I'm not much of a mechanic, but I'm trying my best to learn.

Right now my Fit is sitting dead in a parking lot. For the past two weeks the body of the car has been shocking me after I turn it off and touch the door. I figure that's a grounding problem.

Now the car won't even start, and the fuse box under the hood is making a loud, steady, clicking noise every half second, even without the key in it. I had to actually disconnect the battery cables to keep the car from clicking. Whenever I reconnected the battery cables the clicking returned and a little red light (which is not listed in the manual) began blinking on the center of the dash. Again, this all happens without the key in it. The clicking noise is centered on the fuse box, yet, when I remove a fuse the clicking changes locations and emits from the other side of the engine (I think, the sound reverberates around the engine compartment and it's hard to detect).

What could this be? And how much do you think a repair shop will charge to diagnosis and repair this? I don't feel comfortable attempting to work on electrical issues myself but I'm pretty friggin' poor and I really don't want to get hosed by a repair shop either.

 

How old is the battery in the car?

 

Possibly 3-4 years old. I bought the car used and it's a 2007. I think it's the factory battery that came with the car.

I have noticed that the battery runs out very quickly if I turn off the engine and leave the headlights on for just 5 minutes.

Could a bad/dead battery prevent the car from starting even off a jumpstart? And would it cause clicking noises without the key in the ignition?

 

yep. if the battery has a short in it no jump start in the world is going to make the car run. yuasa batteries aren't exactly the best IMO, I went through three in my 600RR in two years, and the one in my '07 is on its way out too.

Electrical systems in cars will do weird, weird things when there isn't enough juice to go around - such as causing relays to click for no good reason. Before you start delving into the world of chasing electrical faults (not fun!), make sure your battery is good. I suspect you need a new one.

The static shock your experiencing is just that - static electricity generated by your clothes rubbing against the cloth in your seat. I highly doubt it has anything to do with a problem with your car. When you touch the body of your car you complete the circuit and POW!, you get shocked. It happens to me a lot too.

Take your battery out, take it to a shop and have it load tested - my guess is that its going to fail miserably and you need a new one. Interstate batteries FTW, yuasa batteries FTL. my buddy says hawker makes a good battery too. ive always had good luck with interstates (not sure if they have a battery for the fit yet)

good luck!

 

Man, if you're right about this, I'm gonna bake you a cake.

 

I forgot to ask if you've done any mods to the car (stereo, etc.)

I hope I am right and it's just a bum battery. Electrical problems are always the most annoying problems to solve if you ask me.

 

I wish I could say "no" to your question but I can't. I replaced the factory horn with a Bad Boy horn. It seemed like a fairly straight forward install though and everything ran fine for a month.

 

i don't know what your car's trouble is, but that light is normal. it's just like one of those flashing alarm lights. also, getting shocked is normal too.

 

I basically traded out the factory horn with the new horn, positive and negatives went to the same place on the new as they did the old. Again, everything was great until 1 month later when the car started shocking me and then finally went capute.

 

The car never used to shock me, that's why I'm inclined to believe it's a grounding problem. I went 7 months shock free and then suddenly it shocks me every time I exit the car, without fail.

 

a horn isn't too complicated of a device, and ill assume you put it in correctly (its pretty hard to mess up a horn install). did the bad boy kit have you install another relay inline with the horn, or was it just a two wire 'splice and go' type of deal?

id still start with the battery.

 

No relay. It was really straight forward. Just unplug the previous horn and plug in the new one. I really don't think it's the horn either. I'm at Auto Zone getting the battery charged and checked right now. A couple cells were extremely low on water, but I doubt that was the culprit. I'm really hoping this battery fails the test.

 

The battery failed the test! Gonna get a new one and try it out.

 

Good, but disconnect that aftermarket horn first. Its possible the horn has an internal ground to the chassis and that could lead to both battery failure as well as shocking. Though shocking mentioned by others can be thwarted by a flexible metal cable from the body to the road if its a routine case of shocking. Personally, I blame the horn.
PS since many Fits have had premature failures you might check with your dealer to see if yours is one but make sure that horn is gone.
If you want some practical mechanics you obtain a volt-ohmeter tester and check for continuity between the horn frame and the chassis.. If you disconnect the power side (positive) you can then check the power lead to chassis for short internally in the horn.

 

Thanks. I will absolutely give it a try tomorrow. As soon as I get the new battery installed and get it started (hopefully) I'll drive it back to my house and run a voltage test on the horn and the frame.

It took me 2 hours to track a battery down for the Fit. Not a single Auto Zone, NAPA, Pep Boys, Walmart, Sears, or Advance Auto Parts had one in stock in the entire state of Oklahoma!! I finally tracked one down at an O'Reilly's Auto Parts store in a town an hour and a half away. It cost $100. I had no idea the Honda Fit's battery was so friggin' obscure and expensive.

 

Someone used a John Deere yard tractor battery in their Fit a while back... I was going to check if there was something that would Fit at Tractor Supply but that is where all of the yuppies that have relocated to the country shop for stuff that might need some day and those folks are why I left Dallas. Kind of like me except I was checking and not buying and most of them are from further off.

 

getting shocked when you get out of your fit has nothing to do with grounding. it is the type of material that your seats are made out of that makes this happen.

getting a static electric shock from getting out of a fit is a common problem, and if you ask anyone with aftermarket seats, they will tell you that the problem is a thing of the past.

 

We should have warned you that Honda dealers are about the only source. Then they've had so many batteries failing they are doing big business in warranty work.
You are very lucky you found one aftermarket. No one here has.

 

One of the drawbacks of an uncommon car is that some parts are hard to come by or expensive. My two previous cars were an Infiniti G-20 and a very early model Acura Integra so I've lived through this a number of times.

Benefits include not having the same car everybody else does and probably being at somewhat lower risk for theft. If someone bashes up their blue Camry there's a chance the body shop calls the chop shop and they go out and steal a blue Camry for parts... but if someone bashes up a blue Fit the chop shop isn't going to go looking for another blue Fit because it'd take them a week to find one.

 

We locate parts in 24 hours on the net within a hundred miles of us when customer has a real financial need.
PS I'm checking that JDeere battery, would be good to know.