I had to laugh at this, of course the dealer/service manager(irrespective of perceived honesty) is going to say this..it’s a CYA situation and I’m sure American Honda appreciates any excuse to deny a warranty claim…

 

Oil changes have nothing to do with a bad parts design from the factory. We bought our car new from from Honda. We change our oil before or on time. Our car is only serviced at Honda. And within 100,000 miles we have had to replace the VTC twice now. The first time it was covered by Honda under warranty. The second time we had to pay half. Honda still covered part of the bill for understanding that they had a bad parts deign. And our dealer wanted to keep us a regular customer because we have a long history of going through them for cars and parts.

And from my understanding of dealing with this situation it will probably happen again while we own this car during it's overall lifetime. One of the bad quirks of owning a 3rd gen Fit.

 

OK.

Point taken.

Why is my 2015 EX stick not having this problem?

Luck?

The way I drive?

Timely Maintenance?

 

I've been having VTC rattle since I purchased my 2015 Honda Fit brand new. It only occurred occasionally during the winter but now it occurs after sitting a few hours. Brought it to a local garage and told them the VTC Actuator needs to replaced and that it's a known issue with my vehicle. They disagreed with me and replaced the timing chain tensioner instead. $410.00 and a day later the rattle is louder and more consistent.

Dealer quoted me $2,200 to replace the VTC Actuator but they said they would also replace the timing chain. I read on crvownersclub.com people have had luck with just replacing the spring inside the actuator. Spring-start.com sells repair kits. I'm considering hiring a local mechanic to install the spring. It looks like you don't have to take the timing chain off but still a lot of work to get to it.

The vehicle has 84,000 miles and I don't usually travel more than 10 miles a day. I still like the vehicle but not sure how much I want to spend on fixing it or look for another.

 

Wow. I never knew that this place existed and that the VTC rattle could be solved with just a replacement spring. I don't have a VTC problem but I've bookmarked this for future reference just in case....

 

Here's a link to a Youtube video. They send out two springs. One is oem stiffness and the other adds 10% for improvement. I haven't tried this yet but I'll try to remember to post if I find someone to do the work and depending on what they charge.

 

While you are at it, mind as well do a valve adjustment too since everything is out already and the valves are right there.

 

In 2021 I had my ATC changed at the Honda Dealer. It was $1235.00--billed to the extended warranty company. Attached is the detail. They also found a cracked chain guide and replaced that too. Maybe check YELP for great reviews on a local Honda repair shops near you and take this detail and service bulletin number to them and see if they can get the job done in the 1K range? Two years ago someone else here got the FIT ATC job done at an independent Honda repair shop in Southern California for $900 they told me.