K swap! But seriously, if they say its toast, there seem to be a lot of good low-mileage '09/10 fit engines on ebay (.com and .ca) from time to time.

http://bit.ly/c1LufX

 

That is for the USA. Not sure what our laws are here on wty and mods. I am going to find out next week. Going in for first service and will be trying to get ABS sensor replaced under wty that somehow broke when doing springs.

 

I don't think that the sensor should be replaced under warranty in that case. I mean, it wouldn't be broken if you didn't "do" springs.

Any news sandblasted?

 

Nothing yet. Waiting for the call.

 

My work order just says it quit working in the last couple of weeks. I imagine when they see the springs they will not cover it so I am expecting to pay for it. So far I have not considered my dealer a stealership like so many here.

 

So, I got news from honda. Motor. Toast. Fan let go, causing rad to blow causing engine failure. All this in less than 5 minutes. From smelling the smell, to seeing the light, to pulling over. Holy fak. Getting a new motor shipped in for tomorrow. Warranty work. Wow. I'm shocked.

 

In my experience Honda has stood tall when it came to warranty work. Why would they not want you to be happy? Now you're telling the whole world that when you needed a major repair Honda stood by you. It's great for you and it's good for Honda.

Now, have that beer.

Cheers.

 

So the fan let go. How in the earth did that happen? Any guesses?

Nice to see them stepping up - well done Honda, good for you blasted, you get a new engine in your Fit.

 

I donno how I feel about this honestly. I'm glad warranty is covering it, and that I'm getting new motor out of it, but should all this have happened? I donno, I just in shock about the whole motor being fried and all. Seems like it happened wayyy to quick. Ill keep updating.

 

Of course it should never have happened. No car is made to do that.

Question remains, exactly how it did happened. I'm seeing it was the fan 'letting go'.

Did an inherent design flaw caused this? I'm real curious, because I see the outside chance of this happening to someone else.

K_C_

 

That's what I'm wondering too. Is this something that honda needs to pay attention too. I have high kms on my car for the year. Maybe its a problem. Maybe it was a fluke.

 

holy crap x10.

the fact that the hot engine light came on and only minutes later the engine was fried is of concern. that makes the warning light useless. it's more like a death notice than a warning light.

but for a brand new engine it may have been all worth it. lol.

crazy crazy story.

 

My motor in my old DC5R Integra took a dump while doing gymkhana with a bunch of Honda mechanics during their annual gymkhana day that they invited me to. The day prior I had put on the SWIFT springs and new AD07s, the g forces were so much more that the design flaw of the K motor shined that day. On my last run of the day, well it ended up being the last run. The motor made that beautiful sound known as rod knock. Cylinders 2 and 3 were done when my motor was taken apart at the dealership. Honda Corporate rebuilt the motor at no cost to me, well actually I purchased new stock pistons and rings for like $250 to be safe.

Somehow I think if I had a RSX-S in the US and was out doing auto-x and the same thing happened, I would be footing the bill. If the car was setup the way my Integra was...not stock, but not too far from it at the time.

Good for you on all of this though. I still don't see how the bolts holding the fan in place backed their way out to cause the fan to let go. And is that what they meant by letting go or did the fan just completely fail as well as not being mated to the radiator properly?

 

The fan was completely off the hub to which it was attached. I could have pulled it out. That caused the whole deal I guess. Now, I guess I'm getting a new bottom end, and they are rebuilding thr top end. New rad and all that shit. Having a fuck of a tim now getting a rental. The head gasket is on back order til september for fuck sakes. They are doing a "critical" search tomorrow. Hope I get my car back soon. Arg.

 

Ohhhh so the fan mount was still attached to the radiator, the actual fan itself detached from its mount. That's really odd for sure. I feel your pain, it took me I think 4~5 months before my car's motor was completed. Though during that time Honda gave me a slew of different cars to drive. That was my first time driving a Fit, it was a GD in 1.3 liter form, but it sold me on getting one some day because it was just fun to drive even though it was painfully slow for my driving likes.

