You must be realistic about the situation. Unless the spark plug 'blew out' within a few hundred miles of dealer installing the plugs, you cannot expect to blame the mechanic. Its too easy for some DIY to pull a plug and poorly re-install (not torqued) or cross threading the plug and come back to the mechanic with the fault.
How many miles since plugs installed (at 7000 miles - 11,200 km? thats not short enough even if the dealer was at fault). Its just pure and simple not a rasonable period of time to set blame.
You can try rethreading the spark lug bores to see if the threads are a problem and check the plug threads as well. not all plugs have good threads either.

 

For what it's worth, related to keeping the car and engine or not:

Helicoils are well proven technology and can be viewed as permanent repairs. There is no reason you wouldn't couldn't get just as many miles from the engine with properly installed helicoils as with std threads...in fact once helicoiled you have stronger threads than original.

I have known of spark plugs working their way out and end up hanging by their spark plug wires twice: In the 60's on my brother's air cooled Renault Daulphine (like VW engines.) In the 80s on my daughter's 1974 Volvo 242. In both cases the same plugs were reinstalled and properly torqued, and the trouble never reoccurred. Neither time were the threads in the head damaged...no repairs or helicoils were needed.

Once properly put back together again, regardless of who ends up paying, the engine should be fine.

Good luck,
Paul H

 

Did you pop a CEL before "it" happened?

 

I never touched the coils ever before. Spoke with Honda today and Ya not looking too positive. They said sparkplugs looked like new but like i said i never touched them. If i would've toyed around with the car i would've never went to go see them with a past warranty too look like a fool. Didn't even know what the coil looked like until i ordered a new one I just find this situation very strange and discouraging the fact i was hoping in having a reliable engine. And i find it strange that it happened too other people on this site. Seriously ppl it's worth checking if your spark plugs are tight i recommend it! I'm pb gonna go with a helicoil repair and do it myself if they don't wanna fix it. Very disappointed in Honda this is my 3rd one and was hoping to at least make 500k with it but not looking too good so far. I'll keep you guys updated on the situation.

 

You left off a 0 there, just under 70,000 miles. 112,000km is what he stated.

 

FYI - when I checked the spark plugs on my 2009 Fit Sport, the plugs were very tightly torqued from factory and furthermore, not easily accessed without removing the cowl first.

Thus, I would guess two possible root causes for your trouble: 1) came loose from factory, 2) dealer mechanic did not tighten after doing any repair work that required removal of the plugs.

Unfortunately you may not have any documented evidence to support the above.

Hope you can find means to reinstall the plugs and get more life out of your Fit.

 

I find interesting that this problem happened to another honda fit in Ontario. I live in Ottawa Ontario. This is just messed up

 

I find it odd that they accuse you when spark plugs are not recommended for replacement until high mileage ie 160,000km (maintenance minder 4)-did that come up early? oh wait would also include valve adjustment-not needed valve adjustment should have been done with lost motion recall. Tell Honda to check their required maintenance schedule, according to them spark plugs long life! Sounds like a premature failure to me. Second lost motion spring recall doesn't involve removing spark plugs, only camshaft holders to replace springs(unless tech removed plugs).
If you look carefully at photos you submitted, it's clear that the damaged coil pack and plug was loose(I suspect left loose at factory and worked loose over time), one other plug was also left loose as you can see blow by dark marks from combustion gases leaking past poorly sealed(loose) plug. While the clean spark plug at top of box looks normal from a correctly(or tighter) installed spark plug.
To change plugs if you know how would take between 45minutes to 1 1/2 hour and with the cost almost 4 times more than standard copper core plugs, it's not like replacing your air filter-which is easy. $22.00 each as opposed to $5.00. If you had stock NGK plugs how could they possibly think you tampered?

 

Why do you suppose buyers are honest and so to be trusted.? If I had timed I could count a hundred times a buyer tried to stiff us for something he did. Wait will tell one.
Sold a new car to a buyer who brought in a really nice owners car. When he returned later he parked at the end of the lot. Went to verify the car and even at 20 feet knew thuis wasn't the cvar we appraised. Turned out he brought his brother's car, just like his, but sweet compared to the rolling junk he offered as his trade-in.

Weve had wheel buyers come back in just a few hours with a bent wheel claiming we did it. only because we showed him the bent wheel wouldn't balance did he back down. You have to be reasonable; maybe the factory had a misadusted spark plug robot but if you let it go long enough you're out of luck. There are plenty of things you can blame on poor proction line errors, spark plug installation ain't one.

 

I own 2 09 Honda Fits and will be checking them both myself this weekend. I bought both cars new, have never touched spark plugs and perform all my own maintenance. Lost motion spring recall done and they advised that spark plugs and coil packs not removed when performing recall. I will report my findings.

 

I can't help it after reading this thread - just where are the spark plugs??? I know that they have to be there somewhere but I don't see them on my 2013.

 

Japanese built Fits have vin numbers that begin with JHM until 2013 where they changed to a plant in China.

