My Dealer Says Fits Don't Need Valve Clearance Adjustments!
 

I took my 07 Fit Sport into Rick Roush Honda in Medina, Ohio to get the valve clearances adjusted. It has 153,000 miles on it. I took it to a repair shop around 110,000 to have that done, along with the spark plugs replaced, radiator flush, just general maintenance stuff. This wasn't a dealership but a place that was recommended to me. When I picked up the car the guy told me, after me specifically asking, that he checked the valve clearances and that they didn't need adjusted at all, which was a complete surprise to me after reading how far out of spec people say they are on here after as little as 50,000 miles. Plus the guy mistakenly disconnected the hose that goes to the cap inside the radiator overflow tank allowing air to go into the system so needless to say, I don't really trust this guy and I don't think he did anything with the valve clearances. The car just doesn't have the pep it used to when it was new and it stalls sometimes when idling right after the cold engine light goes out. I thought I'd try once again to have the valve clearances checked/adjusted before I go through with replacing the coil packs, but this time by a "professional".

I booked an appointment and took time off work. They quoted me over the phone a price of $129.95. I thought this was reasonable and took it in. Once there, one of the technicians asks me why I want them to check the valve clearances, because they don't usually do that unless there's problems. I explained my issues and that it seemed to be extremely common for them to go out of spec on the Fit, especially after a significant amount of mileage. He disagreed with me but I insisted so he agreed to do it. After some waiting they sent out another guy that said these cars don't need the valve clearances adjusted, Honda's haven't needed them since the '02 Accord. I pointed out the maintenance minder 4 that comes up around 105,000 miles it says to check the valve clearance. He said that they do that by listening to the engine and if it sounds okay to them! I was awestruck. So I told him please just humour me and check/adjust the valve clearances. He said they couldn't because they have NEVER done it before, they don't have the manifold gasket, and besides, they'd need the car in the shop for 5 hours for it to cool down enough to do it! He said I could bring it back another day but the price they quoted was wrong because it would take them about FOUR HOURS of labour, therefore costing about $400. So much for professionals.

I'd love to do this myself, but I don't have the tools, I don't have the time, and I don't have the skill. Beyond that, this is my only car and if I mess something up it's going to be a huge and costly inconvenience. Likewise, because it's my only car, I need to be able to take it somewhere that will either give me a loaner for the nine hours required, can do it in less amount of time or is at least open on Saturday so I can waste a day off there. Does anyone have any ideas? Anyone I can contact that could give this dealership a clue? Any dealers in Northeast Ohio that are trustworthy? How much should I expect to pay? I did some googling and found a dealership in NJ that does the complete maintenance minder 4 service package for $199. I assume it wouldn't be that much more labour to adjust the valve clearances beyond just checking them. Plus if they're putting in the 100,000 mile spark plugs that seems to be a decent price. I wonder if I could get a dealer closer to match that deal. Help?

You can definitely do it yourself if you have some mechanical ability. It seems intimidating because in the back of your mind you are worried about effing up! :DBut I digress....

I believe you are only required to check them if they are noisy. But as mentioned several times here and elsewhere, silent valves are the ones to worry about! Since you are out of warranty, I would ask around for a decent third party shop to take it to and have them to the check/adjustment. It doesn't take that much longer to adjust them (since they will have everything off and easy access to the valves). Hell, it takes more time to take all the crap off than it does to do all 16 valve adjustments/checks! Not to mention the wait until the engine is at ambient temperature (ie been sitting over night or for several hours). All-in-all, it shouldn't cost you more than $250 for a visual check. If you lived closer, I'd check/adjust them for you...

You should report that dealership to Honda Corporate. First of all, they are wrong because Fits do need valve adjustments.

The dealership doesn't even make sense, those liars. First they say it's not possible for your car, then they say that they check the valves by listening to them, then they say they can't adjust your valves because they don't know how and don't have the parts? What a joke.

I've done the valve adjustment myself and it is the most noticeable maintenance I've ever done on my car - the engine feels like new - I highly recommend you get it done at a different Honda dealership if you don't feel up to doing it yourself. I haven't paid for the service, but I guess $199 sounds reasonable.

