Hello all. I've not posted here before, but 2 1/2 years ago I visited this site while deciding whether or not to get a Fit. I got one. Last June I had an incident where, after driving the car, it wouldn't start again. Depressed the clutch, turned the key and nothing. No sound at all. All or most dash lights on. After a couple minutes the car started. I took it to the mechanic, they couldn't replicate the problem and they didn't know what it was. This has occurred a handful of times since then but in the last two weeks it has happened a few times. A couple days ago it happened again and it took about half an hour for the car to start again; it happened today in my driveway after I'd been out but it started within a couple minutes. It has always happened after the car has been driven but the length of the trip doesn't seem to have any bearing on whether or not it's going to happen. The fuses have been checked and one was actually replaced but that didn't fix it.

I guess I'm here to see if anyone has any ideas of what this could be related to, if anyone here has experienced anything like this or if anyone has any suggestions about things to do to possibly track down the cause. I do have someone who does know how to do some car stuff but he doesn't know what this is and he drives an automatic Toyota Tacoma and that's mostly what he knows about. Any thoughts or suggestions will be most appreciated.

 

I always start by eliminating the simplest solutions.
1) Make sure that there's no loose carpet or floor mat underneath the clutch pedal that might restrict it from (sometimes) being depressed fully when you're trying to start the car.
2) Along the same lines, make sure that the clutch safety switch is operating correctly. This is the sensor that detects that you have fully depressed the clutch before allowing the car to start.

 

@Becca ,
Referencing @Drew21 , try starting the car without the clutch pedal depressed (brake fully depressed, just in case). If it exhibits the same symptom, refer back to @Drew21 's post.

Mark

 

Thanks to both of you for responding. I'll try all of these possible solutions the next time it happens. I'll update to let you know.

 

You could confirm basic stuff also:

- Load test the battery so you know it is good;
- Be sure your charging system is OK;
- Be sure all your grounds are in good condition and well connected.

Basic stuff, but the Fit seems very sensitive to those things.

 

Thanks for your input. I'll check those items as well.

 

Hello all. Just wanted to let you know that I followed your advice and did (or had done) all the things you suggested. So far, since my last post, the car hasn't failed to start. I don't know which thing might have fixed it, but so far, so good. I still worry it'll happen again, but time will tell. Thank you all for your help, I really appreciate it!

 

Thanks for reporting back and updating us. It's useful data. Good Luck.