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Vehicle

Honda Passport

Two entirely unrelated vehicles, twenty years apart. The 1994-2002 Passport is a rebadged Isuzu Rodeo — an Isuzu body-on-frame truck with Isuzu engines and Isuzu diagnostics, and Honda information does not describe it at all. The 2019-on Passport is a shortened Pilot: transverse J35 V6, Honda's nine-speed or ten-speed automatic, and the i-VTM4 rear drive unit. On that car the recurring items are the variable cylinder management system, whose deactivation of three cylinders is the underlying cause of the spark-plug fouling and misfire codes the J35 is known for, and the rear differential's fluid condition, which the torque-vectoring unit is genuinely sensitive to.

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Honda Passport, front view
Cutlass · CC0 (external)

Generations

  • First and second generation 1994–2002

    A rebadged Isuzu Rodeo with Isuzu engines and diagnostics — no Honda information applies.

    Body styles
    SUV
    Platform
    Isuzu Rodeo
    Engines
    • 2.6 four-cylinder — petrol · 90 kW (121 hp) · Isuzu 4ZE1
    • 3.2 V6 — petrol · Isuzu 6VD1
    • 3.2 V6 DOHC — petrol · Isuzu 6VD1
    Transmissions
    5-speed manual · 4-speed automatic
    Drivetrain
    Rear-wheel drive · Part-time four-wheel drive with low range
  • Third generation 2019–present

    A shortened Pilot with the J35 V6; variable cylinder management is behind its plug-fouling and misfire codes.

    Body styles
    SUV
    Platform
    Honda Global Light Truck
    Engines
    • 3.5 V6 — J35Y6 · petrol · 355 Nm (262 lb-ft)
    Transmissions
    10-speed automatic · 9-speed ZF 9HP automatic
    Drivetrain
    Front-wheel drive · Four-wheel drive

Service information

Information, not instruction

CarGeek is a reference, not a service manual. Its pages are written from public sources and from what other people have found, never from a manufacturer's own service information, so they can be wrong or incomplete for your particular vehicle. Some of what they describe carries real risk: high voltage, fuel under pressure, stored energy, hot and moving parts.

Have anything you intend to act on checked by a trained person against the manufacturer's own procedure for your vehicle. Nothing here replaces that procedure.

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