So I finally got around to changing the starter today on my 09 Sport. It had been grinding after starting on cold mornings. After 6 years and 190,000 miles, this is the first real problem I have had with this car. It was a bit scary, but I've been around the engine compartment quite a bit just doing regular maintenance, so I figured that I could do it.

I managed to do it in about 3 hours, but it was the biggest PITA ever. I followed a DIY by zenkimr_S (thanks zenkimr), which you can find here:

https://www.fitfreak.net/forums/2nd-...placement.html

That was a great write-up, but while it gave me the confidence to do the job, it was more difficult than I thought it would be. First of all, I was wondering why zenkimr didn't post any pics of the procedure. But now I know why - it's impossible because every step of it is behind something, so you can't take any pics!

Anyways, I thought I'd post the text of zenk's DIY below and add my 2 cents. My responses are in blue. Again, thanks zenk!

Had to replace the starter today because it was "sticking" while the gear was retracting from the flex plate/flywheel causing a grinding noise.

Basically you'll need a 17mm, 14mm Deep Socket, 12mm for positive cable on the starter, and a 10mm for disconnecting the battery, oil dip stick, and wiring harness.

1. Disconnect the battery

2. Remove 17mm bolt holding the starter near the battery side of the car (US Driver).

This was the easiest part of the job, because the bolt is actually exposed and you can get to it without much trouble. Still, I had to use a pipe for leverage to crack it. These bolts are all torqued down to the max.

3. remove (2) 10mm bolts holding the wiring harness to the intake manifold.

Easy enough.

4. Unplug knock sensor, water temperature sensor, and signal sensor to the starter. This is the bundle with the wiring harness you want to move out of the way.

This was one of the harder parts of the job. The knock sensor and water temp sensors were easy to get off, but not to get back on for me because of my fat fingers. I had my wife do it The signal sensor to the starter was another story. It was extremely hard to get to and I could not figure out how to get it off for the life of me. But as I was struggling, it just popped off at some point. It was actually easy to get back on.

5. Lift up the car.

A MUST!

6. Remove 10mm bolt holding dip stick and remove the dipstick and the tube that holds it. (This sets you up for the next step)

That little bolt was torqued so tightly that I stripped it using a 12 point socket and also a 10mm wrench. I ended up using a 6 point socket, a breaker bar and a pipe for leverage. I finally got it off. What a PITA!!!

Also, do yourself a HUGE favor and remove the oil filter. You only lost about a half-quart of oil, and it gets that big thing out of the way. It helped tremendously in getting this nut off and the starter out.

7. Remove the 14mm bolt, which is under the Thermostat housing, holding the starter to the transmission. Using various extensions & swivel sockets can make your life easier. I only used a flex head ratchet and deep socket. (It's really torqued on there so use some aggression)

Again - torqued to the max. He's right about the various extensions - you just have to try different combinations, and they will change as you draw the bolt out further and further. I again had to use a pipe on the ratchet for leverage.

8. Pull the starter out of the transmission and you should be able to remove the last 12mm nut that is under a rubber grommet located on the starter. It should be near the sensor you unplugged earlier. (Note: if you didn't unplug your battery and this live wire touches any part of the engine. Say goodbye to all your fuses and ecu.)

The hardest part about this for me was removing the rubber grommet or boot that protects the battery connection. It's sealed really well, and pulling it off in the position that it's in at that point is difficult. I used a plastic prying tool to get it off. Getting it back on the new one was also no picnic.

9. Pull the starter from under the car while moving some coolant / ac lines out of the way.

This would have been impossible for me to do without removing the oil filter (see #6 above)

Success! Then put everything back for fun.

 

@rossftn: Thanks for your commentary. It fills in the blanks, as it were.

 

I am an experienced backyard mechanic. I took it slow and still finished in about 90 minutes. Now that I understand the connector clips, I could repeat the process in about 45 minutes, maybe less.

