Hi there from Melbourne: 8th Gen V6 Accord owner

[JB_AccordV6]

Hi there, glad to meet fellow Honda enthusiasts! I am from the suburb of Bundoora in Melbourne. I own a very black and very clean 2008 Honda Accord V6, 8th gen. Look forward to chatting with you all!

[Rudy]

Hi,

Welcome. Any plans for the car or have you done any mods yet? If so, care to share pics? Ive got an 08 grey v6 ..not many 8th gen owners on here!

[JB_AccordV6]

Hi Rudy, happy new year (almost!) no real mods other than tinted glass and alloy wheel update. My car is a V6 (non-luxury). I tried buying OEM-style foglights for it last year from Mars Performance but unfortunately the mounting points were different and the wiring looms too short! It was a shame, because they were only $140 delivered (way less than OEM) but I believe they were made for USA built Accords.

I'm actually surprised at the relative 'unpopularity' of the 8th Gen fat-boy V6. When I first saw one on the road in 2008 at the Australian GP car park, sitting alongside Audi A6's, E-Class's and 5 Series, I was in love. Amongst those cars it held it's own in the looks dept IMO. The interior design and space is fantastic too, very much like Commodore and Falcon, but with the finish and style of a Honda..and of course the 202kW/339Nm V6. It's the fastest Honda on the market today and has been for several years. I took on a bloke in an 8th Gen Euro...and left him behind, and a good mate of mine has a Mondeo XR5 turbo manual with CPU flash producing 195kW/403 Nm, on both rolling start and standing start I was able to get in front each time. For the reasons listed, it's no surprise Drive.com.au voted the 8th Gen Accord V6 their 2008 car of the year.

I bought mine in October 2011 with 35,000 km on the clock from a Honda dealer and paid $23k on the road which I think is a bargain . It now has 56,000 kms and I upgraded to V6-L wheels just yesterday (as the original items had a few scratches on them). Having joined this forum I have learned that the transmission requires special oil and if anything should be serviced more frequently to prevent overheating and failure due to its compact design and the V6's torque!! - no more ballistic off the line launches for me :-( For now I really want to learn the ins and outs. I have also obtained info here about Bendix brake pads including part number, this is the sort of stuff I love to learn. I'd love to do mods, but I want to make sure they won't be detrimental to my vehicle.

As for pics, can I attach them straight from my PC or do I have to upload to an image hosting website ?

Cheers,

John.

[Rudy]

Hi Rudy, happy new year (almost!) no real mods other than tinted glass and alloy wheel update. My car is a V6 (non-luxury). I tried buying OEM-style foglights for it last year from Mars Performance but unfortunately the mounting points were different and the wiring looms too short! It was a shame, because they were only $140 delivered (way less than OEM) but I believe they were made for USA built Accords.

I'm actually surprised at the relative 'unpopularity' of the 8th Gen fat-boy V6. When I first saw one on the road in 2008 at the Australian GP car park, sitting alongside Audi A6's, E-Class's and 5 Series, I was in love. Amongst those cars it held it's own in the looks dept IMO. The interior design and space is fantastic too, very much like Commodore and Falcon, but with the finish and style of a Honda..and of course the 202kW/339Nm V6. It's the fastest Honda on the market today and has been for several years. I took on a bloke in an 8th Gen Euro...and left him behind, and a good mate of mine has a Mondeo XR5 turbo manual with CPU flash producing 195kW/403 Nm, on both rolling start and standing start I was able to get in front each time. For the reasons listed, it's no surprise Drive.com.au voted the 8th Gen Accord V6 their 2008 car of the year.

I bought mine in October 2011 with 35,000 km on the clock from a Honda dealer and paid $23k on the road which I think is a bargain . It now has 56,000 kms and I upgraded to V6-L wheels just yesterday (as the original items had a few scratches on them). Having joined this forum I have learned that the transmission requires special oil and if anything should be serviced more frequently to prevent overheating and failure due to its compact design and the V6's torque!! - no more ballistic off the line launches for me :-( For now I really want to learn the ins and outs. I have also obtained info here about Bendix brake pads including part number, this is the sort of stuff I love to learn. I'd love to do mods, but I want to make sure they won't be detrimental to my vehicle.

As for pics, can I attach them straight from my PC or do I have to upload to an image hosting website ?

Cheers,

John.

Hi John..got the same model as you (non lux)... did the same fog light upgrade haha..albeit a few years ago.

One thing - Mars Performance is notoriously bad , both in customer service and product quality. Their product is also designed for overseas markets . I learn't the hard way.

I actually got a fog light set from an Aussie seller for about $110 a few years ago. Very happy with it and looks totally OEM. Also last year, I got the OEM steering wheel stalk with the foglight switch (this also comes with the genuine fog kit) from a wrecker for about $20. Can help you source both if you want. Definitely a worthwhile mod.

Im with you, I liked the bold and more aggressive styling of the 8th compare to the previous generation. It actually wasn't unpopular in terms of how many sold, more so just rare to see modified on forums such as this (most likely as the buyers are older).

There was a design fault , whereby rear break pads in this car fade about 3x quicker than normal , and I replaced mine with the Bendix ceramic ones.

For pictures, you can try flickr and copy and image url and paste here once uploaded to flickr.

If you need any advice or installing anything, feel free to contact me.

[JB_AccordV6]

Hi again Rudy, yeah being a newbie here I thought I would be polite and not say anything about Mars Performance, but they were terrible to deal with. One of the pics they used on their site for the foggies was a rhd silver V6-L. The image was to give the impression that they fitted the items to a local car (which they claimed they had). I quickly pointed out that the rims on the vehicle were the V6-L design rims & the car had a sunroof, so the car in fact was a factory V6-L which comes with the foggies as std!

Having read your post, I will look into the fog lights in the future, having just yesterday spent $300 for a set of V6-L wheels (which turned out to be new items!) + $100 to fit , I wont tempt my wife's wrath by pushing for the foggies right now! :-) ..Maybe in the winter time!! Really appreciate your offer to help, that is very generous of you.

Have a safe and happy new year and 'speak' soon..

...and I'll get that flikr happening too!!!

[Rudy]

Hi again Rudy, yeah being a newbie here I thought I would be polite and not say anything about Mars Performance, but they were terrible to deal with. One of the pics they used on their site for the foggies was a rhd silver V6-L. The image was to give the impression that they fitted the items to a local car (which they claimed they had). I quickly pointed out that the rims on the vehicle were the V6-L design rims & the car had a sunroof, so the car in fact was a factory V6-L which comes with the foggies as std!

Having read your post, I will look into the fog lights in the future, having just yesterday spent $300 for a set of V6-L wheels (which turned out to be new items!) + $100 to fit , I wont tempt my wife's wrath by pushing for the foggies right now! :-) ..Maybe in the winter time!! Really appreciate your offer to help, that is very generous of you.

Have a safe and happy new year and 'speak' soon..

...and I'll get that flikr happening too!!!

Hi John,

No need to be timid when sharing experiences with vendors, believe me..Mars deserve all the criticism.

By the way , just checked ebay and the seller where I got my fogs originally still has them ...

I know that you are taking a break from mods, but perhaps you can bookmark this link for later use if needed.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Honda-Accord-08-11-CP-8th-Gen-4Door-Sedan-Front-Fog-Spot-Light-Lamp-Kit-DLAA-/400596618232?pt=AU_Car_Parts_Accessories&fits=Model%3AAccord|Year%3A2008&hash=item5d456b4bf8

Getting a set of new wheels for 300 is a steal, considering you probably couldn't even buy one at Honda for that price.

Great NY to you as well !

[JB_AccordV6]

Hi Rudy, thanks for that link, I have definitely book marked that one! $116 is even cheaper than Mars and if you say they are a perfect fit and work well, then that sounds great to me!!! Will def look at mid year to buy and fit these babies!

The wheels were indeed an incredible buy. I have friends at Honda Australia. I was told (at the end of 2011 when I bought my car) that a single alloy wheel could be bought for around $280..but that was staff price..off the shelf price at a dealer is around the $420 mark..for ONE (1) wheel. Suffice to say I'm a happy chappy to get 4 for 300 bucks!

I have offered my old (17") rims to my father in law (for free). He has a 2003 7th Gen Accord V6-L which come with 16 inch wheels. His dilemma is that he put new Pirellis on it in 2012, but my mother in law only does about 3,000-5,000 kms per year, so even though nearly 2 years have passed the tyres are almost indistinguishable from brand new. To fit my old 17" alloys he needs new tyres. I was quoted $150 per corner for Nexens and $201 per corner for Pirellis. 'mum' won't like the idea of spending between $600-800 for new tyres when the 16" Pirellis on the car are almost brand spanking! If not I'll sell them, even if I get $150 or even $100, that would make the upgrade to the new items $150-$200!!


...actually If I sell the alloys and can get $150, maybe I can get the foggies now!

[Jasemas]

Hey there ost up some pics of your 8th gen
I Don't mean to burst your bubble
But i think the Honda Legend has something to say about performance
And please for the love of god look after your transmission - the AT's are notorious for dying prematurely

[JB_AccordV6]

Hey Jasemas, I'd imagine it (Legend) is a heavier car due to its physical size and AWD system & it would make the race a close one. Also, there are very few for sale on the used market (I've looked many times), as a readily available vehicle I believe the V6 Accord is a lot more accessible in terms of price and quantity.

