Hi all,

I purchased a 2009 Honda Fit DX (5 SPD Manual) a few weeks ago which has 244,000 kms on it right now.

ISSUE

I have noticed a very weird issue for which I have not been able to determine a cause or remedy. Basically, the car vibrates (in other words, does not seem to drive very smoothly) at speed. Anytime I get the car over 60 km/hr it seems to vibrate or shudder through the steering wheel, the gas pedal and the shifter.

In particular, I notice that the vibration or shuddering is far more obvious or pronounced when I am accelerating. . If I am driving fast, and put the car into neutral and am coasting at over 60 km/hr, the vibration or shudderings are not evident.

CODES

I pulled two codes saved on the computer system of the car as follows:

(A) P0420
(B) P2647

I am not sure if the codes above are related to the issue which I am describing above.

RECENT WORK

I changed the air filter and spark plugs yesterday. I also topped off the oil to full. These changes did not fix the issue above. I was thinking of cleaning the VTEC Solenoid but I couldn't find it unfortunately.

Last thing is that I noticed some orange residue coating the outside of the spark plug boot for the number 3 cylinder. See attached picture for reference. I am not sure if this is also related to the issue which I am describing above.





Please help and thank you so much in advance for your time.

 

sounds very similar to an issue I had last year. you need to put your car up on jackstands and spin the front wheels manually. sounds like one of your axles are bad.

 

CV joint is first thing I'd check, but if its throwing codes your #3 coil could be bad.

If you've got over 80K swap the coils. (Rock auto denso brand(They make the OEM coils)

Run a half can of seafoam(Or your personal favorite injection cleaner) Check the directions on the can.. in a full tank of gas. Do this at least two tanks, misfires and dirty injectors common problem on all makes.

Clean the throttle body if you can, its just a good maintenance item.

If you've got over 80k and never had a valve adjustment done your due..

Good luck!

 

When taking the spark plugs out did you notice if the #3 was loose? Many have found that misfire codes relate to loose plugs (tends to be #2 & #3). Can't really say if anyone has had a bad coil pack.

 

Okay, so today, I did some evaluation of the car's steering system.

Here are some pictures:











DETERMINATION

Guys, while the axles and CV boots looked older, they looked like they were in good shape and there was no obvious deformation or tearing. Further, I am a little baffled because if this is a steering issue, it doesnt make sense as to why the vibration only occurs on acceleration and there are no real noises coming from the steering system (i.e. no ticking, no clunking noises etc.).

 

motor mounts?

 

I'm hoping you swapped out that orangish colored ignition coil. It will likely have been causing all kinds of engine hesitation, like mine did.

New set of coils and it runs perfectly.

 

afaik the steering system is different from the drive system/axles. visible inspection may not show u much. get it up on jacks and spin each wheel and listen to anything out of the ordinary. we didn't catch my problem until we spun each wheel and determined there was a squeak at the inner joint of the driver's side axle.

btw investigating a suspension problem will be a bitch.

to check your mounts. have someone sit in the car while u watch the engine. have them switch from reverse to drive while the engine is running and their foot is on the brakes. if there is too much jerking movement of the engine your engine mounts could be shot.

 

Hi guys,

First of all, thank you each for your thoughts and comments. Here is an update of where the car is at:

1. I did a visual and manual inspection of the front axles and CV joints. Generally, it looked clean, no cracks or tears in the boots, and no weird noises from the joints. There was very very little play in the axles. I think I am ruling out axles issues. I will say that I am running on winter tires still but this can't be the issue because when I shift into neutral at 100 km/h, the car runs smooth.

I also tested each of the coils out to ensure they were working by unplugging each with the engine running. Each of them seemed to be working including the one that was orange colored.
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2. I did not check motor mounts yet, have not run seafoam thorough the car, I have not cleaned the throttle body, I have not yet replaced the coils and I have not done anything with the Vtec solenoid but the codes that are being pulled as per above still exist.

3. Can anyone point me (on the below diagram) exactly where and how I can get to the Vtec solenoid? If it's okay to access, I'd like to take out and clean and put back in.

Engine
4. Do you guys know what the orange colored coil indicates exactly? Can I get away with replacing just the one? In what steps should my next troubleshooting be (in order of cheapest and easiest to hardest and most problematic?)

Thank you so much again in advance.

 

Also, I should add the following:

1. I don't know the history of its mechanical maintenance. As such, I have no idea (at 244000 kms right now) when the valves were adjusted if at all, if there is an clutch or flywheel problem or if there are O2 sensor problems.

I don't however, want to just start replacing parts until I fix the issue (ideally).

 

It should be easy to isolate engine or not engine vibration related...

At speed, push in the clutch to disconnect power from the drive-train, does the vibration go away? If so, it is probably engine related, otherwise not.

Wow, from the pics, looks like that car has gone to Alaska and back.

 

I have also run a bottle of injection cleaner in the gas tank now.

Based on where we are at and what I have done so far, can you guys tell me the next set of troubleshooting raining from cheapest and easiest to hardest and most expensive? Also, can anyone point me to the exact location and how to get to the vtec solenoid?

I have not yet checked motor mounts, have not cleaned the throttle body, have not checked the vtec solenoid, and have not replaced the coils (but they all seemed to be working).