I’m looking for some first‑person experience and advice—maybe a Honda tech or a dad who’s lived with an Odyssey and has felt this—please share.
I own a 2016 Odyssey EX‑L with roughly 110 k miles on it. My wife has been mentioning an excessive vibration, sometimes at idle, sometimes while we’re in gear. There’s no CEL, and I’m not sure I even notice the vibration myself. I drove it to work this morning and maybe felt it, though the RPMs seemed a little low when it happens—around 600‑650 instead of 700, so that’s a bit of a stretch. I checked the air filter; it’s clean enough. I had the timing belt and tensioner replaced about 30 k miles ago. I haven’t changed the plugs yet, but my scan tool isn’t showing any misfires either.
My first!thoughts wander to a sticking PCV, the plugs or coils, a dirty throttle body, or low/dirty transmission fluid. The PCV is cheap and easy to swap. The plugs are due, yet without a misfire to point to them, I’m hesitant to blame them. Cleaning the throttle body is straightforward, and I know transmission fluid issues can cause similar symptoms.
Then I discovered this model has active motor mounts to help control vibration—something I’ve never dealt with before. Do these mounts usually fail? I’ve had the VCM tuner on since 40 k miles, so the logic never seems to over‑stress the mounts, but I’ve never heard of this issue before. My front mount doesn’t appear to be leaking or torn, though I can imagine a decade of driving might have weakened it. The idea of spending $500 just to “try” and see if the mounts are the culprit feels like a hard pill to swallow.
When I do the park‑drive‑reverse test, the engine does move a fair amount, but I’m not sure I’d call that “excessive” enough to condemn the mounts outright. Any advice, anyone?
