Thecrappy part about this whole thing is the fact it is an on going issue. Honda knows about it but continues to deny responsibilty for a faulty product. Just how many return buyers are they going to lose if this is to be their policy on all reliability issues.

 

I think being out of warranty absolves them of financial responsibility. If it fails and is in warranty, they cover it. If it's out of warranty it's up to the service manager and NA Honda to goodwill the repair. "Goodwill" is their term for it, so yes, Honda is conscious of ill-will generated by any product failure.

Has yours failed? Was it out of warranty? Did you ask Honda to consider paying for it? What was their response?

No, I'm not a paid shill, but I think it's the owner's responsibility to repair cars out of warranty. I just coughed up $275 for a different A/C repair and was glad to get it working; it's still cheaper than if I'd purchased the extended warranty.

 

Tell them you know there is a technical service bulletin out on this problem when you tak it in. I was at 60,000 miles when ours failed. I paid $100 of the $300 or so that the repair would have cost.

It cost me nothing to ask. I think I would have had a hard time getting more taken off the bill. The most inconvenient part was having to leave the car. No one out in our neck of the woods stocks any Fit parts.

 

I replaced the resister the other day. I pulled the old one apart to see why it broke. A soldered connection inside popped apart. I think it's supposed to when too much heat or current is present. There are also three resistors inside. I think 3rd speed uses 1 , 2nd uses 2 and 1st speed uses all three resistors to slow down the speed of the blower motor. The unit seems to be mounted in the air duct, so it is cooled by the blower motor air flow. 1st speed produces the most heat (because the current has to go through 3 resisters before it turns the fan motor). 1st speed also produces the lowest air flow. I think the heat build up is the greatest in 1st speed making the resistor assembly open (only blows on high speed). I think I can prolong the life of the resistor and purchasing a new blower motor if I avoid using the 1st fan speed. This experiment is only 1 week old, so this may all be bull.

 

Good luck with your experiment. Let us know how it turns out. When ours went, I believe it was a problem with the blower motor that took out both the motor and resistor. There was so much smoke I didn't investigate; I just turned the blower switch off.

Cheers.

 

The resistor elements would be added in series as you suspect (or at least that's the usual way these things are wired up). However, it doesn't necessarily mean that speed 1 generates the most heat because the current through the system is not constant for all the speeds. If the equivalent resistance of the motor were constant over all speeds (which almost certainly isn't the case), the maximum power dissipation would occur when the resistance of the resistor pack is equal to the equivalent resistance of the motor, if I recall my circuits class correctly.

What setting would be the hottest does, as you note, also depend upon the airflow; and there are temperature variations across the parts of the resistor pack, as well. I guess what I'm suggesting overall is that it's not at all simple to predict what speed setting would be the hottest for the fusible link.

Another thread suggested that the reason the motor fails (drawing excessive current) is because the bearings wear out prematurely; if that's indeed the underlying issue, using lower speeds should prolong the life of the motor before it wears out. That's probably not applicable to your unit since the resistor has already needed refurbishment; the bearings are presumably already rather worn, assuming that's the failure mode.

At any rate, it will be interesting to see how your experiment progresses.

 

Nice job on getting the investigation started.

That one resistor would be the hottest when it is the only one conducting current.

Is it possible that is a circuit protector that is made to come apart not a resistor?

 

I originally thought that if I did not use 1st speed on my fan motor I would get more life from the blower motor. But, today I lost 1st, 2nd, + 3rd speed on my week old resistor and the blower motor is making noise in 4th. So, I just ordered a new fan motor and resistor. The dealer originally replaced it at 20K . I now have 43K on my 09. It's going to cost me $200+, But I think it's better than jumping through their hoops. It also looks alot easier than the valve adjustment I'm going to attempt before winter comes around.

 

yikes, i thought the TBS was to replace the resistor and the blower motor with the corrected amperage? my 09 gave out like 2yrs ago with that problem, fixed under warrantee.

would suck if i have to do that at my expense on my 09....

 

There really aren't any hoops to jump through. I paid $100 of the $300 the job cost and Honda paid the rest. They know they have a problem on these 2009s, and help with no hassle. If the dealers doesn't know about the TSB (and the rural dealers around here don't sell many Fits) call it to their attention and ask for some extended warranty coverage. No problem in our case with about 60k miles on our '09.

I read a lot of experimentation and theories that people are trying. For less time, money, and energy you can go to the dealer and get it fixed for good.

Cheers.

 

let's just hope that fix under warranty is permanent.

 

Well, my fan died some 2 years ago (near end of my road trip in 2011). Had it replaced at about 33k miles on the odo (yay for warranty).

I now have 65k miles on it. The problem hasn't come back.

 

That's good to know. Guess they redesigned the blower motor for later models.

 

Anyone know if there's a less expensive alternative to purchasing the 2 parts from the Honda dealer, like aftermarket or OEM Honda but not the dealer?

 

Best alternative is find the parts in a junkyard. They sell them dirt cheap if you can find them.

 

My bill for the above was $108 after the 65%/35% parts and labor split with Honda (and a .25 hour "disposal fee." I looked for junkyard parts but realized that these parts were going to have the same problem.

The bill only erred in that it said that the blower worked on high speed only. Both the blower and resistor were crispy critters.

You can see the reference to the service bulletin on the bill.

Cheers.

 

My dealer wanted to charge me $475 for the 2 parts and labor. I got them down to $400, then I decided to just buy the parts and install it myself. I had them match the parts price from another Honda dealer, but as you can see, even $270 gives them a healthy profit.

I had a few days of the blower not working on 1 and noise on 2,3 and 4. But now, it's been several days of it reverting back to good again. I don't know if I should just replace the parts any way.

 

I had the same experience with fan speeds before the car filled with smoke.

My dealer's service manager said he did not know about the service bulletin until I called it to his attention (that's what they always say when I call them). I told him I thought Honda should stand for the replacement. A day after I dropped it off he called with the 65/35 deal. There was no problem for me at all. If you dig back into the deep, dark history of Fitfreak you will see that we got our cars about the same time. Why should Honda treat you differently than they treat me?

Honda knows they have a problem with the blower motor. None of it is a mystery. If your dealer is not being cooperative with you, ask him to call Joe Honda, or whoever they contact for service problems like this.

If you PM me I will scan all of my paperwork and email it to you. There is no reason that Honda should do for one and not for another. All I did was ask. There was no drama at all.

Why buy junkyard parts (if you can find them) when you can get new ones? I had the same idea until I talked to the dealer.

Best wishes on this problem.

 

The blower on our 2009 started to drag, and of course took out the resistor. In dealing with Honda and two different dealerships, both dealerships wanted to charge me almost $100 to determine the problem, and Honda needed one of the dealerships to render an opinion as to what was wrong. Only then would Honda give me "an estimate" of what they would (more like might) pay. In short it just wasn't worth my time to gamble as to what might be covered...so I paid $200 and had a new blower and resistor sent to the house...and changed out the parts in 5 minutes. Needless to say, I'm disappointed in both Honda and my local dealerships.

 

The main reason to get junkyard parts is because on a car like the fit that's only been around for a few years, most parts will be in really good shape and work just fine. Not to mention that you'll likely pay 1/10th of the dealership price...