A mechanic's month and a half long nightmare with two Hondas just taught him an expensive lesson about direct injection engines. After swapping parts, testing systems, and chasing misfires across multiple cylinders, the solution turned out to be simpler (and cheaper) than anyone expected. Tech Spends Over a Month Troubleshooting In a video with more than 15,800 views, technician Briley Scantland (@scantland10) shares his frustrating experience working on two Honda vehicles at once—a Pilot and a Ridgeline—both with stubborn engine problems. "This video goes out to Royalty Auto Center," he says. Scantland goes on to explain that the Honda Pilot had been sitting in the shop for about a month and a half. It came in with typical direct injection issues: gummed-up valves and a cylinder head having problems. The shop put in a new head, new injectors from NAPA Auto Parts—specifically Eklens brand injectors they'd used for years without issues—and buttoned everything back up. But when they fired it up, cylinder three was still misfiring. OWNERSHIP STORIES Viral stories from across the web Our team of experts tracks what owners are saying about car-shopping, repairs, the daily driving experience and more on social media. "We scratched our head," he says in the video, explaining how they went down an extensive diagnostic rabbit hole. They scoped the VCM (Variable Cylinder Management) system, checked coils, and eventually zeroed in on the injector when they noticed it was double-pulsing. Thinking it was just a bad injector from the batch, they swapped it out with another new one. Still missing. They pulled the rocker box off and swapped rocker boxes around to rule out any VTech issues. Still missing on cylinder three. Finally, the shop's boss suggested swapping the injectors from cylinder three to cylinder one. The misfire followed the injector, proof that the injector itself was the problem, not the cylinder. Gallery: 2024 Honda Ridgeline The TikTok That Solved Everything Just when the shop was debating whether to try another brand of aftermarket injectors or bite the bullet and go OEM, they came across a video Royalty Auto Center had posted a couple weeks earlier. "[They] were having the exact same issue on another Honda that was about the direct port injection and the fact that you have to get OEM injectors," he explains. This revelation was a game changer. Fuel injectors have manufacturing tolerances of just 1-2 microns, the finest tolerance of any mechanical engine component, GB Remanufacturing explains. OEM parts are manufactured to exact specifications for each vehicle's make and model, while universal aftermarket injectors use larger tolerance ranges to fit multiple vehicles. For Honda's sensitive direct injection systems, these tiny differences in precision can mean the difference between a smooth-running engine and a persistent misfire. Multiple Honda owners on forums have reported similar experiences, aftermarket or remanufactured injectors causing sputtering and performance problems that were only resolved by switching back to OEM Honda injectors. "The OEM Honda injectors were cheaper than all the other injectors we were looking at from all the other parts stores and other places," Scantland says in the TikTok. After installing a brand new full set of six OEM Honda injectors, the Pilot was running perfectly fine and ready to go home. The Ridgeline also got the OEM treatment and was ready for pickup. Commenters React People who commented on his post strongly identified with Scantland’s experience. “Napa stands for—Need Another Part [expletive]. As a tech for 20 years, aftermarket parts have [been] taking a long walk off a short pier since COVID. I can’t stand using aftermarket parts anymore,” one wrote. “As a tech. I never want to take money from someone’s hands. But for the love of god. It is a warranty extension on the Honda V-6 for their direct injection injectors up to 150k miles. Send the customer to the dealer so they aren’t paying money for something they can get for free. (I am a Honda tech by the way),” a person said. “It's been my experience that when it comes to fuel injectors and/or ignition coils, they all have to be from the same brand. If you mismatch parts, you'll more often than not have problems like that. If you got all after market injectors, it probably would have run ok,” another wrote. Motor1 reached out to Scantland for comment via TikTok direct message and comment. We’ll update this if he responds. We want your opinion! What would you like to see on Motor1.com? Take our 3 minute survey. - The Motor1.com Team