K24 Engine Dallas, TX | Honda K24A, K24A2, K24Z

Family: K24 (K-series)
Displacement: 2.4 L
Configuration: Inline-four
Valvetrain: DOHC i-VTEC, 16 valves
Bore × stroke: 87.0 mm × 99.0 mm
Produced: 2002 onward

The K24 is the 2.4-litre member of the K-series. It shares the K20’s architecture — chain-driven twin cams, i-VTEC, intake on the firewall side — but takes an 87 mm bore and a much longer 99 mm stroke, which is where the extra displacement and the different character come from. It went into a lot of ordinary cars: CR-Vs, Accords, Elements, TSXs. That is why it turns up in replacement demand more than any other Honda four of its generation.

Buyers arrive at the K24 from two directions. One is replacement: an Accord or a CR-V has lost an engine and needs the same thing back. The other is the K24 swap, where the appeal is torque that the K20 does not make, and the complications are the ones any swap brings.

The variant spread matters here as much as it does on the K20, and possibly more, because the K24 variants were spread across very different cars. A K24A1 out of a CR-V and a K24A2 out of a TSX differ in head, cams, compression and intake, and they were bolted to different transmissions in cars with different accessory layouts. "K24" on its own does not identify what you are buying.

Working out which K24 your vehicle has

The K24 is unusual among Honda fours in that the vehicle narrows it down cleanly, as long as you use the generation rather than the year on its own. A second-generation CR-V has a K24A1 and a third-generation one has a K24Z1. Accords run K24A4, then K24A8, then K24Z3 across three spans. A TSX from those years has the K24A2, and a Civic Si from 2012 to 2015 has the K24Z7.

The Accord carries one trap that the CR-V does not. Four-cylinder Accords of these years use the K24; V6 Accords use a J-series engine instead. So on an Accord the first question is not which K24 but whether it is a K24 at all, and that is settled by the engine in the car rather than by the badge on the boot lid.

Buying a K24 for a swap rather than a repair

The K24 is sought after for swaps because of the displacement, and the family shares a bellhousing pattern that makes the first step look easy. Two things on the K24 side of that job are worth settling before the engine ships rather than after.

The first is intake manifold height. It varies between variants by enough to create a hood clearance problem in some chassis, and the family name gives no warning at all. The second is balance shafts, which some K24 applications have and others do not. That changes what a rebuild involves and what a swap has to account for, and it is not something you can infer from the first three characters.

Both are answerable, but they are answerable per unit rather than per family. Tell us the variant you are looking at and the car it is going into, and they get checked before anything is quoted.

What a listing means by “JDM K24A”

A K24 pulled from a Japanese-market Accord or Odyssey commonly reads K24A with no trailing digit. That is the designation the engine was given, not a seller shortening a longer code. It is worth knowing because a JDM K24A is not automatically the TSX specification that people go looking for, and the two get conflated in listings often enough that the stamp is worth reading yourself.

Vehicles built with a K24

One family across a small SUV, a family saloon, a boxy utility and a sports trim, each with its own variant. The table records what left the factory. It does not say that a K24A1 out of a CR-V will work in your Accord.

Factory applications for K24 variants, by vehicle, model years, trim and market
Vehicle	Years	Trim / body	Engine code	Market
Honda CR-V	2002–2006	—	K24A1	USDM
Honda CR-V	2007–2009	—	K24Z1	USDM
Honda Accord	2003–2005	Four-cylinder	K24A4	USDM
Honda Accord	2006–2007	Four-cylinder	K24A8	USDM
Honda Accord	2008–2012	Four-cylinder	K24Z3	USDM
Acura TSX	2004–2008	—	K24A2	USDM
Honda Civic Si	2012–2015	—	K24Z7	USDM
Honda Element	2003–2011	—	K24A4	USDM

K24 variants

Eight codes, most of them tied to one vehicle and one span of model years. The A and Z groups are a rough generational split rather than a specification difference you can rely on.

K24AJDM: The Japanese-market designation, seen on units pulled from JDM Accord and Odyssey models. Frequently listed as its own engine; it is the family’s JDM label rather than a separate specification.
K24A1USDM: The second-generation CR-V engine, 2002 to 2006.
K24A2USDM: The Acura TSX engine, 2004 to 2008. Higher compression and a different head from the CR-V and Accord variants; the variant most sought after within the family.
K24A4USDM: The 2003–2005 Accord four-cylinder engine.
K24A8USDM: The 2006–2007 Accord four-cylinder engine.
K24Z1USDM: The third-generation CR-V engine, 2007 to 2009.
K24Z3USDM: The 2008–2012 Accord four-cylinder engine.
K24Z7USDM: The ninth-generation Civic Si engine, 2012 to 2015.

