So had a look and everything looked good! Called the service department and they said "yes" they do take the cowl and wipers off......they did a good job, thank god!

Hey acampanaro, did you take your car to Gainesville Honda (formerly Wade Raulerson Honda, I think)? Everything was fine with the cowl clips? No weird scratches or anything? I brought my 2009 Fit there yesterday to get it fixed. They had to order the springs, even though they said they had everything before I brought it in, but that's not a big deal. I am going to pick it up today.

They seemed pretty friendly and I also had them do the software update to fix my way optimistic MPG gauge.

Yes it is WadeRaulerson and they were way friendlier this time around....all my fluids were filled (as apposed to the last oil/tire rotation) and they made me get the car washed and were super talkative as i waited.
About the recall fix.....no scratches no clips broken almost makes me suspicious about if they even did anything at all;).

I heard many bad stories about this place so i think they are trying to turn over a new leaf. I bought my car in Lake City because the sales guy was an ass and i saved $1000 by doing so but it is more convenient to take the car there for it's 11/2 miles from my house.

so far i have no problems with the service i've received.

Just called the dealer regarding my broken clips and scratched cowl from the LMS recall last week, and he ordered the part during our phone call and said I should receive a call from the parts department in 3-5 business days once it arrives.

Sounded like he may have had to deal with this a time or two before, all I had to do was roughly/briefly describe the issue and BAM parts were ordered. So it might be worth a call to your dealer if you notice this issue, personally I was just going to deal with the broken/scratched stuff, but now I'm glad I called.

I didn't even call, I just drove back to my dealership and showed it to them. They said the paper work for every re-call is 3-5 days so it was good that I brought it back so they could charge the cowl with the re-call. Mine's now brand spanking new :)

i had the recall fixed on my 09 sport last thursday, came down with the flu on friday, didn't drive it until this past tuesday. sounds like my valves need adjusting or something, it's knocking pretty loud now. And my gas mileage is way down from the week prior. Almost 10 mpg difference. Would the valves being out of adjustment cause these issues?

Mine is also making a noticeable ticking sound which can be heard from inside the vehicle. Is this bad? Think I might call them tomorrow and add another valve adjustment before they put on the new cowl. Go ahead and do a crappy valve adjustment job and scratch up my stuff, you'll just have to deal with it all over again when I come back!

Several people have commented about valve gear noise after picking up their cars. Be aware that you should not be able to hear the valves ticking, knocking, rattling, or anything else from inside the car.

I first posted on this back on post #34 and 77....worried that the techs would be squeezed for time allowed by Honda and would try to invent shortcuts on the wrench work inside the engine. The cowl/wiper issues are trivial, in my opinion, compared to what gets done (or not done) under the valve cover.

A cam lobe profile looked at from the side consists of portions of two circles. A larger base circle covering that part of the engine rotation when the valve is closed, and a smaller circle covering the period when the valve is fully open. The other parts of the cam profile are "ramps"....one when the valve is being opened and the other when the valve is being closed.

Valve clearances are to be measured and set off the center of the base circle (ie the valve must be fully closed) and that means rotating the engine by hand to different cylinder TDC positions during the process. The specified clearance is to allow an oil film in the specified clearance between the lifter and the cam lobe to be established while the valve is closed, to protect the parts when the lobe rotates around to the opening ramp and starts to open the valve. The rocker and lobe are supposed to make contact at the very early part of the ramp. That way, there is minimal noise and maximum lift and opening duration at the top of the cycle. Too much clearance off the base circle, and the valve gets slapped open when the rocker and lobe finally make contact further up the ramp. It makes more noise because of the different angle of contact. It's a harder contact. It ain't good, folks.

To summarize...too little clearance, and the proper oil film thickness is not established when the rocker/cam lobe make contact. Too much clearance, and the valve gets slapped open somewhere too far up the opening ramp, and less final lift occurs when the valve is open....meaning both noise and poor performance/economy.

These are roller rockers which should allow the cam and rockers to last forever IF they are properly adjusted. But they can be destroyed in short order because a tech shortcuts the proper procedures for this recall.

I strongly suggest getting a copy of the service bulletin and making SURE the dealer tech understand and is going to follow ALL the steps.....especially including the ones from the service manual which are only referenced in the bulletin. (top of page 2, and page 4 in the bulletin).

