Hi. Has anyone found a real solution for the VTC rattle yet? I've done some searching and see that Honda has put out a TSB with an updated actuator but people are reporting that the rattle still remains. I've tried the key workaround without much success. I heard from a guy that wired his fuel pump fuse to a rocker switch. The switch would turn off the fuel pump and then he would crank for a few seconds to build oil pressure. He then turned the fuel back on and started the engine. He claims this works every time. I'm not too sure about that. Wouldn't the engine still start due to the fuel in the injectors? I've also read that using a higher weight oil will help and also that it won't. I've read that changing out the solenoid may fix the issue. I've also read that this could cause the timing chain to stretch and others have reported that Honda is saying that it's strictly a noise issue and engine damage won't occur. Which is it? Does anyone out there have anything to add to this confusion?

 

I just drive it with the rattle. I'm at 91k and get the rattle here and there. Just one of the joys of Honda Fit ownership and another box ticked on why the next car is likely not to be Honda.

 

Did you ever have it upgraded to the newer version of the actuator?

 

Nope, out of warranty so not doing it at my expense.

 

Think my 2014 is developing this problem with only 70k km on the engine.

Between that and needing to do manual manual valve adjustments I’m thinking my next car won’t be a Honda.

The engine in my fathers old cobalt hasnt been touched in 300k km. Transmission is perfect. Think Honda’s living on there reputation now.

 

There is a new spring designed by spring-start that stops the rattle in the Honda Fit VTC gear. It takes about 2 hours to install.

 

Our 2018 Fit is back at the dealer for the VTC replacement. For it's second time within 2 years.

Not sure they have a revised version that actually works yet.

 

I put in the longer of the 2 springs from the Spring-Start kit months ago and 100+starts later, not one rattle at cold startup! Even in -22 deg C after cold soaking all night. Took me a LOT longer than 2 hours though LOL.

 

They don't and probably won't. My guess is it's cheaper to just warranty here or there and wash it out instead of redesigning or selling a new one, because admitting fault could mean recalls... And businesses don't like recalls.
TSB states replacement doesn't guarantee solution to the problem so I wouldn't hold my breath.

Note: My 2015 had it between 120k and 187k. Now it does it once in a blue moon at almost 197k. Long as it isn't grinding out your timing cover or destroying itself internally, you'll be fine.

 

Update on my Spring-Start modified VTC. Now several hundred starts and a complete (cold) winter behind it and not one episode of grinding. One of my favorite repairs ever, considering local Honda wanted $3,000 Cdn to fix it. This cost 1% of that. GREAT PRODUCT!

 

Hi all. My rattle is back big time. More than just first start. Only has to sit for about 2 hours now and 2-second grind at startup. Oh well. From what I've been able to see, the earlier actuators had the P/N 14310-5R1-003. I pulled up the (2017) Honda Service Bulletin 16-088 and it suggests to install P/N 14310-5R1-013. I decided to bite the bullet and got the latest (I hope) version from our Honda dealer this week. Too important to gamble on Amazon or whatever IMHO. This one's P/N 14310-5BY-H01 It looks quite different on the back, lacking that raised bump where the spring was. I'll post a pic of old-vs-new when I have it apart.

When I talked to the Honda service guys, they strongly recommended against removing the cam, as the service bulletin suggests. Better to remove the timing cover and do it from the front. I'm going to do the timing chain and valve adjust while I'm at it. The service guy I talked to said he never heard of unlocking the VTC before torqueing it onto the cam. I was quite surprised. Maybe the newer ones don't need to be unlocked? This new one came locked. I do NOT want to screw this up so any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Perhaps, because they always do the chain at the same time, they just torque the VTC down without a chain on it. This, in my mind eliminates any torque from going through the mechanism because the chain isn't holding the gear stationary? Make sense? That way they can just torque it down locked safely?

Thoughts on this please? I'm starting this garage-marathon tomorrow. Should be fun.

