Well today I did the plug change. Getting hing cover trim off was hard and I broke both clips. Broke none on the cowel but because I had a bag of new ones I replaced the old brtiile ones with fresh new ones. Hinge cover clips on order from dealer at 7.50 each. Ouch.

Two middle plugs were not as tight as the end ones. They had loosened some but with this being a used car I had no record of when and if plugs were changed. Plugs I removed looked in good shape so probably replacements. Put new ones in anyway. None were stuck in engine or made any funny noises while being remoived. Even with cowling removed the right hand plug is a bit of a chore to get at due to plugs in the way for O2 sensor.

This job is definately a PITA. Having to remove all that cowling (I have big arms and cant reach behind with cowling on) to change plugs is silly. I am an old time gear head and have lots of repair experience but the complexity of this job is foolish.

All in all I would rate this a 6 on the PITA scale and hope I dont live long enought to have to do it again. These days I drive 20 miles per week so 100K to next plug change is a long way off.

Thanks all for the advice.

 

Do you know the part number?

 

90602tk6a00

 

@mowfixer You're not wrong. It is a PITA design. The trade-off is a larger cabin with seats that fold like origami. If you're into that sort of thing. Last I heard, Honda discontinued selling the Service Manual, so I guess they are thinking that no one but an OEM factory assembly line worker will work on the car.

By the way, I broke the fitting on one of the hinge covers, too, but I didn't break the plastic clips on the cowl. Just lucky, I guess.

 

I know others feel the pain of doing this job.

I just pulled transmission on my old pickup, a lot of work to but when I was done I felt I had accomplished something. After fighting with the hinge covers and cowling and removing metal plate to do nothing more than change some spark plugs seems like an effort in futility.

Next I need to do serpentine belt and I can see I am in for another fun time. This is not a fun car to work on even though its a fun car to drive as mine is a manual transmission model.

I thought about doing valve adj but after seeing videos of what has to be removed just to get to the valve cover the car may get a trip to the mechanic. Think it will be money well spent.

 

^^^ Serp belt is easy. There are youtube videos that guide you through it.
I did mine by myself...another helper would have made it easier yet.

 

I'll admit the car isn't the easiest to work on, but I'll take it over any new car.

 

Stuff gets easier with repetition. In my experience with this car, the clips break partially, some come out. I put back in enough to make stuff quiet. There's specialty pliers that make the splash guard a cake walk.. and all the lift points are good!

That's not what makes the car a favorite for me though. For me personally, it's the electronic service manual. There are parts where it could be more clear (like pointing out engine to tranny bolts, or the coolant drain plug/s) and at least one unrevised section (spark plug torque,) but the accessibility of such high-quality information is awesome. And the CD is freakin cheap. And the parts are pretty cheap.. Some of the gaskets are even reusable.

All that stuff together allows me to keep the fit in good shape!

 

I hope that's true, Steve. I haven't done one yet.

If you can take off enough stuff to get to the spark plugs, the valve cover should be clear and in front of you. Or am I forgetting something? It's early here.

Very true. I was in and out on my valves three times when I did my valve adjustment. Checking and rechecking.

Are you referring to something other than the Service Manual that's posted on this forum, Señor Pyts?

 

It is! Think it's a 19mm combo wrench. Just did it to replace the tensioner pulley. If anything makes it hard, it's the belt itself. Grippy and not so stretchy, I took it off at the most accessible pulley, the alternator. Held the wrench with one hand and in the other used a flathead to scooch the belt off the wheel. I recall it being difficult to fit on a new belt though, again, because the new one won't give as much. Before or after you get the belt off of the alternator, lift the car and put it on stands, take the splash guard off. You'll need access to the lower pulleys both to get the old belt completely off and to start the new belt on. If trying to do it all from the hood, it'll be a pain.

As for the manual, I'm referring to !!
I haven't checked out what's uploaded here, but that CD has an exceptionally professional feel to it. Links to whatever, perfectly legible. Every post I've made with procedure attachments has been copied from it using print to pdf. Running it in acrobat (free) makes all the navigational bits work. When running it just as a pdf it didn't show what page I was on, just manual sections like 10-102.. which made it reeeeaaally hard to print.

Whenever I hafta repair something, if I haven't done it before or in a couple years, or if I've forgotten the torque specs, I pull up what I need (using the search box if necessary) and print out all the associated sections. Staple it and take it out to the car port. If it gets greasy, I throw it out and print a new one

I'd never replaced a window regulator before doing my excessive write-up, so I got the procedure up on there, had only one issue!.. That being the white plastic clips for the speaker in the driver's door, which I explained in the write-up. It may well have been perfect if said speaker wasn't so brittle.

It's the best manual I own, having several from different years for toyota, nissan, ford, chevrolet and honda, not to mention a stack of old haynes and chiltons that are good for little more than kindling because they cover too many variants in one book.

Ease of navigation is the big deal. It ensures I actually find what I'm lookin for and actually use the damned thing...

Edit: I dont sell the manuals.. just a dude who likes instructions.

 

I am encouraged to hear this . . . because it looks like there's no room to get your hands in there.

Your cd looks like the same manual that is posted on the forum. Very useful. I never leave home without it.

 

Linking threads. Thanks for the information.

Spark plugs, cowl cover removal with pics and videos - Unofficial Honda FIT Forums (fitfreak.net)

Finally plagued by the loose spark plugs - Unofficial Honda FIT Forums (fitfreak.net)