You do need to remove the oil dipstick to gain enough clearance to slide the starter away from the flywheel. I tried just rotating the dipstick tube after removing the retaining bolt, but that was insufficient. However, you do not need to remove the oil filter, so save yourself the mess. You just need to drop the back end of the starter down to a vertical position, clock the solenoid pointing forward (6 o'clock position when you are under the car looking up), and push the rubber hose out of the way. It is tight, but it works. Be patient!

Recommendations:
Disconnect the battery first, as directed. If you do not, then you should not be working on a car in the first place. No other warning should be needed.

Next, free the wire harness from the intake manifold, as recommended. But also free the two harness clips to the right along the path from the positive power battery post.

The three plastic connectors on the sensors and the solenoid signal are different in design, but each has a section that you push in to release it. They pull off easily once the clip is released, but the clip release is difficult to get find and press, and you cannot see two of them. This took much longer than I expected because of accessibility and visibility issues. I took my time because I did not want to break the connectors or retaining clips.

The last step in the electrical,harness is the positive feed to the starter. I used a 12mm six-point socket (3/8" drive) with an adapter to 1/2" and a short 1/2" extension. I also used a swivel head 1/2" ratchet, although the swivel feature is not needed for this operation.

The rubber boot has a tab on the bottom - pull down, out, then up to expose the nut. Remove the nut and ring lug and all that is left are the two bolts attaching the starter to the engine. I recommend leaving them in place until you free the wire harness. You are less likely to put strain on the wiring and connectors, and it also provides more room to access the upper starter bolt.

For the upper bolt, I used a swivel head ratchet with a medium extension with a universal joint before the socket. The bolts are reasonably torqued, but you will not need a pipe or a breaker bar or anything like that. The 1/2" drive is great for breaking the bolt loose, but it tended to bind up each turn. So you might want to switch to a 3/8" or even a 1/4" drive after you initially loosen the bolt.

Next, remove the lower bolt. Nothing fancy here. Just a 1/2" socket and ratchet. There is not a lot of room for ratchet handle throw, but you can remove the bolt by hand after you loosen it a bit. If you remove the upper bolt first, then you will need to support the starter with your right hand while you unthread the bolt with your left.

Once the bolt is removed, slide the starter towards the passenger side (away from the transmission), then drop the back end down while twisting it. Clock the solenoid as noted at the start of this post, and remove the starter past the oil filter. Be patient!

To install the new starter, reverse the process. Make sure that all of the connectors "click" into place. Use a tiny bit of silicone grease or motor oil on the dipstick tube O-ring and the tube will easily slide back into place with very little force. If you try to do this dry, then you may pinch, twist, or tear the O-ring. Keep this in mind for all O-rings!

The rubber boot on the positive starter terminal went back on quite easily. Use the tab. Pull it away from the starter, then down and back in. Check carefully to ensure that the boot is properly installed because it protects the connection from corrosion and also isolates the connection from potential shorts to the engine.

This job is a bit of a pain because of the limited access and visibility, but most mechanics should be able to do it without too much swearing. Trust me when I say that replacing a starter on a 2009 Honda Fit is a picnic compared to the same task on a 2006 Honda CR-V.

I replaced the starter on my Fit because of the grinding noise that began occurring fairly frequently after releasing the ignition key. I was concerned about potential damage to the flywheel (a faulty starter partially ground off a lot of teeth on the flywheel of my 1971 Ford Galaxie 500 many years ago). But I inspected both the starter gear and the visible section of the flywheel on my Fit and saw almost no wear/damage. That was a relief, but I am still glad that I replaced the starter. The gear retraction problem would likely have gotten worse over time. If some flywheel teeth are stripped off then you can end up with a dead spot and a very expensive repair. You can't push-start with an automatic transmission.

 

Did any of you take a chance and find a used starter or did you just go with the OEM, new starter? My starter has been grinding for over the last year, it does so intermittently but has progressed this year, and it's not really too cold yet but I'm already having the issue more often. It's definitely time to change but I'm trying to avoid spending nearly $300 dollars for a new one. But, pending your replies here, that is precisely what I'll probably end up doing. I've found a few online at about $240 not counting the core fee.

