I have a 2007 honda pilot AWD with a 3.5 Liter V6. Using Scotty's advice, I troubleshot an intake leak using spray carb cleaner and found a leak at the seal between the upper and lower halves of the honda intake plenum. This intake plenum on this engine is a very large cast aluminum assembly sitting right on top of the engine. There are a series of bolts that go around the extreme outside of the plenum to seal the upper and lower halves together like a clamshell design (this is where the leak is). Also, there is a separate plenum plate on the top and center of the upper half of the plenum with another series of bolts. This center plate has its own gasket which can be purchased. However, I have not found a leak from that plate or its gasket. My problem is with the seal between the two halves of the intake plenum itself, which I cannot find any gasket part number for. I am wondering if the seal between the two halves of the plenum was originally some kind of RTV since no separate part number exists. A new plenum costs about $180. Can anyone tell me what I can do to fix the leak short of buying an entirely new aluminum intake plenum?
Some of the J series intake manifolds are two halves glued together. They are very rare to leak.
Basically just unbolt the outer bolts, remove the old glue, apply new glue and reinstall the halves, hoping you get a good seal.
Use hondabond.
Or just apply sealant to the area that's leaking, should seal it up.
These intake manifolds are all over the place at junkyards for less than 50 bucks just FYI
Thanks for the help. I never heard of hondabond. Great tip. I found some online. The direction have a 1 minute set up time. Once I set the top half onto the bottom half, how much should I tighten the bolts? Should I do finger tight until the hondabond fully cures and then go back and fully tighten, or just tighten fully from the start?
Its aluminum, so I would just replace it. Once you start having leaks, it's time. That's not bad for a whole intake plenum and you don't want to play around with an aluminum part too much or you'll just make the issue worse.
