Misfire or rough idle on the 2013 Honda Odyssey
When misfire or rough idle gets reported
Owners of the 2013 Honda Odyssey report misfire or rough idle at a median of 75,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 45,000 miles and a quarter after 110,000 miles, from 17 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 92,000 miles. It is the 3rd most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 40,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 135,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 94,600 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
When the reports scatter this far, the mileage is telling you about how these cars were driven more than about the part itself.
6% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 40,000 miles | 45,000 miles | 76,000 miles | 110,000 miles | 134,600 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 2013 has 25. 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.
This second occurrence, as we started to drive from park position, the car was running rough and the check engine light and traction light came on. The dealer diagnosed it is the piston rings, caused by bad rings that let the spark plugs get fouled. This appears to be the same issue as recall # 13v382000 where they changed the short block. They want to fix the piston rings and leave it at that. That is not proper mechanical procedure. *tr
When driving - our traction control and engine light has come on several times and the engine has been so rough that we had to stop and let it cool down before taking it immediately home. The first time we took it in - we were told that "something" (dirt) may have gotten into the piston chamber and caused a misfire of the spark plugs, but that we should be ok. Then it happened again and again, but becoming more frequent between resetting the codes. We were told just to replace spark plugs 1 & 2. Then as we were haggling with honda over the phone about warranty coverage and the fact that the light was continuing to come on - it happened again but worse: the engine light was flashing and it was sounding worse, so we did not drive it until we could get it serviced. When in the shop this time - we were told after the diagnostic that the van needed a new short block due to faulty pistons/piston rings and it was covered under a recall/warranty. Then, after we left the vehicle at the dealer for a week waiting for them to get the parts and fix it - we called to pick it up. But this time - they said we were not covered, and all they would…
When driving - our traction control and engine light has come on several times and the engine has been so rough that we had to stop and let it cool down before taking it immediately home. The first time we took it in - we were told that "something" (dirt) may have gotten into the piston chamber and caused a misfire of the spark plugs, but that we should be ok. Then it happened again and again, but becoming more frequent between resetting the codes. We were told just to replace spark plugs 1 & 2. Then as we were haggling with honda over the phone about warranty coverage and the fact that the light was continuing to come on - it happened again but worse: the engine light was flashing and it was sounding worse, so we did not drive it until we could get it serviced. When in the shop this time - we were told after the diagnostic that the van needed a new short block due to faulty pistons/piston rings and it was covered under a recall/warranty. Then, after we left the vehicle at the dealer for a week waiting for them to get the parts and fix it - we called to pick it up. But this time - they said we were not covered, and all they would…
Also reported on the 2013 Honda Odyssey
Other brake problem
Other engine problem
Other body or interior problem
Other steering problem
Excessive oil consumption
Other speed control problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 25 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 2013 Honda Odyssey?
Across 17 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 75,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 45,000 miles and a quarter after 110,000 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 2013 Honda Odyssey?
25 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.2 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