As for the AT, my car has 56,000 kms, it does low kms (about 10,00km per year and many short trips). I have looked at the AT page about the ATF-DW1 fluid and the mysterious transmission oil filter that Honda workshops do not seem to know about!. When you say 'look after your transmission' other than specifying this type of oil and I guess being gentle with the throttle from a standing start esp (which I have been after reading the info here!!), is there any other tip you can give me, in terms of say frequency of services? Is there a transmission oil cooler for example that I can buy to stop any potential overheating from the stress from the 3.5 V6 gives?


..just had another thought, when you say notorious for premature failure, how soon are we talking? are there many reported cases in Australia that you know of? Is transmission failure on V6 simply a matter of when , not if?...err in other words, should I be selling my beloved 3.5 V6 Honda Accord asap?. I actually love the car, would HATE to have to sell it, but if a $5K,-6K,-7K,-8K repair bill is an inevitability then I may not have a choice. Before I bought the Accord I looked at many cars..one of them believe it or not was a Ford Explorer, it was crossed off the list because one of the main probs is the 5-spd auto was very prone to failure!, even a friend of mine who has a FG MkII G6 E Turbo has heard of many of the ZF 6-speeds 'Milkshaking', where fluid seeps into the transmission from another part and basically destroys the gearbox. I was really surprised, I thought the ZF 6 spd was bullet proof. This gets me thinking, is there a car with a decent robust tranny out there!!!

Im more concerned about my gearbox blowing up than losing a race by a nose to a 3.7 Legend!!

[stndrd]

This is what I recommend to all my automatic Honda owning customers:

Do a 1x1 ATF flush every 20-30,000km (12-18 months). Once you have chosen either 20,000km or 30,000km changes, stick to it as it will help with the next bit.

Every 3RD ATF flush, carry out a 3x3 flush and replace the AT filter. This will keep your trans in healthy shape and it shouldn't let go on you.

[Jasemas]

What stndrd said - hes great with Honda's

Just don't go and beat on the AT when cold
Transmissions take longer to warm up than the engine itself
And your 5sp AT is the same as the 4cyl model
So the torque of your v6 will eventually rip it apart
Honda manual says not do the ATF fluid change after 120,xxxkms
In china they do em every 20xxx-40xxxkms
I bet your car still has the same ATF fluid since it left showroom?
The inline filter is probably on bypass mode and the fluid is black

I'm glad you have done your research which is great (you're not the typical accord owner who knows nothing about cars)

Service it ASAP with Honda ATF DW-1
Go by stndrd's reccomendation :D
He's in the south east of Melbourne!

[JB_AccordV6]

Thanks guys!

@Stndrd, thanks for your specific info! I'm actually wayyy on the otherside of town (Bundoora) otherwise I would come to you, although I do have a good mechanic, I'll just make sure I get the tranny fluid changed at my next service (which isn't far away). The car has never had a transmission service, so what do you recommend I do at the 60,000kms service?

@Jasemas, I am very gentle with my car on start up, I never abuse it in that regard, I only give the car a bit after it's well and truly warmed up, but your 'V6 will eventually rip it apart' still sounds scary, are you saying that even with all the additional servicing I may do, the gearbox will inevitably blow up? I bought my Honda over several cars, including an Aurion Sportivo believing it was a better product, but this transmission issue has got me thinking, should I have gone for an Aurion Sportivo for example?..or do they have their own issues too?? (Stndrd can probably answer that!!)

[Fredoops]

I'm just gonna leave this here

http://www.ozhonda.com/forum/showthread.php?154787-CL9-amp-CU2-You-got-Automatic-transmission-*you-ll-WANT-to-read-this*

[JB_AccordV6]

Thanks Fredoops, that was actually one of the first things I read when joining the forums! I'm actually surprised that I have not heard more about this possible transmission issue, I just wonder how many Accord V6's in Australia have prematurely failed?

[Fredoops]

Not sure, probably less prevalent than the Older Odessey and MDXs.

Then again hardly any V6 accords were sold over the past 10 years compared to 4cylinders

[JB_AccordV6]

My in-laws have a 2004 7th Gen Accord V6-L, do they have to take extra precaution as well? That car has about 58,000kms.

V6 sales were/are much less than 4cyl,yes, but there are still plenty of V6's out there, they are not what you'd call rare even if less common than 4 cyl...

