all i get is:

"There are no current safety recalls for your 2009 Honda Fit.

For information regarding the recently announced Lost Motion Spring
Recall: 2009 and 2010 Fit Vehicles, click here"


of course that means absolutely nothing in regard to what it may say 2 weeks from now. additionally, i suspect our recall will not be labeled a "safety recall." ...of course, i could be completely wrong (i've learned to put this at the end of all my posts).

 

We're waiting for our letter in the mail. Until then, we're driving it as usual.

 

"In a filing with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Honda attributed the problem to “a lack of lubrication “where the lost motion spring retainer contacts the rocker arm.” In the worst case, Honda said, the engine could stall without the ability to restart.

Honda said it received its first report of the part failing in 2008 in Japan and the United States, but decided in January 2009 that the occurrences were too low to merit “market action.”
In November 2009, Honda changed the specification of the spring and continued to monitor the issue, according to the report. Last June, the automaker “observed an increase in claims for vehicles one year old or older” and began to reconsider its 2009 stance. Earlier this month, Honda completed its investigation and concluded a safety defect existed."


Engine-Spring Wear Leads to Recall of Nearly 100,000 Honda Fits - NYTimes.com

 

if these springs do break, the engine won't start...but will it DAMAGE the engine?

 

How many hours does a fix like that take? Is that like, major surgery? Leave the car there for a few days fix?

Dan

 

this is what i see on my profile. can someone else post what they see on their profile as well?

 

Just posting so that I get email notifications for this thread. My VIN does not show a recal yet but like others noted, it's probably not updated yet. My car should be on the tail end of the affected vehicles if that mid-November 2009 cutoff is accurate. Oh well. I'll drive the car normally until I hear from Honda.

 

>>>> Oh shit they will not even look at you. lol just yanking tour chain. Should not be a problem.

>>> I cannot believe your attitude. Just wrong.

>>> Most sensible reply on here. I am doing the same. If it breaks it breaks otherwise just drive it.

 

For those interested in the Sales numbers for 2009, I've linked it below. About 67,000 fits were sold in the US in 2009 (about 5K of them were probably 2010 model year - december sales)

As I said above, I'm not worrying much about the recall. With 19 months of driving on our fit, I highly doubt 1 more month will make a difference.

Of note, I'm sure Honda doesn't have an extra 700,000 of these springs laying around so they likely have to ramp up production to meet the demand that will come once the recall is sent out. (the US market is only 1/7 of the recall) It's not like they can just take them off the shelf as they still need to produce 2011 vehicles. Likely they will have to find a method to increase production 10x and for them to have the expectation that they'll be able to begin this type of work within 1 month is VERY impressive. Granted they won't be fixing them all on day one but still, the factory that produces these springs looks like they are producing 500,000 per year and now they have to produce an extra 700,000 in just a few months.

http://www.vtec.net/news/news-item?news_item_id=948717


I'm curious as to where this part is located... anyone have an exploded view of the engine?

~SB

 

darn my car should be apart of this... i think i have a November 09 make on a 2010 model..... i am kinda sad now..

 

I called Honda on that. They say the website s not current with regards to this recall.

 

This is a car. Cars get recalled from time to time. I'd prefer Honda recall the car now instead of sweeping the problem under the rug like Toyota tried to do with their "sludger" V6's or like GM did with the 3100/3400/3800 V6 intake manifold gaskets leaking. Either way lots of otherwise-healthy grenaded unless the owner took it upon themselves to fix the problem. I'm glad to see Honda's taking care of us so far by publicly announcing the recall.

For you folks on other message boards, spread the word of the recall. I bet somebody's friend who has a Fit but won't get a letter for whatever reason will be glad to hear of the fix before anything major could happen to their Fit.

 

I wonder if running synthetic oil reduces the likelihood of having the issue if it is lubrication related. This is exactly the reason I spend a little bit extra for synthetic oil that some see as overkill or a waste of money. Better cold flow characteristics, better film strength etc in a situation where lubrication is marginal could be the difference in excessive wear/stress or not. To me,that bit of extra protection is worth the extra $10-$15/year.

 

I checked the web link last night, but know no more now than I did before. Apparently, they're not updating the site in a "timely fashion."

Seeing as my Fit was built in December '08, it's more than likely involved. I can imagine it's going to take quite a while to manufacture and distribute the repair parts as well as train the personel to do the work. Meanwhile, I figure the odds of failure are pretty negligable, so I'm not really worried.

