My son has my 2008 Honda Fit Sport at the Western New England campus and it will not start (120K). In the past week or so he reported cold start problems and stalling... until the car warmed up. We speculated the issue was a need for intake/exhaust valve adjustment based on this - .

The project seemed doable for a back yard project at home in Fairfield, CT when he comes home on Monday for Thanksgiving (weather permitting) and feeler gauges are on the way.... Well this AM (and midday as well) the car will not start. I can't image he put more than 25 miles on it in the past 2 weeks, so I am guessing the temp drop (?) may have impacted it or I have another issue.

Open to ideas. I think the most prudent thing is to find a local shop in Springfield to diagnose the car. Any suggestions?

 

Looking at the video you have the engine management light on. This code has to be read before you consider any work. This may well point you in the right direction as going for the valves may not be where the fault is. Get hold of a cheap 0bd11 reader. As I don’t know the service history when the spark plugs were changed etc. Make sure the battery is fully charged as this can cause all sorts of unrelated issues.

Ben

 

Hi Brendan, sorry for the confusion, but the video is not of my car. My son and car (in Mass) and I (in CT) were diagnosing....based on his description some google searches I sent him this video and he confirmed it matched what he was experiencing, so we moved forward based on that. So I do not have lights on the dash (although I might have codes), but to your point is seems I need to diagnose some more, and considering the car is not @ home where I can dig in to find out more (including my code reader here in CT).... it seems if I can't get the car running and on its way home today I will need to find a local shop. I found Grez Automotive nearby who seems well reviewed online, so I will give them a try. Much appreciated none the less.

 

I would be tempted the try and get a jumpstart as it may have got flooded with all the attempts. If it starts keep the jump start leads on and tickle the throttle just to keep it running. Keep it running until it warms up. Remove jump start cables and drive home with out stopping if that’s possible? ( I just looked at the map for the distance involved, cancel the no stopping) I


Ben