Identifying a K24

Same pad, same place, same problem as the rest of the K-series: the family is obvious and the variant is not.

Same place as the K20: driver’s side of the block near the starter, below the intake manifold rather than on the front face. Expect a machined square with the code above and a serial number below it.
The code reads K24 followed by the variant: K24A, K24A1, K24A2, K24A4, K24A8, K24Z1, K24Z3, K24Z7.
The A-series and Z-series split is a rough generational marker — the Z variants are generally later — but it is not a substitute for the full code.
On a JDM unit the code frequently reads simply K24A, without a trailing digit. That is the Japanese-market designation and it is why "K24A" is often listed as a distinct engine when it is really the family’s JDM label.
There is a general pattern behind that: Honda uses a four-character code for Japanese-market engines and five or more characters for export markets. So a four-character stamp such as K24A points to a JDM unit and a five-character one such as K24A2 points to an export engine. Treat it as a strong hint rather than a rule, and confirm against the vehicle.

A seller describing an engine as a TSX unit is making a specific claim about the head and the compression, and that claim is checkable against the stamp. Asking for the photograph is not a sign of distrust; it is the normal way this gets confirmed. The guide shows where the pad sits on a K-series if you want to read the one in your own car first.

What varies between K24s

These are the differences that decide whether two engines with the same first three characters are substitutes in a particular car.

Intake manifold height differs enough between variants to create hood clearance problems in a swap that the family name gives no warning about.
The K24A2 head is not the same casting as the K24A1 head, and buyers looking for the TSX specification should be verifying the stamp rather than the seller’s description.
Balance shafts are present in some K24 applications and deleted in others, which changes what a rebuild or a swap needs.
ECU and immobiliser pairing applies to every imported unit. A JDM K24A will not simply run on the ECU that was managing a USDM K24A4.

Nothing on this page confirms that a specific K24 will work in your vehicle. That takes the year, model and trim at one end and a specific unit at the other, and it is done before a price is given rather than after. What goes into that check is set out here.

Ask about a K24 for your vehicle

The code is pre-filled. Add the year, model and trim, and the variant question gets settled on our side before anything is confirmed.

Step 1 of 3 · Vehicle33%

Which vehicle is the engine for?

Year, make and model get us most of the way. Trim matters more than people expect — a 2008 Civic is a different engine depending on whether it is an Si.

Model year

Make

Model

Trim(optional)

LX, EX, Si, Type-S, V6 — whatever is on the badge.

Know your engine code? Add it here.

If you do not, leave these blank. That is genuinely fine — working out which engine a vehicle takes is the part we do. Here is where the code is stamped if you want to look.

Engine code(optional)

Engine size(optional)

Transmission(optional)

VIN(optional)

The single most useful thing you can give us. 17 characters.

We do not confirm that an engine fits your vehicle until it has been checked against it.

Common questions

What is the difference between a K24A and a K24A2?

K24A is the Japanese-market designation for the family and turns up on units pulled from JDM Accords and Odysseys. K24A2 is a specific North American variant — the 2004–2008 Acura TSX engine — with a different head and higher compression. A listing that says "K24A2" is making a more specific claim than one that says "K24A", and the stamped pad is what settles which you are actually getting.

Is the TSX K24A2 worth paying more for?

It depends entirely on what the engine is going into. If you are replacing the engine in a TSX, it is the correct part and the question does not arise. If you are swapping, the A2 head is the reason people seek it out, and whether that is worth a premium over a CR-V K24A1 is a judgement about what you want the finished car to do. We can quote both.

Will a K24 fit where a K20 was?

They share the K-series bellhousing pattern, which is why the swap is common. It is still a swap: the intake manifold is taller, hood clearance has to be checked on some chassis, and the ECU, harness and accessory layout all need an answer. We verify the specific combination before quoting rather than treating the family match as the end of the question.

Do K24 engines have balance shafts?

Some applications have them and some do not, which is one of the differences the family name hides. It matters for a rebuild and it matters for a swap. Tell us the variant and the vehicle it is going into and we will confirm what the specific unit has.

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