Hey everyone. I have a 2008 m/t Fit, 135k miles, and the starter needed about two minutes of solid chugging to fire the engine up on break the other day. So I let it idle through the end of my shift, parked it and put a new starter in. Instead of trying to turn without catching, there's a high pitched whine (like defibrillator pads charging) but no noise from anything moving mechanically.

In January I replaced the battery, alternator, and spark plugs (along with a few other parts), so I doubt it's related to those. If the relay were bad, wouldn't the old starter not have fired at all? I took the new one out and had Advance test it just to be sure, and it spun just fine right in front of me. I inspected my flywheel by turning the crankshaft manually, a bit of wear but no chipped or broken teeth.

I worried that I may have damaged one of the wire connectors in the process, specifically the yellow/red wire with the gray cap running into the engine block directly above the oil filter. My light tester shows power from both starter cables and a few other random tests, but not from the yellow/red wire. What is this attached to, and how would I repair a cable like that?

 

Whining sounds to me like the starter motor is spinning but not engaging the engine for some reason. That reason could be either a broken tooth on the flywheel of the engine (which you've apparently checked for and found to not be the problem), a benedix that isn't operating on the starter, or an overrun clutch in the starter that is freewheeling when it shouldn't be.

When you say it took two minutes of chugging to start the engine, was it that the starter wasn't turning the engine, or that the engine wasn't catching? "chugging" sure sounds like it would be cranking to me, which suggests that the problem wasn't necessarily with the starter but with something else.

 

Yeah, chugging meant the starter was going strong but the engine wouldn't catch. The teeth on the old bendix didn't look too bad, but I figured with the mileage an original starter might reasonably start having issues. But I turned the flywheel around at least twice, and aside from a few superficial scratches nothing stood out.

What should I be looking for with the clutch? It's been stalling when cold, my dad suspected the clutch slave cylinder would need work soon, but what does an overrun clutch involve?

 

The overrun clutch is a part of (at least some) starter motors, and has nothing to do with the clutch for the transmission. It's a one-way clutch that lets the starter turn the engine but then, once the engine starts, allows the pinion on the starter to spin faster than the starter motor and keep it from wearing out. It should work sort of like a ratchet, freewheeling in one direction but catching in the other.

 

I was tearing through other threads for any other possible causes, and i'm pretty sure it was you who said to verify that the immobilizer was happy. Sure enough, I have a rapidly flashing key icon after leaving the battery disconnected overnight. Putting everything back together now, found the code in my manual, and I'll post again when I give that a shot.

 

The radio did lock me out, but still no juice after entering the code. That red/yellow wire feeds the PCM/ECM from the wiring diagrams I found online at hondafitjazz.net

Anyone know how to refit those connectors? It failed the LED test, and nothing else did. I'm not a rookie with electronics in general but I've never tinkered with vehicle systems before and after stripping the guts from one connecter I couldn't even see the face of the terminal without pulling the wire out of the back. Wasn't willing to risk that.

So, help!?

 

The "rebuild" starter is need to be tested before installation (in the store) because most of them are suck due to poor quality rebuilding.
Please post picture of the wire you may have damaged. You can access the OEM 08 US Fit wiring schematic, if your local public library has automotive (electronic) repair database (you should be able to do it from your home). This should be more accurate than from fit/jazz website (which cover European models with 1.3 engines). Just curious how long the starter replacement process took and where the starter came from?