I think it's possible to replace the 4 LMS without removing the cowl. It is NOT possible to do the work properly by skipping or changing anything in those procedures underneath the valve cover.

geo

The FIT has a little bit of what I think is a rough idle but I'm not sure if it's actually rough or due to the fact I've been reading this thread.

Either way, I have a Tuesday appointment as we are heading out to see the in-laws in the near future. Talked with the dealer and they said it's probably not an issue but they want to take a look as I was the first car they had done the LMS Recall on. They postponed me a few days until they had a specific tech free for work.

I'm betting that it is in my head.

~SB

Rough idle persisted and my mileage was WAY down (about 20 miles less per tank). Also getting a part-throttle hesistation between load changes.

Don't know if its just me noticing it, but I drive almost 100 miles a day and I can tell if anything is different from the ordinary. My girl is never been the same since the recall. I'm a tech myself and I'm trained to notice shit like this.

Anyone brought their car back for these issues? I don't notice any valve noise, however.

Just don't want to go through the hassle of bringing it back only the have a tech look at it and "NPF" it. :rolleyes:

it's clear different dealers are doing different things (removing cowls/not removing cowls, pre-ordering parts/not p-o p) and then obviously you're at the mercy of the tech doing the work.

i was told at my dealer, they took their top 2 techs and had them do the early recalls, while other techs observed and were hands-on trained to do the recall work.

they did over 100 before they got to mine.

my car sounded fine prior to the recall and sounds exactly the same after the recall. MPG are unchanged. the cowl was not removed.

for anyone in NJ, if you have doubt about your dealer on this particular issue, i can at least say open road honda in edison seems to be doing a good job.

For those people that took their car in to do valve adjusting due to weird noise coming out of the engine after doing the recall, did the dealer do the service free of charge?

How long is a usual valve adjustment job?

I noticed the noise in my 09 fit after I did the recall a couple of weeks ago. I haven't had time to bring it back since but I made an appointment this Tuesday to bring it in.

If they replaced the LMS, then they were supposed to do a valve adjustment as part of the recall. If they messed up on the valve adjustment, then they should fix it for free... though the fact that you waited a couple of weeks doesn't work too well in your favor.

I picked up my car, drove 5 miles, then drove it back to the dealer and had them take a listen -- tech agreed the valves were out of adjustment. I left my car with them the next day (used their shuttle to get to and from work) for them to fix it.

my economy hasn't changed since the LMS recall but [likely] due to the warmer weather, it's gone up. Before the recall it was in the 20's & 30's and I was getting about 35-36mpg. now it is in the 30's & 40's and I'm getting around 36-37. current economy on the computer is 40.3 but it's usually 2mpg high.

~SB

Even before reading this thread I was hesitant to take my car to my local dealership. They're awful to deal with. I mentioned the TSB about the mileage meter which hasn't been performed yet, and long story short he gave me a laundry list of reason why he wasn't going to fix it.

If I'm going to have problems, I will definitely have them at this dealer. So, I'm not going to have the recall done until something breaks rips or tears. I'd rather not have my car screwed up by my dealer.

My first guess is it's related to the idle learn procedure. ECU needs to relearn. MPG and idle issues should clear up, but a talk w/ service might very well be in order.

go to a different dealer. Schedule everything ahead of time and take a day trip. I don't believe that you can just "wait until something breaks". Recall warranties aren't open-ended. if you've been notified and you choose not to respond, in a timely fashion, and something breaks down the road, the recall coverage is at the discretion of the dealer.

if you have a lousy dealer, notify American Honda. they wont' get any better without feedback.

~SB

that pisses me off the reading it. call honda america 1 800 999-1009 and complain.



i suggest trying a different dealer, make multiple calls to the same dealer (so that you talk to more than one person), ask if they've had any issues with doing the recall... such as issues w/ the valve job, damaged cowls, etc. make them aware that you've rejected another dealer and you're aware of issues people have had with the recall.

one thing is clear, not all dealer service departments are the same.

Just called the dealer and said they'll do it free of charge because I'm still under warranty. Should work out fine.

Two links to look at:
TCC Tip: Know Your Recalls

How long after a recall is posted can I take my car to have the recall item replaced? - Ask.cars.com

Recall are not associated w/ warranty periods or original owners.