[Rudy]

I havn't heard anything specific to our gens about tranny problems and im active or used to be on the US 8th gen forums. Maybe just with the older MDX etc as said above ? But of course, still follow stndrds recommendations :D

[JB_AccordV6]

Feel alot better reading that!, I'm happy to do extra tranny fluid changes (I take it you do the same Rudy?), I really want to stick with Honda, I don't really want to go a Toyota Aurion! If anything I want another Honda, a CR-V for my wife who currently has a 2002 Maxima ST-R (which is a very smooth car as well!)

[Rudy]

Feel alot better reading that!, I'm happy to do extra tranny fluid changes (I take it you do the same Rudy?), I really want to stick with Honda, I don't really want to go a Toyota Aurion! If anything I want another Honda, a CR-V for my wife who currently has a 2002 Maxima ST-R (which is a very smooth car as well!)


Well I did my first at the 40k service using the latest Honda DTF (or whatever its called) fluid. Im only on 47km at the moment, so yet to encounter another one. But I will follow stndrds advice and do it every 20-30kms :)

Should consider this also..

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/GENUINE-HONDA-ACCORD-2008-10-INTERIOR-TRIM-SET-CARBON-LOOK-7-PIECE-SET-/261370325341?pt=AU_Car_Parts_Accessories&hash=item3cdae2a95d

That is the genuine rare Honda carbon interior trim set thats been discontinued while ago...covers rear door trims too. If you're into that look its a bargain as these were like $270 from the dealer. Must be some kind of old stock clearance ?

A shot of it installed

http://prntscr.com/2idqiz

[Jasemas]

Well I did my first at the 40k service using the latest Honda DTF (or whatever its called)



Honda ATF DW-1

Theoretically
Spoon' boss says you should change transmission fluid more or at the same time as every oil change
As transmission fluid doesn't get filtered and cooled nearly as much as engine oil
I do my ATF changes every 2/3rd oil change (twice a year at least)

Almsot $18 a litre

[Baby Face]

Spoon said to change tranny oil at the same time as engine oil in the Manual vehicles though since the oil is just sitting their.

also in regards to being fasster than a legend, i think the AWD system of the legend will surprise you on the twisties it can take turns pretty quick, and going up hill its still no slouch. its only downfall is braking. but it doesnt brake as hard since the awd system lets it go around the next corner faster than you.

[JB_AccordV6]

Hi John,

No need to be timid when sharing experiences with vendors, believe me..Mars deserve all the criticism.

By the way , just checked ebay and the seller where I got my fogs originally still has them ...

I know that you are taking a break from mods, but perhaps you can bookmark this link for later use if needed.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Honda-Accord-08-11-CP-8th-Gen-4Door-Sedan-Front-Fog-Spot-Light-Lamp-Kit-DLAA-/400596618232?pt=AU_Car_Parts_Accessories&fits=Model%3AAccord|Year%3A2008&hash=item5d456b4bf8

Getting a set of new wheels for 300 is a steal, considering you probably couldn't even buy one at Honda for that price.

Great NY to you as well !

Hi there Rudy, hope you are well, it's been a while since I posted here, been flat out this year, just crazy! I am now thinking of getting those fog lights for the my 8th Gen Honda. I just wanted to confirm that you would still recommend the foglights you linked to in January? They are still on ebay for $116. The car needs new tyres, so while I'm at it I might sneak these fog lights on!!

BTW, is there any tyre you would recommend? The std Michelins are DRUG money at around $280 a corner, I'm sure there is something decent for about the $150 mark for these. I have looked at some Sumitomos for $175 and Black Lion for $135..not sure at this stage. Black Lion is owned by Sumitomo, but made in China, the Sumitomo are Japanese made....

[Fredoops]

Contimaxcontact mc5

there's a 4 for 3 deal going at the moment

[JB_AccordV6]

Thanks Fredoops is that from any particular tyre retailer?

[Fredoops]

Thanks Fredoops is that from any particular tyre retailer?

Type power Hawthorne, and Jax i think

[JB_AccordV6]

Hey Fred, you are the man of the day! thanks for pointing out this Continental tyres deal.

I got a set of Continental MC5's fitted and balanced for $555 (225/50/17)..on my wife's A33 Nissan Maxima ST-R...but the offer goes to November and I will be getting the same set, same size for my Accord V6 later this month or early next month. Both my cars had the identical factory Michelin's - 225/50, but the Conti's look so PHAT compared to the Michelins, the Michelin's on my Honda look skinny and effeminate by comparison!

I don't post here often, but I'd like to say , you guys (and gals) here are a great bunch of people. So far you've helped with buying alloy wheels for my Honda, made me aware of possible transmission issues with V6 Accords (and I have since put the new DW1 ATF fluid ) and now my new tyres, nice Continentals for the price of a set of Ho chi minh specials. All I can say is thank you, It's great to be here with you all.

[Fredoops]

You're welcome