This is nuts. 15 or 20 of these cases in the US and Canada have been reported just here on this forum over the years.

I am wondering how many of them are really failing throughout the entire Honda Fit inventory. I'm also wondering if Honda ever looked into the problem, or are they just sweeping it under the rug.

Acknowledging it as a problem might impact sales.

 

I definitely would have taken it to Honda to see what they say. As previously posted in here, this happened to my '13 and Honda covered it with absolutely no hassle and a replacement head. Glad you got it fixed though.

 

Unmodified, untampered 2011 Fit 5MT and blown #2 plug at just above 60K miles I'm gonna heli coil it this weekend and will post pics.

 

Sorry to hear and good luck with the fix. I checked my (used, 2013 Sport) plugs a few weekends ago at 60K Miles and all was well. All were previously torqued to a number somewhere in excess of 20 LB/FT. Previous owner may have checked at some point.

 

Everybody with the problem NEEDS to report it on the NTSA web page.. or nothing will happen.

 

hmm I tried posting yesterday but it didn't go thru...

So I heli coiled the #2 hole and the car drives very smoothly. I was able to drive 400 miles in one stint to get back home, granted I didn't floor it or go over four thousand rpm. I'll replace the engine oil and then give it a good run through the rpm range and then double check positioning of the spark plugs.

The heli coil repair itself was fairly straight forward if given the right tools. I recommend an endoscope/boroscope to verify the valves are cleared out of the way. Also I took some 1/2"x1" washers to place in the spark plug hole and slid the 3/8" extension through so it was centered as I tapped the threads. I also used the original spark plug in #1 to insert the sleeve with RTV, so from the pic you can seem some RTV on the spark plug #1. Just leave the insert w/ spark plug in the head finger tight for 15-30 minutes then take out the spark plug. Afterwards, hammering the insert was a pain b/c there's not much room back there. After a couple hours of setting the RTV you can install a new spark plug and torque it down.

The heli coil I used was the Stanley sleeved version, Helicoil 5334-14 Save-A-Thread Thread Repair Kit M14 x 1.25 and used red Permatex RTV. I know the RTV says don't use on head gaskets or in contact with gasoline, but that's what Stanley recommended.

I placed a report on NHTSA and also contacted Honda USA. Honda suggested I pay a dealership for an inspection fee and then call back Honda USA during the week with their findings. There was no guarantee of Honda providing a good-will repair, and because Honda handles these on a case by case basis there is no estimate of how much money they will cover. The Honda spokesperson did not know of any other known cases of the spark plugs blowing out. Well I didn't have the time to play games since I was far from home so that's why I went with the heli coil.

And as a detailed FYI, the morning of the incident I noticed a rougher idle and drove about another 50 miles, then stopped for an hour, then drove 15 miles, stopped for 10 minutes, then as I was accelerating on a green light the power stalled and the CEL was flashing (hence a safety hazard and reported to NHTSA). I idled to side of road, turned off engine for less than a minute then turned it back on and no CEL so I drove to friend's house 5 miles away. I noticed if I put more than halfway power there would be a metallic sound, kind of like gravel kicking up in the wheel well. I noticed a gas smell during that drive to friend's house, and thought maybe I have bad gas that isn't combusting and going thru the exhaust. Thinking it might have been bad gas/ hot weather during the day, I did a 5 mile drive that cool night to go to Autozone to get an OBDII scanner and on the way back that's when I heard the exhaust leak sound a.k.a. blown plug and really rough idle. So moral of the story is that if you notice a rough idle, misfire, flashing CEL then try not to drive too far. Had I stopped the car during the power cutoff at the intersection, then maybe I'd have some threads leftover to tighten the plug down.

 

This is very helpful, drkazknight. Thank you.

 

Yes, great work drkazknght and some clever solutions to a tough fix. You probably made the right move not messing around with Honda USA.

