^^ yeah, it makes total sense. I've never had engagement issues, cllutch chatter, or anything like that. I used to drive an AWD Turbo talon wiith a ton of mods (including 6 puck clutch,) and the Fit drives EASY compared to that thing. Our emissions control is very lenient here, some places around here we don't even HAVE emissions control!!

Our clutches are beauties, I don't think you'd find someone who drove theirs as hard as I did for the first 100,000km's, why have a little go-cart car if not to drive it like a go-cart?? Smoke shows and all, it got a lot of km's out of it!

When I change the clutch, I'm also removing the clutch dampening valve, make it a bit more responsive (and even MORE like a go-cart )

 

@Marrk.. It is the drive by wire throttle that slows down the throttle response when stepping down on or letting off of it.... The electronic throttle controller speeds things up when both getting on or off of it... Without the controller the throttle doesn't close immediately when you lift off to shift or open up as fast when you push down so you push and wait for revs to build before letting the clutch all of the way out usually slipping it until you have enough revs to get moving..... You have the same problem when blipping the throttle on down shifts and shifting up while at lower revs when driving in traffic... I am putting a lot less wear on my clutch than when the car was stock because of using a throttle controller.. Recently I had the ECU reflashed with the KWSC high boost kit that eliminated the lag but I still use the electronic throttle controller to open the throttle slower when in traffic to not embarrass myself by smoking the front tires when taking off from signal lights.

 

^^I tend to agree with you, Seņor Coyote.

My list of suspects include:

1) Fuel map;
2) Fly-by-wire throttle;
3) The engine has no bottom end power, which makes smooth rev matching downshifts impossible at anything over 2700 rpm.




Are you saying that you have an after-market "throttle controller" and you use it to "custom tune" the throttle response?

 

My 2007 Honda Fit Sport manual does the chatter thing all the time but especially when I am slowing down in gear but goes a way a little when I press on the clutch. The noise is loud and annoying has anyone fixed I see a lot of complaining but I have not really seen anyone fix it. UGH

 

My mother has an '09 Jazz which has done 7000 miles, and the clutch has gone. Honda are refusing to honour the warranty as they say it is down to "human error". They say she has been riding the clutch. She has been driving me around for the past 45 years and I've never seen her ride the clutch. The car she traded in had done 125000 miles with her driving it, and it had the original clutch. There appears to be people on here who have also had premature failure. Any feedback would be appreciated.

 

^^Not long ago, someone in another thread commented about how strong Fit clutches were.

Regarding my car, I had a pilot bearing go bad on me at approx. 27k mi. After some dancing, the dealer warrantied the repair. I'm now at 60k+ and clutch is fine.

Can you be more specific about what the issue was with your mom's clutch? For ex., when they opened it up, did it simply look like a normally worn out clutch?

 

my clutch went bad around 7k miles. it was the test drive model at the dealership and im pretty sure it was from people test driving it who have never drove a manual. they still wouldnt replace it under warranty. i replaced the clutch and got put in a fidanza flywheel, 43k miles later and its still running great.

 

They or the dealership boyos would have had to have been doing burnouts all day long to kill your clutch in a few 100 mi.

But maybe you're right.

 

Yes, it just looks completely worn down, but she doesn't ride the clutch when she's driving.
I also couldn't believe the arrogance of the dealer. My 80 year mother was in tears in their showroom, and they just shrugged their shoulders.

 

Were they rude or merely indifferent? If they were rude, then that's not acceptable and you should contact Honda about it.

A clutch is a normal wear item, so you are not on the thickest kind of ice here. However, 7k mi. is not a normal clutch life. "Completely worn" does not sound like "clutch failure." Then again, "riding the clutch" doesn't seem like the best explanation for a clutch with only 7k mi. on it. So, they have to prove that the clutch was abused and/or you have to prove that it wasn't. Almost always in these cases, the trick is finding the right person at Honda to talk to. If your dealer will not budge, I believe you have the right to ask him to set up an appointment with the district Honda representative. At least, this is common practice in the U.S. What it comes down to is that the dealer wants to get paid, either by you or by Honda. If the district rep authorizing the work, then the dealer gets paid. Of course, you may not have to go that far. You just have to work your way up that chain. Have you spoken with the Service Manager of your dealership?

Sorry if you know all this already. Merry Christmas.

 

The clutch release mechanism could have left the factory maladjusted, so when the clutch pedal is released, the clutch is left partially disengaged. This will wear the clutch quickly because the clutch will always slip under power. It is easy for the driver to diagnose. When the clutch is depressed, there ought to be an inch or more of free pedal at the top of the stroke. In other words the clutch should not start disengaging until the pedal is pressed at least an inch or more. If it does, then it may never be fully engaged and will wear quickly.

 

Okay, but I'd expect that, over the course of those 7,000 miles, the driver would notice that the clutch was slipping. No?

