At 23 000 miles after reading about some people encountering lose spark plugs, I decided to get to mine and check whether they are lose.

First I tried doing it by putting the hand underneath the cowl but couldn't figure out how to unplug the coil connector by touch only, so I decided to take the cowl off. (The connector is easy to unplug, one needs to push the plastic tab down with a thumb finger on the top side closest to the wire while pulling the plug out.

It took me about 35 minutes to take the cowl off and I was careful to not break anything. I was happy to not break a single tab and this is without reading the instructions or having ever taken one off before.

As I took off the wipers and the metal panel on which wiper arms and motor are located, there was a lot more room to access the plugs.

I am happy to report that they were all tight and surgically clean around the wells. The coils were like new. Everything was of obviously very high quality. As I was pulling the coil off the spark plug, I heard a vaccum sound when it got lifted from the plug well. All the wires, the bolts, the fasteners and connectors were tight, clean, and snapped on and off with a nice, clear sound indicating being clicked in place.

Putting everything back together was even easier and straightforward.

To do the job, I used 1/4 and 3/8 ratchets, few long extensions and 10 and 14 mm sockets.

It's not a difficult job but it is also easy to damage the plastic pieces if one is impatient and not careful. Need to remember to connect the washer tubes back up.

Bottom line: if your car is not giving you any problems, don't worry about spark plugs being lose. The chances of the plugs being lose are extremely slim so it's not necessary checking it just in case if there are no symptoms or problems. Though it is nice to have a piece of mind on a Christmas day after seeing the Fit's engine compartment being so clean and new. Now I know I can do the spark plug replacement around 100 K miles.

Cheers.

 

Thanks for the information! I've only got 12.5k on my Fit, and although I'd read about the plugs, it's good to hear from someone who took the time and detailed the process involved. AND by another "stick" driver as well!!

 

You are welcome. I took some pics and might post them later tonight.

 

Thank you for this report.

 

I am sure you are well meaning, but your logic is flawed. Just because your sample of one has no problems, says nothing about the other samples. My 2009 with 90,000 mi. had one plug you could remove without tools, another that was barely tight, and two others that were fine. Should one conclude that every 2009 Fit is this way? I don't know. Maybe they are all like mine, but they are never loose enough to blow out, or maybe not. We both are samples of one, no more and no less.

Do you know what problem arises with "loose" plugs? It's a loud popping noise and an engine that runs on 3 cylinders. That's because the plug has stripped the threads and is thrown out of the cylinder. The repair is quite expensive, Honda won't accept responsibility, and there can be little or no warning. I had a loose spark plug with no symptoms at all! Telling people to wait for symptoms makes no sense.

Am I telling every Honda Fit owner that they need to check their plugs right away? No! All I am saying is that this problem can and does exist. Keep that in mind as you service your car.

 

Where would I find the instructions? This is not as straightforward as my taking off the front end to install the tow package that came with step by step

 

IMO this is the best DIY w/ pics

https://www.fitfreak.net/forums/2nd-...009-sport.html

It's a little less complicated than it looks once you start digging in.