Brought our 2015 Honda Fit into the dealership for a valve adjustment
 

The dealership informed me that because a locknut was missing and one was loose on two of the valves and that they would need to replace the whole engine. To which I was not very pleased with. I am not particularly savvy with cars, but I'm not completely clueless.
This suggestion seems pretty extreme and from what I've read, a locknut can go missing within the cylinder head and retrieved. So I'm hoping that is correct. The car runs, it goes into limp mode when it's started but after warming up it drives relatively normally, outside of some erratic idling, hence needing the valve adjustment. I'm taking the car to a local mechanic on Tuesday, but my main question is, am I off base, and does the engine really need to be replaced? Or I am correct that this issue can be resolved by taking it to another mechanic. I scoured the forums trying to find a thread that could possibly give me some answers, but couldn't find anything. Any knowledge or help would be greatly appreciated.

The obvious question is would this engine replacement be done under warranty or is it at your expense?

Unfortunately engine replacement is not under warranty, it would be at my expense.

. I’m not a mechanic, but an engine replacement does indeed seem rather extreme... I don’t trust dealers any more or less than other mechanics, but they’re sure pricier... definitely get a second opinion!!!

Same here, luckily the town I'm in is just small enough that independent mechanics try to keep up a good reputation. So there are few of them I trust more than the Honda dealership. Hopefully the second opinion will be better news!

I'm not convinced that erratic idling will be fixed by a valve adjustment. When valves go out of spec on these small engines, engine doesn't breathe as well, and doesn't have as much power, but shouldn't have idle problems.

Good luck on your second opinion. I'm certainly not convinced you're anywhere near engine replacement. Dealer replacement, yes.

Thank you for the info! And definitely thanks for the luck, I'll take as much of it as I can.

I can't offer any recommendations, but I sure like to know how a lock nut goes missing when everything is sealed under the valve cover. Sherlock Holmes, can you give me a hint?.

That definitely ran through my head when they told me what the "issue" was.

How many miles on the engine?

It's got 101,000 or so miles on it.

It goes missing by falling down the large cavity on the timing chain side. There are holes large enough tor the nut to pass through.

In short, the dealer is recommending a new engine because they can not determine where that lock nut will find a resting place or if it will. It could wedge itself in the timing chain/gear and lock up the motor.

A regular mechanic could disassemble the motor until they find the nut, but dealerships just don't do real motor work anymore. They are just parts changers and so they are recommending a whole new motor.

Your basic options are 1. do the valve adjustment and ignore the missing nut and hope for the best. 2. have someone take apart the motor until they find the nut, re-assemble, and do valve adjustment. 3. put in a new motor

Ah, I see. Thank you so much for the information! I guess we'll see what my mechanic recommends and we'll go from there. I will keep this knowledge in mind when they let me know how they're going to proceed.

It's shaping up to be carbon build up in the intake valves and clogged fuel injectors. There's more to the equation, so my mechanic will let me know on Monday. I appreciate all the replies and all the help!

That is very common! Good luck!

My thought is was the nut missing when the cover was first removed??

I worked in the auto repair business as a tool and support and salesperson.

All most employees had some sort of financial commission on all tickets??

With my 200 plus mechanics, I witnessed a 90% complete dishonesty at all levels.

The only exception was a dealership that was owned by a very close personal friend of mine. I worked in his racing division so we were together for the whole race season. When I viewed this dishonesty at his dealership he asked me who is involved and then he would fire all involved. A spy I was. It was the only way.

Rick

that's why i hate the idea of leaving my car with a dealership , been avoiding bringing my fit down to get the fuel pump recall taken care of.
i'm tempted to give them some story so they just give me the new pump , i can install it myself . it shouldn't matter to them . they just have you sign
the paper , the recall is covered . i remember doing that years ago with the igniter on my '90 civic . i brought the failed part to the dealer to match
it up and it turned out to be a recall item . they handed me a new one and had me sign the paper , done .was a $90 part . that said , a missing lock nut ?
that can't be good ,good chance it should still be sitting up in the head somewhere , if not , i guess you could look under the timing chain cover or in the oil pan , and then there's the potential of a damaged valve . , at the least , there's alot of labor on this one . good luck

Fun fact, the mechanic that looked at my car after the dealership assessment, said that all the lock nuts were on the valves when he opened up the valve cover. I'm thinking that might have been a little snub at me from the dealership, but I digress. It's unfortunate to hear that auto repair business has this kind of dishonesty. Honestly, I can deal with it to a degree, I see it as "mark up" for their experience. However, I don't have patience for it if they're not actually solving the problem and just making it worse. The mechanic I took it to, replaced the injectors, and gave me a 3 year warranty on the work and seemed fairly honest. Also, the car is running great.

Good for you! So much for the missing locknut, it was there all the time. Who knew...