Just did the valves and the car ticks noticeably more than before. Should I be concerned? Drives fine.

 

Its a solid tappet valve system, so its always going to have some chatter. Also, I am finishing up on a head gasket on mine and there is a lock piston in each rocker pair for the vtec that looks like it would cause a small amount of noise as well.

 

Right on thanks for the info!

 

Just adjusted valves 2007 Honda Fit Base Auto, it did not cure idle stutter, car ran a bit smoother but idle stutter was still present. Why does everyone say the valve adjustment will fix the idle stutter?

 

Everyone says it cause its usually true. Have you replaced your coil packs and spark plugs?

 

Thats the thing I assumed my random idle stutter was caused by coil packs however after reading forums I decided the best course of action would be a valve adjustment , did everything by the book except one valve cover bolt snapped, and while the car does run better than it has in a long time the idle stutter was still present, changed out coil pack 2 and bam idle stutter gone. Prior to the valve adjustment I did disassemble and clean all 4 coil packs and change the plugs. There ha to be a way to measure the resistance of the coil packs or something

 

I think someone needs to determine the difference in symptoms from coil pack vs valve adjustment. The performance gains from adjusting valves was not worth the sense of defeat i received when the stutter returned after the adjustment. Mind you the valves were all out of spec the exhaust were too tight and the intake too loose, but four hours of labour just to find out that a ten minute coil change was all it really needed

 

definitely true. but i think DIYing the valve adjustment is probably the cheapest option. then plugs. then coil packs.

 

I'm late to the game here but was wondering if you had a check engine light (CEL). If you did have a CEL, was there a code that indicated that there were misfires? I'm just going off of my experience, which lead me to tighten my spark plugs versus changing the coil packs or adjusting the valves.

Did you have a CEL?

 

Its solid roller tappet system with NO play , its a 60 to 80 thousand mile service item.
The bad valve adjustment can increase heat in the coils due to increase load to ignite the bad mix, the coils are already between the exhaust ports, on the hot side of the head, they will bake out and die eventually anyway. The plugs will last longer but worn plugs increase heat in the coils as well.

Honda's refusal to make it official as a service item is damn near criminal because they keep dragging people through the bad plug/coil/injector game gouge them for a grand or more then adjust the valves and claim victory.. ALL the old civics needed the valves run about every 30K and it was normal back then..

Summary do the trifecta every 2 or three years, and get better mileage and have the car run better and never have it roll over when its least convenient. Its a sub 300 dollar investment ,, a timing belt change (WHich almost all other current hondas require) is 1500 ish.. so we are lucky..

 

I didn't have any codes at first. After regapping the original sparkplugs and cleaning all the coil packs I got a misfire on 2 cylinders. I swapped the coils around but did not get the codes again. The stutter got worse so I replaced all four plugs. The stutter got slightly better but still remained so that's when I decided to do the valve adjustment

 

So basically what you are saying is once the valves go out of spec the chance of coil failure increases . So adjusting the valve clearances especially the exhaust valves at regular intervals could potentially prolong coil life.

 

Yep, Many years ago all bigger mechanic shops had oscilloscopes/engine analyzers for the ignition system and I used them a lot, you could watch voltage and current on the plugs, I drag raced a bug at the time, and when I hooked it up you could clearly see the high tension voltage go down and current go up when the valves were getting out of wack, or the plugs were getting worn (Wider gap = more resistance). I had to do the bug every oil change which was every 3000 miles normally. So be happy with 70K LOL

When I take care of a track car, I typically run the valves every day. New oil every race weekend.

 

That is an interesting "cause & effect" that I haven't heard before: a mechanical valve clearance issue "backfeeds" into the electrical side and cooks the coil. Not sure how to assimilate that.

I'm assuming you looked at the airbox, filter, mass air flow, and other wiring connections.

This is a tough one without a CEL to point you in the right direction. I agree that an oscilloscope could "map" the coil pack function but coil packs are less expensive than an oscilloscope and don't require special training to operate.

What's the latest update on the issue?

 

Yea but I MISS those great big O-scope diag machines from the 70's and 80's.
I could tell exactly what darn combustion cycle was doing..

CEL's are just bread crumbs on the diagnostic yellow brick road..

 

I will be undertaking this! Along with plugs and filters on a 2010. Great write up!

 

I wish the photos still showed up for this DIY! That would be tremendously helpful!

 

see post #30 in this thread for pics.

https://www.fitfreak.net/forums/2nd-...ml#post1326069

 

I completed this yesterday using the excellent step by step instructions. Some were tight but most were loose at 104K

One thing that did stump me for a bit was how to remove the cowl. This is step is over looked in the instructions and is required on the 2nd gen Fit. The wipers and moter have to come out too.

I found this video helpful. It is guy replacing a windshield. But you can see how he removes the cowl parts. Thought I would share it...

 

Great write up and pictures! Valve adjustment is due soon for me, so this will be extremely helpful. Thanks OP!