I just purchased a 2007 Honda Fit Sport with a manual transmission with 166,000km (approx. 100,000 miles) on it. It drove fine during the test drive but about about 10 days after purchasing it, I started to notice some issues, some of which are more concerning than others....


1. When shifting at high RPMs (>5000) the shifter will not enter the next gear unless I double clutch it. I strongly feel that such a small car should not require double clutching.

2. The clutch is slipping under load, hill climbs and hard acceleration in 2nd and 3rd gear. However it's not slipping all the time which is weird, generally if a clutch slips, it slips every time you put the accelerator down, not some of the time.

3. The clutch pedal feels different after the first slipping incident about a week ago. It engages at a different point and overall the shifts tend to be a little rougher ever since it started slipping.

4. A/C works sometimes, but not all the time. It will blow cold air for a bit, and then stop working and blow air that is the same temperature as outside.

5. When reversing and turning, their is often a creaking/cracking noise coming from the front end, sounds like a tie rod or a CV shaft is on its way out because its generally when I'm reversing and turning the wheel, and then the creaking/cracking noise happens again the first time i accelerate in first gear.


My main concern is obviously the transmission, so I'm just wondering if anyone has had similar issues with their first gen manual transmission Fits.

Any help or suggestions is appreciated!

 

Hey Uncle!

I bought my 07 Fit a few months ago with just over 100k miles on it. Same issue as you, in regards to issue #2, the car drove totally fine on the test drive, then one month later, I was getting some slippage. The slippage was same as you, mainly in 2nd gear, then it started happening in 3rd, and eventually 4th, all while under heavy load, if I was trying to accelerate too quickly. My mind automatically went to clutch, but I had a friend who suggested the ignition coils. Even though it took a few days, I eventually pushed the car hard enough to throw a check engine light, and upon checking, saw that it was a cylinder 2 misfire. My buddy advised that I switch the 2nd ignition coil to another cylinder, and try to generate a new code. I did as instructed and saw that the misfire was happening on the recently changed cylinder. Changed my ignition coils and the problem went away.

But that was my experience. This is my first post here and I am in no way a pro, but the awesome people on here have helped me out a ton and I saw your post and the problem sounded a lot like mine.

 

Thanks for the reply Hoolio,

Nice to hear that people have had similar experiences. Thats interesting that your issue ended up being the ignition coils. Maybe I'll look into this more...

I took it to a Honda dealer today to try and get some sort of diagnosis and they gave me a report that says the clutch is faulty/worn out and needs to be replaced (along with the pressure plate, release bearing etc.)

Also talked to the dealer that sold me the car and he is convinced that issues 1 and 2 that I mentioned are due to the way I'm driving and that there is nothing wrong with the car. I'm just going keep driving it and hopefully it doesn't get any worse. If and when it does, I'll assess my options at that point.

 

Automd says the clutch is only a 3.6 hour job. I don't know what your dealer quoted for the job, but from a 3rd party shop, you ought to be able to get the price of the job to a little over $400. I don't know how the law is where you are, but in NY if you can prove the damage existed at time of sale (in your case you probably can't) you can make the seller pay for the repairs. You need a repair shop to, very soon after purchase, write a letter saying the problem was pre-existing and that you didn't cause it. The "Car Talk" suggestion for determining whether your clutch is bad is to bump up against a tree or something solid; put the car in 5th gear give it a little bit of gas and see if you can let the clutch all the way out without it stalling. If it stalls your clutch is OK; if you can make the engine keep turning, your clutch is obviously slipping. You might as well just change it. I'd also have a transmission shop give you an opinion on the double clutching. That could be a worn out syncro problem; I haven't heard of that being a big problem on Fits, but it's possible. Maybe paying $400 for a used transmission +$100 clutch +8 hours or so labor to replace it is what's required. That would be worst case.

I don't know about your other two issues (AC and CV's?) other than that the Fit is a large cabin/small engine, so the AC isn't super powerful anyway. Neither AC problems nor CV problems are super common for the Fit.

 

Your car has fairly low mileage relative to its age. Coupled with the car possibly sitting for extended periods of time in the dealer lot, some of your problems I would say are normal (such as the A/C).

Check your tranny oil level. When I put half the oil during a tranny oil change on my other car (yes, I know, stupid me), I suddenly lost gears 2 to 4 out of 5 gears total (could not access them anymore no matter how hard I pushed the shift lever). It might also be a worn syncro, as others suggested.

I was always getting a left turning creak/cracking noise when exiting my driveway (again, with my other car). One of the linkages to the chassis on the lower control arm slowly became loose over time due to rust. I never did anything about it. All I could recommend, is do an rust inspection / see if you have any wiggling at those joints. Maybe apply some honey goo to rust proof.

 

just out of curiosity, what did Honda quote you for the clutch, pressure plate, and release bearing?

 

I believe they quoted me 1300 (canadian) for parts and labour.

I ended up getting it done elsewhere for 850.

 

Thats not a bad price at all. Would you mind telling me where you got it done? My clutch is on its way out and will need replacing within the next year, I'm in the Toronto area as well.

 

I got it done at a place called Woodbridge Transmission on hwy 27 between langstaff and 7.

They were great, good customer service and they were able to do the job within a few days of me contacting them. They were recommended to me by my friend who is a mechanic and I would highly recommend them.

 

Awesome, thanks very much