Well, todays update brings me to the waiting game. I have to wait until the DPSM is here next thursday to give the ok on the short block. Its either that or pull the head again and check the wrist pin clearances. Just depends on what they are willing to do on this. Going to be more labor either way

 

Good luck with your fix.

 

I've been itching to find out what the cause of your engine noise is. Any word?

 

Well the DPSM (dealer parts and service manager) decided its not worth more labor expense for them to pay me to pull the head and oil pan again and check the wrist pin clearances. I did have another Fit come in for the headlight switch recall, and Ive been checking every car I do for the same noise. I head my first duplicate to my car. Exactly the same. So being as some of the members on the boards have had similar complaints, and I have experiences of my own, I would imagine it is almost a characteristic at this point. I just cant believe that this noise is within "normal" for a new Honda with so few miles.

Plan is to wait a few months and shortblock the car. The DPSM heard it and agreed its not normal for a car to have that knocking coming form the pan area. Just dont want to get too high of a repair cost associated with the VIN in too short of a time. Whatever the noise is, its in the short block, not head. Just need to find out what it is...

 

I finally got a video of my wife's 2008 Fit 5-speed (at 53,000 miles) making a similar noise at cold startup. Sorry the video is so long, but it was shot in HD and stereo so you should use earphones for the best sound. You can hear the metallic rapping beginning to present itself around 55 seconds, then it really comes through at 1:07 and on. This is my wife's daily driver and is not abused in the least, it rarely even sees 4000 rpms. I've adjusted the valves twice, synthetic oil changes every 3500 miles, air filter changed every 10,000 miles. I plan to change the MT fluid soon and do a coolant flush.

YouTube - 2008 Honda Fit - Cold Idle Noise

Is this sound similar to what everyone else is hearing?

 

In my opinion your engine sounds fine. It does seem to change a little as it warms up but that's nothing out of the ordinary. Listen to your video and the original one on the first post of this thread and they sound completely different. I'm glad for you cause if you heard mine you'd be like WTF!

 

It is pretty much the same sound that my car made... I noticed that the noise increased near the EGR valve, in the area around the air intake box at the throttle body and on the the back side of the cylinder head above the exhaust manifold... I can't help but wonder if somehow the EGR system is the cause of the sound... I believe the heat shield on the exhaust manifold is where the metallic rapping sound is coming from since I no longer hear that sound since installing an after market header that I wrapped with insulation tape... With all of the plumbing involved with the supercharger and inter cooler I now have the sound is much different but still apparent at start up when the engine is cool.

 

willy6500:
Did you listen to the whole thing? I totally agree that it doesn't sound so bad for the first 2 minutes, but once you get to 2:03 in the video, I think it sounds very close to the OP's. Sorry for moving the camera around so much, I can't seem to pinpoint the exact area that it's coming from

Plus keep in mind that my wife's car has 53,000 miles and noise has only gotten worse over the last 20,000 miles. Didn't you say that yours was around 90,000? I assume that it will probably be as loud as yours by then.

 

Funny that you mentioned the EGR because I was actually going to pull it out and check it soon, though there's no indicators of carbon blockage or anything, it idles just fine. I already replaced the EVAP valve when the "rapping" was a mere ticking. I also planned to replace the PCV valve just to eliminate the possibility that there's excessive pressure in the crankcase or something.

 

check if any of the plugs are loose. I've read a couple of fixes by tightening a loose spark plug.

 

Yea, good point about the mileage and yes mine is well over 90K by now. It's hard to accurately compare youtube videos from two different cameras.

I've also thought that maybe it has nothing to do with internal engine components and that it's possibly something else. I'm still going to lean towards piston slap though. After all, that was one of the issues or downfalls with this engine that honda addressed when designing the new one.

 

I had no idea that piston slap was an issue that Honda acknowledged with the newer engine. That's some good information to know. It definitely helps put my mind at ease a little. Thanks!!

 

Not sure if you are still having the same problem. But this could be a long shot. My wife has a 2007 vw gti and had the exact same knocking. The dealer said that there was dirt and leaves inside the timing housing. I dont know if they are BSing or anything and Im not sure if honda has a housing. Im new to hondas.

 

I would check both oil pan, valve cover, and each intake/exhaust runner with a mechanics stethoscope and see if I could pinpoint where the sound is coming from internally. Sounds resonate through engines easily, and it could come from the opposite place you are looking. I ran into an issue with a 350x vq35 engine a couple years back that I would say sounds exactly like a rod knock, but it turned out to be a faulty timing chain tensioner, and what I was hearing the whole time was loose chain slapping the chain guides. The sound was more prevalent when cold, and changed with engine speed, like a rod knock.

 

What happens to the sound when the engine is revved? And cold engine vs hot ? It almost sounds like an oiling problem; loose bearing?
This may require some visual using a optic probe thru the oil drain plug turning the engine over by hand.

 

I had a 4 valve single cylinder Honda XR350 motorcycle I raced back in the 80s. The timing chain needed replacing when I bought it and the noise from it was very much like is being described.

 

Add me to the list of 2008 owners with this particular engine noise.

Mine started in the last 5k-7k miles. I am now at almost 60k. And my noise is intermittent, which is not only frustrating, but also means that no tech will be able to diagnose it.

All I can say is that if this turns out to be something — how could it not? — then I've lost a little confidence in Honda. I mean, I expected that, at the very least, I would not have reliability issues with the car.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to seeing what is found. Many thanks to the OP.

 

Marrk, try starting your car after not running it for a couple of hours and just let the car idle up to temp and see if it starts making the noise after ten or fifteen minutes. That's how things go with mine. It sounds perfectly Hondalike at first and then it'll make the noise after it idles for a while. It's so bad that my wife will comment on it if she's walking by the car while it's idling. Then, if I really drive the car hard and basically rev the crap out of the engine for a good while it'll stop making the noise. It's almost like it only happens within a certain temp range.

 

Thanks, willy.

Mine seems to come on after the engine get warm. It is liable to go away entirely after low stress driving, but it is liable to come back after really hard driving. Generally, I would say that the noise is getting worse (when it is present).

If this is a real problem, requiring engine rebuilding, then I'm out. I have to get another car. Is this happening to 2009 and later Fits?

 

Mine's been doing this for a good 40k or more so I don't think it's an engine rebuild issue. At least I'm not going to treat it as one. As far as the 09's and newer having the problem, I'm not sure.