While its normal for valves needing adjustment, especially after 30k miles, its also perfectly reasonable for valves to go 150k miles without adjustment. The key is the clearance should be checked every 30k miles just in case adjustment is needed. I have personally seen a civic with nearly 250k that had the valves still adjusted correctly. As for cost to adjust valves its common practice to charge for 2 hours labor if adustment is needed and one hour if no adjustment required, but 4 hours is a bit overcharging unless they charge you for the cooldown time too. No, they shouldn't. And new coil packs, plugs, and timing check will cost at least $400 for parts & labor. Compared to the $20 for plugs, $15 for points, and an hours labor its hard to see improving cars nowdays.
PS I've also seen a Civic with 12k miles that desperately needed valve lash adjusted.

Haha I suppose I have *some* but your definition of some and mine are probably two different things. Now if we were talking computers or electronics, I would feel very comfortable. When it comes to cars, I'll change the oil and air filters, change tires, and maybe even put in spark plugs, but beyond that it's stuff I've never done before. For one thing, I don't even have the necessary tools. I would buy a set of feeler gauges and anything else I would need knowing that down the road I should be checking them again, but being that this requires working with an integral part of the car where messing up could mean a very costly error, I'm just not comfortable doing it myself. Now if I had some good mechanic buddies to hold my hand where I could do it with them a couple of times, I'd probably do it but unfortunately I don't know anyone like that.

I've asked for recommendations on shops and have had bad experiences but I know there has to be a good one around here somewhere. What really scares me is the Honda dealer I went to said they called another dealer in the area and they said they haven't done valve clearance adjustments either! I should have asked which dealership they called so I would know to avoid them, too.

Yeah, I thought the price was a bit ridiculous. If a dealership in NJ is doing them for $199 plus including new plugs in that price then $400 is definitely too much. I'm half considering driving the 8 hours and going there. I have friends and relatives in eastern PA so it wouldn't be that crazy lol. I guess I'm just shocked more than anything that a Honda dealership of all places would be so unfamiliar and inexperienced with what seems to me to be a general maintenance procedure. I mean, it is on the maintenance minder after all! Thanks for the offer, and the reply :)

I've contacted Honda Customer Service, which does not appear to have an easily found email address so I decided to use twitter and I linked this thread. I'm currently awaiting a response. I'll snail mail, fax, or call if I have to. When making the appointment, it seemed they knew what I was talking about as they were able to readily quote me a price and book an appointment, however once there it was obvious the initial technician was trying to dissuade me from having it done.

Your remarks about the results of the valve adjustment echoes what I've read in several threads on this board and I think warrants giving it a try. I went to the dealer willing to pay for them to do it (within reason) as I had never done it and am not comfortable doing it without any recourse in case I mess it up, and here they've never done it themselves! Not only that, they want to charge me for their learning curve. I don't think that's right. I really love my Honda and they obviously make great quality products as I've been through over 153k without any real problems, but I need to find a dealership that knows these cars and knows what they're doing so I can go there when I do need service. Thanks for the reply. When everyone at the dealership starts claiming one thing and claims to call another dealership further validating their claim, it's nice to know I'm not completely nuts.

And by checking them you mean opening up the engine and measuring with feeler gauges, right? I don't know how this dealership can claim that they check all of these and never have had one that needed adjustment. If they're only checking by listening, they must not be listening very good as you'd think they'd come across at least one that the valves were lashing bad enough for them to hear it. I realise that a possible outcome here is that my valves don't need adjusted and I'm okay with that. I think after 153k miles it's a reasonable thing to suspect. I just wish I could get someone competent to do it. I don't want to pay extra for this dealership to use me as a guinea pig. Even at their originally quoted price, the idea of them doing their very first one ever on my car makes me a bit uneasy as well. Thanks for the reply!

