but I would never run 87 on a turbo car, period, ever. Every single person I know who believed that ended up with blown motors. 89 a minimum, 91 recommended. Honda's own tune (according to Hondata) is geared for 100 octane, the rest is ignition pull back, which is risky. The reason they allow 87 octane is to show to the USA DOT and EPA that the car is "efficient" and "affordable", just like telling us to use 0w20 when in EU honda's run highest octane and 5w30. So Please, do your own research, but I wouldn't trust 87 octane on ANY turbo car. I did some testing on the factory tune with the K tuner to get base line k.con readings, and with 87 octane on the stock tune they were at way over 0.75 (you wanna be bellow 0.6) and with 91 octane I was around 0.51 and with 93 around 0.45. With the tune, K.con was around 0.49 on 93 octane and around 0.8 on 89. On the factory tune I logged about 20 cylinder knocks within a 30 minute drive to work, even with the tune and 93 octane I don't get more than 1.
Second, the catch can is a must on any turbo car. The reason its not included is because its a 250$+ part AND its a maintenance item. Again, to fit the EPA spec, having more maintenance items = more taxes paid by honda per vehicle. This is another reason why manufacturers moved to 10,000 mile oil changes, LOWER EMISSIONS TAXES. This has nothing to do with "improved" technology. Catch cans have been proven to not only prolong the life of a turbocharger by limiting the amount of oil and gas that gets sucked back into the intake, but also limits the amount of carbon build up on the valves in GDI engines. If you have a non turbo, port injected engine, yes, its pretty much useless. But, to maintain the PCV system better, catch cans are a MUST, PERIOD. Do your own research but the evidence is more than abundant. (Think about it, imagine honda spending an extra 300 million on catch cans in the US alone, PLUS EPA taxes).
Third, as I sad, the headlight tint is ONE WAY, it does not affect the brightness of the headlights. But it is cosmetically visible.
Fourth, Yes, the Rear Sway Bar is by far the single best improvement out of all of these other than the tune. Worth the money. Its a total pain in the ass to install though, I highly recommend you DON'T remove the exhaust to pull out the factory sway bar, it can be done with a rubber mallet and if you try to turn the factory bar linear to the car, it should slide out. To install the new one I recommend you set the car down as low as you can, so the wheels touch the ground. I understand not everyone is as slim as I am but this will make it much easier to line up the sway bar links to the control arms, otherwise, hammer is the way.
Hope this summarizes my logic
Disclaimer, this is based on my own research, and my own opinion, nothing here should be taken at face value without personal inquiry.
if honda believes you can drive the accord on 87, 0w20, and no catch can then i will take their word for it. i simply refuse to have to empty an oil catch can every week that is generally mostly water anyways. yes direct injection will lead to carbon build up, but you can just do an engine cleaning at 100k miles and call it a (very long) day. im only at 33k miles after 5 years but i have not noticed any degradation in performance. worth noting i am only ever getting gas from shell and i only use mobil1/valvoline oil along with OEM oil filters when i do my oil changes. i am also regularly checking oil levels. there are just too many variables that can be leading to these blown engines you are referring to that go beyond the gas/oil type being used and use of catch cans. i also have yet to hear of any accord that suffered an engine failure due to carbon buildup or even see pictures of how much carbon build up there is on any 10G accords.
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