2015 EX, MANUAL transmission, 47k miles. 2nd owner recently bought. Car appears to be in great shape cosmetically and mechanically and all available records support that. Regularly at the dealer for maintenance during it's first 3 years.

About 3 weeks after purchase, occasionally the car won't start. Still trying to sort out if my daughter has foot on the brake and the clutch completely depressed. In any event, she pushes the start button and everything lights up in the dash just as it should -- but it won't turn over. And after trying a few times, it eventually fires right up as if nothing's wrong.

Would appreciate your insights on how the clutch switch/starting safety systems work and possible problem areas there. Thanks - M.Y.

 

Sounds like the starter is going. We have had many reports of premature failure of the GK starter.

Recommend calling Honda corporate first before you take it to the dealer. We had one case where I recommended taking it to the dealer, and the dealer charged $125 for a diagnostic fee just to tell the owner it was a bad starter.

When out of warranty, sometimes Honda will cover the complete repair, sometimes they don't cover anything, and sometimes they split the cost with you. There seems to be no rhyme or reason to how they respond to each individual situation.

 

Yeah, bargainguy is right, it's probably the starter. Here's the most recent thread on the problem:

https://www.fitfreak.net/forums/3rd-...ont-start.html

 

This is a starter issue. I had mine replaced by the dealer as it is covered under extended warranty.

 

Ok, going to give my two cents worth as I had this issue on my 2015. It finally came to the point that mine would not turn off after getting it started so I drove straight to the dealer since it had extended warranty and they tried to tell me it was the starter and I told them that based on how it had been acting they should check the start button. Well, they did and it was BAD. So they fixed the start problem but burned out my brake switch in the process, which of course they didn't have in stock so they had to replace it with one from the only Fit they had.

 

dropped by to say at 35k miles 2015 fit, started to have rough starts, but the lights were not dim or other issues. Went to the dealer and asked for a load test, and found the battery needed replacing.

Could be as simple as that if you haven't replaced since buying? This is the first car i've had that needed a battery replacement within the first 3 years, and since the battery is so small i think the rest of the system gets a bit finnicky as the battery has less juice.

 

The dealer probably replaced your battery with the specified undersized pukey 151R again instead of the larger 51R. When my battery goes I'll be replacing it with the larger size and I won't be going to the dealer for that .

 

yup... but can't beat warranty $free.99 once this one goes i will upgrade to the 51R

 

Interestingly enough this seems to only happen to push start cars. My 2015 lx 6mt is on its original tiny battery and has never once givin me an issue starting. Ive read a few instances where the dealer would just replace the starter in these EX and EXL cars, and not even bother to check the push start system. I really believe that that's the culprit here, perhaps low battery voltage exacerbates the problem. Mine always cranks quickly with a turn of the key, I'm in the habit of turning the car to "ON" waiting till I hear the fuel pump Prime and then starting it like I've been doing on all my Hondas for the past fifteen twenty years. The push button start would honestly bug me, if it doesnt let you prime the pump first, maybe im just old.

 

If I hold the push start button and pump the clutch slightly I will hear clicking and the care will start after depressing the clutch a few times. Sometimes it starts the first time. There are 2 switches at the clutch peddle. One is released when you push down on the clutch and as you reach the floor another switch is pressed. My issue is with the switch that gets depresses as I don't have to release the clutch enough to press back in the switch that is released. Look into these before you assume you need a starter.

 

^ good post. it is quite common for the clutch (and on some brake pedal on AT) switch to go bad or just get dirty and needs cleaning. ive seen this on other cars.

 

I just wanted to report that I had a very similar problem with my 2016 Fit EX CVT.

At around 34,000 miles, the car occasionally would not start. The start button merely turned on the electrical system, and it normally took 2-3 attempts to start the car. Upon each attempt, the brake pedal would feel more firm, and we would really have to push the pedal hard to get it started.

This seemed to be happening more frequently, so I took the car to our dealer 500 miles before warranty expiration. They tested everything, and the battery was looking good. The first replacement starter left us temporarily stranded one one occasion, and the car wouldn't even turn on. That was disconcerting, but the dealer wasn't able to replicate it. Nevertheless, they did a second starter replacement, also at no cost to us. Everything is now working normally, but I wonder how long this starter will last.

Thanks to Honda of Downtown Los Angeles for redoing the service with no complaints!

 

It ain't necessarily so. There is a small (about the size of my thumb, small hands) that wasn't making the connection just right. The clutch appears to be fully compressed but it isn't. I'd check that first, gotta be cheaper than a starter. The fix was under warranty.

 

I have a 2015 Fit EX manual with around 60,000 miles. Exactly the same problem that has been described above, where all of the lights come on and the engine clicks upon pushing the start button. This began around one year ago. The local Honda dealership first diagnosed a failing starter motor which was then replaced. The problem began recurring a couple of months later. The dealer found that a battery post was spinning freely and so we replaced the battery. A couple of months later and unfortunately we are back to the same problem. So at this point we can rule out the starter motor and battery as causes. Based on the posts above, the clutch switch sounds like it is a possibility. Are there any other possible solutions? Thanks in advance for any pointers.

 

I've always wondered why the pushbutton start models seem to have the starter problem and the key start models don't.

One idea is that the voltage change from off to on in the pushbutton models is slowly burning out the starter with every push. So does key start complete a circuit mechanically and thereby take the strain off the starter, whereas electronic/pushbutton doesn't? Almost like Honda didn't engineer a robust enough circuit to handle the load if the latter. Then it's just poor electronic design.

 

In our case, it isn't the starter - we had that replaced 6 months ago with no change to the problem. Not the battery either. So it must be something else - a switch, solenoid, bad wiring, something like that but really hoping that someone here has come across something that solved it as we are not sure whether to keep throwing money at it or get another car. Suffice it to say, this is definitely our first and last push button start car.

 

Our 2015 GX Fit with 98,000 miles appears to have a bad pushbutton start switch. The dash doesn't light up when you press it, and sometimes doesn't shut the car off when you press it. This problem has been getting steadily worse over the past several weeks. The battery doesn't budge unless the button works, and my tiny little battery only drops to 11v, which is probably reasonable for having a smaller than stock battery. So, I'm going to get a new switch.

 

My 2016 EX Fit's starter went bad but the dealership refused to replace the starter as the warranty had gone up while they were trying to figure out the start problems. I ended up replacing it myself and the car has been cured of its starting problems.

 

If a problem is identified/documented while the car is still under warranty but the exact cause isn't identified/repaired until later when the warranty has expired, Honda will generally still cover the cost of the repair under warranty. The dealership probably doesn't have the authority to approve this so you would probably have to contact Honda corporate if the dealership doesn't want to.

 

I agree and in my experience post-warranty issues get fixed if documented within the warranty period. If you have random issues during the warranty period:
* go to the Dealer and have it checked out AND GET IT DOCUMENTED in the service record
- example - during heavy downpours customer has water leaking through windshield at top right corner
- report it to recall.gov
- at 21K miles dealer cannot Dx it - document that
- at 47K miles water coming in profusely during rain storms
- call American Honda Motors AHM and find out if covered
- take into dealer for free repair

I've done this with Mazda and Honda with no issues and the work (parts and labor) were covered.