Honda Dealer Totally incorrect
 

The Honda Fit requires the valves to checked at specified times. Trust me at 100K I would put a steak dinner that at least two or three (intake/exhaust) are out of spec. (I use .007/.011). On a cold start if your clearances are off- you choke the engine on cold start, which can cause stumble, or even stall, sometimes at the most unopportune time.)

Just wanted to follow up for anyone who might read this thread. The folks at Honda who answer their Twitter customer service lit a little fire under Rick Roush Honda. They still disagree with me over Fits needing valve clearance adjustments and they claim no area dealerships have done them except one once. However he said he had no choice but to honor the $129.95 price they quoted me so I dropped it off early on a Monday morning and it was ready around 4 in the afternoon. Figuring the tech would have noted on the paperwork how far out of adjustment they were, I didn't ask. There were no tech notes at all so I don't know, but what I do know is that the car hasn't stalled shortly after a cold start or ran rough while cold since. Hopefully they did see that they were out of adjustment and now realize that this is something Fits could need and should at least be checked for properly and not just listening to a warm engine.

The are lots of bad dealers out there- the fact is your Fit does need valve clearance checked, I regualr intervals, I do it every 50K, and they needed adjustment both times.

Interesting. That's the dealer that I bought my GE8 from.

They didn't check it in properly, so my TPMS light came on after driving 20 miles. I fixed it myself, but said I definitely will never go back to them. This confirms it for me.

Good firsthand info. Thanks for the update! :)

Awhile back a dealer told someone that Fits had hydraulic lifters...I won't let any of them lay a hand on my car.

Modern "technicians" are trained to change parts. The main skillset is how to correctly diagnose which sensor is bad. Mechanics, as in "mechanical" dont exist at dealerships due to the primarily electrical nature of modern cars. Its not their fault. Hydraulic valve lash adjusters have been around in mainstream US cars since 1949 (Oldsmobile and Cadillac).

I dont know what valve gear Civics and Accords have, but most dealerships sell and service very few Fits by comparison.

I have adjusted valves on a '66 Dodge truck and too many air cooled VW's and Japanese motorcycles to count. The Fit shares its parking space with a 1969 Karmann Ghia, 1974 VW Thing and 1990 Yamaha TW200. Its not that hard, once you have done it the first time. I'm very sure it is not taught in school anymore.

I kinda of understand why they tried to turn away the work. It's is a much older vehicle, out of warranty. Meaning you are much more likely to get into other issues when you disassemble an older "Ohio" vehicle. The salt in out area attacks everything! Plastic connectors especially.
i am also in Medina and have been to that dealership a few times. Never for service.
I also feel like dealerships like this need to wake up to the fact that they need to start accepting this work. Service in general it's going down quite a bit because people are driving less and the EV vehicles coming in those vehicles need far less service.

This is an eight year old thread.

At the point it was posted even the oldest Fit was no more than 5.5 years old.

Like Aunt Flo, better late than never...?

We need to forget about dealers and repair shops and use the resources of this forum to set up repair clinics. There ought to be enough Fitfreakers in the great state of Ohio. If somebody needs a valve adjustment and doesn't know how to do it, they post in a sub-fourm here, and a Saturday appointment gets arranged. Whoever is close by, and can lend a hand, shows up to help the poster get it done.

I have been a Honda tech at various dealerships since 2013, I am not aware of ANY Honda model that uses a hydraulic lifter set up. Every model has clearance adjustment specs.

As for telling you it needs 5 hours to cool, that's not true. I can get most engines cool enough for adjustment within an hour and a half of pulling it in (and that's on a hot day). As soon as it's in the bay you start a fan blowing across the top of the engine and start pulling the valve covers. Only need to get the head temp down to 100F to adjust. Also, if they quoted 4 hours, that's the time for a V6, more things in the way and 2 more cylinders to adjust, though the 2nd gen Fit is a bit fiddly getting the intake off since the cowl extends out further than the first gen.

I know this is an old post, but seeing this made me mad at that dealership.

MY Former Honda Dealer told me NO Honda cars have transmission filters??
I have lost service trust in this company kinda like Sony

So what brand do I buy now I need to purchase a Pilot size new car after the first
Rick