2009 Fit, many miles... I went to replace my ignition coils and discovered that someone in the past had apparently snapped off the bolt that holds down the third one. I know I could rig some sort of bar to hold it down with bolts from the other coils, but this does not sit well with me at all. I am very distrustful of taking it to a shop, since it seems likely that something else will be screwed up or left out, but I'm certainly not equipped to do it myself as there is hardly any space there and I don't have a tool that would fit.

Should I take it to a mechanic and see if they can drill it out without removing the engine, risking them destroying the whole thing? Should I have the engine removed (also not equipped to do that here) so it's relatively risk-free to remove it, but risking them botching putting it back in and also charging me piles of money? Please advise, thank you!

 

If you can't take out the coil, then I feel you have two choices. One, you can leave it in place until it or the plug fails. If you think the plugs are not super old this is not a bad strategy as it may be quite some time. Two, you can remove the engine etc. I agree, I'm afraid, that it will be very hard to drill out the bolt with the engine in place.

If you CAN get the coil off and you're just worried about it being held down. That feels like a much easier thing to get comfortable with. Keep in mind if it pops off, the situation is not super bad .... The engine will probably still even run (poorly).

 

The coil comes out easily. The hole to bolt the new one in is occupied by the snapped bolt shaft, but the old one lifts right out, as it has literally nothing holding it in place.

The whole reason I was even replacing the coils was that I went in to my local independent Honda mechanic over a P0171 code and left with an estimate of $1700 worth of work and parts I supposedly needed (they did not, however, report this issue--did they cause the issue? I don't know), so I was just doing it myself. I replaced the upstream O2 sensor and figured I'd go ahead and swap out the coils and plugs as long as I had the stupid cowl and cowl cover off. Probably there is nothing actually wrong with them, but I got the parts since they claimed it should be done and I don't recall when the plugs were last replaced, so why not I figured.

I realize now that the car misbehaving on a bumpy road was surely caused by this coil jostling around and am glad I found it before it popped right out. I'm not looking to keep the car barely running or anything--I am very picky and one way or another, this broken bolt needs to be drilled out. My Honda Fit cannot be permitted to fall into disrepair and I have no intention of replacing it any time soon.

The question I am wondering is whether it's at all plausible IF a mechanic says they can extract it without removing the engine, or if they will probably just screw it up due to overestimating their own abilities and it being virtually impossible.

 

I think you'd need a right angle drill to have a chance of getting the stud out with a bolt extractor, and then the difficulty is drilling on-center without wandering into the aluminum head. A good mechanic will either have the experience to know whether they can do this or not, or at least know when to stop before making the problem worse! If you don't already know a trustworthy mechanic, then your concern is definitely valid. Do you have any friends/family who could recommend somebody? Internet reviews can also be helpful.

 

If the bolt broke, it may be because the threads were seized in rust from galvanic corrosion, making i hard to get out. The previous owner tried to remove it and it probably snapped. I've seen cases where the bolt head just snapped from vibration and the threads were basically from turning. In such a case you can try and use an extractor but this is rarely the case.

This is a tricky situation. The ignition coils are bolted to the engine head and there is little access. I've had a lot of success using this technique:


I'm not sure you can get a mig welder torch in there but if it possible to do so, it would work out well. The coil bolts are 6mm (10mm head) so I would use a 8mm nut just to make sure the weld sticks to all the remaining bolt in the hole.

If such a technique is not possible, I would consider making a bracket/holder. It's not a bad idea, especially if this is one of the coils #2 or 3. The idea is to prevent the coil from popping out. Use a bit of flat bar steel and bent it to shape, use nearby bolts to secure it in place and the coil will be kept in place. You can use the valve cover bolts or the other ignition coil bolts. This is a very cost effective solution since everything else will require several hours of labor, fluid and gaskets replacement along the way.

If you want that bolt out at all costs, I would consider removing the head and not the complete engine.

 

Good call carrotman. I second the bracket idea. That's what I'd do.

But keep in mind you're talking with someone who replaced a torque mount with one of those silicone egg frying ring gadgets.

