My 2007 Fit with 64k started to stall when cold a few months ago (I know, I should have seen to it sooner..). Essentially, it would stall once or twice for first minute of driving and was then fine. After reading the long valve adjustment thread here, the symptoms seemed to fit my car exactly so made an appointment with dealer to have the valves adjusted. This morning he started it up and experienced the stall problem but rather than adjust the values as asked, he called me later and said he noticed my oil was very low (I change it regularly and it was last done about 6 weeks ago). Valves were a bit noisy at first but then he put in oil and valve noise lessened. He's now not sure it's the values but suspects it might be something else like a coil problem and wants to hold it over weekend.

I've read the threads here about coils and valve adjustments and just want to know a bit of what I'm talking about when I speak with him on Monday. If it was a valve problem and was only acting up when the car was cold, wouldn't the valve noise go away when the car was warmed up anyway? Because it sounds like he's saying the added oil caused the value noise to lessen as if they were connected.

I guess I"m just trying to avoid a scenario that seems common with these types of problems where lots of different things get tried by the mechanic at the customer's expense. From my side, I never noticed any real problem with the idle after the first minute of driving. Given the info does this sound like a valve adjustment problem? Or does the low oil point to something else and I should trust the mechanic to possibly try something else without even checking the valves?

Thanks for any advice. I'm not very knowledgeable about this stuff and a bit worried about getting a tech who may not know what he's doing.

 

Hi gfrobe,

I'm probably not the best person to answer this question, but my car is doing the same thing, and all signs point to either needing a valve adjustment or new coil pack. I'm taking my car back to the dealer to get both taken care of, and if the problem persists, I will cross that bridge if I need to.

In regards to the oil, have you noticed any leaked oil under your car before the mechanic said anything?

I wish I knew more of what you could check for. Unfortunately I am not as car savvy as I'd like to be! I just figured you deserved some kind of answer

 

Thanks aimforgold. No, I haven't noticed any oil under the car and don't think it's been low before between changes. However, given that I'm only noticing an idle problem when cold, I'm thinking it might still need a valve adjustment and perhaps the low oil is unrelated.

 

No codes thrown? My wifes fit has 125,000 on it and the valves have never been adjusted. Origonal coil packs also.

 

I am having this exact same issue. And im wondering how to know which is the culprit. Did you figure it out?
Anyone else know?

 

Browse around the DIY section of the forum guys. The answers you're looking for might be there. Others have posted about this. Spend some time to look around. Good luck!

 

In my past I had coil issues that caused these problems. Turned out to be just one, and it was a slow kill. I've also worked with adjusting valve clearances, and such a stall shouldn't be related unless the valve setting was incredibly off. You're also right about warmth reducing valve chatter. I'm sure oil would do a similar effect. But coming back to stalling and idle problems, coils can definitely be an option.

 

I did get it sorted and it was the valves, specifically the exhaust valves. Intake valves were apparently fine but I think I'm hearing them a bit when car is cold. Mechanic tells me this is normal. However, my stalling problem is completely gone and the car runs much better.

 

Nice! Well glad to hear you got that sorted out.