So Honda is not going to give you a loaner, just replacing the motor. Guess that's still better than you shelling out a few thousand for the rebuild and then some more for the labor involved as well.

 

What a difference a day makes, eh?

Cheers.

 

so, as i said, they are getting me a new bottom end, rad and ac unit. they are rebuilding my top end, however the head gasket is on back order til sept. so i might just tell them to order me a motor from japan, or get me a k24. lol

when i bought the car, i got the extended warranty with it, and thank got i did. extended warranty got me a 5 day free rental. so i'm not driving a 2010 VW jetta fully loaded. its nice, fast, but its no lowered Fit. i want my car back so bad. still can't believe this happened.

 

In spite of it all, a good wind blows your way.

Wonder why head gaskets are rare?? No one is using them so why stock them or is it a high demand item [I doubt that]. Still curious though.

How's your insurance on rentals for extended repair work, probably not even, eh? That's really gonna suck - a month+ of renting for a Honda default...

K_C_

 

Funny thing, honda plus is covering everything with the car rental for the next 5 days. As for any usage after, honda, or the dealership will be taking full responsibility of the bill. So I got the rental for nothing. Which I think is A1.

 

A few yrs. ago I was given a 1995 Toyota Tercel to use as a beach car. Basically, to carry my boards and supplies without worrying about cleaning the sand or covering the seats from my wet shorts...etc.

I figured why not accept it, run it to the ground, and give it to a U-Pull-It junk yard.

Anyway, it had 171K miles and ran like a champ. It only had 1 small problem. A very minor engine coolant leak that we couldn't trace. So, minor that it needed less than a cup (8 oz) of fluid after a month of driving.

The problem was, that the previous owner was cheap and decided to use "water" instead of "engine coolant" when tapping off the little bit of fluid every month. After a few years of ownership, there was no proper engine coolant left and only water in the radiator.

The radiator ended up rusting on the inside and wouldn't flow the fluid well. It caused the car to overheat (only in the summer heat).

One day while on the highway and on the way back from the beach, I noticed that the car was overheating big time but my friends and I were like 6-8 miles from the house and my friends and I didn't feel like stopping and letting her cool down for a bit.

I decided that "this was the day I finally put her to rest" and kept on trucking. Well, 2-3 miles later, I hear BOOM and my windshield is covered with fluid. I pulled over, lifted the hood and noticed that the upper radiator hose burst (because of the pressure of the radiator not flowing well).

I decided to clean the winshield and see how close the car gets to the house before the engine dies. One mile, keeps going. Tow miles with the needle past the "H" on the gauge and it keeps going. At three miles we are starting to root for the little car (like the children's story about a train engine that never gave up). At 4 miles (these are highway miles no less), we were quite and basically speechless.

The car never died and got us ALL THE WAY HOME. With NO water at ALL.

Once home, I thought that the engine, while it got us home, must be toast. I decided to find out for sure, just for curiosity's sake. That evening, I bought a brand new upper radiator hose and refilled the radiator with water and the car ran fine and didn't overheat.

I decided to drive it to work the next day to see if I can get it to overheat. I got it to during the lunch run when the temps were in the lower 90s.

I then decided this car earned a new radiator. I bought a brand new one for $60 bucks and the car has been running perfect ever since.

I am now at 176K miles (remember, only used as beach car or runs to pick up supplies etc or anything dirty).

That engine didn't want to die and I abused the heck out of it. I TRIED my very best to kill it and it refused.

Still running perfect till today (2 years later).

This Tercel, like the Fit, is also "Built in Japan", but she's a survivor while the fit cannot handle 5 minutes of overheating.

I understand that modern engines car complicated, but it's sad to hear that these 1.5Ls cannot even handle 5 minutes of overheating while this old Toyota engine drove 4+ miles with no water at all and is still perfect.