So i have an 07 FiT, probally one of the first imported into the country (it was first registered in May of 06, i got it in Oct), has 48,000 (or will when i get home tonight), and lately ive noticed that if i'm cruising down the freeway at about 60mph, i will occasionally get a couple quick jerks. Now this is an occasional problem, i cant really reproduce it, just occasionally happpens (usually on I-5 NB at federal way). Like i said i cant really reproduce it for as much as ive tried crusing around 60, and it dosent happen if im going any faster. Never a drop in RPMs or anything, mabye the road and im overreacting, id ont know. but i dont want to loose my tranny, thats for sure. any ideas?

 

Is it an AT? If so I would check you Transmission fluid, might be low if it hasnt been changed yet.

 

x2

what kinda jerk are you talking about?
jerks in the motor or jerks in the steering wheel?

 

jerking side to side or jerking forward? may not be your car after all...

if it only happens on that stretch of highway northbound, it could be grooves in the asphalt or blacktop.

 

A friend of mine had similar problems. Similar vehicle age, too. Intermittant stutters on the highway. He said it felt like the AT wanted to shift. Sometimes it seemed like it might stall at stop lights, too (again, he thought the AT was doing something strange). He brought it to the Honda service twice (just barely under warranty). The second time, the Honda guys felt the jerkiness.

At first they said it was a misfire. I cannot remember what they did, but it did not solve the problem. My friend brought it back, and they said they cleaned the fuel injectors and adjusted the valve timing (I think what the service guy meant was adjust the valve lash...not sure if they actually did that, though). He hasn't felt the problem in a few weeks. Hopefully the problem doesn't come back.

 

I have the same problem. What it feels like is that the car jerks front and back, and it mainly happens at 60pmh in 5th gear where the rpm's are real low. It feels like the car is misfiring or something. Once i was driving, i got a big one then i saw my engine check light flashing.... after about 5 seconds it turned off so i could not diagnose it.

I sometimes get it when i'm standing at a stop light too, it feels like the engine mis-fires. I have also had it a couple times where the engine actually shut off on me when i stepped on the gas during one of these what i call "hiccups" of a mis-fire. I still have not resolved the problem. It also happens a lot more often (once every couple of seconds) when the A/C is on. I think it might be one of my coil packs going bad but until i get a solid CEL, i cannot dianose which one it is.

 

damn wtf?
how many miles are on your Fit?

it's hard to believe that it's misfiring from a new car

 

First I was thinking the wind maybe but it if it happens on a stand still then im guessing the tranny

 

Dont know if you have seen this yet....looks like its fairly common and one member is trying to figure it out

https://www.fitfreak.net/forums/fit-...d-stutter.html

 

The cleaning of the fuel injectors did not solve my friend's problem...here is the link to his thread:

https://www.fitfreak.net/forums/fit-...d-stutter.html

 

didn't see how the injectors cleaned. Gumout or what?
As for those 'misfires' we believe you have contaminated gasoline. Thats not easy to fix; requires filtering and cleaning the gas tank.
I suggect you try a filter on the fuel rail supply if you can and see what happens. At least the cost is not expensive, just time and effort.

 

Anyone fix this problem?

 

First, clean the injectors buy rumming a bottle of injector cleaner in the gas. I recommend one without alcohol but thats just what we've had success with. You may have to do that more than one tank. If it gets better with one, do it again. And again if imporovement continues.
While you're doing that,
You need to check spark plugs, clean and regap if needed. Change if they are in bad shape. Spark plugs are most often the culprit of intermittent missing. If the gap is wide and the ear shows lots of carbon black or corrosion, its bad. Besides, at 50K you ought to change plugs anyway.
If that doesn't cure it I'd say you have an ignition or throttle sensor
problem and that ought to be fixed by a dealer.
Doesn't hurt to clean or replace the air filter either.

As a comment, we recommend all FI cars run a can/bottle of injector cleaner once per month.

 

i say tranny

 

The problem is likely in the ECM or in spark plugs or in the coils or in clogged injectors. Transmissions, being mechanical devices aren't really subject to hesitation.
If you were my customer, here's what I would do:
1. add good, non-alcohol, injector cleaner, probably the concentrated version, and again and again if improvemwent continues..
2. Clean and regap spark plugs. Even better, replace them with NGK IZFR6K13, GAPPED .042 TO .050"
3. If you have never set valve clearances, do so.
Wait for the tank of gas to be used up. If the problem is still there you need to have the dealer check timing, coils, ECM, and valve clearances, if you haven't already done so.
If the hesitation is still there, take it back to him.

 

I thought I'd poke my head back in here. I am still having the issue - as John Trials said, after the last time in the shop I thought they had it fixed - they said they adjusted the valves and cleaned the injectors. My Fit is an automatic, BTW.

I have been trying to isolate when it happens exactly to see if there are any more clues to what is causing it. Yesterday on a long drive I noticed that it happened pretty consistently if I was driving with the cruise control on at 72mph and the tranny was in the highest gear when I came up on a hill (even a slight hill), the car would jump a bit, then 3 or 4 seconds later it would start accelerating and then downshift to get up the hill and maintain speed. I suspect that the first thing that is happening (that I can't really feel) is that the cruise control is slowly applying gas to get the car to maintain the speed, this little bit of extra gas is somehow creating the issue. If I stomp on the gas the issue does not happen. Its so intermittent its very hard to replicate and it seems the shop will only delve into deeply if they experience it (somewhat frustrating).

I have to get my car back in the shop, too bad I need it so much and its hard to leave it there for days (its been in the shop a total of 5 days for this issue so far!).

John

 

Interesting that they did not check the ECM; that has an internal program called 'grade adjust' that shifts gears even though you are in Sport 5th. Thats part of the ECM and one would have thought they checked that even go so far as re-programming. Of course, if the hill required the downshift what you see is proper even if the throttle position didn't change. Its just trying to maintain the set speed.

 

The part that isn't proper is the bump before the noticeable acceleration or transmission shift.

John

 

i almost think the transmission isnt tuned properly. Mine has a really high first gear (2300-2500rpm), than 2/3 are around 2000 rpm and kind of a high 4th/5th gear back to 2000-2300 iirc.

 

What are you talking about?

The AT will shift according to how much throttle you give it.