Van was working fine - even with 170,000 miles on it. Driving along the highway it begins to sputter, like it is running out of gas, engine light comes on. I pull off the highway and it dies on the off ramp. Tow it to our mechanic and he says he has never seen anything like it. Spark plug blew out and melted a few valves. He said it would require complete engine rebuild. Seems this has happened to multiple people on this website and on others I have researched. I thought I should add ours to the list so maybe if enough voices are heard Honda will do something about it. In the meantime we are without a vehicle and now have to buy another one which was not planned for at this time.

The day before the breakdown, I had my van looked at for a "ticking" sound in the top of the engine near the pulleys. My local dealer diagnosed a possible problem with the timing belt tensioner and said I could come in the next week to repair.

The next day, while driving at highway speed the engine made a loud "POP" and began to sound like a motorcycle! We pulled over and shut the engine off and had the van towed to a dealer (we were 100 miles away from home). Dealer diagnosed that the #1 spark plug blew out of the head (clean) and that they would have to remove the head, send it to a machine shop to repair the plug hole and threads, replace all the spark plugs and replace the coil on cylinder #1. Total estimate of $1800 and a week without the van. FYI - these were the original plugs in the van - they had NOT been replaced. Most dealers will blame whoever changed the plugs on this problem.

Complained to my original dealer for not diagnosing problem - they offered no help.

Complained to Honda customer service - they acknowledged this as a problem (blowing out spark plugs) but offered no help because of the mileage on our van.

2005 Honda Odyssey 86000 miles. Taking family on short trip, approximately 5 minutes from home, began to hear a ticking sound from engine compartment, ticking increased with load from throttle, approximately 5 minutes later engine light came on in dash, pulled to side of highway, popped hood, strong smell of burning wires, drove vehicle to dealership, with greatly reduced power--approximately1.5 miles. Technicians inspected engine, noted that sparkplug boot with coil and spark plug had blown out of head, and melted the rubber boot and coil, spark plug threads melted, threads in head stripped. Technician stated that grounding strap from plug had separated and fell onto top of piston, resulting in cracked head. Vehicle over warranty, and determined to be spark plug malfunction (plugs manufactured by Honda), Vehicle purchased in US exported to Canada, was three years old (May 2008) when purchased with 36000 miles. Neither Honda Canada or Honda NA would cover any of the damage, the technician who worked on the vehicle stated that he had never seen anything similar to what had happened, and could not explain what, or why it happened. Plugs in vehicle were due to be changed out at 100000 miles, all maintenance has been done to vehicle since purchasing.....I am wishing now that the damn thing had burned on the highway, we were without our primary vehicle for 3 weeks and $3000.00 out of our pockets because of a mechanical failure that no one can, explain. A search on the internet uncovered multiple other complaints of this exact nature. I/we will not be purchasing another Honda product. Their reliability and backing was the reason we opted for the Odyssey....should have went with the Toyota!!!

Honda said soooo! EasyCare extended warranty delayed the repair waiting for their adjuster to come to the dealer to see the problem. He then said that the failure was covered as the spark plug was the original and it was a failure of the threads in the head. The next day the regional office contacted the Dealer and said that it was a spark plug failure and it would not be covered. I don't understand how the failure of the threads in the head is a spark plug failure but without a class action suit I guess I'll have to eat the cost and never waste my money on an extended warranty again. I will file a complaint with the BBB against EasyCare (for all the good it will do).

An internet search shows this to be a somewhat common problem that Honda does not consider their problem. If the raw fuel that is deposited on the exhaust manifold starts a fire that kills the occupants it doesn't happen often enough to be statically significant.

the threads failed in the head and blew out one of the spark plugs on an interstate at night. We waited three days for the EasyCare Adjuster to see the failure and he declared it a drivetrain failure. The EasyCare home office overrode his recommendation and elected not to cover the repair, the tow, or the rental. They called it a spark plug failure when nothing was wrong with the spark plug. This failure has the potential for a serious fire and the death of children trapped in a van in car seats. There will be no more EasyCare Extended warranty or Hondas in this family.