A few weeks ago my Fit began acting up on start. I was getting the slow 'rurr-rurr-rurr' sound a few times before the engine would catch. A few days after that it got worse and all the electrical systems including the headlights just pulsated for a sec or two before the engine caught. I had a good idea it was the battery and tried to nurse it but the car was no match for a Chicago winter, even the mild one we'd be having up until very recently.


I had read here about how many of you swapped our 151R for the larger 51R and looked around for prices. The best I got was Costco for $72 or so. I called my Honda dealership and was quoted $144 for the 151R. Wow! Then I checked one last website, hondapartsnetwork.com, where I found it for $94. The website works out of the Honda dealership in Lisle, Ill., not too far from my neck of the Chicago woods.

So I weighed the pros and cons of 51R vs. 151R and figured for $20 or so more I'd stick with stock. Since I picked it up local I avoided the whole shipping-to-me-then-return-the-core hassle. which factored big in my financial equation.

I'm glad I went 151R. I don't have the right tool to cut up the battery tray; that would have been added cost. I know other people say it's no big deal but I wouldn't have been comfortable with the way the 51R would be jammed in the tiny space. I lost the flange nut for the positive clamp into the engine bay abyss and scraped my arm up pretty good in a futile attempt to recover it. I also lost the socket extension but luckily that was easy to retrieve once the battery was out. And I scraped a few knuckles trying to get the battery in the right position on the tray.

In the picture you can see some red smears on the label and the battery cap. I bleed for my Fit.

 

-blood = check
-sweat and tears = next

I think if you take your old 151R to a parts store, they may give ya a few bucks on store credit / on a gift card

 

Wouldn't that be nice? But I had to swap it to avoid the $20 core charge. Nothing in this world is free, except maybe a lunch of samples at Costco.

 

Funny this...my battery died yesterday with no warning. I also went with stock. My local dealer is great and I'm not particularly handy, so it was $139 installed. The battery was 4.5 years old and the car has 35k miles.

By the way, get a jumpstarter lithium ion block. Mine cost $40 and saved me a tow yesterday.

 

+1

I have one in each vehicle and it already saved me time when my wife left the lights on the 4Runner. I was able to jump start it with the battery pack in minutes. My Fit was manufactured in 12/14 so it's over 4 years old and I have 70k+ miles on it. I know it's just a matter of time and I'll pick up a 51R when the time comes.

 

Fortunately my car died in the garage. My other concern was a radio reset but fortunately no code searching was involved, just a power cycle.

 

I think the radio reset code is only needed when you unplug the radio itself. Even unplugging the battery doesn't not require the code being put back in from my experience. You can get the code in advance and keep it in the glove compartment, that's what I've done.

 

I disconnected my battery in order to clean the battery terminals and when I reconnected it there was absolutely no problem with anything including the radio.

The days of people stealing car radios is largely over. There are far more valuable items on cars now a days, including alloy wheels, air bags, and the like. Where I am they actually stole the entire rear hatch off a car (not a Fit) and bumper thefts off trucks are not uncommon.

 

Yeah, it even kept all my info screen data, another surprise.

 

A sharp pair of scissors is all that is required to cut the plastic battery tray.

 

I have disconnected both the battery and then the radio when I installed the amp for my car, and no reset code needed.