Highly unfortunate news, everyone. The Fit is dead. 2020's season finale has arrived.

On Christmas Eve night, I was at the wrong place at the wrong time and drove through a flooded area. The car in front of me and I didn’t realize it until it was too late, but they had made out fine, along with multiple cars. The engine was misfiring and knocking almost immediately. After some digging, I had found the hole.

Another L15 will take its place and we move on. To say Lisa has lost her charm is an understatement and this is disappointing, but at least a heart transplant will keep her going.

 

Oh no! That's really a shame and bad luck for you. I liked reading your posts about your Fit.

How deep was the water? Must have come in through the air intake behing the grill then into the filter? Maybe the rods aren't bent and that hole can be welded up.

It sucks!!!

 

A story ends. I feel your pain, Julian. Nothing will ever be the same, but maybe a new engine and engine management system will present new challenges and a new story.

Take care, hombre.

 

Looking forward to 500k+ on the new engine!

 

I never thought I'd see the day she died. Feels like losing an old friend. Hope the heart transplant is successful.

 

I'm not even a 1/3rd of the way to your final odometer reading. Cheering for her revival.

 

Two weeks after the Fit went down, my Miata decided to kill its potentially original clutch. Fixed that and got the Fit to the garage.

Current status:

 

That's a well worn motor. May she forever stay in VTEC in Honda Valhalla...

 

Sorry for your troubles. Do you have another engine and trans lined up for it?

 

Finalizing an engine purchase now. Shipping to a residential address from most places online is a hassle. I'm still retaining my original transmission, however, I will probably flush out the new fluid after a week of driving with the new engine just to see how it goes.

 

Well it's good you have the skills to swap the engine and trans out. It just would have been easier if it had happened in the spring, and not the winter. But the winter flooding was actually the cause of the problem in the first place, so here we are......My hope for you is some decent weather to work on it comfortably and enough energy to get the job done. Best of luck!

We're all looking forward to future inatallments of you racking up the miles on this car.

 

Hell yeah run that sucker. These cars are built for that mileage abuse

 

Just came across this thread and wow, that's very impressive! Shame it didn't quite make it to 1 million kms on the original engine though, but what can you do. Are you going to tear down the original one? It'd be interesting to see what the wear is on the bore and bearings, even though some of it could've been caused by the incident that killed it.

I also have a miata and a ($600 beater) Fit/Jazz. Wonder if it'll get that far before the rust eats it. The Fit is fun but makes my mostly stock miata feel like a rocket ship I'm probably going to use it for some longer trips especially now in the winter but it's not really an ideal highway car, barely better than the miata itself probably, so I salute your dedication!

 

Very long post as much has happened. I hope no one actually quotes this with ALL OF THE PHOTOS.

This is the Fit's engine replacement -



The organ donor: A 2013 Blue Raspberry Metallic base model in Arizona with about 116k miles -



Eventually, it arrived on a pallet. Unfortunately, the garage is a ways away from the driveway where the truck dropped it off, so it took some manhandling and a hand truck to transport the engine to the garage. It was also snowing...



We made it!



Guessing there's a difference between the standards on the newer 2012+ engines?





Oh, so you thought once the new engine arrives, it goes straight into the car? Not exactly. On the stand, it goes.



New engine necessities with red labels and a book of knowledge.



Cracked open the valve cover. I was not disappointed.



Now the real fun begins: OEM timing chain tensioner (14510-PWC-004) and guide (14530-RB1-004). In retrospect, after seeing the original 116k mile ones, I could've gone without doing this. Considering I had to switch the covers and I had already ordered these, why not?



Cleaned up my original 561k mile timing chain cover - due to the 116k mile engine having a broken one - and put on a new crank seal (91212-RB0-004). What's funny was a week before the incident, I was telling a friend I noticed a leak near the crank pulley...



New OEM water pump (19200-RB0-003, top) in comparison to the 116k mile water pump -



Shiny new OEM water pump pulley (19224-RB0-000) because my 561k mile one is gross and the new engine didn't have one. While creating the snowball-effect of OEM parts... again, why not?



