Okay. I made another appointment so the mechanic can look at it again. I feel confident that I could swap the coils out myself if I had to. But if there is something else causing the misfire then it would be better for a mechanic to look at it.

The only knowledge I have is from this forum. Thankfully, my car has been pretty reliable so I haven’t had to check in too often.

 

I'm sure you could swap out the coils yourself. They are easy. Believe it or not, the valve adjustment is even easy. Just time consuming if you're slow like I am.

I would just hate for you to spend $200 on new coils and have them not fix the issue. Plus, this could become a safety issue if it stalls on you at a bad time. Probably better to try and solve it quickly.

That being said, I generally lean towards throwing parts a problem until it is solved. I can change a whole lot of parts cheaper than one trip to a mechanic. Not to mention, I've had a WHOLE lot of unsuccessful trips to mechanics.

My wife complained to the dealer about the front brakes on our other car. $240 later they turned the front rotors. Yes...turned the front rotors for $240!!! Did not do one thing to help the brake issue. For $240 I can replace every part of the front brakes with NEW parts (calipers, rotors, and pads). Sometimes throwing parts at a problem is cheaper.

Good luck and please let us know what the mechanic or you find!

 

Hi, inkeye. As I see it, the problem of finding a good mechanic is the same in all countries. I dont spend money on mechanics because I do most of the repairs on my cars. I Only spend money when the service is bodywork. If I lived near you, we could change the timing chain. After the mechanic take care of your car, tell us if the stuttering and jerking stopped.

 

My car came back from the mechanic today. He replaced the ignition coils with used ones at the moment. I'll have to explain why I went this route.

The car is running smoother now.

They were going to charge $100 per coil for new ones. These used ones that seem to work were $100 for all of them. So I can still replace them with new ones for less than what they wanted to charge me, although I did pay the service rate today.

The valve adjustments were $267.
The coils + service + oil change came to $227

They gave me two estimates for the AC fix. If there isn't any metal in the system then the compressor can be swapped out. $288 for the part + $330 for labor = $618, then the high quote if more needs to be replaced is $1250 USD.

Fingers crossed that I can get the cheaper option for AC.

I wish I was more mechanically inclined. I appreciate all the info from everyone.

 

Today’s update is that the car seems to running smooth now. I had my daily commute today.

Fingers crossed that I can have this car last another couple of years or so.

 

Hi, inkeye. I found a good deal four coils by $ 100. I hope they work well for a long time and your car can run smooth for many years. About the work of the valves chain, try unhurried ask friends if they know a good mechanic to do this service for a good price.

 

Great to hear inkeye. Still going strong now a couple weeks later?

Roland, I think that you may be dealing with a different motor than our 1.5's. I have not heard of timing chain issues in our cars. The people I know with high mileage Fit's, ours included, still have zero timing chain noise.

Being a Ford guy, I'm very used to timing chain noises

 

Hey GAFIT,
Yup. Still running smoothly a couple of weeks later. The sound is still there and it sounds similar to a small diesel engine but it isn’t misfiring anymore. I’m not sure what the sound could be. I remember when I first bought this car, it was quiet.

Hopefully the sound isn’t anything to worry about.

Maybe it is the fuel injectors or a motor mount? I dunno.

I’m still learning. It makes me want to take automotive class at our community college but I don’t think I can afford them at the moment.

 

On another note with my Fit, does anyone know anything about AC compressors?

My AC doesn’t work. The clutch and coil are dead but it’s also unknown if there might be debris in the system from the compressor.

Is there a way to check this? Is replacing an AC compressor hard to do?

I’m really hoping to make this car last a bit longer so I don’t have a car payment. We’re still paying on my wife’s car plus other family expenses.

 

Most of the noise I hear in the video is just the injectors opening and closing.

We have an occasional odd noise from ours that I traced to one of the spark plugs not fully sealing. Did you happen to see your old coils after they were out? Were any of them brownish and covered in soot?

I found our noise by noticing that cylinder #4 coil was sooted. About every 10,000 miles the sound of exhaust blowing passed the plug comes back and I have to tighten that plug. Eventually, the threads may fail altogether and require a heli-coil, but until they do, it's easier to re-tighten the plug.

If your plugs are allowing blow by, it would also be a reason the coils failed. I think there have been instances of some Fit's fully ejecting the plug and blowing it through the coil. These cars may have weak plug threads.

Just food for thought.