Regarding my Honda dealer; I have no issues with them except that they're a long way from where I live and work. This is a rural area, and they're 16 miles from home and 21 miles from work. That's why I do my own oil changes and tire rotations, etc.

For years I drove Dodges, not because I liked them that well, but they were the only dealership in the town where I work. I could easily drop the car off for service and walk in to work from there. Of course, on the Neon, something was always breaking down, so I did that a lot.

 

If this does have anything to do with that low RPM under load whirl noise then I am kinda glad. I thought it had something to do with my intake. Hopefully this will go through as smooth as the recall I had on my 99 Accord's ignition switch. Let's get this over with!

 

Sorry, but ignorance about an issue, is not valid reason to not worry about it.

I am not too happy that at the least it seems Honda's quality control failed and not only failed but failed in regards to an engine component that IMO should be tested thoroughly.

When an automaker does a recall on this level, they aren't doing it to be nice. They are doing it because they've determined that A: It's a safety issue, and they will be forced to do it...or B: It's a problem that if left unadressed would result in waves of such negative publicity that it would be detrimental to the reputation of the entire company.

Yeah, Honda is being pro-active...but again, they aren't just being nice. If they thought the failure rate was going to be low enough, or not result in potential accidents...they wouldn't be recalling all our Fits...

As a consumer? Sure, it might be fixable, it might be fine. But I'm still not happy. Right off the bat, the negative publicity of a high profile engine recall hits the value of my vehicle.

Secondly, it REALLY shakes my confidence in Honda. Sure many automakers are involved in recalls to varying extent. But an engine part? That's failure can result in sudden stalling and/or engine damage?

In my way of thinking, when I was looking to purchase, within the subcompact class there were numerous choices. I paid a premium, to go with the Honda product...not exclusively, but in part because of Honda's reputation for quality. That reputation just took an enormous hit, IMO.

Honda, Toyota...I don't know it growth and competition has just resulted in automakers cutting corners..but the perhaps unjustified reputation of these Japanese companies building superior products has definently dropped recently.

I still love the design of My Fit. IMO it's a beautifully designed vehicle. But can I ever have as much confidence in the entire package? At an entry level, subcompact level, I don't mind cutting corners with cheaper carpeting, no locking fuel door...things like that...

But I bought my Fit with the hope that as a Honda, a place they would NOT cut corners or drop the ball would be the engine. Evidently Honda did.

Will it all be alright? Now really that can only be defined in retrospect. It will take 100,000+ miles and perhaps years before anyone can really say, The engine is fine...

But I at least now have serious concern about what other area's or parts might be substandard that we simply are not being told about...

 

Very well said (or should I say written ). You covered everything I think about this. It's best to get things right from the start. After the fact fixes can introduce sloppy work and unforeseen new problems. This definitely earns a demerit for Honda in my view.

 

i agree with all that, except for the last sentence.

the lost-motion spring is clearly not failing in mass numbers. the investigation into the problem has been ongoing for 2 years. it would appear the chances of the part failing on any given car is slim ("honda says at least 72 complaints were filed in Japan, and 29 abroad").

the engine in the 2009 fit was completely new...... as we all know, buying a car in its first model year has an increased chance for a recall.

 

If its similar to the B Series motors, it shouldn't be a terribly difficult repair process. The first one the shop does will take most of the morning, the second one will only take a couple hours.

Basically remove the cam cover. Remove everything under the cover except springs and valves. Remove and replace LMA's. Put everything else back in. Probably check valve clearance. Put cam cover on. Get another cup of coffee.

Since everything will be out of the way, they should give you a good price on putting in new sparkplugs. Don't settle for the normal price for the install labor.<LOL>

Car should run a little quieter due to new LMA springs or assemblies and/or valve adjustment. After a couple days check for any oil leaks in case the gasket for the cam cover doesn't settle right.

I wonder if they will just give me the parts if I promise to give the bad ones back?

John

 

Thanks for that. Frankly, I'd like to be the 100th, when it becomes merely routine and the process is fine-tuned. More than anything else with this, I'm concerned that I'm gonna have to place faith in the very person doing this work, with whom I have absoluetly no relationship with, no track record, and no confidence with except...faith. When I bought my Fit I was very impressed with the service department. I got a tour of it as a matter of course when looking at the Fit for purchase. Let's hope they work as good as they look.

Dan