Reused the 116k mile tensioner, but replaced the pulley/bearing (31180-55A-003)



New OEM thermostat (19301-RP3-305) as the new engine lacked one and I wasn't going to reuse my 561k mile one -



Valve cover gasket from Rockauto because I needed to step my magnet game up and I had a coupon code (Fel-Pro VS50785R)



Reusing my oil pan because of course, the new engine came out of an automatic Fit. Yes, the oil pans are different between the two transmissions. New gasket for it (11252-PWA-000)



Hitachi IGC0073 coil packs from Rockauto (basically OEM, but cheaper) along with NGK 94279 plugs. What annoys me is 10k miles before the incident, I had replaced them in the original engine...




The plugs out of the 116k mile engine -



Looks like this is pretty straightforward from here, right?



lol not really...

Pilot bearing, why you no go in? The collar used in automatic Fits is in the way...



I don't have a sawzall, only have a dremel, and I thought this bearing puller tool would help, but it did... just not in the way it's meant to. I used it this way and took a hammer to where the X is -



After banging for a solid 20-30 minutes, it budged, but couldn't get out. Banged some more until it cracked -




Finally, this POS is out -



The tools used -



Okay, now we are talking. Transmission mated to the new engine. You can see a difference between the two...



Took some window weld to the mounts because deep down I'm still some Honda kid that did the same thing to his Civic and Integra, plus the original mounts were in need of fixing -



Spent some time grinding out the original donut gasket and replaced it with an aftermarket one (Mahle F7209, not pictured) -



The original hardware did not make it (shocker), so new hardware was acquired. Oddly enough, the original springs looked mint. Here's a comparison to the crusty old bolts next to the new ones (18231-SNA-A00)




Now we are going in -



That's more like it. Noticed the driver's side of the engine bay is clean?



That's because I repainted it. A few years ago, the frame rail was a little rough due to the battery tray. I replaced it and tried to fix it, but couldn't do it properly. Without showing the entire process, I ground it down to the bare metal, used rust neutralizer, POR-15, then primed and painted it.





Traded in my four-year, 143k-mile old alternator for a new (well, refurbished) one. Forgot the name brand, but it was sourced from the local parts store that has always treated me well.



Thought we were getting some momentum, huh? Nope. After staring at the harness, I was thoroughly confused as to why there were so many connectors with no homes...



Took a few minutes to rip out the intake manifold and take the harness out. Here's the automatic (left) harness compared to the manual (right) -



Replaced some hoses (water inlet hose - 79721-TK6-A00, water outlet hose - 79725-TK6-A00) along with new clamps (91405-TK8-A01)



Needed this fuel feed hose (16720-RB0-003) because some idiot decided to cut it as it was the only thing attached while the engine/transmission was in the air...



The homestrech!



It started! But we got two codes...




That same idiot that cut the fuel line earlier forgot to plug in the crank positioning sensor harness. No codes now!



Too bad we are not done, but the hard part is! Replaced the original rad hoses with new ones (lower - Continental 66358, upper - Continental 62388, OEM clamps - 19511-PA6-003)



I needed to order two more parts through the dealer, so the Fit still sits...

One is a random coolant hose (19528-RB1-000) because I had cut the original and so did the engine supplier, and I don't think the fuel line I used will suffice for long. Many parts stores didn't have the correct diameter in coolant hose form.

Another is the flange alignment bolt (90188-SCC-A00) due to my original somehow getting the threads messed up during the swap. I used a generic hardware store bolt and when I put the car on the ground, it had some insane (to me) positive camber...

 

Great news Julian- she lives! Great pics and just the right number of them with great commentary too on how the job went! I think we all enjoy as many pics of a job like this as someone is willing to post. This looks like a great start on your way to many more dependable miles. Good job!

 

Amazing post and amazing job, Julian. You made a daunting job seem (almost) easy.

By the way, no one else has mentioned this, but you have lovely bobinas, man. No kidding, really.

 

Thanks for sharing the pictures of your engine replacement. Wish I had the skills to undertake a job like this ! Quick question, were all of your engine and transmission mounts original?

 

Thanks, y'all!

They sure were.

 

Nice job, thanks for sharing. Your Fit has risen like the Phoenix!

What is that little Honda in one of your pics? Looks like something from the 1970's.

 

That is my 1973 CB125, which is going to be a future scrambler build. Picked it up last year. It's an all-original example and hasn't been used since the early '80s.

Actually had it in the back of the Fit when I brought it home!