Edit: I own a gen 1 2008 Sport MT

 

thank you rossftn. I'll be following this to replace my starter when the weather heats up.

 

I replaced my starter today. I have about 120000 miles on my sport fit. I didnt find any good reference. In the middle of this job O reillys printed instructions that had pictures and torque values. Its different then what you guys are talking about. It shows you to go in from above by removing stuff including the intake manifold. I did not do that. If you have done a valve adjustment on your car this would seem reasonable.
Problem I found is I have a sport fit which has ac. the starter was hitting the ac tube. I unbolted it to move it over. I removed the oil filter, the splash shield. this frees up a lot of room. The most important thing I did was unclip the wire harness under the manifold which you have to probably remove the air cleaner. two bolts do that and a few clips. You have to remove the dip stick. loosen the 10mm bolt then with a long screw driver tap it from under the car. It will remove easy that way. I was able to get a 3/8 tourque wrence in .
The clips on the wire harness remove easy. just use a small screw driver to push the tab and straight up they go. You have to do that.... I never figured out how to remove the oil sensor that has one wire near the oil filter.
edit, I raised the car with ramps. the front spoiler was too low so I placed 2x4 to raise the car which was successful. dont forget to block the back wheel.

 

I know this reply is a bit late to help you, but maybe someone else can benefit.

I bought a NEW starter/solenoid assembly from Rock Auto last January for just under $100. This was around the same price as most remanufactured starters. Not familiar with the brand (TYC), but the car has been starting fine for 8-1/2 months now. Remans are usually a good value, but quality can vary from one factory to another. The seller's return policy should also be considered. A used starter might be an option, but you can't usually test them and an intermittent problem like this one might not show up until later.

 

Alternative removal method - 09 Sport. Excellent suggestions from everyone above. In case you are interested, the starter CAN be removed from above the engine instead of from below. 157,500 miles when replaced.

It never occurred to me that I should remove the oil filter, so I ended up unbolting the thermostat housing cover and removing the windshield wiper reservoir. First I drained a bit of coolant from the radiator. Just remove the two thermostat bolts and leave the housing attached to the radiator hose. Then push the hose aside, as needed, to remove the starter. Don't lose the thermostat gasket as it can be re-used. No need to mess with the A/C hoses.

I also removed the dipstick tube and all of the wiring harness connections mentioned above. Push the wiring aside as well as you are able to. Due to the tight fit, I removed the starter and the positive electric cable as a single unit. (And I installed them as a unit, as well)

When installing the starter you need to insert it into the bell housing and then give it a little twist to line up the bolt holes. For some reason, the rubber boot was rubbing the engine and made installation more difficult than removal. I temporarily installed the starter without the cable and marked the starter and bell housing with a sharpie. Then I installed the starter/cable assembly and twisted hard until the sharpie marks lined up.

Like others, above, my "grinding" problem began intermittently (monthly) and progressed to multiple times a day during the course of 8-12 months. The problem manifested itself after RELEASING the key during starting. I thought it might have something to do with the pinion gear return spring or lack of lubrication on the pinion shaft, but inspection of the old starter revealed no obvious problems. I can't prove it, but I believe that the starter solenoid might have been sticking and causing the problem. I tried to disassemble the solenoid, but the case was crimped together and impossible to inspect without breaking it.

 

Thanking you for bringing this thread back to life. I was literally just looking at starters since mine is doing the exact same sound on cold mornings as described by the OP.

 

As seen in this other forum post: https://www.fitfreak.net/forums/3rd-...placement.html

Just wanted to chime in that this forum has been useful for many things already on my 2015 Fit. I found this and a few other threads about starters going bad and needing replacement.

