Hi all,

After 3 years of ownership, my 2009 Fit Sport seems to have a grinding noise under light acceleration. I hear it all the time now. It sounds like missing a gear in a manual transmission but my car is automatic.

I hear it mostly when accelerating when the car shifts into 3rd gear.

You can hear it in this video taken by someone else with the same issue:

Does any one else have this issue and has anyone found out what it is and if it's something that needs to be looked at?

thanks,
\\scott\\

 

Hmmm. Am I the only owner with this issue aside from the two others who responded to the YouTube vid?

 

Yep.......,...,.....

 

how many miles on it? if anything change out the fluid every 25k....

 

I just hit 25K miles on it. Checked the trans fluid and it looked OK but probably should get it changed.

Will be interesting to see if changing it makes a difference.

 

I have a 2009 that had it happen occasionally, but now it happens every day and the video is exactly what happens with mine. I now have 60K miles on it so the warranty is gone. It was gone a long time ago though with the really short warranty that Honda offers compared to some other manufacturers. Any solutions to the problem?

 

I hear it every day as well. Does anyone know if getting this fixed is covered under warranty? I just hit 25K but not sure if the drive train warranty is covered... but then again, maybe my warranty expired already? Bought the care in Dec 2008.

 

Mine is also a 2009 and the grinding noise started around 15k miles. The dealer told me that the Fit doesn't have that much sound insulation in the engine bay and that it's normal for the transmission to sound like that, especially if it's cold. Though I remain skeptical of his response, at 85K miles and a transmission fluid change at 50K, I don't see any problems.

 

Thanks for the feedback! Yes, it sure doesn't sound right, but if you've got 85K miles on your Fit and it's still fine, I suppose there isn't anything to worry about? I do hear that sound even if it's not cold though...

 

Mine does this every winter right from the time i bought it. It does it only when it is cold outside and is fine after full warmup and during summer.

 

you're not alone... (try changing transmission fluid to DW-1, the newer Honda stuff).

And is it coincidence that capecodinsomniac posted his own vid in a thread here? I think it's fate.

 

No solution but may want to take it to Honda. It will then be documented should a serious problem develop down the road beyond the power train warranty.

 

I had the same thing happen occasionally around 25 or 30 mph, someone else (Steve?) suggested I change the transmission fluid. I drained and refilled 3 quarts with the newer fluid and the problem seems to have gone away.

 

We have a 2009 Honda Fit Sport with 56,000 miles. Same exact sound from the transmission as it moves through 3rd gear around 30mph. Brief grinding sound. It does not happen all the time.We have an appointment with the dealer next week and hope that they can replicate the sound. If I bring it to their attention but they can not hear the grinding sound will they still fix it when the warranty expires after Nov. 1, that in one month.
Any help?

 

If it's part grinding, part CH sound (like in chutzpah) then changing fluid should help, and it'd be cheaper/easier for the dealer to do that than to put up with repeated visits/complaints if they don't fix the problem.


Not that all dealers are logical...

 

We have a 2009 Honda Fit Sport with 56,000 miles. Same exact sound from the transmission as it moves through 3rd gear around 30mph. Brief grinding sound. It does not happen all the time.We have an appointment with the dealer next week and hope that they can replicate the sound. If I bring it to their attention but they can not hear the grinding sound will they still fix it when the warranty expires after Nov. 1, that in one month.
Any help?

 

As Brain says: take it in, get it documented. Pay for a drain fill. If it fails (unlikely, this is a common noise) you'll have a case to make with Honda US Customer Care even if it's out of warranty.

Relax though; there are lots of anecdotal accounts of this noise and no transmission failure reports here. None. We've had a few report spark plugs getting ejected, and more than one cooling fan take off through the radiator destroying the engine by overheating.

I suffered this noise (it's not really grinding, it's more of a farting noise as fluid transfers from an area of high pressure to lower pressure) around 30K and a drain/fill to the newer spec Honda DW1 fluid made it go away. 75K now and it hasn't recurred. I do obsessively perform drain fills every 30K though.

 

Thanks Brian and Steve.
It would be great if the noise happened consistently. I will just have to hope that when I take it in to the dealership next Thursday they will be able to recreate the grinding sound. Then I can get good documentation from them that it is real even if they can not diagnose it.
I will ask for new transmission fluid as well.
I will post back in a week to say how things go.

 

How did things go? My car has the same issue.

 

Hi, We took our 2009 Fit to the dealer. They were not able to replicate the sound. Had the Transmission Fluid changed. The transmission sounds quieter and smoother than before. I have not heard the grinding sound since. My wife has heard it only once since. We have decided that getting it documented before the warranty expired and having the transmission fluid changed is all we can do at the moment. As someone else posted, though others have same problem, no one has talked about it destroying the transmission or causing the car to perform badly, yet. I am not going to worry about it until it starts happening regularly and can be replicated for the mechanic or is causing some difficulty with the car. Good luck.