Hey all. Over the past month or so when driving my 2008 Fit Sport in 5th gear and heading up hills or feeding it more gass the car starts to jerk and power goes down.

I have to drop it down to 4th to get power back. I have an automatic with the paddle shifters.

Also, in the morning when real cold the car tries to stall on me while backing out.

A mechanic mentioned it could be the trans-torque converter.

Can anyone explain what that is? What kind of cost might I be looking at? Has anyone else had these kind of problems?

Thanks.

 

The torque converter is part of the transmission. It's a device that lets the engine and the rest of the drivetrain operate at somewhat different (and varying) speeds, while still transmitting power from one to the other, and works more or less as a centrifugal pump connected to a turbine. This is what lets the engine keep running when you're in gear but stopped, and allows you to start moving or shift between gears without massive thumps and bounces and things breaking. There is a clutch in it to lock it and prevent slipping when cruising down the highway.

I think the fix, if the torque converter is actually faulty, would have to be a transmission replacement, which is not inexpensive. If it's more some of the solenoids/valves that control the lock-up clutch, there is a chance they might be replaceable separately from the transmission as a whole and that, of course, would be a cheaper proposition if it is possible. I don't know if the Fit's transmission design permits that or not.

From your description, transmission problems would not be my first guess. I'm not a mechanic by trade, though, and obviously can't look at the car myself, so my guesses may not be worth too much. (I'd be more inclined to suspect worn spark plugs, dying coil packs, or some dirty or misbehaving sensor associated with the engine controls.)

 

change your plugs and see what happens.

 

Thank DrewE for the explanation. I find it hard to believe the transmission may have to be replaced.

I'm at 106,300 miles. I am going to work on changing the spark plugs this weekend. I brought new ones and just need to get the other materials. They haven't been changed since I brought the car.

Are there any posts here on how to change the plugs?

Thanks Pearl. I am going to give that a shot.

 

I'm sure a DIY is around here somewhere, rather simple. Unbolt the coilpacks, extension, spark plug socket... x4, reverse the process.

106k on the same plugs... I assume this will fix your issue. Mine were replaced at 80k or so as I thought it would fix the hesitation problem I was having.

It took about 3-4 months for my bad coil pack to give me a CEL. I had the same symptoms as you. The car only wanted to be above 2-3k rpms. I swapped it out once the CEL went and it was all better. The coilpacks are expensive, but very easy to swap out. Call your local part store now and see if they have them in stock, so when the time comes, you know they have them on hand. I had to limp all the way to my local Napa with 3 cylinders firing

 

A clogged catalytic converter would also explain some of your symptoms. (The forum inserted that hyperlink, not me.)

 

I am almost positive you need a valve adjustment. Look into that.

 

my car was stuttering so I changed plugs and coils-problem solved. Under a heavy load it would almost misfire.

 

This does NOT sound like a torque converter problem. I would start by changing plugs and checking valve adjustment. There are other things, but start with those first. Make sure that the new plugs are gapped correctly before installing them. It only takes a minute to check them. Normally they are OK out of the box but occasionally I find one that is not.

 

Hey all, catching up and wanted to let you know that I finally got to fixing this issue.

A couple of weeks ago I completely changed out the spark plugs and ignition coils.

Went with Denso PK20TT Platinum and the Hitachi branded model IGC0053 coils.

Man the car feels good. It's been a while since it felt that strong and I enjoy driving the car again.

One things I did not do was play around with the spark plug gaping. I wasn't sure if I should leave them to the Denso spec or change them to the Honda Fit spec if they weren't already set to that. So I left them the way they are. If any problems were to come up what would I look out for?

Hope this helps anyone else who has this problem.

Thanks.

Geckster

 

I would watch for any misfire error codes. I always check the gap even if the manufacturer says it is pre-adjusted correctly. I occasionally find a new one that is not to spec.