Misfire or rough idle on the 2009 Honda Odyssey
When misfire or rough idle gets reported
Owners of the 2009 Honda Odyssey report misfire or rough idle at a median of 90,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 90,000 miles and a quarter after 105,000 miles, from 9 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 92,000 miles. It is the 8th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 90,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 120,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 31,301 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
A window that narrow is the signature of a part that fails on its own schedule rather than on how the car is driven — which is usually a design or supplier problem rather than wear and tear.
0% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 88,333 miles | 88,333 miles | 90,000 miles | 105,000 miles | 119,634 miles |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Putting it right typically runs $250–$1,600 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 13 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2017, at a median of 30 miles, and latest on the 2006 at 195,000 miles.
By volume the 2016 carries the most reports, with 39; the 2009 has 10. A mode that appears across most years of a model is usually a design choice rather than a bad batch.
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
On may 12, 2012, I was driving about 50 MPH when the van started to sputter. I came to a red light and the car acted as if it were about to cut off. The check engine light started blinking along with the vsa light. It rode very rough all the way to the closest honda dealership as I was not in my hometown. They informed me that one of the spark plugs needed to be replaced. I went ahead and replaced all of them to the tune of $308.23. On november 23, 2012, I was driving about 60 MPH when the same thing happened. The mileage was 105,001. Again, I was out of town and drove the car to the nearest honda dealership. They said the #3 spark plug had fouled out. I told them to replace only the #3 plug. On my receipt it says, "retrieved code p0303...misfire #3 cylinder...found spark plug fouled out. Possible faulty valve seals...replaced spark plug and performed PCM software update." that cost me $138.76. On the drive home the air conditioning started to act up. It would run but sometimes it was cold and sometimes the air was not. On november 24, 2012, I took the car to the honda dealership that I normally use. They couldn't figure out what…
On may 12, 2012, I was driving about 50 MPH when the van started to sputter. I came to a red light and the car acted as if it were about to cut off. The check engine light started blinking along with the vsa light. It rode very rough all the way to the closest honda dealership as I was not in my hometown. They informed me that one of the spark plugs needed to be replaced. I went ahead and replaced all of them to the tune of $308.23. On november 23, 2012, I was driving about 60 MPH when the same thing happened. The mileage was 105,001. Again, I was out of town and drove the car to the nearest honda dealership. They said the #3 spark plug had fouled out. I told them to replace only the #3 plug. On my receipt it says, "retrieved code p0303...misfire #3 cylinder...found spark plug fouled out. Possible faulty valve seals...replaced spark plug and performed PCM software update." that cost me $138.76. On the drive home the air conditioning started to act up. It would run but sometimes it was cold and sometimes the air was not. On november 24, 2012, I took the car to the honda dealership that I normally use. They couldn't figure out what…
On may 12, 2012, I was driving about 50 MPH when the van started to sputter. I came to a red light and the car acted as if it were about to cut off. The check engine light started blinking along with the vsa light. It rode very rough all the way to the closest honda dealership as I was not in my hometown. They informed me that one of the spark plugs needed to be replaced. I went ahead and replaced all of them to the tune of $308.23. On november 23, 2012, I was driving about 60 MPH when the same thing happened. The mileage was 105,001. Again, I was out of town and drove the car to the nearest honda dealership. They said the #3 spark plug had fouled out. I told them to replace only the #3 plug. On my receipt it says, "retrieved code p0303...misfire #3 cylinder...found spark plug fouled out. Possible faulty valve seals...replaced spark plug and performed PCM software update." that cost me $138.76. On the drive home the air conditioning started to act up. It would run but sometimes it was cold and sometimes the air was not. On november 24, 2012, I took the car to the honda dealership that I normally use. They couldn't figure out what…
Also reported on the 2009 Honda Odyssey
Other body or interior problem
Liftgate, tailgate or trunk failure
Other engine problem
Other brake problem
Other powertrain problem
Other electrical problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 10 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does misfire or rough idle happen on the 2009 Honda Odyssey?
Across 9 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 90,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 90,000 miles and a quarter after 105,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is misfire or rough idle on the 2009 Honda Odyssey?
10 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.1 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed