Hello I was wondering if anyone culd help me. Yesterday I was driving my 2007 honda fit and it started making a grinding noise from under my foot right behind the drivers side front wheel. This only happens when i accelerate faster than a crawl until it shifts into 2nd. if i take off slow it makes no noise. does anyone know what this is? if so thank you id really like to know what im getting into so the mechanics wont try to blow smoke.

 

How many miles do you have? Has the ATF been changed or flushed? How does your ATF look? (yellow dipstick kinda low down on front of trans) Does the ATF smell burnt? Is the level OK? Does the noise occur when coasting down, or in any other gear? Does it change with wheel speed or engine speed? When you turn the wheel all the way during a turn, does that make any difference? Did it start suddenly and not change since, or has it built from barely noticeable to something more dramatic? Most basic of all, have you crawled under and done a check with your mark one eyeball for anything obvious (loose, cracked, leaking, etc...)?

I hate to say it, but the prime candidate is internal transmission trouble - as evidenced by only occurring when in first gear. If you've had a piece of something break off, it can bounce around and break other stuff badly- and fast.

If this were my car, I wouldn't drive until I at least ruled out shrapnel in the trans pan - you can just take out the drain plug and if you see anything larger than powder in your catch pan, you know for sure you are in for a trans rebuild. Lots of pics that might help you check are here: https://www.fitfreak.net/forums/1st-...lter-pics.html

 

It started yesterday out of the blue and hasnt increased or decreased in volume, it does change with engine speed as in it only does it when reving mediumly quick and above but a low rev it wont make the sound, does not happen when just turning the wheel only when accelerating in first gear at a medium tempo, i did a quick check under the car and around the wheelsand saw nothing out of the ordinary except for my underbody plastic that is connected to the wheel wells and under the engine is gone (i removed it when some clips broke and it started dragging the ground) have not checked the trans fluid or any of that and i dont recall if the trans fluid has been changed but i will check that when my wife gets home from work, and back to the earlier question i missed no it does not happen when coasting or any other gears my car has been sputtering and it will not stay running when cold but i think that was from getting bad gas a few times at the frys gas down the road im going to have the fuel system cleaned soon.

 

also a friend said it sounded like the timing was off causing it to backfire thru the exaust. do you know anything about that or something related to a problem of that sort? ( sorry for double post)

 

Starting suddenly is more likely something breaking apart, not a wear issue - meaning big debris, more likely to cause more/worse problems if you continue to drive as-is.

Unfortunately, your symptoms point to either an issue with your torque converter or more likely, first gear. Neither are good news financially, and the fix is the same - trans rebuild or replace.

Good news, though - there is a chance that you'd be covered under the Powertrain warranty of 5 years/60,000 miles.

If you're still covered, I would check ATF level and top up if needed - so a dealer can't try and deny warranty due to low level - then take your poor baby in.

PS If you use your brakes to hold the car at a stop and give it gas to like 3000 rpm and don't hear anything, you've ruled out the TC. If you hear the grinding, then you've confirmed the TC is the culprit. If you've got a Sport, try using S mode and shift into 2 as soon as you can. If that stops the noise like flipping a switch, you've confirmed that first gear is the problem.

PPS we have a chain, so the timing shouldn't be far enough off to cause exhaust detonation.. but if you've never adjusted the valve clearances, then you could have reached the point where the exhaust valves can't all close perfectly, which can lead to melted valves/seats and more.. that's a fairly simple (intimidating though) thing to check, takes a couple of hours and a set of feeler gauges to check. If you're going that far, just do the adjustment - you'd be surprised how much of a difference that can make. Be careful torquing the valve cover bolts - it's easy to overdo it if you don't use a torque wrench. DIY: https://www.fitfreak.net/forums/fit-...clearance.html 8th post - a 19(IIRC)mm socket on a 12" extension through the passenger wheel liner turns the crank easily - but always go clockwise. Usually no gaskets needed.

 

I did the break/gas deal and it makes the noise when u hold the brake and rev and no the waranty isnt in effect it has 130k-140k miles on it

 

So sorry to hear this.... but at least you know what you're calling around for a quote to repair. No competent trans mechanic will just swap a broken part for a good one if there is any remote chance there are any metal shavings loose in the case, they will do a complete teardown and rebuild. Make sure that they flush out the cooler and replace the filter (even lots of dealers don't know there is one).

Sorry I missed it earlier... I would agree the most likely culprit for sputter is bad gas, and can be aggravated by valve clearance issues. Don't bother to have the fuel system "flushed" - that's a ripoff. "Bad" gas can usually be cured with a couple of bottles of gas line antifreeze and then a dose of injector cleaner in the fillup after that. And change stations. Their storage tanks just get worse over time (water accumulates along with dirt), and if they got a batch of poor octane fuel it will take several weeks to be diluted with newer deliveries.

 

This is all good advice. Nothin to add at the moment, just sayin'

Nice to have a new member on board that knows his sh!t

+Rep'd!