 

Well, the mechanic shop on the corner claims it will be easy peasy... I left it in their potentially capable hands and now I wait.

No way am I using a bracket. I will literally get a donor engine from the junkyard, rebuild it, and swap them rather than go that route.

Thanks for the advice though!

 

I mean if they tell you it's easy .. And they can do it .. Then you will be good to go!

I can't see how it's easy. But. I don't do it for a living

 

u could have tried jb welding a size or two smaller bolt to it, then tried unscrewing it. or went to harbor freight and got a 90 degree drill attachment for $20 and drilled and poked it out. unless u are getting it removed for a similar cost...then yea just let the shop handle it.

 

Sometimes too I think that people misread torque specifications or don't use common sense when tightening coil mounting bolts. These are to be torqued to somewhere near 72 IN/LB or 84 IN/LB (6 to 7 FT/LB) on our Fits. If they are thinking 72 to 84 FT/LB, they'll snap 'em off in an instant.

 

I agree. This is why I don't use a torque wrench except in selective cases. If you rely on the wrench to do your thinking for you, one day you'll set it wrong and do exactly that .. Snap a bolt

 

I love my torque wrench and would never skip a chance to use it, but to each their own.

So they did indeed manage to extract the bolt and popped a new one in. I drove 4 miles, all seemed well. I ate some lunch and restarted the car. It was shaky. Drove it a mile and it seemed to be stuttering. Stopped at a park to see my SO and he listened to it and agreed that there was an issue. I decided to drive straight home, but over the course of the next mile, it grew worse and worse, not wanting to go over 20 mph. The engine light started to flash. I stopped at a stop sign, then it barely wanted to move forward at all. I pulled over and got it towed home.

I have a P0301 code, cylinder 1 misfiring. What could have happened at the shop? Everything was fine until I took it in! It was coil #3 that had the issue, not #1.

I will replace the plugs and coils when it cools off and see how that goes.

Any ideas?

 

My immediate thoughts are that the spark plug is loose on cyl #1.

I know that I've gotten some push-back on this forum put after getting loose spark plugs, even new plugs, all properly torqued, I resorted to a dab of blue threadlocker paste (Permatex stuff) on each plug. I've run it ('11 Sport AT) that way for the last 30,000 miles without any more problems like that.

 

For people in the future

This happened to me. The shaft of the bolt was sticking out of the head. Got something like this which can extract it...https://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/m...-0581207p.html

 

I have now removed all the coils and taken out all the spark plugs, since my plan was to replace them all anyway. None of the plugs were loose, but they didn't look to be in great shape. I attempted to do a compression test, but the gauge seems to be all wonky. I've sent someone off for a new gauge.

Unfortunately, in my case, the shaft of the bolt was not sticking out of the head at all, hence having to trust a shop. I see now that they did not manage to extract the bold at all and instead drilled and threaded the stuck bolt shaft, replacing the bolt with a thinner one. I'm not happy about this at all! It's barely better than a bracket. I'm pricing out new heads now.

 

Compression test did not go well--low on #1, crazy high on 2, 3, and 4. Time to start a new thread and do a rebuild, thanks for the advice all!

 

Before you start dismantling try a blowby test on that cylinder and rotate the crank to cycle the engine. If it's a valve that's out of spec you should see a rise and fall of blowby. Might get away with just a head job. These motors should be good till at least 500k with normal service.

 

And - was your compression tester definitely well screwed into the sparkplug hole?

 

I was able to pick up a junk motor for $150, so I'm going to swap out the heads.

I had a bad catalytic converter for quite a while, to the point that the car became almost undriveable at an extremely inopportune time. I suspect backed up carbon deposits are the issue, but don't know yet for sure.

The readings were double checked with 2 different gauges, and tested dry and wet, so I suppose they are accurate.

I'm not really looking to "get away" with doing less. I'm excited to take this thing apart finally.

 

i know im going to sound like a jerk, and im totally not trying to be...but if you had trouble with the coil bolt, should you be attempting this?