***UPDATE: Well, My son and I just did the VTC actuator (new P/N 14310-5BY-H01), timing chain and PCV replacement, plus valve adjustment. We're both pretty mechanical and it took 2 of us both Sat and Sun to complete start to finish. Everything except intake and valve cover was first time for me so a lot of head scratching throughout the process. When all done and I started it for the first time, I was half expecting noise from the new VTC until it primed itself but the car lit right up and purred like a kitten. Drove great too! Very peppy. I'll post pics later and offer some things that I learned throughout the process. SO glad to get this done. Honda quoted 3-5K $ (mostly labor), and doing it ourselves, we spent about 1300$ on parts (all Honda OEM) and a couple tools. I'll point out a couple of things that might not be mandatory but nice to have on-hand in case things suck when disassembled. Can always return un-used parts and these are all Canadian $ figures BTW. We're near Toronto (with a shit hockey team AGAIN)

I'll attach a copy of my Honda receipt because the parts guy NAILED what I needed as far as gaskets and other stuff required and would serve as a useful shopping list.. Great to not be missing a cheap little seal or something on a Sunday, which grinds the project to a halt. More later. Cheers.

 

Pics from our VTC and Timing Chain replacement...
[img alt="Heres the removed VTC (Note the spring bump) and the new VTC installed along with new chain, guides, tensioner, and PVC. We installed and torqued the new VTC WITHOUT the chain installed due to not being able to unlock it. This way no torque transfers to the gear section.
"]https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fitfreak.net-vbulletin/1500x2000/vtc3_f42ed4e2f32355f24b4d591feb5d76fce876abba.jpg[/img]


Here's the removed VTC (Note the spring bump) and the new VTC installed along with new chain, guides, tensioner, and PVC. We installed and torqued the new VTC WITHOUT the chain installed due to not being able to unlock it. This way no torque transfers to the gear section.
One scary thing you can see.... While I was holding the cam stationary with the big wrench on the hex section on the cam, the wrench slipped at one point. Forgot the lock pin (we used an Allen key) was still installed. When the wrench slipped, all the torque from the big torque wrench went to the lock pin and busted off the little ear on the cam cap casting. Oops. I removed the cap and polished out the breakage to remove stress risers. I think it will hold because the remaining material is roughly the same as the rest of the cap cross section.


This is (almost) everything we replaced. Not in the pic is the PCV valve and the rubber seals inside the timing cover. Seemed like the factory, or past mechanic had glued the seals in and they had to be scraped out of the grooves in a million pieces. The car has 75,000 km and, to be honest, the 3 chain guides looked perfect and I probably could have re-used them. Same with the 4 intake seals and EGR seal (the square-ish one). They were still nice and soft. I had all the parts I could possibly need and once I had this engine all apart, I decided to just use all the new stuff so I hopefully never had to do this again. I'll post the invoices for what I got at Honda. As mentioned, this list was perfect if you want to have everything you could possibly need.

So here's what Honda parts guy said I should have on hand. The intake and Valve cover gaskets are on the second invoice I had purchased earlier and had on the shelf. One item I definitely didn't need was the last one on this invoice. The tensioner bolt is where the big curved tensioner guide pivots on. Don't know why they gave me that. Everything else is spot-on for what's needed to do the job right IMHO.

Here are the Intake and Valve cover gaskets P/N's. These can probably be re-used but nice to have on hand if working on a weekend.

If you're adjusting valves as well, one of these tools really helps. The cheaper ones from Amazon are like $20. 10 MM is the nut size.


Probably a good idea to have one of these too. About 20$ from Amazon. 50 MM crank pulley wrench. I had one on standby. Didn't need it to remove my crank bolt. I gave it a long burp with my Ryobi impact gun and no luck. Then hammered on the socket extension a few times and the gun then broke it loose. This tool was still handy for re-torquing the bolt though and I have read a million horror stories about how hard it is to get this bolt out so good to have this. I think I was just lucky.

 

Forgot to mention. The parts guy also suggested the crank seal on the timing cover be replaced. It's on the invoice. Makes perfect sense so we did that too while the cover was off. Used a scrap of black ABS drain pipe as a driver for tapping the new seal in/out. I think it's size 1 1/2".

 

FYI, for this entire job, I found the most useful tool to be this cheap pair of forceps. They held all the little hose clamps open when required, pushed on/off hoses, and helped with hard-to-reach electrical connectors. This exact pair held together quite nicely....

 

Perhaps also of note. I found that it wasn't necessary to remove the throttle body from the intake. Most video's suggest that but it looked like a pain. The manifold just has to be cranked up, past 45 degrees at the VTC end to clear the EGR port and slide the throttle body out of the rubber boot at the other end.. Installation is the opposite. The throttle body starts into the boot first, just at the top, then the manifold is lowered onto the EGR and finally the mount studs etc.