 

Okay, found the spark plugs on my 2013 Fit. Now maybe the OPs engine sits differently than mine, but on the 2013 Fit they are not visible from the front of the engine and barely visible from the side. They are on the back side of the engine under the dash board location. I really doubt that they are changeable from the top side, and really wonder about Honda's tampering charge. One obviously needs special tools to loosen the spark plugs. They would need some knowledge of auto mechanics and a good selection of mechanics tools to "tamper" with the spark plugs. I'd be willing to bet that the "tampering" was done while the LMS recall was done. Considering the complexity of the recall, it is entirely possible that the mechanic pulled and replaced spark plugs even thought it was not required. I has seen techs that had no idea of how to follow printed instructions and just tear into things they did not need to, especially in that type of recall.

The OP is located in Canada, and the laws concerning these type of cases are different than state side. I suggest he contact someone knowledgeable with this type of case. I think he obviously has the law on his side in the matter. It certainly seems that he does not have the automotive knowledge or tools to tamper with the spark plugs.

 

While removing plugs are not specified as part of the lost motion spring recall, adjusting valve clearance is required after the LMS replacement.

Is it possible the plugs were removed to relieve cylinder compression making positioning the crank/pistons at TDC easier (or to verify the piston's position, also verifiable by checking the cam sprocket and or lobe)? At least one DIY vid shows removing the spark plugs...

 

But you can not see that part of the engine on the Fit. That video is a Accord, which has the whole top side of the engine available in the engine compartment. Very easy to access the spark plugs on that vehicle. The Fit compartment is laided out more like a van

 

It's recommended/required to remove the cowl around the base of the windshield to access the plugs/coils and valves. This give the visibility you're missing.

The reason I suggested they might have removed the plugs is common to all engines. No plugs=no compression: the crank turns more freely allowing positioning the crank/pistons/cam to adjust the valve clearance (required when doing the LMS recall). If the Honda tech did this when doing the LMS service then he may have failed to torque the plugs correctly when replacing them.

 

There is no way the spark plugs on the Fit could realistically be tampered with. It would take too much effort. If someone was going to do something loosening the spark plugs would not even make the list.

I will not be checking my plugs and I can assure you if a problem occurs I will not be paying for it.

 

Hey guys. So right now I still haven't heard from Honda engineering. I've spoken with one of my clients that knows a friend that's had engine problems with her honda fit 07 at 95k. Seems that her problem had something to do with spark plug firing too early. Now here's the interesting part. Before the spark plug blew out the car, it was starting to act up like the was a miss fire. Like a sensor problem (was rainy outside figure it could be the reason). SO here it is that i take the car to work even with the engine light on thinking i'll get that checked with an OBD 2 code reader. After a stop I accelerate a lil and that's when the spark plug blows.... Now I'm wondering if i didn't have the same problem the spark plug firing before the piston was all the way up. So if it sparked too early, the explosion in the piston creates pressure at a wrong time and the compression had to come out... where does it go weakest place, spark plug blows out.. I've checked my car before the dealer took it in. there was no more threads at all in the spark plug hole. So I think it's a recall problem to come....

 

I own two Fits and checked my plugs this last weekend. The plugs in my 5 speed with about 66,000 km's were correctly torqued. In my auto with about 92,000km's number two was loose(removed without tools), blow by stains present on exterior and obvious heat marks on coil pack. The others were good except number 3 should have been a little tighter. For your information all maintenance has been done by me, except lost motion spring recall where plugs and coil packs were not removed. This is a factory issue and I'm glad I checked mine before any further damage had occurred. Warranty on coil packs is only basic 3 years-60,000km's, and I think Honda is giving hard time on coverage for spark plugs(replacement due maintenance minder 4 sub symbol-around 160-170,000 km), although one would expect no issues until replacement is required.
I believe this is a factory issue, it does take time for plugs to loosen from an incorrectly torqued spark plug. For all those non believers loosen one plug in your car and see what happens over time.
Access to plug replacement is not easy.
In my opinion I doubt a recall will be issued(not safety related) even if more cars
exhibit this problem.
I would recommend that you have them checked for peace of mind.

 

Look, we all are sympathetic to your problem, and certainly firing too early will cause higher than normal pressure stresses on the combustion chamber but here's my concerns:
1. did you do anything to ascertain the problem of your engine light being on? Honda, like most manufacturers, warn you about driving with the engine light on. Its a good thing to carry an OBD ii reader with you as a normal tool.
2. How quickly did you go to the dealer? Did you call him immediately? You have a responsibility to not harm your Fit by your action.

Honda Engineering is probably taking a long time because it is a major effort to find out if plug blowout is a problem with Honda Fits. How many times has it happened within 50k miles, or when spark plugs are replaced by Honda dealers, etc. If there is sufficient satistical evidence to believe that blowout could be a problem then they will be positive to your complaint. If not of course, they can't.
My suggestion is to rebore or helicoil your sprk plug threads, keep all receipts, and be ready to request reimbursement if Honda agrees to warranty your blown plug repair. Who knows. they might just warranty it as good faith to an owner.
Just don't place a lot of hope on it happening.
but good luck anyway.