Hey all,

Looking for some help troubleshooting a starting issue on my Honda Fit (~110k miles). This has been going on for about 3 months now.

A little background:

• About 2 years ago I had the push start button replaced after it failed
• Back in December, I started needing to press the start button multiple times to get the car to start
• I had the battery tested and ended up replacing it (it was due anyway)

Current issue:

• Still having starting problems even with the new battery
• When I press the start button, I usually just get a click
• It’ll usually start after 1–3 attempts
• Weird thing: if I pump the brake until I feel resistance, then hold the start button, it starts more reliably

I’m trying to figure out if this points to:

• Starter motor/solenoid
• Brake switch / sensor
• Something else in the push start system

Before I go ahead and replace the starter, is there anything I can do to troubleshoot this further? Any tests I can run to narrow it down?

Appreciate any insight—don’t want to throw parts at it if I can avoid it.

Thanks!

 

Welcome. You are in the wrong subforum. '15 Fit is a GK5 and belongs in the 3rd gen subforum. 2nd gen ends in '13.

As far as your issue, GK5 pushbutton start models are notorious for early burnout of both the start switch and the starter. When one goes, it's often ascribed to the other. Search the GK5 subforum for details.

We've had reports that Honda has goodwilled the start switch (but not the starter) in some situations.

I've long suspected that Honda did not design the pushbutton start models with enough of a buffer for the circuit. Hence early failure of both.

If you haven't upgraded to the 51R battery instead of the 151R stock, you might want to consider doing that immediately. Again, search the GK5 subforum for details. More CCA is never a bad thing.

And I don't think your pumping of the brakes is helping, but hey, keep doing it if you want.