Stupid me, left the lights on while getting groceries. Got back to the car, realized it wasn't starting on me. Of all the times I left my cellphone at home too! So I had to walk about 1 mile back, while I've got the flu. Ugh.

OK, so maybe this is also partly cause I haven't driven at all this week due to my illness. But is this normal? Sigh. What a way to start the Christmas weekend.

 

yeah..thank god for manuals. bump start the car heh.

 

Yeah, a couple guys in the parking lot suggested that. But it didn't seem to work. You just get it rolling in neutral and then try and turn it on?

Luckily, a good friend came and jumped the car. Seems fine now.

 

you need to stick it in gear while pushing. try using 2nd, as 1st seems to be too much work to push

 

Try not having it in gear while pushing???? Then once your moving put it in 2nd with the clutch depressed then while still rolling let the clutch out bingo car starts.

 

Fit batteries must just not have a high load capacity or something cause it sure doesnt' take long to drain em dead.

Mine did this the night I got the car. Had to go to the pharmacy and my wife decided to stay in the car. Well of course Walgreen's took 40 minutes to fill my perscription so the wife decided to turn the engine off while leaving the stereo on along with the headlights. Car was dead when I came out. I let the car sit for about 15 minutes tried again and it started right up.

 

I feel you on this one. I have had this happen twice, and on one of those occasions the lights stayed "on" all night and totally drained the battery. I jumped it the next morning, but it acted really strange for awhile. See this thread recounting the experience:
https://www.fitfreak.net/forums/fit-...d-battery.html

Honda must be giving us a very small or weak battery, or alternator / regulator isn't up to the task at hand. Anybody here well-versed in that area, who can enlighten us?

 

my 08 chimes when my headlights are on when shutting off the car...at least i thought it did..
was that not a feature on the 07's?

 

it does on mine. But if you're in a hurry or what not, like if you have a turtlehead poppin out and need to make it to the bathroom post haste, not to say that is what happened to Steeldog lol but I could see not hearing the chime in that senario. In my case the car didn't chime cause the wife turned the car off after I got out.

 

HaHa! That could easily be the case, but in reality, I live in the country, and actually leave my keys in the car every night. So when I got home from work, I heard the chime I guess, but didn't differentiate between it and the usual "hey-dumbass-you-forgot-your-keys" chime.

Plus, the Camry I drove before this car had the photosensor that makes the headlights go on and off as needed, so I never had to touch the headlight switch, and wasn't in the habit at the time.

Thanks for the laughs!

 

Yeah my wifes Subaru 2.5rs allows you to leave the headlights switched to on all the time. Once the key is turned to the off position it kills the lights. Once the key is turned to the Accessory or On position they will turn on. Great feature IMO

 

My friend is right. Just don't forget to turn the key to "on" first, or it will never start.

 

^^lol good point.

 

I couldn't believe my eyes when I first popped the hood on my Fit...that battery is TINY. It won't have much of a reserve at all, nor much in the way of CCA (maybe 400?). I am used to the massive group 42 and group 41s with 500-650 CCA and a lot of reserve used on my older VWs.

 

Lol, awesome. Yeah, mine does chime when I leave the lights on, but my head's been kinda foggy due to the cold I've been having so it didn't register for me.

 

So, could someone summarize with step by step instructions? Not sure if I'm getting this fully... what position should the key be in, and at what time? Do I have the car rolling with the shifter in neutral or the clutch disengaged or both?

 

OK.

1. Get ready to roll the car (FORWARD, never reverse). Get your friends in position to push the car, or if you're lucky, you will be parked heading slightly downhill. You should be sitting in the driver's seat.

2. Turn the key to the "on" position and leave it that way.

3. Put the car in "neutral".

4. Take your foot off the brake, and release the parking brake if applied.

5. Tell your friends to start pushing.

6. When your car starts rolling about 5 - 10 MPH (almost as fast as your friends can get it to roll), push in the clutch and shift into 2nd gear. Release the clutch all at once. The car should be running now.

7. Buy beer for said friends.

NOTE: If you don't have enough room or incline to get a feasible 2nd-gear roll speed, use first gear. Too slow in 2nd gear is like driving too slow in 2nd gear, the engine will lug and die. Either way, pop the clutch all at once.

Best to ya.

 

also..remember if the bumpstart doesn't work, or you mess up or whatever..make sure you're not FLYING down a hill cause your brakes won't be up to the task. Running speed is perfect for a bumpstart

 

Exactly what i was thinking. My bro's s2k battery died, and it was on a slight hill. Fortunately this foreigner (and possibly illegal...) recognized that an s2000 was a stick shift, and recognized we were attempting to rolling start it, and helped us.

Anyway I think it was relevant to mention he's a foreigner because most americans don't drive stick, so it's fortunately he wasn't an american.