Hello, first post here.

I have a family member getting rid of a very nice 2008 Accord v6 and I’m trying to determine if it potentially has a major issue.

The car has been trouble free throughout its life and has about 90k on the odo. It recently started shuttering during a drive and had a check engine light come on. The mechanic said there was a fouled spark plug which was replaced. He mentioned that Honda had some major misfire issues related to Honda TSB A13-078.

I read through the TSB and it sounds like the first step is to get the software fix implemented. Then I need to determine if the fouling and oil sludge a
is already so bad that the engine needs disassembling and cleaning. That is my question here. What do I need to do to figure out where this thing is at with the oil issue. As I understand it the cylinders don’t generate sufficient pressure when the VCM is active which can cause the rings to align improperly which cases major blow by. I’m just curious if there is any possible way to determine how bad the problem is on this specific car to see if it makes sense for me to buy it. Keeping in mind I would be getting the car at a significant discount but do not want to kick out thousands for a rebuild on a newer car if the motor is bad. Thanks for any ideas and help here.