We have a 2016 Fit (Dec. 2015 manufacture) with the original battery. We went out this morning to a completely dead battery. We noticed the central dome light was glowing very weakly and had maybe been knocked into the "on" position two days ago when we last used the car. I have it connected to a battery charger right now.

One thing that was odd was although the battery was weak enough that the dome light was very faint and not even the tiny, flashing red light on the dash was blinking the way it always does, the doors unlocked when I used the fob. Do the door locks really require less power than a tiny red light that blinks about every 10 seconds on the dash?

However, this is now a 7.5 year old battery. I know with other cars I have owned the batteries tended to fail the day the battery warranty ended which was usually 5 years or so. Is there anything about the Honda battery I don't know that means I should just recharge it and leave it in, or should I be thinking about replacing it as a standard maintenance thing? If so, any recommendations? I recall reading a year or so back about a new battery technology that is a bit more expensive but may be worth it, but I can't remember the details.

 

MY 2016, around 55k miles, started right up when I was in Vermont last winter and it was literally zero degrees. I live near NYC and my car is always parked outside.

My question to you would be- how long do you plan to keep the car? If you figure to keep it another five to seven years, why not replace the battery now instead of waiting for it to die?

FYI I keep a jump-starter battery in my hatch. It can be charged via USB port. It was maybe sixty dollars, which I know is half the price of a new battery. But it's nice for peace-of-mind and of course can be used to start someone else's car without having to put two cars together and use jumper cables.

 

Charge the battery up and then see if one of the local auto stores will do a free load test on it to determine where it is in its lifetime. I bought my own basic load tester from Amazon. Probably not worth the effort though. At over 7 years just replace it.

Forget about new battery technology ($$$$) nonsense. You got seven years from this battery and you'll probably get seven from a regular new battery. What more do you want?

You might consider upgrading from the original 151R OEM battery size to the larger 51R battery which has 50% greater storage capacity. It's a bit of a tight fit and some minor modifications might be needed but the cost is almost the same and it may be worth it. Various threads on this in Fitfreak if you do a search.

 

i have a 2015 and just upgraded to bigger battery swap from original,very easy. personally i replace battery every 8 years.... WOOF you are right on with your advice,i couldn't agree more!

 

I connected the battery to a 6A charger for about 8 hours (dropped from 8A to about 2A on the meter), then got my fancier, automated charger working again (rusty clips) and connected at 2A it for another 3 hours. It was alternating between the "charging" and "charged" lights every 10 seconds of so, so I disconnected it. The red light on the dash is back to flashing every few seconds and when I opened the car door in the dark garage the lights around the edge of the speedometer glowed, so that's a good sign. If I can do this tomorrow I'll try starting the car, then drive it around for a few minutes, then park it in the garage again and then try starting it a few minutes later. In other words, I want to know if I take it somewhere there's a good chance it will start at the place we take it and not have to call AAA for a jump. to get home again.

Early next week I'll see if I can get our car place to do a couple of maintenance things in one go, and I'll ask them about installing a higher capacity battery. However, this was somewhat unusual with leaving a dome light on (I thought it would turn off after a certain time to prevent this?) and not going out to the car until 60 hours later. Even though where we live gets in the negative °F temperatures in winter we haven't had a battery issue so far, even with our 7.5 year old battery. Still, I have been thinking it would soon be due for a new one so it is nice hearing from everybody that this is about normal.

 

Dome light should have gone off after a period of time.

 

Yeah, that's what I thought, but my wife said she remembered turning it on on Wednesday evening when she got home to search for something in the back. When I went out Saturday morning because she said the car wouldn't start, we noticed the dome light above the passenger area was glowing, but very weakly. Maybe there's some override position?

Are there LED replacements one can get for these? I would think it might be tricky because don't LED use a different voltage? I know in home circuits they do which is why they have a small transformer built into them.

 

The dome light is a standard 12 volt bulb. It can be replaced with a 12 volt LED. Finding one bright enough and able to physically fit the socket is the hard part. I replaced my trunk and interior lights with LEDs a few years ago but I don't remember which ones. I think the subject of interior LEDs has come up on Fitfreak, Do a search.

The trunk light automatically turns off after a certain length of time but I'm not sure about the dome light - I'm somewhat doubtful.

 

I should check the manual when I find it, but from looking at the dome light today it has an always-off position, and then a position that seems to be always-on, and another that automatically shut off the light after a few minutes.

I was under the impression that the trunk light was always-on. At least when we have spent 5+ minutes unloading a large load of things and had the trunk open, the light was always on. I addressed that by buying an after-market version that had a switch on it. Not cheap but if we go camping and leave the trunk open for an hour I didn't want it wasting the battery.

