Hello!

Just bought myself a stock 2007 Sport this afternoon for $3k to replace my '08 Explorer. It has just over 202,000 miles. It's actually in good condition overall for it's age and mileage. Very small amount of rust for living in the rust belt its entire life and the interior is pretty clean.

After driving it home 70 miles I came up with a few questions to ask this community:

1. The engine makes a clicking / clacking type noise, but I'm thinking it's just the valves. Should I be worried or is it normal for this engine?
   1. Update: From the research I've done it's normal to have valve noise. If there is no noise that's a bad thing. I bought some bent tip feeler gauges to check valve clearances.
2. Wasn't able to calculate MPG on the drive home, but it seemed like the gas gauge was dropping quite fast. Started at half and was at about 1/4 when I got back. Probably averaged 65 mph with quite a few hills (lots of downshifting). Should I be concerned? Anything I can do to improve MPG? If this should be getting at least 30 mpg it seems like the gauge was dropping too fast for that to be feasible, but maybe I need more time and miles behind the wheel.
   1. Update: I'm not used to driving a car with a 10 gallon tank. Over 217 miles I achieved 26.7 mpg. Not too bad but after changing the transmission fluid and checking valves I expect this to improve.
3. The lenses on the foglight housings are cracked and nearly all gone, but the bulbs still work. Do I need to buy entire new housings or can I replace just the lenses? Can I install LED bulbs to brighten things up or will that cause issues? Right now the factory foglights are pretty worthless.
   1. Update: Can't buy just the lenses. Only sold as an assembly but can take good lenses out and put into existing assemblies. It's recommended to put some kind of protective film over new lenses so they don't crack again.
4. I have never owned a vehicle with a coolant temp light that comes on when the engine is cold. Do I need to wait for this light to disappear before driving?
5. What kind of maintenance do you recommend I look at doing right away? The guy I bought it from shared the maintenance records and they appear to be extensive (one of the reasons I'm fine with it having 200k).
   1. I'll be changing the transmission fluid as it's not shifting as smooth as it should and checking the valves.
6. What oil change interval do you recommend? I see there is an oil life indicator in the dash. Is it accurate? What mileage is it synced to?
7. What's the best route for adding bluetooth capabilities? I'd love to have the stock radio act like it has BT built-in aka connects to my phone automatically once I start the car without having to turn on/off an adapter.
   1. Crutchfield has two options to add on bluetooth to the stock radio, but it's cheaper to get a $15 adapter to plug into the auxiliary port.

This is my first Honda so I'm hoping for the best. I look forward to learning more about this car.

Thank you,

Lance

 

Hi from Mankato, MN! Nice Fit! I have an '07 sport as well (with 234,000 miles). Regarding the "cold" light, you don't have to wait for it to go away before driving. The only thing I've done is just drive it gently until the light goes away. I'd estimate the coolant temp is probably around 100 degrees when it turns off. I kind of use it as a guide for when it's worth it to turn the heater fan on.

 

Thanks for the reply! Have you owned yours for awhile or new to you? How is your MPG these days with that many miles on the drivetrain? I'm wondering if I'll ever see over 30 mpg. My second tank only got me about 23 mpg. It was extremely cold and I did put snow tires on halfway through the tank, but that seems pretty crappy. I did adjust all the exhaust valves back to .012 last weekend as they were all between .006 - .008 (intakes didn't need adjusting). Also cleaned the throttle body. So I'm hoping those two things help. My next step is to add some fuel system cleaner when the tank gets close to empty to see if that helps.

 

1. did you buy this from a private seller? If so, you need to call them back up and ask them about the car's entire maintenance history. If from a dealer: FORGETABOUTIT.
2. blue temperature light comes on every time you start the car. When it goes out, it simply indicates a certain coolant temperature has been reached. It is not much use.
3. these cars buck when coming to a stop sign and you proceed without fully stopping the car. Don't confuse that natural tranny move as anything more than the way it was designed.
4. if answer to #1 is a dealership, then you need to get ALL the fluids replaced, and save your pennies for new ignition coils, iridium spark plugs and the aforementioned valve adjustment. Once done, this car is indestructible.
5. if your fog lights are merely cracked but not broken, you can use the waterproof marine sealant sold at West Marine and other places. If the glass is broken (ie: missing some glass), then you can either buy just the lens or have a glass shop make a clear Plexiglas cover which will alleviate any future rock-on-glass incident.
6. I could not tell from your photo, but make sure you put a screen insert at the lower front bumper air scoop to protect the radiator components. I've never seen a design that screamed: "welcome all rocks and road debris" like our Fit does.
7. take out your spare tire to see if water is accumulating down in the well. If there is evidence (stains, rusting tire changing tools), then you will have to seal the factory defect we all seem plagued with. The main crack is where the roof's rubber stripping on the passenger side ends at the top of the hatch. Lift open the hatch and also remove the rubber and seal up the hairline crack. Water trickles in and deposits in your spare tire well where it serves as a swimming pool for the spare tire.

 

I did buy it from a private seller. He gave me a copy of the carfax history and it's pretty extensive all the way back to new so no worries there. The first thing I did was change out the tranny fluid. It was about a half quart low and pretty dirty. I also checked and loosened up the exhaust valves last weekend. The intakes were fine.

I also checked the plugs and coil packs. I attached pictures of what one coil pack looked like (the rest were clean) All of the plugs looked similar. Do you think the plugs and coils are fine? The orange/brown residue on the coil concerns me.

The fog light lenses are nearly all gone. The bulbs still work but are obviously worthless as far as providing extra light.

I did notice the weatherstripping on the rear passenger side roof channel pull up while I was washing it the other day. I'll have to check that out and see if it's leaking. First I've heard about the issue.

Thanks for your help.

 

First, congrats on doing your own work. You should be very proud of that.
Next, my opinion means nuts. Its facts that rule the day. Plugs, ignition coils and valve adjustments are simply routine maintenance that Fit owners have to perform. Carfax is as reliable as single ply toilet paper. The owner, if he/she is like 99% of humans, is horrible at lying, which is why you should always take full advantage of your smart decision to buy from a private seller and ask them all the tough questions to include if/when ignition coils were replaced, etc. By the way, the other 1% of humans which ARE excellent liars are dealership salesmen and politicians. Given that buying a first/second gen Fit has factually proven to be a no brainer, I think you've made a great decision.
Definitely check out that spare tire wheel well before you drive another mile. Check for water stains, make sure all the tire changing tools are present, and fill the tire to 60psi for piece of mind. And in my opinion, discoloration on the base and shaft of an ignition coil is often a sign that gases are getting past an improperly torqued (loosely tightened) spark plug.

 

not to mention getting burned by new climate.

 

Ditto this! On our Fit and my friends, it's cylinder #3 that leaks. Curious if that is your #3?

On ours, I re-tighten the plug every 30k or so and been lucky. He didn't check his and it blew out of the head and took the threads with it.

Keep an eye on it. Oh...and welcome to FF! Hope you enjoy the new to you Fit. We love ours. Quirks and all.

 

I've owned mine for almost 4 years, and have been tracking the mileage ever since I got it. My lifetime average after 73,000 tracked miles is 33.83 MPG. With it being winter I've been getting tanks typically around 27 MPG (I mostly drive in town, probably 85% city, 15% highway). I did just recently make a trip to Rochester from Mankato and with pure highway driving I managed to get 38 MPG on that tank, and I do currently have snow tires on.