How to Replace VTEC Solenoid 2003-11 Honda Element

Hi, I'm Mike from 1A Auto. We've been selling auto parts for over 30 years.

Hey everyone, Sue here from 1A Auto, and today on our 06 Honda Element, we're going to be doing a VTEC solenoid, AKA variable timing solenoid. If you need this part or any other part for your car, click on the link below and head on over to 1aauto.com.

The VTEC solenoid is located on the passenger side of the engine on the backside firewall area. I'm going to disconnect the connectors to the actual solenoids. We've got two of them in here. Squeeze that tab and pull it up, and then the back one, same thing. I'm going to squeeze the tab and pull it up. There we go. I'm going to take a pair of needle nose and I'm going to undo the harness because we have to take it, the harness out of the actual shield that goes around the valve. So let me just pry that right off.

There's two places that it does that. So we're going to disconnect the cam sensor on the side here. I'm going to do that by pushing on the tab. Now that will go with the actual. Now we have three mounting bolts. As you can see, one, two, three and they're all 10 millimeter socket. Now I have a catch basin underneath because some oil could come out. There are long bolts, so I'm going to take one out at a time and visually look at it to make sure that I put it back in the same bolt hole, if there is different lengths. Last one. Okay, so note that all the bolts are the same length, so that's good. We don't have to worry about that. Then you just grab the solenoid and pull it off the block. We have one other connector, but it's easier to get at when the valve's off. I'll take a pair of needle nose. I'll squeeze those two ears on that tab.

We can move that valve out of the way. Just checking. See if you see anything, see how the rubber gasket's stuck to it. So you want to make sure you peel that off. That's flattened out pretty good. See how the gasket's flat? Look how dirty that screen is. It's not clogged, but the oil is definitely a little brown.

Here we have our new VTEC variable timing solenoid from 1A Auto. And here we have the original one. We just took off our 2.4 liter on our Honda element. So you can see they both come with the new one from 1A Auto, comes with both solenoids and it comes with a new gasket, with the screen involved, and the shield as part of it. It comes just like you see assembled here, and the factory one you can see has had a problem for a while. Someone has over torqued it and cut the gasket in two spots and it's the original solenoid, look how rusted it is. Great price, great part. If you need this part or any other part for your car, click on the link below and head on over to 1aauto.com.

So now we're going to get a clean rag and we're going to clean the surface here. The oil is still going to drip out because it's in the block. But we want to get this clean and remounted before we get any major oil drips. Don't clean this with brake clean or parts cleaner. I think that goes without saying, you don't want that inside your engine. Now I am going to put one of the bolts in or maybe even all the bolts in the new solenoid. So when I bring it on down, it's ready to go. Okay, let's see if I can see. The key is here, if you get one started, the rest will follow. Make sure you don't hit the gasket. You don't want that gasket falling out.

I always win. I don't know why things give me such a hard time. They know they're going to lose. Now the torque specs on this is really small because that rubber gasket, you don't want it crushed. As you can see, the one we took out and the way I had to break those bolts free, they were way over torqued and you saw the end results. If not, I'll show it to you if I didn't show it to you already. The end result is the gasket torqued two spots. So tighter is not always better. I'm just going to ... Torque spec at 7.2 foot-pounds. So I'm literally going to just snug these. Okay, now I'm going to get my torque wrench. Set it to 7.2 foot-pounds. Okay, that's one. Last one. Double check. Perfect.

I know it takes a little extra time, but this is important. It's not an important piece. So now I can connect my solenoids again. Make sure you connect your cam sensor. The only reason I undid that was to give more play with the harness. I thought this one was going to give me trouble. There we go. Now we're going to clean it up with some parts clear and we'll be ready to go. Always make sure you do a oil change after you do this valve with some clean oil.

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