First, thanks for reading my post.

I was driving up here to the dragon and my gf's CEL came on. Right now I am in Robbinsville, NC at a hotel until we can figure something out tomorrow - everything had closed when we got here.

I had been driving - about 100 mi of mountain roads (cherohala, etc) - NEVER got above 5000rpm today. I was driving right and not pushing the car at all.

Anyways, we were going down a hill, then I gave it gas to go up another small hill, the car made a funny sound and then the CEL was blinking. I pulled over, checked the oil, checked for leaks, etc - everything looked fine. We were 7 mi from here, so we decided to drive it. We made it. The car runs fine, smooth, etc when I am not on the gas (ie - going downhill with the rpms at 2000rpm) then when I barely press on the gas, it shakes. The car runs, but wont idle....very well.

I THINK it's ignition related - I don't hear any knocking sounds, the oil is fine, no leaks. I have to wait til tomorrow to get access to an OBDII reader.

Any suggestions? Has anyone had this problem before? Is there anyone in Robbinsville that could help?

Thanks!! I look forward to getting replies.

I drive a 93 Prelude and have had experience with Hondas in the past, so I don't consider myself a newbie and feel that my diagnosis is pretty well educated.

IF it is something ignition related and its only running on 3 cylinders, how far is it safe to drive?

 

is the cel blinking??? check the wires ro make sure they are on the plugs. if all else fails get a tow to the dealer so they cant say you futher damaged the car by driving it dont tell them you drove it all like that.good luck and tell us what happend . blinking cel is very bad becareful

 

Well, it started off not blinking, then it starts blinking. Is there anything specific I should look for? Maybe its a sensor that got hot and goofed and will be better in the morning.

 

without being there i cant help sounds like maybe a back fire from not running on all four cylinders. did you check the wires?????? maybe water got on the plugs in the hole?? i had that happen water shorts out on the block dryed it up and good as new good luck

 

It sounds ignition related, check all your ignition wires and distributor, if there is one,
i know you dont have any tools, but one test you might be able to do is you can un plug each spark plug wire at the cyliender one at a time, and hold it near either the spark plug, or any metal part of the engine, and see if it sparks

a blinking cel, is said you should not drive on,
if you are missing a cylinder, you run the risk of burning up your catalytic converters

 

Crap, I forgot to mention it's a 2007 Honda Fit Sport A/T

~7800 mi

Thanks! I'm thinking it either got hot from something (AC wasnt on), or something just got loose. I told her that if it worked in the morning, we were going straight to birmingham and dropping it off at the dealer for them to diagnose under warranty. Apparently the CEL came on before....for less than a second and then went off never to be seen again....until now.

Like I said, there are a few places in town that may have a OBDII reader. Advance Auto is ~20 miles (30 mins) away. Birmingham is 5 hours away...


ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

The Fit is a great car - nothing to complain about, I just hate this happened this far away from home with no tools.

 

I searched google and most everything was ignition related - coil packs and spark plugs leading to misfires

 

no tools? u don't have an extra 10mm around? i'd say disconnect the battery for 10 minutes to reset the ECU n see if it's still giving u the code.

 

hey! this just in, go to your local autozone. they'll check your code for you. take said code to your local honda dealer and they'll tell you what it means. or check online

 

the question is more to do with whether or not it is safe to drive it to the nearest place where the code can be read.

 

There are NO spark plug wires in a Jazz/Fit it uses sparking units (coil packs) so there is no need to check and see if they are loose and have fallen off. Try and call the closest Honda dealer and ask if it is OK to drive or would they tow it. I'm with koolkevin1107 try the disconnect the battery trick.

And for further reference Fits also do not have CELs if there is a problem the MIL (malfunction indicator light) lights up. CELs (check engine light) were used on OLD cars and are no longer in use on any Honda car.

 

you gotta be f'n kidding me.. everyone KNEW what he meant.. Whatsup with the GRAMMER check? hahahahah

Anyway - yes our cars do not have ignition wires - we have ignition coil packs (one per cyl) that are fastened on-top of the spark plug. I don't think it loosened up. I have never seen an OE ignition coil/plug go bad with less than 10,000 miles - but then again there's a first time for everything. If the MIL is FLASHING - I would suggest not to drive it. It's more than likely ignition/fuel related I think but without knowing what code it's throwing - unable to say. MIL ON = concern. MIL FLASHING is NO DRIVE. I would suggest getting it checked before driving it. I wouldn't disconnect the battery in an attempt to reset the ecm because if you're trying to find out what code is in the ecm - resetting = erasing. Esp since you mentioned the MIL came on once before then never again till now. You may be having an intermittent issue and by erasing the code - it'll be harder to find sooner than later...
I think I remember reading that someone on this site had a bad fuel pump?? That would cause your problem too! Hope this helped.

 

Sorry! The MIL is on. (I didn't know that until now....but then again used cars are now called pre-owned cars...)

IF I reset the computer and it "fixed" it enough for now - that would be fine with me. It could be something small that isn't that important. It seems like it's running on 3 cylinders....I just dont want a bunch of unburnt fuel to get caught in the CAT and ignite...bad. I'll call around this morning and see. Since the car is still under factory warranty, would they pay to tow it to their place?

 

Okay, we went to this country place here to get the code checked - P0302 or something, it was Cylinder 1 misfire. We swapped the plugs and coil packs - still ran the same. MIL came on again after we left. I am going to drive the car to Andrews for the Advance Auto Parts store there to see if I can swap out the plugs and get a new coil pack if that's it.

Thanks!

 

It's P0301. P0302 is a misfire on cylinder two.

Surprisingly enough, although i havn't seen it, a misfire code MIGHT cause the MIL to flash instead of stay on. Since emissions are even more important, the Misfire code might be taken more seriously on newer cars because misfires cause HC to be released into the air (harmful emission) from the unburnt fuel. Just a thought.

 

Okay, here's the story.

I got the codes checked in Robbinsville, just 1 cylinder. Switched the coil packs around, still no good. I drove ~20 mi to Andrews to Advance Auto Parts. There, I had 3 codes. Cyl 1, Cyl 2, and Random Cyl Misfire. The guy there told me it would be "okay" to drive it. I called the place we bought it from, talked to the guy who would end up paying for it - he said to just drive it and call him later. So....we left. About 15 min down the road, I looked down (I was coasting downhill) and the damned light went off. It drove fine - even VTEC'ed fine.

So, either I am going to change out the plugs tonight, or we are just going to take it to the Honda place to get it looked over tomorrow.

Just thought I would let you guys know. Thanks a bunch! My gf is happy her fit is back home with a wash and vaccum.

 

Congratulations! Good end to a bad story, and you handled the situation very well.

 

Well, Robbinsville is pretty remote - I've been there - but my first thought is have you checked your plugs? An oil fouled plug could cause your symptoms. But let me think a bit. Advice so far is same as I would give. There is a Honda dealer in Albemarle. Straight west on 24/27.