My college kid phoned to say that the Fit's brakes are now making an even worse noise and that she thinks its handling in the rain is compromised. Rather than make the long trip home with questionable brakes, we hatched a plan to first take the car to a local shop on Monday that I found on the Internet that seems to enjoy a good reputation. I told her that if she doesn't like how they communicate with her, we'd capitulate and take it to the Honda dealer which is further away and undoubtedly more expensive. First priority is safety.

 

Arco- good idea on instructing your kid to consult a local shop. brakes are a huge deal and not something one would want to risk. i like how youre letting your daughter talk to the shop vs you just taking over. a lot of parents today do everything for their kids ending up with useless snowflake garbages that cant take care of themselves.

hope your daughter's brakes situation is fixed tomorrow.

 

You have to error on the side of safety, which you are. Since your daughter says the handling is wonky I'm going to say maybe it is a wheel bearing, that could effect the brakes & handling. Although this is a silly arse guess on my part. It is tough when you are far away & can't be there to help. Good luck my friend.

 

Bad weather is in the offing Monday, but maybe she can get the car in for service still. She'll be home in less than a week, but we're a bit nervous about making the trip home with questionable brakes. I did remind her about the emergency brake and how it can be modulated, which Honda thoughtfully included with a handle and in the right place. Hopefully it won't come to that, but it's a good thing to remember.

I often used the emergency brake to get underway on ice in my '86 Toyota truck with great success, as a kind of stone-age anti-slip control. I was amazed how well it worked.

 

Honestly FWD cars should all come with manual e-brakes for that purpose. there are so many times ive rotated an fwd car in the snow while it just plowed understeer-messed itself forward. with moderate application of e-brake easy recovery indeed.

 

I guess that emergency brakes as we know them will soon succumb to pushbutton parking brakes with no ability to modulate their action.

My daughter's Fit Sport is an automatic, but she learned to drive on manuals. As such, she's in the habit of always setting the parking brake when she parks the car.

She told me that when she took her driving test in an automatic, the DMV employee deducted points because she didn't keep both hands on the wheel during turns and the guy added a snarky remark "that your parents probably do that too". She didn't want to piss the guy off, so said nothing, knowing that she's used to shifting to 2nd in mid-turn, as are her parents. :-)

 

I love an old fashioned e-brake. Nothing better for doing a 180 to give the neighbors something to talk about. My guess is those electronic parking brakes will all break at some point.

Alco, tell your daughter not to set the e-brake with snow & slop on the ground. It could freeze on & it sucks when that happens. Once the temps rise she can resume her routine.

 

Just a small report on the new Michelin's now that we got to test them in the wet with some slush. They are absolutely amazing! It truly has more traction in the wet with the Michelin's than it did in the dry with the Hankook's. The car simply does not break traction now in any circumstance.

My demand for an LSD is now gone with a real set of tires. The Hankook's and then Yokohama's were the problem.

MIchelin Pilot Sport A/S 3+ FTMFW!

 

 

Ken if you don't use that e-brake electronic it will eventually seize up. Might as well use it & hope the fact it is being used lets it work longer.

How do you know that particular drivers examiner you are referring to is low class garbage? Do you know him? You always have a good word for other's. LOL

GAFIT glad those tires are working well for you. A friend had Hankook tires on his GTI when he bought it. They were terrible, but he killed them in short order. I think he replaced them with BFG Comp-2 all seasons.

 

Felix the Fit is back on the road with two new front rotors and new pads for $311.80. That's about what I expected to spend. I'm not sure what the problem was, but one rotor was ruined, which explains the noise. The shop offered to replace just the one rotor to save some money, but we both agreed that it was best to replace both. Rear brakes were fine, as was the brake fluid since I'd changed it this summer. In any case, she's now safe for the drive home.

When my daughter arrives, I'll take a closer look at what could be an engine seal leak on the timing chain side. I dare ask, are those "Mechanic In A Can" seal repair additives any good? With Felix being a '13 with only 80,000 Miles on it, I'm thinking that spending the money on a proper repair would be wise if there is a leak. She continues to love the car and it should get her through college and a few years beyond.

 

Glad you got your daughter back on the road with new breaks. I'm pretty amazed a shop offered to replace just one rotor. You absolutely did the right thing by having both replaced. My .02 is never ever put any sealer in a can into a car. You'll get it figured out when she gets home.

 

Agreed! Whether it be oil, coolant, power steering fluid, or something else, I'd rather have the leak the to pour something that plugs holes. Think of the tiny oil passages in the head for the camshaft lubrication. That sealant can't tell the difference between that and the timing chain cover.

Has anyone changed the oil in the car besides you? A slip on filling would pour straight down the timing chain cover side and look like a leak. I would start by using simple green on the entire area and get it real clean and then see where, if anywhere, oil forms. In general, Honda's aren't known for being leaky. At least not in my experience. Our '08 is still sealed up nice and tight. Possibly getting slight seapage around the crank pulley where the timing chain cover and oil pan meet, but not enough to collect and that's at almost 200k miles.

 

i dont think that's how electronic solenoids work, especially not a motorized one with longer travel? not sure.. but they are wear items. the more u use, the more they break. nothing like euro precision electronics.

oh that was u that worked at a dmv? ;)

 

Ken my crack squad of dmv enforcers is on their way to your place to remove the plates from your cars & your license from your wallet. :-p

Better not run the AC in your car or roll the windows down. They could break & be expensive to fix. ;-)

 

Good thought GAFIT. It could be something as simple as the crush washer on the drain plug being reused. If that model of Fit uses one.

 

 

I'm the only one that's changed Felix's oil since we bought it a few years ago. I'm usually careful when I pour and I clean up any spills quickly, but maybe I missed one. I too was surprised to find this GAFIT, as a seal failure at 80K Miles would indeed seem unusual. As Ash wrote, we'll get it figured out.

Heh heh, my daughter said that it's weird driving the car without hearing that awful metal-on-metal grinding noise.

 

Only thing worse than metal on metal brakes sound is......

Rod knock!!! Yikes. Heard it once in a VW Beetle right before the rod came out the top of the case. :-0 Then it got very quiet, other than the cursing I was doing.