I have owned 4 Hondas over the last 20 years. I loved them all. One of my current 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 only has approximately 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

I removed the quick connect near the firewall where you are supposed to check the fuel pressure (I don't have a fuel pressure gauge). And turned the key to see if fuel was getting to the engine compartment and it is getting fuel but I don't know what the pressure is at the moment but it is certainly getting enough volume.

I reconnected the line and turned the key and it ran for approx 3 seconds then died again.

Next, I removed the air filter and sprayed some engine starting fluid into the throttle body and again went back into the car and turned it over. The engine is running off of the starting fluid for around 5 seconds. So, just a couple of seconds longer than when I relieved the fuel pressure and then reconnected the line again.

Once the line is reconnected and I attempt to start it (after initially relieving the fuel pressure) it will start again only for 3 seconds. Then, any subsequent attempts to start it will just be met with the starter turning the engine over and no combustion and a soon to be dead battery.

I have the actual factory service manual and the troubleshooting section for fuel delivery says to start checking the fuel tank unit (fuel pump, etc.) and the fuel pressure regulator. However, before I start tearing everything apart to do this I was hoping someone on here might have another suggestion. I'm betting the car is getting enough fuel pressure because I just drove it around town yesterday and it was running like a champ. NOW, no start issues.

Any suggestions sure would be appreciated. Thanks in advance for everyone's assistance! Sincerely, NIGHTOWLLL


Your help would be much appreciated.

 

Probably a fuel delivery problem if it starts with fluid and runs at all sometimes. But that being said at your mileage there are two other problems that happen A LOT.

First is plugs and coilpacks have you pulled any MIL codes?

Second is valve clearance adjustments.

How was the car running before it died?

 

My 24 year old son drove this car for 80K out of the 84K miles it has on it at this time. I just took it back from him a couple of months ago when he bought a new truck. He recently had the whole valve job thing done. The car was running fine just the day before it died out.

The car is not showing any codes. No "check engine" light or anything. I pulled the fuel line quick release behind the engine near the firewall where you are supposed to check for fuel pressure. But I don't have a fuel pressure gauge so I just turned the key and it was shooting out fuel at that point. However, I don't know what the pressure is.....

So,...I was going to buy a fuel pressure gauge to check it. UNLESS, someone here knows of anything else you might recommend me being able to visually inspect or check before I go out and spend the $$$ on a fuel pressure gauge.

On the flip side: If you think I need to start with the fuel pressure,.....Can anyone recommend a good fuel pressure gauge that isn't too expensive but will still get the job done?

I sure do appreciate everyone's help!!

 

Dunno if you've already fixed it but my car had a similar issue. It was shilutting off after about a minute but then starting up fine and running. Once the valves were adjusted correctly on a cool engine the problem went away. I don't know the proper gaps in the valves but I know when I took it to Firestone they figured it out and problem solved.

 

Im impressed with your initial diagnosis. not the average forum reader would have done what you did to start.
Now tell me this, when you try to start your car, watch the immobilizer light, does it blink when you try to start the engine?
Second, how old is your battery?

 

Battery has maybe 2 years. I'm not sure what my immobilized light is... I'm not a real mechanic but I try. Haha. Currently my car is in pieces because I'm replacing my fuel injectors. I've had misfire problems and taken it to many shops including honda. I've had spark plugs, coils replaced with OE parts and still issues and I can't afford to take it to honda any more. No one seems to know what's wrong. The shutting off problem was on top of the misfires.. And they did a valve adjustment to get rid of it. The way I understood it was that the car had valves that were too loose allowing it to release air too quickly killing the fuel to air ratio.. Any valve too loose or too tight in my understanding will cause this because it messes with that ratio. I will try my best to help you once I put my cr back together and maybe you can help me Since you are a honda mechanic. This is my email agentmario(@) gmail . Com. No spaces or parenthesis. This way we can communicate directly or even exchange phone numbers to make conversation quicker. Thank you and hope we can help each other. PS my car is also a 2007 honda fit sport with a MT.

 

The immobilizer light is that green key icon at the left corner of your cluster. It has like these arrows on it and it blinks usually when you pull the key out.

Maybe compression issues? Alternator not supplying enough power (really doubt it, since the battery would have been used in its place)?

 

Oh nice. Thank you I will look at it tomorrow. Oh on the compression possibility. I don't know about that either.. My car had an engine compression test done shortly after the valve adjustment (but for the misfire issue), and had no issues there. Compression was fine.

 

It could just be really weak coil packs. But there are obvious symptoms before a coil pack goes out like stuttering, rough idle, loss of power, etc.

 

Yea check that little "green" immobilizer light when you try to start your vehicle. if its flashing than that can be a cause of your starting issue. Reason why im asking you to check this because there was a service bulletin a while back about these first gen fits that if the battery is weak it may not have enough power to work the immobilizer when cranking (all the power is going to the starter). What you can try is put on a jumper box and try starting it and see how the car acts when you start the vehicle and if it stays running. if you don't have a jump box you could also use jumper cables. Now if a bad battery is the problem I would have you check your alternator next to make sure its properly charging your battery. Start with this and we can go from there.
**I am also kind of confused now, am I talking to one person using two different Names?

 

The green light (looks like a key) flashes once for a second before the car starts. Than when I shut it down it flashes 5 times. And this is makufit. I replied to Nightowl about his starting issues. Mine had that and was fixed. I have misfire problems. Haha sorry about the confusion.

 

I am curious. What was the conclusion for this problem? Thanks.