Picked up the Pilot yesterday. Naturally, a CEL came on as we drove off the lot. Reader says 301, so I swapped the coils between cylinders 1 and 3 to see if the issue followed it, but it did not. Still cylinder 1 misfire.
I figure an O2 sensor or plugs are next (155k on odo); outside of those, what else could it be? (Haven't been able to check plugs yet because the damned plug shaft is so deep my sockets keep disappearing in them, so I have to get a new, longer one. )

Outside of a long-standing lust for an Element, this is my first Honda experience. Partner bought it to replace her '05 Altima totaled in an accident and one of the things she was fed up with on the Altima was the CEL from the downstream O2 sensor we never got around to replacing, so to say she's a bit frustrated is being polite.

 

Not to be mean but You did swap coils 1 and 3 and not 4 and 6? 1 is Rear bank Closest to the timing belt?
1 2 3
4 5 6
front
Also check and make sure that the plug on 1 is not fouled out and oily.
Then do a compression and/or leakdown test
If it was fuel or bank related or valve adjust related typically it would be across all cylinders or one set bank ect.

 

Yeah... I knew which coil I was taking off.
No worries. Not offended. Didn't feel you were being mean.

5224's were not oily. One had visible carbon buildup. All were out of spec on gap. Cleaned, re-gapped, and installed.

After being quoted around $400 for the task, thinking about tackling a valve adjustment should it need one. Can't be rocket science, really. We're ordering a shop manual on CD (not the Chilton/Haynes milquetoast) so I figure a good head start from that. Would appreciate some pointers...

 

Seems it may not be as much a priority.... we've driven about 105 miles today and no CEL; I cleared codes yesterday evening and nothing shows up, so maybe a simple clean and re-gap did the trick. Got new plugs today for it so as soon as it cools off I'm back at it.

 

well, hell... the code is back. Showed up yesterday, also got the VTM-4 light. Cleared them both but..now what? EGR valve?

 

Egr valve would give you more than one misfire code and/or a egr lift or flow code or a lean code.

 

step 1- swap coils
step 2- swap sparkplugs
step 3- swap injectors

 

step 0.5: Read original post.
That being said, I hadn't thought about swapping injectors... good point.

Ah. See, that's a useful piece of info I've not seen here, yet. Makes total sense.
I'm consistently getting 301, so at this point I'm largely resigning myself to valve adjustment. I'm not resisting the process so much as I am the amount of time it takes. Looks like I'll have to set aside a Saturday or Sunday to do that, what with Murphy's Laws and such.
I'm also noticing an idle that I wouldn't call "rough" so much as perhaps "gritty". It's not staggered or inconsistent, just not quite "purring". I get more ripples in the water glass than I'd like to see or than I'd think were normal.

The good note, here, is that the service manual arrived yesterday. On CD.
Quite a change from my 5-pound paper manual for the Liberty.

 

^^ I read the OP. Just going over the basic diagnostic steps for those that may have missed it.

Honda recommends a valve adjustment every 100K miles but, a lot of people end up having to do it every 60K miles or so.

 

OK. Gotcha.

Being that we bought this thing at 155k with no service history, I'm wagering this is in my future. Luckily, if you look beyond the dealership "beauty buff'n'spray" you can tell it's been taken care of in an above-average fashion.

I've found a combination purchase of gasket set/valve tool/feeler gauge set, on Amazon for about $45, so that's a positive.