Just wanted to share my experience with hesitation on acceleration that led to check engine light, diagnosed as a fuel injector problem requiring replacement, covered under warranty. 25,000 miles on three year old Fit, haven't had any prior issues with the car, as it has been a reliable and functional vehicle until now. Having trouble getting any info on why the fuel injectors would fail, or whether this is just a design flaw or manufacturing defect that has been fixed. I read some vague references to a TSB, but I have not found the documentation to show that this is a known issue. Thanks for any leads!

 

Honda TSB A18-027 Faulty fuel injectors.
This was a widespread problem on 2015 Fits and maybe early 2016 models. Honda redesigned the fuel injectors to solve the issue.

The problem is that Honda should have recalled ALL affected cars and replaced the injectors with the redesigned version but instead they simply sat back and only replaced ones on warranty if they became a problem. Once you're off warranty Honda won't cover it and they'll just play the new company song to you, "Too bad .... so sad ..."

 

THIS!

I was 3 weeks out of the 3 year warranty when my car first threw the first CEL related to the fuel injection system. Honda didn't care.

 

Does anyone have a link to this TSB A18-027? My 2016 with 48k has now developed a misfire so am starting my research. Thanks

 

There's only a brief summary here:
TSB

Off hand I don't see the full TSB anywhere without paying for it. I believe the gist of it was that a malfunctioning fuel injector causes unburned fuel to be thrown into the exhaust system. When this unburnt fuel reaches the catalytic converter it is ignited by the high temperatures there and this burning fuel damages the cat. One problem noted from posts here is that Honda techs sometimes replaced the cat only under warranty because that was where the error code was coming from but they did not replace the fuel injector at that time since they didn't probably recognize it as the cause of the cat problem. Eventually the fuel injectors will throw off their own error codes but if the warranty has expired it is a fight with Honda to get them to recognize that the fuel injectors should have been replaced under warranty at the same time as the cat.

 

Thanks for the information Woof, it is greatly appreciated.

 

For those who are interested, I found and have attached TSB A18-027. My car is just out of the VIN range but symptoms are the same.

 

Carbon fouling is the other major likelihood. It's a byproduct of using Direct Injection without any sort of counter measure. Honda just hopes these all make it out of warranty range before the fouling costs them.

Most European cars have a sophisticated vapor/oil separator system. Ford uses port injection to clean the backside of the valves. Honda rolls the dice and hopes it lasts.

 

I'm glad you used the word "likelihood" although even that I question. There is a large number of GK Fits on the road now, some of them with over 100K miles so where are all the posts from people complaining about the carbon fouling? There should be lots of them shouldn't there be? We should be inundated with them considering the mileage many cars have, but frankly I think I've only seen one or two posts mentioning this problem. I've seen more complaints about fuel injector problems, water on the back floor, TPMS problems and whatever else, but where is the carbon fouling???? People having fun installing catch cans and the like, but why? Where's the problem? Why aren't we seeing the posts?

 

You're probably right. I've read quite a few threads on here of people with carbon fouling issues. A couple have even scoped their motors and shown the pics.

That being said, it's probably not a high percentage that actually fail.

Time will be the ultimate judge though as, while I agree about the low percent, I don't think we have that many with real miles on the GK yet.

I'd love to see more people with 40-60k miles scope their valves and see what they find.

Edited to add...I'm just sad to see how things have changed. VTC rattle, failing injectors, motor mounts not tight, etc. Back 10 years ago this board had practically ZERO warranty and repair information and was all talk of high performance and JDM goodies.

 

Just curious, could carbon fouling trigger a single cylinder misfire or would it most likely be multiple cylinders? I don't have anything to scope out the valves but maybe I should find me a cheap scope to do so. This is my daily commuter (170 miles a day) so having it out of commission is costing me plus if it does end up being injectors that is going to hurt. Talked with a tech today going through what all I have done and tested, he puts me on hold then comes back with a quote on injectors. I traded in an 03 Civic DX with manual when it had 440k miles...yes, that is correct...got tired of driving with the windows down due to no A/C. Other than the that it was solid as it could be but now I get this headache at 48k.

 

I would think it would more likely be multiple cylinders. That being said, it is fairly normal for one cylinder to get the bulk of the PCV junk. Our #3 and #4 spark plugs are always worse looking than #1 and #2 when I change them.

The fact that you drive 170 miles a day makes carbon fouling less likely for you as well. The main people that will face the issue won't face it for many years down the road because it's much worse on cars that don't run at full temp for as long or are driven easier. The harder/hotter it's run the less likely carbon fouling will be an issue.

 

OP, what brand, and grade of gasoline do you use? Also, how frequent do you change, and what brand of oil are you using? I ask because i have found a correlation between 87 octane users, and injector issues. Same correlation between people who use any old 0-20, and let it go until the maintenance system says it's done. IMO thats far too long, and the nasty vapor from dirty oil or low quality oil will coke up valves quicker. The more carbon suspended in the oil, the more carbon the vapor leaves behind on valves.

 

Agree with ALL of this. Poor quality fuel, poor quality oil, and long oil change intervals all add to the fouling issue.

cjsmacks, is your car covered by the 5yr/60k powertrain warranty? If so, might make the most sense to let Honda deal with it.

 

Yes, my car is covered by the powertrain warranty. With that I think I am as far as I can go troubleshooting so will most likely take it in soon and see what they come up with. I was hoping to swap around some fuel injectors but since they are not easily accessed I didn't feel like tearing that much apart.

 

Honda's warranty specifically excludes fuel injection issues from the powertrain warranty. Once you are out of the bumper to bumper warranty, you are on your own unless you live in a CARB state and your car has failed a state inspection, in which case the coverage is 3 years, 50k miles under the California emissions warranty.

 

Thanks andre181, I should have mentioned that in my owners manual the warranty states exactly what you described. When talking with the tech the other day he asked me my mileage and confirmed they are not covered. If it does end up being the issue he quoted me right around 2k so then I jokingly (yet seriously) asked if they would let me trade in a car with a P0302, he said yep.

 

Yep! I traded mine in with the same issues once Honda denied warranty coverage. Needed all 4 injectors and a new fuel rail.

Drove down the street to the Subaru dealer and bought my first non-Honda car ever, because I was just that mad at Honda lol.

 

Too funny but I am feeling the same right now about Honda. I need a commuter so have been looking around trying to find a non Honda product that would fit my needs. Matter of fact, Subaru has caught my attention!