 

Oh hey, my car ejected a plug a month or so back. Honda of America covered all but $100 of the repair, the dealership fought for me...which is impressive considering I'd never done any business there before and the car is 18k+ outside of powertrain warranty.

 

That IS impressive Mike. I often can't even get straightforward warranty work covered on our various vehicles. :-(

 

Its been about 700 miles later with a few 0-70 runs and the spark plug hasn't budged yet. I was able to take the #2 coil off without having to take the windshield cowl off. I just used a short 3/8" extension and a 10mm socket to take the coil bolt off. Then one can use their phone or borescope to look at the position of the spark plug. I had some leftover RTV along the walls to help me determine the rotation of the spark plug.

Side note I was looking at new cars like the VW alltrack and Mini Countryman, I have to say the Fit has better steering and much better packaging than the other two. Part of this large space in a small car may be attributed to the engine being mounted in a "reverse" transverse configuration. So I'm not too grumped at Honda for making spark plugs a pain because I get the enjoyment of all that interior space. Now if only Honda could fix their F1 engines.

 

I've found being knowledgeable about cars has made situations like this, much, much easier.

 

If you have to go down the path of a spark plug hole repair, if you use a helicoill, there is a product for locktite thats called high temp locker, its a weird green color, It takes about 5 hours to cure minimum, but once cured only a drill or torch will remove it.. Its the recommended product for thread inserts in heads.

There is also a special insert JUST for spark plugs that has a flange on the top side and goes in with a special tool. Its a aircraft bit that seals very well, its best installed with the head off..

 

At 26,000 miles (2011 Sport), my #2 & #3 came loose (#2 first and dealer fix and 2 days later #2 & #3 were bad). Dealer's solution was to charge for a diagnostic, charge for a coil pack (#2 only), charge for labor, and never addressing the loose spark plugs that were again creating misfires within 2 days.

I used the blue Permatex directly on the spark plug threads and I now have 63,000 miles and have had any issues nearly 40,000 miles.

 

Take it to Honda, they put up no fight about replacing my cylinder head and supplying me with a rental.

 

Really good friend called me last weekend with a dead 2009 Honda Fit on the side of the road waiting for a tow truck.

He described the sounds and what happened and I told him that I think it ejected a plug. He had it towed home and I went over to help. Yup! #3 ejected through the coil and #2 was loose and would have been next.

Thankfully, a new plug threaded in fine. Just needed new plugs and a new coil.

In the cars defense, it has 120,000 or so miles and the plugs had never been changed.

Our Fit has plug #3 loose at every plug change, but I do them every 50,000 miles just to be safe.

If you have high miles and haven't followed the recommended service intervals, you may have problems.

 

My son's car is unmodifed and the plugs never touched until we got a trouble code. Here is my thread...and yeah, it was plug number three that was halfway out.
https://www.fitfreak.net/forums/2nd-...ut-almost.html

 

Adding to this. 2011 Fit. 96,500 miles. I had been noticing a rougher idle of the past few weeks, raw gas smile during start up the last few days and then a P0302 (misfire on #2) today. Bought plugs on the way home because I knew there were common symptoms of plugs backing out. Sure enough, #2 and #4 were 3 turns loose. #3 only took half a turn to loosen up. I should have probably checked these long ago, but this was the first time the coils had ever been off the car.

I am disappointed. The seat bolts were loose when I got the car as well, and this is the third "major" problem I have had with the car and it isn't even at 100k yet.

Good news is, the engine internals look perfect! (Had my borescope handy, figured I would take a peek if I was in there already).

 

Sorry, was there ever a consensus on what the proper spark plug torque is? I read it's anywhere between 15ft/lbs to 20ft/lbs. My E36 BMW M3 says to torque them to 18ft/lbs. Is there an official answer for the Honda Fit? Thanks.

 

13 lb/ft is straight out of the factory service manual.

Up to you if you want to try tighter to possibly avoid it backing out.