I bought the DB Electrical remanufactured starter from Amazon:
Did the job this morning in about 2.5hrs. It wasn't as bad as sounds on the previous gen models. I just disconnected battery (obviously), removed the flexible intake snorkel bend at the top of engine bay, removed the 10mm bolt and coolant overflow tank in between the radiator fans, removed 10mm bolt holding the wiring harness plastic junction box thing that is fastened to the front of the engine just above the starter, used single flexible socket joint with 14mm socket along with long extension to get the top starter bolt from the top of engine bay, flexible socket joint with 12mm socket to get top starter electrical connection under the rubber boot from top of engine, removed belly pan to get to front/side electrical connector on starter from bottom of car, and then, the biggest pain, the 17mm bottom starter bolt I used penetrating oil, curse words, and finally a long torque wrench to get that bolt off. I did not remove the oil filter or anything else. Luckily these cars aren't too old, and the radiator hoses and such are still pliable, as the bottom radiator hose was certainly a bit in the way but was able to work around it.

Other than that, pretty straightforward. Thanks again, forum!

 

I R & R the starter on my 2009 Fit Sport today. This was a very helpful thread for me. I do not know the service history of the starter I removed - it was a Honda / Denso part and might have been original at 165,865 miles as the two mounting bolts took a lot of force to break free. I did not jack up the car and removed the starter from above. I installed an Autozone reman.

I did not remove the oil filter and did remove the dip stick tube. This took a while as I couldn't get a good hold of it with the long handled pliers in my kit. I fooled around with that tube a long time. Eventually I took a piece of light rope about 5 feet long and threaded one end under the bracket that bolts the tube to the engine and tied the two ends together to make a loop, then took a short length of 2 x 6 lumber through the loop. With both hands holding the piece of wood I swung it upwards above the engine and the momentum popped the tube out easy-peasy.

Took the advice posted and loosened all the clips holding the wire harness from the starter to the battery and made all the slack I could in the wiring. I removed the two bolts holding the thermostat housing to the block to get a little more room for the removing starter wire connectors as well as the two connectors on the engine block.. The upper bolt would not come free using an impact wrench and swivel socket - the socket would go catty-wampus under load and I was afraid of rounding off the head. A 6 point closed end wrench fit nicely but I had little room to swing the wrench. I fitted a socket to a 3/8 breaker bar and slipped over it a piece of pipe I use for extra leverage but could not swing the wrench - no room. At this point I removed the passenger side fan and this gave me enough room to break it free. For the lower bolt I used a long 17 box end wrench and used the trick of engaging the open end of another long wrench in the open end of the 17mm wrench to double the leverage but I still had to remove the driver's side fan assembly for swinging room. Once the bolts were out the starter came out with little drama. Installing the new starter and putting everything back together took about 45 minutes - the removal about 2 hours. Hopefully I'll never have to remove it again but I did apply anti-seize to those mounting bolts for the next time.

 

Edit to add a postscript.

I finished the starter R & R in the evening. I started the car twice to hear the sound of the starter as it should be and make sure the new part fixed the grinding noise at engine start. All was good, I went inside for the night.

The next day when I started the car to run an errand the check engine light came on. I used my OBDII and the Dash Command app on my phone to read the code. It was 2647 "A" Rocker Arm Actuator System Stuck On Bank 1. Something to do with the VTEC system. I puzzled over this a moment then checked under the hood to see if I had not left one of the electrical connectors in the harness disconnected. Sure enough, the connector for the oil control valve solenoid was dangling free. I had forgotten to re-connect it the night before and started the engine twice before leaving the car all night. I drove the car and verified the VTEC engaged as it should and allowed free revving to 6500 rpm. Back at the house I disconnected the battery for 30 minutes then reconnected it and ran the car until the cooling fans came on at 206 degrees. The check engine light did not reappear. All is right with the Fit again.

 

Not to necrobump this thread, but I couldn't PM you @OpenRoad.

How has your TYC starter been holding up? I'm thinking about getting one for my 2009 GE.

 

I just did a TYC starter and it's doing fine. There's still the tiniest bit of the same noise on start-up. You can hear the deal from videos I posted in this thread.

