2009 Honda Fit Sport AT . 150K miles

2 years 10K miles ago my Fit would not start , it would crank and crank , it started to sound like it was cranking slow and I hooked up the jumper cables . Cranked and cranked. Eventually it started . Figure 10-15 minutes of on and off cranking the engine.
It was November , the car had been sitting for 3 or 4 days.

Fast forward to a week or so ago , same thing. Car had be sitting for 3 days , but was started a couple times to move it . It belongs to my son now , and it took him 10 minutes of trying before it would start.

No issues since , and no issues after the first time it happened to the second . No CELs , Strong gas odor when it finally started , which I imagine was from all the fuel pumped into the engine when cranking.

Any ideas ? This is impossible to troubleshoot , lol .

 

Fuel problem maybe. Dieing pump or a clog somewhere?

 

I had a no start maybe a month back? There's a lot of factors to starting, and failure could be a cumulative effect: a number of things not ideal plus x factor. But. for me, my fault was during winter and a solution assuming winter gas to be the fault wound up working for me.

Next time, floor the gas pedal while cranking.

Here's a readable courtesy of car and driver. I don't think it listed the solution I'm offering.. I ditched that link way back when because the dude literally had no legitimate argument. Yet it worked for me
I knew my plugs were good, valves adjusted. My fuel pressure regulator may be wearing out (potentially indicated by clatter on cold start during low temp weather) but I could hear the pump pressurizing lines when I flipped the key to On II. Ran two scanners on it and got nothing. No CEL, no reason for failure. I keep my GE pretty tight and greasy.. so the no-start had me pretty upset.

Give this solution a shot next time. Maybe I'll hear back from yuh in two years.

PS: I recall reading from an early 90's Chevy shop manual twice the bulk of a dictionary that flooring the gas when cranking was used to cut fuel and clear flooding. I think I did read in the Fit's SM that it serves the same function in our application. It wasn't listed as purposed for flooding, I think it just said that if you crank it floored, it cuts fuel as a safety thing..

 

That's what we did in my day. On engines with carburetors.

Just sitting here trying to remember the last time I flooded an engine with fuel injectors. Maybe it will come to me after a cup of coffee . . . .

 

FWIW,
Honda Fit User's Manual, Page 216. Steps 5 & 6, specifically.