 

Hi inkeye, On the problem of your AC, this service must be performed by a specialist who owns the equipment and tools. The repair or replacement of the compressor can be performed by a mechanic, but after that the gas charge will have to be done and the system tested by someone who knows automotive air conditioning.

 

So an update to my car. Since used coils were installed (because of the mechanic's upcharge on parts at the time) they did go bad again about a week ago.

So I ordered new plugs and coils from Rock Auto. I watched YouTube videos on changing out plugs and searched the forum to make sure I have all the correct info.

I'm not mechanically inclined so even though this is simple, I was still nervous.

I removed the plugs that were installed from a tune-up a while back. They were some Champion iridium plugs. I imagine this may have been part of the problem as well.

I think swapping everything out took a little over an hour. I tried to be careful not to over tighten the plugs. Hopefully, I did okay. I used a beam torque wrench on the two on the left hand side but I couldn't fit it on the two on the right.

I turned it on and everything seems to be running. I still have to take her for a spin to make sure everything's okay.

The replacement isn't as hard as I thought it would be.

 

Hello Inkeye. I would like to help you with some tips. First: It is a good practice to lubricate the threads of the spark plugs with a small amount of grease (appropriate greases for this exist). About tightening torque, always use for screwing them a small bar, something around 4 inches, because this way, the torque is not excessive. Never screw plugs with a long bar. If a spark plug is screwed too much, the thread of the head will be damaged, but if a spark plug is not properly threaded, the worst that can happen is she drop out of the head and then you can put it again in place without great problems. I believe that with time and practice, you will learn to thread screws, nuts and spark plugs with the correct torque.

 

Thanks for the tip Roland. Much appreciated.

Now if I could only work on my AC. I feel that may be out of my range in skill and patience.

 

Hello inkeye. There are many videos on Youtube showing services in automotive air conditioning. Watch them to become familiar with that kind of service. It's mechanical service, but is different from the services normally carried in cars. It requires electrical and mechanical skills to repair the defects and also suitable equipment to remove the used refrigerant gas and charge new gas and mainly charge the correct amount of gas. One has to learn air conditioning in a technical school and practice a lot.

 

I am hearing the same rattling noise that inkeye is hearing on his Fit. I have a 2007 with 205,000 miles on it. I did the valve adjustment this past Saturday and the noise is still there. Unfortunately, my Honda engine resource is out of the country so I can get him to look at it in person. I sent him the link to this thread to get his opinion.

inkeye, my A/C stopped working a few weeks ago also. It was a hot day here in Ohio and it was pumping out nice cold air until I was getting on the highway maybe a little too aggressively but hey, it is fun to do in this car. At first I thought maybe it was the a fuse that blew from it begin so hot and me getting on it. I checked the fuses adn all was good. I checked the compressor relay and it was good along with the thermal protector on the compressor. I checked the coolant pressure and it was good. The last thing to check was the coil which engages the clutch on the compressor. It is supposed to read 3.15 to 3.45 ohms but it read 0 ohms which meant an open circuit. Now I just have to get the motivation to get the part and replace it.

 

Okay, I have found my rattle. I ran by another friend of mine's house this evening. He is a big car guy and has all the tools. He got out his stethoscope and started listening around. Said the valves, timing chain, water pump, and alternator sounded great. He got the the A/C compressor and said that was where the rattle was coming from. I told him the compressor wasn't spinning because the clutch coil was bad. He put the probe on the end of the non-spinning part of the clutch and there it was. The bearing in the pulley is going bad. I'll be ordering a new clutch assembly and will have A/C and not rattle. Much less work than changing a timing chain.

 

Nice... you can order just the clutch assembly? Where did you find it and how much?

ALSO.... is there any information online on doing the valve adjustment? (service manual, etc)

 

You can only get it from Honda. I called the local dealer and they quoted me list price. It was $237.30. I did an Google and found most place were comparable in price. Here is where I ordered from:
2007 Honda Fit 5 Door SPORT KA 5MT a/c compressor - HondaPartsNow.com

As far as the valve adjustment, there is a good thread on this site on how to do it. I subscribe to ALLDATAdiy.com Leading Source of Factory Automotive Repair Information which provides all kinds of great information on the Fit. It has step by step instruction with diagrams. It also shows the number of hours that it should take a repair shop to do the work and MSRP for parts. I used it to troubleshoot my A/C issue.

eGadgetGeek

 

Hello GadgetGeek.
If the measurement found 0 ohms, you have a short circuit, not an open circuit. In an open circuit resistance is infinite and no current flowing. This is very important. One is the opposite of the other. Best regards!