Sorry to bring this old thread back to life but I have to. Tried to drive my wife to work today. My car died and coasted to a stop. 2009 Honda fit sport manual. We Ubered home. She drove to work and I called around for someone to tow my fit to the dealer that was only a few blocks away.

Once we got it to the dealer, The service manager Chad called me a couple hours later indicating I needed a new timing chain.

I told him to fix the recall and nothing else. My mechanic buddy agreed that a timing chain could no way go bad just do to me beating on it or not changing the oil. My good family friend said he would call back with more info once he had to fix the recall. Sure enough Chad called back and blamed the recall as the culprit. http://owners.honda....MGE87499S006662 Lost motion spring was the cause of 2 bent valves and a loose timing chain.

So Chad the service manager said he called the district service manager and asked for Honda to make the repairs. He refused. Chad said that I should call Honda and see what can be done. So I did that.

Honda contacted me 2 days later and said they have instructed Chad to take the head off to verify the root cause. Hopefully I find out today if Honda will help me fix everything. Anyone else have something like this happen?

I've looked in to it and its way cheaper for me to just buy a used engine than a new timing chain. yikes. But hopefully it doesn't come to that.

 

Wow, I'm the orignal poster of this thread from 4 1/2 years ago.

It's not clear - did you ever have the recall done? Is Chad blaming a broken lost motion spring because the recall wasn't done, or is he saying that somehow the work done while performing the recall is the problem?

Our two Fits have been doing fine since the recall work, although the valvetrain on mine is getting noisy, especially before the engine warms up. I'm actually ready to bring it to a dealer for a valve adjustment as it's not a job I want to tackle in my driveway (a different dealer from the one that originally did the recall).

 

marls......Guess I'm also unclear on whether the recall was not done or there was an "oops" at the time that just now showed up. I will guess the former but pls let us know. If one of the springs fails, it is quite possible for things to get mangled badly, including bent valves, bits of metal down in the sump, etc. up to and including a wrecked engine. It's quite possible that engine replacement might turn out to be best.

I'm one of those who reacted to all the horror stories of the early LMS recall experiences by getting the parts/kit and the dealer tech bulletin giving detailed procedures. So sometime soon I will be doing this one myself. The early problems related to cowl removal have been eliminated as the newer procedure does not require cowl removal. Hurray for that part. The other problems related back then had to do with not following the EXACT procedures in the tech bulletin and in the factory manual for taking things apart and putting them back together. There are several small bolts that MUST be loosened gradually (2 turns at a time) and in a certain sequence.....then in reverse after the LMS (dinky, innocent looking little springs) are swapped. Otherwise the casting they go through can be cracked/broken, which might not show up for awhile but also lead to shrapnel. My car only has 41K miles on it (also 09 sport manual) so I don't feel worried (although this event is sure a screaming reminder).

 

Thanks for the reply guys. Sorry for the confusion. The recall was never done before my engine stopped, because I wasn't aware of the recall.

Chad called me the other day and his update from getting the ok from Honda to rip the motor apart confirms the lost motion spring as the culprit for the motor going boom.

The motion spring was broken and just sitting on top of the lifters. What happened was the base of the motion spring flipped around causing the crank to lock and the valves to stick open. It caused most of the valves to bend and it put a hole through the head.

Honda is fixing everything and gave me a rental. I am swapping out the timing chain just as a precaution. Guess i'll be driving my fit for a long time now lol. If any part of my update is confusing please let me know and i'll clarify.

 

Wow....that's a mechanical disaster to say the least. Apparently caused by one lot of springs made by a supplier to Honda that had just a little less fatigue resistance than they should have. When the metal finally cracks and breaks the pieces can go anywhere.

The eventual fatigue cracking is dependent on how many cycles the springs go through.......how many miles does your car have on it??