Hi. I have a 2009 Fit with ~150K miles and am in the Northeast. On Sunday, when it was freezing cold, I started my car and heard a funny noise on idle. It was kind of a high pitch video gamey sound from the engine. When I accelerated the sound was faster (like it was increasing with the RPMs) but kind of went away past 25-30MPH (that or the engine noise drowned it out, I can't tell).

Then on Tuesday, after it warmed up a bit and my car was garaged the sound didn't happen in the morning at all and I thought I was fine. However, Tuesday night after being outside on a cold-ish day (temps were as high as 45, but dropped to about 30 when I started my car) the noise came back and was back again this morning after being garaged.

A couple of other observations:
- The sound doesn't change if I shift into neutral or reverse.
- After driving for an hour, the sound was still there.
- I had the serpentine belt replaced about 20K miles ago. The noise kind of sounds like a squeaky belt (which is why I'm bringing this up)

Any clue as to what's going on? I haven't had any trouble after 150K miles and would like another 50 to 100K trouble free miles!

 

did you have your idler pulley replaced with the serpentine belt? I would look there.

 

I don't believe so. The belt was just replaced because it looked like it was "starting to go" from my mechanic (who so far has been very good), so I replaced it proactively.

If the sound is the idler pulley, is it something I should have replaced ASAP or would it just be an inconvenience? Thanks!

 

If it is the pulley then yes it should be replaced because that noise is the bearings going out.

 

Update:

The check engine light came on yesterday and I took it to the mechanic today. The light is indicating a misfire on the 2nd cylinder, but it's probably not the spark plugs since they were replaced recently. The mechanic also said the sound is not from the pulley but sounds like it's from inside of the engine. So, he thinks the sound is related to the engine misfiring.

Basically, the car is going to die soon, according to him. To rebuild the cylinder would be about $3K, and my car has 150,000 miles already.

Is this common/ known for Hondas? Should I take the car to a Honda dealership? Would they know more? I really don't want to buy a new car now. Thanks!

 

I'd get a second opinion honesty, It could be a coil pack or an injector.

 

UPDATE 2: If anyone cares

I took the Fit to the dealership and they say they can fix for about $800. They are replacing the tension pulley (thanks Kylerwho!), replacing the spark plugs, doing a valve job, and replacing the serpentine belt with a Honda belt.

If this works, I'm staying with dealerships from now on!

 

They are kinda raping you.. They might be kissing you first,,, but the problem was your old mechanic didn't know what he was doing and was trying to rape you too,, on it needing a cylinder overhaul.. These cars need a set of coil packs, a set of plugs and a valve adjust every 60 to 80 K miles to run at peak..

4 coil packs from rock auto =200
4 plugs = 25 to 50 bucks depending on the flavor you pick
Install of above = < 1 hour should be about 1/2 hour. 50 bucks.
Valve adjustment an hour is.. about 100 bucks.
(If they are doing both there is no labor on the plug and coil swap because they have to take them off to do the valve adjustment.
The Honda belt is NOT 1 bit better than a Goodyear Gator Back or a premium gates for 20 bucks. It adds about 10 minutes to the belt time to change the pulley. so parts 20 labor 20.

400-500 ish dollar job tops.. (and that makes me cringe.. ) Even 600 would let the dealer make a tidy profit. Dang honda dealers are as bad as my BMW dealer..

 

This is what I was charged. $400 for the tensioner and belt (parts $220, labor $180).

Valve adjustment and valve cover $289, mostly labor

Spark plugs replaced ($135, parts were $95).

Total of $900, but car runs great and the local shop really had no ideas as to what was wrong.

 

FYI I did the belt and pull on my 07 cost me 28 for the belt and 25 for the pulley. Took me about 30 minutes to do it myself. (I do/have done a lot of mechanic work so I figure I'm fairly close to a dealer mechanic for skill set.. so my time to get the work done is fairly close to what a full time mechanic would need )

https://www.fitfreak.net/forums/gene...p-fit-log.html I have been pricing out stuff I'm fixing on mine..