Hello all,

New to this forum. Bought a 2008 Honda Fit LX, 5 speed automatic new, about 60000 km (40000 miles) on it at present, only Honda serviced, and there seems to be an alarming vibration coming through the steering column around 4000 RPM. It seems that the engine doesn't like that particular speed for some reason. Any ideas? Also, have any of you noticed lack of power/compression from the engine at this sort of mileage?

Also, what octane rating do you think is best? I use 87, have tried 94 but noticed that the ignition takes 1-2 seconds longer (possibly due to the increased ethanol content?), however, 87 seems to cause more of a knocking sound at idle IMO.

Anyhow. Any and all ideas/advice would be appreciated.

Thanks.

 

coil packs are the first thing to come to mind since they are a known problem on this car.
nothing else shoudl really need to be serviced at only 40k miles.
the injecotors/valves are known to be very loud, so i wouldnt worry about engien noise at idle unless it is a knocking from the block.

if you have a lack of compression, you have major issues. but i doubt thats your problem.

maybe start by pulling your plugs and just making sure they look good.
then move onto buying a coil pack and installign it one cyclinder at a time. when the prolem gos away, you know that was the cylinder with a bad coil.
and if the coil swapping doesnt change it...save the new coil for the future...youll eventually need it.

 

Coil packs eh?
Based on what I've read here, they do seem to be a problem.
It's worth mentioning, I think, that the vibration can be felt through the shifter just as much, although, I recently had a transmission oil change and the technician said the tranny itself was fine.
At any rate, thanks for the heads up, will check it out...

 

Could the vibration maybe be a wheel out of balance? Or possibly the car is out of alignment?

As for the knock sound....I believe this is something that started happening with Fits. We have an '08, and it started knocking at idle about 7,000 miles ago. Doesn't do it all the time though. It's very random. We've taken it to the dealership numerous times, but of course it never does it when we're there. When it first started, I remember doing a google search about it, and it pointed me to a big thread on here. Apparently this is/was happening the quite a few Fit owners. Don't know if it was ever solved or not. We just decided to live with it.