Hi. I'm am older guy with some serious medical problems. I have worked on cars , cycles & boats all my life, but the newer ones like this VTEC are just over my head. I did a lot of work researching which car to buy since it would probably be the last one I ever bought. I decided on either the Honda Fit or the Toyota Yaris - which ever best one I found. I found an 07 Fit Sport for sale in Fla ( I live in Atlanta) older than I wanted but it had low (52000) miles and a clean Carfax report. I went to S. Fla and bought it. Although the dealer had installed some new front end parts I ended up having to put new control arms on it and I changed all the fluids ( trans, radiator, oil with Honda brand fluids,) and from my research on the car I planned to have a long term car. A week ago I started smelling burning oil. Although I found none puddled under the car I did find oil leaking onto the top of the transmission ( I think?) between the engine and the battery at the transmission ( automatic) fluid dip stick area. The car now has 57000 miles on it - halfway through the last oil change. The oil dipstick said that the engine was only 1/3 qt low. There was NO water in the oil or oil in the water and the car runs fine. I cleaned the engine very good, filled the oil and took the car to my usual mechanic ( that I have been pleased with). He called me and told me ( and showed me) that the oil was coming from the left/drivers side of the engine at the cylinder head. He said that the head gasket was leaking. He said that this engine required special head resurfacing when replacing a gasket. That the machine shop work would run $300-400 and that the total repair would be in the $1500 - $2000 range. He recommended against the repair and told me to put some stop leak in it and sell it or dive it until it dies .... Now I don't know what to do? I really like the little car and have a lot of time and work invested in it. This just seems wrong that this car would get a " terminal" issue at 57000 miles. After reading up on the VTEC system I am very skeptical of putting any " stop leak" in it, and most of the better brands of stop leak just work on synthetic seals and gaskets anyway - not a metal head gasket. ... So I would sure appreciate any suggestions? Stopleak ( brand?), Get rid of it? Just put up with the leak ( and hope some crud finds it's way into the leak and stops it)? Take it to another mech for a second opinion? ( got to have it up on a rack to see anything)... I'm really a perfectionist when it comes to my vehicles and this is driving me crazy. Thanks for any help/suggestions.

 

How much oil is it actually losing? If it's not much I'd just ignore it. I don't particularly trust the Stopleak stuff and anything else would involve a lot of time/money to fix. Head gasket + machining shouldn't be the end of the world but I don't know what the normal prices are in your area. Maybe swapping a junkyard engine would be the cheapest way to actually solving the leak.

 

I'm another older guy with a nearly identical 2007 Fit Sport but mine's a manual. Owned since 2011 when I bought it with 123,000 miles. Now at 226,100 with no major problems. Still only uses one qt. oil every 6000 miles. I use Mobil 1 and change every 20,000 or so miles. Use K&N filters. If I were you, I'd NOT do most of the options you threw out. The manual is spunkier and the engine doesn't mind revving high, it just sounds like a sewing machine about to have a heart attack. These cars are fun to drive. I'd want to keep it as you hint.

What I would do first that you did not suggest would be to run a compression and leakdown test to confirm whether it has a leaking head gasket. I'm guessing not at that low mileage. Once you do that you can decide your next step. Have you checked the factory service manual to see what they say about head machining that might accompany head gasket replacement? I've not heard about this issue but would be worth more research. I'd definitely take it to another trusted shop before dumping a grand or two into it. Good luck finding the problem and fixing it – Craig