The TYC starter is different in design from OE. The original, some other brands, and remans use a gearbox. The TYC is a permanent magnet type instead (you can read about those two starter types pretty readily online).
So no gearbox inside, which to me meant no lubricant to get too cold/displaced. It seemed like a way to eliminate possibility of noise being generated by the actual starter vs. just the pinion gear and flywheel/flexplate meshing. And the price was right. Permanent magnet starters, from my light reading, are also more suited to cold climates due to the above (though some reading this morning has suggested that they can lose their field if overheated - unsure where the limit is there, but I suppose I'll avoid doing desperate 2 minute long crank sessions if my Fit ever refuses to start)

There doesn't appear to be any issues with the new-to-me tech, though it'd still be nice to hear from a long-time user. I can at least assure you that it works with no indication of issue.

 

Awesome. Thanks for sharing! My OEM starter is exhibiting the same noise you had before the TYC replacement.

It's been happening more frequently, so it is about time. 😅

 

I hear yuh. I'm still not set on the actual cause. Now that I think of it, I'm pretty sure the sound existed before I replaced my flywheel with the clutch. Causes could include starter internal noise, meshing of the pinion gear to the flywheel/flexplate, rotational speed/lubrication of the starter, oil getting where it needs to be in the valve cover on a very cold start, or even a fuel thing. At some point I swear I'll do that damned $200 fuel pump.. I still have a feeling that its regulator may not be holding pressure as well in cold, but I can't recall why I suspect it!

Oh, a cool idea perhaps: before replacing your starter, get a little tin of gear marking compound from amazon. You can get under the trans, remove the access cover (metal or rubber) to see the flexplate or flywheel, if you have a manual trans.. Just mark as many teeth on the big ol gear as you can, rotate the engine, mark a few more. Give the engine a start and check how the compound outlined the starter pinion gear teeth meshing with the flex/flywheel teeth. Then repeat after installing the new starter. Maybe make some sharpie sections to separate old marks from new ones

That's.. prolly too much to ask of a stranger, but it would be cool to see, and an additional data point towards understanding the nature of the cold start grind.

All I really know is it sounds unhappy, and I want my car to be happy.

 

It took me a while to check my records from 2018. Here's what I found (and what little I remember from nearly 6 years ago).
I installed the TYC starter on my wife's 2009 Fit Sport in January of 2018. We're both retired and don't drive as much as we used to. The starter has slightly more than 20,000 miles on it and absolutely NO problems. Relatively mild climate here in NE Florida, but we're less than a mile from the ocean and the salt air hasn't been a problem either.

The TYC starter I ordered in 2018 is not the same part number that Rock Auto is selling now. My 2018 Rock Auto invoice shows a "2009 Honda Fit", but it looks like they sold me part # 17998, which appears to be for a 2007-08 Fit. (They have since changed their catalog numbers.) I guess that accounts for why I had to buy a longer 12mm bolt and nut from Home Depot to complete the installation. At any rate, other than the mounting bolt, the starter has been no problemo. I also noticed that Rock Auto is selling the same starter for about $10 cheaper than in 2018.

Hope this info helps you.

 

@OpenRoad Awesome update on longevity! Three cheers for the records keeping, your update is a real gem! While we've got you, any experience with cold start noise since the replacement?
And I empathize with the parts mix up and run to the hardware store. I usually see the guys at Ace in bursts, where I come in a dozen times over the course of a few weeks. They know about our cast iron drains, my love of barbeque and the mods I employed to get ours up to 750°F for searing (an adjustable gas regulator and some re-plumbing to fit it, for the curious mind), the engines I really get into and why. With all my mix ups, I should have some additional contacts in my phone.

 

Interesting thought on diagnosing -- unfortunately my sound only happens on the first cold start, so in my situation it would be difficult to reproduce. My gut tells me the sound is the starter's bendix gear, which I will inspect once I replace the starter. Will update on this!

Extremely helpful update! Thank you!

 

I’m going to need a starter sometime. 120,000ish miles on my ‘11. It grinds a little on cold mornings, just the first start of the day. It’s not a job I can do myself, and it will cost around $900. I just try to drive it as little as possible in the winter.