I went to turn the engine over on my '09 Fit on Sunday (02/24) and it seemed it was dead. Called AAA. In between the call and their arrival, I managed to push the engine and it turned. AAA checked the battery and alternator and said they were both top notch. Problem hasn't happened again. Should I be worried or was it just a one-time gremlin?

 

Ive had a couple times in the very cold mornings my fit took a little too long of a crank for it to fire up to life which kind of made me nervous.

 

How old is yours?

 

Mine is only about 2 months old.

 

Interesting, but even scarier for you. For a moment, I thought my start was on the fritz, doesn't appear to be the case though, at least not at the moment.

 

Dead spot on the starter most likely. It will get worse, sometimes it just takes a really long time. If it happens again, and you have a manual transmission, move the car a bit in gear and try again, if it starts then it's the starter.

 

If the starter is not engaged with the flywheel, how would this help? Just asking.

 

I used to have this problem on a different vehicle - my understanding was that when the starter solenoid pushed the gear into the flywheel, instead of meshing it would be tooth-to-tooth and not energize the starter motor. Pushing/rocking the vehicle while in gear just a bit rotates the flywheel enough for the gears to mesh.

 

First, did the enghine crank at all or nothing happened when you turned the key? When it did crank was it fast or sluggish? You mayu notice that a number of Fits have experienced bad batteries from Yuasa and replaced them under warranty.
So if turning the key produced nothing I suspedct a loose terminal, bad starter solenoid, or a bad battery. So check to be sure the wires from the battery to vehicle power and to ground and to the starter are intact and tight. If you were able to start after 'pushing' the engine, whatever that means, a loose connection is a good start to check especially if we made the asumption that you actually pushed the car. If there was a dead interconnection between the starter gear and the flywheel I would still expect the starter to grind away. But if that doesn't happen the wiring or starter solenoid are prime suspects.

 

+1

Battery terminal corrosion has cause this behavior on many vehicles Ive owned over the years. If any of the connections have high resistance, the fuel pump and ignition may work, until the starter load is applied, so push starting works.

 

It was sluggish, and by the way manual suggestions won't work, as it is an automatic. BUt thanks anyway

 

3 years is more than the average life of a car battery.

Changes in temperature can cause temporary failures due to expansion and contraction of the material in the battery.

I'd start shopping for a new battery. A battery from Honda might be the best deal due to the odd size. Autozone and other parts stores have the right size but it might not be in stock. Look for "coupons."

 

I say battery is on its last legs. I bet AAA didn't load test the battery which is only way to gage condition. Even an old weak battery can sometimes hold a 12.7V surface charge but turn the key and it quickly drops. Test your battery and/or replace before it happens again.

My battery did this exact same thing once. I immediately load tested it and only read 120CCA. Charged battery overnight and load tested exactly the same. New battery installed.

_

 

The battery was replaced 2 years ago as brand new, and yes, he did a full load test on it. So it's not the battery, I think more likely it was some sort of connection issue, but it's fine now, no probs whatsoever. Very curious....

 

so your first battery was replaced after one year, the current battery has lasted 2... I predict a new battery in your near future (no crystal ball smilie... )

 

We had an issue similar to this with the Ridgeline. Truck wouldn't start so we jumpstarted it and it fired right up. Figured it was the battery since it was the end of 2012 and the battery was the original (when we bought the Ridge in 2005) so we replaced it. Two days later, truck wouldn't start even with a jump and a new battery. Trip to Honda got us a new starter motor.

As for batteries, I've never replaced one less than 5 years old and temps here in VT fluctuate from over 100F in the summer to -20F or lower in the winter. Ridge lasted 7.5 years, GS-R lasted 7 years (however I had a stereo with a .5Farad Capacitor that I'm sure helped.) and the Fit is on winter number 4 with 3.5 years of ownership and no signs of failing.

~SB

PS... That said... The battery will likely die on me this week.

 

re: Your battery=Hopefully not. Thanks for the input.