 

Not necessarily. My daughter came home one day and said that the engine was revving and the car would no longer go up hills. The clutch was gone and I am sure was going bad for some time, but she only knew that the car would not go up hills. I was barely able to drive it to where they replaced the clutch. Many people are just numb to the process.

The reality is that if I am correct and the problem was not caused by "riding the clutch," but by a maladjustment of the clutch release mechanism, Honda still WOULD NOT have replaced the clutch under warranty without a LOT of screaming. Why? Because clutch and brake linings have no warranty and that is the end of the issue for them.

I know from personal experience. My Odyssey had a noise in the right rear before the 36,000 mi warranty was up and the dealer lied and said that the rear brakes on both sides were shot and needed replacement. I refused the work and inspected myself to find the right side was totally worn due to the pad being frozen to the retention hardware and therefore not releasing. There was no sign of the grease that should have been installed at the factory to prevent this. The left side had 60% of pad left, so this was not a case of normal wear, but a case of a defect. I confronted the dealer with the evidence and they would not budge (Herb Chambers, Burlington, MA,) so I made a complaint with Honda corporate who also refused to deal with what they claimed was non warranty worn brake pads. They used the excuse that the car had not been in for the check up where the brakes were to be "inspected." Any mechanic knows that this problem cannot be diagnosed by "inspection" until there is abnormal pad wear, but only through removal of the caliper assembly and that is not part of an inspection. I ended up replacing the pads myself, greased the interface, and have had no further brake problems. This was much cheaper than going to small claims court against the dealer for misreporting normal wear, or against Honda for not honoring their warranty. The lesson I learned is to never ever go to Herb Chambers for service. Instead I go to Honda North in Danvers, MA. At least they appear honest. Had I found another car I liked nearly as well as the Fit, I would have bought that instead, due to this experience.

 

Points well-taken, hs.

You hit the nail on the head when you said that clutches and brakes are non-warranty items. They are, in fact, wear items. Therefore, repair/replacement would be entirely up to the dealer and his goodwill.

Defects per se are hard to argue successfully and, again, I think a lot depends on the good will of the dealer.

In the case of break pads, it would be infinitely easier to replace them yourself, as you did, then to even attempt a conversation with a dealer.

The Real World:
--Japanese car are generally made pretty well.
--Dealers hate to warranty almost anything (there are exceptional dealers).
--A wear item is seldom a warranty issue.
--Our expectations are high and the quality control of the Japanese makers has gone lower than in the past.
--You have to pick your shots. If it is worth it to you to argue and sue, then you will do those things.


Cherrs.

 

mine is 2011 Sport, already has 15K miles daily driven
No clutch problem
No alignment problems
The problem is there is no problem...
Well I went to the dealer and said my car is veering to the right, they check it out and found out
nothing is wrong . just wanted to get that FREE Honda Car Wash...
(Its too cold to wash it myself ) damn stealerships...

 

Just for the record, no this does not make sense at all. They have nothing to do with one another. The Fit does not run particularly lean. In fact it runs richer for emissions purposes to avoid the more noxious of the NOx compounds that come with running leaner (read: hotter in cylinder temps) than 15.2:1AFR

The leanest you'll ever see is stoich, 14.64:1AFR or Lambda 1.0. Unless something is very wrong, like you filled up on a full tank of E98 or Methanol and it simply cannot physically add more fuel due to pump and injector constraints.

And that is completely besides the point, which is that your clutch and its function has nothing to do whatsoever with anything related to the tune.

I don't know how you even associated the two. That's just baffling, really.

 

^^Still stalking me, eh Diamond?


That post is a month and a half old. Are you trying to start a fight?

 

Hello everyone.
I have often had a car pulling slightly to one side immediately after an alignment.
The source of the problem on three occasions has been the tires. After shuffling the tires front to back or side to side the "problem" disappeared. It happened last summer with an old Civic. After swapping the tires side to side no more pulling. I was then able to sell the car as the prospective buyer had observed the "problem".
This can happen with new tires installed after an alignment. If it happens to you you may be able to negotiate, read demand, an exchange set if you can get your garage's support.

Good luck

 

I have a 2007 Honda Fit with 124k on it. Just last week while driving the manual transmission got very difficult to change gears. 1st Gear is the hardest to get into with the clutch fully engaged. I replaced the Clutch Master, Slave and the hose for the hydraulic clutch system. This didn't fix the issue. Before I replace the clutch, because the clutch is not slipping. If anything the clutch is not disengaging. When in first or reverse, clutch fully depressed the car will move without stalling. I have to push the brake in to keep it from moving. My question is what is that part from the master to the hydraulic hose. Could this be a source of hydraulic pressure loss in the system? Otherwise I believe it is some bad springs on the clutch are bad or something that is not disengaging the clutch. Any thoughts on that triangular flat part that the hydraulic lines go through?

 

Yeah I was wondering the same exact thing in regards to the dampener.