Resolved: Slow crank, no start, no spark, power steering light
 

Well, it happened. My fit has a problem 😂
I went to fire it up in the morning (cold start) and was greeted by the title faults, to which I'm adding "no spark" since it led to my solution.
The only code I was able to pull was 83-11 "PCM Malfunction".
It was a cold night, so I wondered if the battery could have been the culprit. 12 volts by itself when attempting to start. I also tried jumping it and although I got a slightly faster crank initially, no dice. 13.6 volts for that attempt.
For those curious, it's my understanding that wiring batteries in parallel as you do when jumping should serve to increase amperage to match that of the two batteries combined (so having low CCAs on my fit's battery should not affect ability to jumpstart).

I suspected the fuel pump, since the car can make quite a din when starting. The pump doesn't sound fantastic, but it does come on and pressurize, so I'm wondering... starter failure? No recent work has been done (besides plugs, which are verified fine), no add on electronics. 106k miles, manual transmission.

Any thoughts?

EDIT: I'll be looking through troubleshooting procedures while awaiting replies. Wish me luck!

Some updates. The code I got seems to be part of the VSA system and can pertain to software being out of date according to the service manual's troubleshooting procedure. I've never understood why a car that runs and drives with its preset software and hardware would later need an update. Anyways!

Instructions say to clear the code and test drive. If that doesn't do it I'm supposed to get an update. If not that, replace the ecm/pcm, then check for loose wires at the VSA's 36 pin connector. If none are found, replace the VSA.

Besides that I verified the immobilizer is working normally (not blinking when the key is in on II)
and I got the battery tested. It came in at an anemic 280 CCA's. That still read as good I suppose, but that's for a napa battery whose original rating was 340. I'm not sure what the OEM battery's rating is, but advance auto sells 151R's with 370CCA. So. Battery is up for consideration, but first I'm going to try and find a chewed up wire.

Watching with interest. :popc:

I feel like my head's a bit cloudy, maybe I'm not thinkin' normal, making some weird calls. It's been some time since I really got to focus on the fit.
Well anyways, I took off the bumper, headlights, and windshield washer fluid reservoir to get a better look at wiring. So far it seems fine.. Noticing some dirty grounds that were concealed by the bumper, but I doubt they're actual problems. Nothing's lookin suspect.

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fit...566eef29b0.jpg

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https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fit...3b22c110d7.jpg
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fit...bba2a9e214.jpg
No idea why these are so goopy. gonna ohm em to the neg battery wire.https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fit...0f3220a70f.jpg

Just tried to fire it up again and I feel like I'm not hearing the spark plugs. There's no little ticks whatsoever, so im gonna get back by the plugs and see if anything's weird back there.

Everything behind the bumper, under the washer reservoir, headlights, all seems fine. The wiring is dirty, but without any obvious damage I won't be cutting the loom off.

Okay.. It's fixed. Before proceeding I decided to google "GE8 no spark" during a bathroom break. What I found was this thread, which advised me to do something that didn't make any sense. Fully depress the gas pedal and try again to start it. That's what I did (along with adding a gallon of ethanol-free fuel I have stored for our lawn mower). It started, the EPS light is gone, and it seems fine.

Edit: Since I couldn't isolate the cause of the faults I'd like to disclose the following:
I did not add the ethanol free fuel with any specific reasoning, it's just the only fuel I keep on hand. Because the thread and attached article (which I couldn't read in its entirety) I found suggested that the fault was caused by fuel, I figured I'd add some known good gas. I had less than 1/8 in the Fit's tank when this problem occurred. I added ~1 gallon.

I'm quite angry at the idea of a solution without a diagnosis, so I'm having a drink and ordering a fuel pump.
:bsflag:

I'm following you, @Pyts , but I don't understand what went wrong or how it got fixed . . . and I haven't had a drink yet. :D


This was a fuel delivery problem . . . ? :confused:

:rotfl: I appreciate the company! What happened was simply that I parked the car after a normal day of driving. Nothing was wrong with it, and it sat for maybe two days. Following that, I went out to start it, but it wouldn't start and had a power steering indicator light illuminated on the dash (along with oil, battery, and the cold engine C...)

While making posts here I was still trying to wrap my head around the fault as a whole. I bounced around between troubleshooting procedures for the code, the starter, and the power steering. I also tried some kinda out-there approaches, like jumping and testing the battery. After a fair bit of reading I was finding that none of the faults had anything to do with each other despite having presented at the same time. That didn't make sense.

So! I started stripping the car down looking for damaged wiring. The rationale there was that I could do so for free while I continued figuring :P Really was running in half-cocked.

Then my girlfriend came out and I asked her to attempt to crank the engine over while I listened. That's when I noticed I wasn't hearing the spark plugs. When I looked up the "no spark" fault I actually found something. It didn't make any sense at all, but the recommendation for that fault was to start the car with the gas pedal floored. The author was blaming winter gas for the condition, but offered no actual explanation for reaching that conclusion.

Since I still didn't have a solid idea as to what would cause both faults and the code, and my inspection of wiring yielded nothing, I figured I'd dump in some extra gas and try. And it worked!

I'm really glad you asked for clarification because in trying to respond I figured something out. The power steering was never an issue. That light was just on because the key was in On II
:violin:
So I was running in the wrong direction assuming two simultaneous faults when there was only one, and the matter was resolved by lucky observation of the lack of spark noise.

I'd now assume that the fault was either insufficient fuel flow causing the computer to stop ignition, or that when I shut the engine off before, it flooded in such a way that prevented start-up days later. The first guess assumes that adding the ~1 gallon of gas fixed the problem (even though the car already had ~1/8 tank). The second guess assumes that flooring the gas pedal while cranking solved the problem, as I recall starting a car with a floored gas pedal to be the primary means of clearing a flooded engine. But that was a procedure from a 90s chevy.

I think the take away would be that if your Fit suddenly won't start, cranks slow, but the battery has voltage and the fuel system pressurizes, listen for the spark plugs. From there, try cranking with the gas pedal floored. If that doesn't work and the car is low on fuel, try adding some gas. I guess it's also possible for additives in the ethanol free gas to have cleared an obstruction that was restricting flow. So.. Maybe also consider fuel additives.

I'm dumb!!

PYTS- I've been following your posts here, even though I never chimed in. Glad to see you figured it out! It appears your logical reasoning got you through the process. Congrats! I would also respectfully disagree with your last comment/ final summation.....lol