Hello all, first post here, so I'll give you just a little background information about me. I am an accomplished Honda technician and have rebuilt hundreds of Honda engines, serviced and restored dozens of cars(civics, Accords, Preludes) with a multitude of different issues, and all of my experience has been on pre 2006 products, so I need a little guidance on my 2007 Honda Fit. By all accounts, I have maintained this car myself since new, changing plugs, coil packs, all fluids, brakes, and even a broken window, so now that the idle is running rough, I went to perform what I thought would be a simple fuel filter fix.

Things I have learned about the Fit so far:
1. coil packs and plugs could be the issue
2. the fuel filter is in the tank, and considered a lifetime part

After searching many threads on different sites about this I figured I'd ask it here.

With a car that al;ready has 161,000 miles on it, and has had the coil packs changed once already, should I go ahead and replace the fuel filter anyway? It seems really odd that a fuel filter change isn't the issue here.

Any advice is welcomed on this issue.

Thanks!

 

reading your note, I feel like Jack Nicklaus has just entered the room and is asking our advice on how to hit a 2 iron. Welcome aboard Tony. There is no doubt that we will greatly benefit from your lifetime of experience. Thanks for popping in. From a novice perspective, the only thing you didn't list was adjusting the valves, which apparently need to be done periodically. Plugs-Coil Packs-Valves. Those seem to be the big 3 mentioned repeatedly on this site for a rough running Fit.

 

I have owned 4 Hondas over the last 20 years. One of my recent Hondas is a 2007 Fit Sport Manual Transmission. Last night my wife and son and I all hopped in the car to go eat dinner and we started around the block and the car died out. This is the first time I have ever had a single problem with the car and it has approx 87,000 miles on it. I've maintained it myself since my purchase when I worked for honda 7 years ago.

I tried to start it back up and,....no dice! The engine turns over and it fires like it wants to run just for a few seconds (then it dies out again). I can hear the fuel pump whirring and sending the fuel through the line but I haven't checked anything at all yet. I poured some "seafoam" into the tank as I had used some gas I had in a 5-Gallon can I had sitting for about a couple of weeks to use it up before it started to go bad. It rained the other day and the gas can could have gotten some moisture/rain drops (albeit not very much) into the can when it rained a few days back.

My question is, do yo think that a slight amount of moisture from morning dew or maybe 1 ounce of rain in the fuel can could have caused this problem or do you think I should check coil packs, etc.

Is there a fuel pressure check valve inline near the engine where I can check to ensure I am getting fuel pressure there?

Your help would be much appreciated.

 

Hey Guns, I would not replace the fuel filter unless the fuel pump starts to fail. I pulled my fuel tank on a Dodge Dakota with 160K miles to replace a bad fuel pump module (including filter) and the filter appeared sterling and no debris of any kind in the tank. They really are meant to be lifetime. Gas is considered to be fairly dependably filtered at the pump. If you do replace it, you will need to make a replacement for the Honda special tool (which Honda refuses to sell owners) to get the tank cap off. I use nothing but Chevron Supreme in all my vehicles and have never had fuel system issues except the Dodge, which I chalk up to being an American truck. With a good valve adjustment, Denso Iridium plugs, a strong battery and alternator and replacing the 02 sensors as needed, you should be good to go.