Note to self: Do the battery yourself next time. I had my local shop do it for me and they charged $65 labor! I haven't done a Honda battery but the thing is right there in front of you when you open the lid. I have changed it on my 42 year old Corolla and you unscrew the clamp nuts (2 minutes), loosen the battery nuts (1 minute for both), lift out the old, lift in the new, and then do the nuts again. Takes 8 minutes tops. The Honda one looks even easier since you don't even have to bend over. There was that, and despite my asking for a larger battery, they made a note about it on my work order and then put in the 151 anyway. I bet they didn't even try. I have an oversize one in my Corolla and I just had to bend the clamp a bit to make it fit. Not rocket science.

 

The trunk light on my 2018 is auto off but it's a lot more than 5 minutes. 20 minutes??? I dunno since I don't have the patience to stand there and watch it.

 

i think your wife put the domelite on and didnt turn it off or put in door position......but i think you did good by replacing battery..and your right, you should have replaced it yourself, and ill bet your also right,,,,they didnt even try!!!

 

When I got my Fit in 2020, it had a recently replaced battery from honda.

After the first year, I started annually removing it to put on a trickle charger while I do other maintenace (oil changes/mods etc).
I'm always surprised at how long it take to get fully charged, despite never giving us any problems while using it the rest of the year.
I'd like to think this practice helps the battery last a few extra years (seems to be working for the BMW, as it's battery is approaching 7-8 years of age with no signs of failure).

 

Thanks for all the input everybody!

 

I just replaced the battery in my 2018 EX this week. Had an unexpected failure to start - it started fine, no issues when I left the house, drove about 20 miles to destination. When I got back in the car it was dead, only 10 minutes after I parked. I am fastidious about maintaining batteries as well, and if there is any hint of slow crank or battery drain I use my Schauer charger/maintainer to bring them back up to full.
I cut the battery tray to allow for a larger length 51R, and installed an AGM battery from the local store. It was only ~$45 more than the 151R flooded battery from the same store, so it was a no-brainer to have more reserve capacity and CCA and AGM vs flooded.

 

weird....ive started carry in a jump pack but thats odd it went form100 to zero very odd

 

2016 is made in Japan, with that it comes with the battery tray that a 51R battery would fit without modification if I remember correctly.

My 2015 Ex had the battery replaced after 4 yrs with a 51R battery from Costco and now it has been 4.5 yrs since. And since the battery was 4 yrs old, I started carrying a battery jumper in my car, just in case the battery craps out.

 

I think this is what all Fit owners will have to do till Honda reliazes their error in putting such a small battery or a class action suit..

 

Why is everybody so upset about the tiny battery? It seems to get the job done and for most people lasts well more than five years. I mean, you can't use it to jump-start a real car, but it works for the Fit.

I don't know if it was on this thread but I posted a couple of months ago that My 2016 Fit, 50k+ miles, started in zero (F) degrees without any problems. Literally zero degrees. It wasn't until I was driving for a while that I even realized that it was something noteworthy. I just pushed the button and the car started.

 

Well, here is a post I came across and notice what the dealer said....

"My 2019 honda fit is 6 months old. went on 2 week vacation and battery is
dead.

service says if i leave this car in driveway for one week and it's not driven this
is what happens. is this really normal??????"

and more...

"I own Honda Fit 2019, 8500 miles odometer, initial battery died 4000 miles, replaced and same dead battery problem at 8000 miles, installed 3rd new battery this week. I'm beginning to think I have a lemon on my hands. Dealer replaced batteries under warranty; however, they decline to investigate for causal issues and assume it is the battery itself that is the problem."

and so on and on...

"2015 HONDA FIT OWNER COMMENTS

Fit EX-L 1.5L

• Automatic transmission
• 2,556 mile

Not able to start the car happened four times. Each time I had to have it jump started by a tow agency and had an inconvenience and a loss of time for approximately one hour each time. The last time was after a trip of 8o miles and had to wait for the tow truck for one hour in 112 degree heat. Drove back home 80 miles and the car would not start the next day.

Took the car to Honda Santa Barbara - they claim there is nothing wrong with the electrical system other than the battery not being charged. Also stated the Fit battery is very small and needs to be charged frequently. This is of course, after I had informed them the car would not start after the 80 mile trips. I am not an electrical engineer, but I feel that the battery should certainly have sufficiently charged after an 80 mile trip. I have had many short trips around town and the car has started except for two times.

I believe the Honda people are trying to just get rid of me rather than doing a detailed investigation of this problem. I asked if a larger battery could be installed, just going along with their theory which I didn't believe, and I was informed the space for the battery was inadequate for a large battery and it would be dangerous to put a large battery there without proper anchoring. Also advised a trickle charger when the vehicle was not in use. It was obvious to me I would be wasting more time trying to get Honda to fix my problem and left.

 

Service person is a frigging liar. I've taken two month-long trips and let me car sit and each time it started right up. Also several two and three week trips letting the car sit.
Outside, since I don't have a garage.

If your battery is dying then something's wrong. An electrical problem. Something after-market draining the battery. Or a light left on.