As I have posted on these pages before, I have a 2009 1.2 which pinks (pings) under load. I have just test driven a very nice 1.2 which is of the last batch made in 2013, which has only covered 8000 miles, but I'm worried that although it does not pink like mine, there is still a noise when the car is under load and it is coming from the same engine area. Can any other owners confirm that the noise that I am hearing is induction roar or similar and that it is normal? I don't want to buy another lemon that is on the way to pinking as the miles rack up.

 

Have your valves been adjusted? Oil changed at proper interval? Have you checked the EGR valve and passages for carbon buildup? Throttle body clean? Air filter in good condition? Coil packs/plugs good?

 

I have done all of that except change the coils. The car shows no sign of misfiring, jumping, erratic tickover or hesitation and there is no check light illuminated, just awful pinking as soon as I give it any gas.

 

Coils are a known and common problem relating to engine noise/idling rough. I'd pull them and check the condition. Also.. the plugs are known to come loose. I'd torque to 20 ftlbs if you haven't already.

 

Some pinging can cause engine damage so you want to sort that out ASAP.

*** EDIT - THIS IS EURO 1.2L ENGINE SO DON'T KNOW IF US 1.5 ISSUES ARE APPLICABLE.
A common US 1.5L FIT issue is loose spark plugs. Loose spark plugs can also ruin the threads in the head, which is an expensive fix. Look at that first.

Do you have a scan tool that can show knock sensor data, timing, and clues if/when your car runs lean/rich?

Are your spark plugs in good condition and at Honda recommended gap, temp rating, size, etc?

On three of our family cars (GM), EGR valves were the cause of severe knock on acceleration. We fixed two by removing the EGR valve, cleaning the EGR valve and cleaning all the passages. We tested one with a multimeter as failed so replaced that with no-name EGR (which failed 6 months later so we went OEM).

Fuel starvation could be a cause (weak fuel pump, clogged fuel filter, clogged injectors).

Maybe your knock sensor/wiring is wonky.

Maybe MAF is off. Clean the MAF with MAF sensor cleaner to start. If you are using reusable air filter, throw that out and get an expensive dry filter as the former tend to contaminate the MAF for bad readings.

Lousy gas can cause pinging. I buy from the majors. Running the highest octane gas for a few tanks might solve resolve the pinging. I think this is unlikely.

 

I've replaced the spark plugs, and kept checking them for tightness. Cleaned the EGR valve, replaced the MAF sensor, tried super unleaded petrol.........I reckon that it may be due to carbon build up from the previous owner driving it around town all the time.

 

When you checked the plugs, did you note the condition of the coil packs? Were they in good shape? Try regreasing them and see what happens. You'd be surprised.

Also, when you said the plugs were tight, were you going by feel of hand, or did you check it with a torque wrench?

 

"Common Reasons for Engine Pinging

Improper Combustion Process
An engine can ping (or knock) due to an improper combustion process. A "spark knock" is the result of combustion occurring too early. Early combustion can occur from carbon buildup inside the combustion chamber, a lean air/fuel mixture, and advanced ignition timing (spark plug firing too soon). In a properly-firing cylinder, the spark plug ignites the air/fuel mixture and a flame front starts on one side of the piston and burns across the top to the other side, which creates a rapid and evenly-expanding gas that pushes down on the top of the piston. When the air/fuel mixture is ignited prior to the spark plug firing, the two flame fronts collide, causing the pinging/knocking noise.

Engine Is Too Hot
An engine can ping because it is too hot. This is another uneven combustion scenario that is caused by the air-to-fuel mixture "lighting off" by itself. If the cooling system does not keep the engine's combustion chamber temperature in check, the air-to-fuel mixture will begin to spontaneously explode. This is also called "pre-ignition."

Improper Gasoline Octane
In addition to cooling system problems, pinging can be caused by improper gasoline octane, an overly lean air-to-fuel mixture, or a lack of proper exhaust gas recirculation. The exhaust gas recirculation system (EGR) was created to neutralize engine pinging by adding a small amount of exhaust gas to the air-to-fuel mixture going in to the combustion process, which limits the peak combustion chamber temperature."
- Repairpal

​​I'm going to assume you're in europe since thats the only place the 1.2L is sold according to wiki. We dont have experience with your car, and we arent getting enough information to try to solve your fault yet.. what work have you done thus far? Do you have rodents?

Since you know the vehicle best, you can hear all the sounds, use your intuition. Isolate where the sound is coming from, how consistent it is. Send us pictures of your spark plugs, make a video/audio recording to pass on to us. When does it start, when does it go away.
It sounds like your problem merits a trip to a mechanic/dealership.

 

DOH! Oops. I knew that. 😁

 

I would try different grade of gasoline: Regular, Mid, Premium to see if that clears it up as noted by 'Pyts'.

I would never preemptively replace coil packs unless there is a Check-Engine-Light & Error Code indicating that there is a misfire in a particular cylinder. Following the posts on here for last 8 yrs, most of the time, if not always, a misfire is spark plug related: loose or wrong plug. It's my opinion that many $ have been spent needlessly changing out perfectly good coil packs when it was never the cause of the problem(s). Not saying that they can't go bad but without any evidence (CEL + Error Code) why change them all out just because the car has 100,000 miles on it? I'm willing to change my mind if someone can produce the data showing that there's a general deterioration of spark voltage, skipped firings, etc within the population of coil packs in use as the hours of use increases. Again, anything electronic could fail on the day you install it or it could run forever.

 

@spike55_bmw Agreed on coilpacks.

If error code shows a cylinder X misfire, early troubleshooting might include inspecting the electrical connections, spark plug, and coil for obvious issues. If nothing shows up, then try swapping in a known good coil from a cylinder Y with no codes. If that resolves the code in cylinder X and moves code in cylinder Y, buy an OEM Honda coilpack; inspect the other coils for physical condition to decide if you want to replace the whole lot and if your FIT has high mileage, it might make sense to keep things balanced. Coil voltages and temperatures are extreme so these are not parts to buy from suspect sources from Amazon or eBay (else you risk shorter coil life, insufficient spark that impacts power and mileage).

On my ECOTEC 1.8 engine, the spark plugs deteriorate quickly, typically by 30k miles as documented in the forums; the increasingly big gap for spark plug wear seems to strain the coil pack and then kills the coils early. I don't read about massive spark plug deterioration on the Fit forums but we still need to change the plugs from time to time (I would think 80k is a long interval but I really don't know on the Fit and that depends on the plugs and use scenario...).

Heat and chemicals can also kill coil packs. That is a problem for some Fits if a spark plug becomes loose and hot gases from combustion chamber hit the coil pack. Minor tell-tales of heat and chemical damage may show on coil pack rubber but is no guarantee one way or another; that said, root cause of any heavily damaged or contaminated coil pack should be investigated and resolved.