Hi!

I've been looking through these forums to try and solve my problem but I haven't seen anything that matches it. I'm not very car savvy so I will try to explain my problem as best I can...

I bought a new Honda Fit about 2 years about (2011)-- the car has just over 40,000 miles on it now. (long commute.) I had recently brought it in to get an oil change at my dealership and upon getting it back I noticed that the car was driving strangely-- being used to having a smooth ride, the car's acceleration felt clunky, almost as if I were lunging into gear when I applied pressure to the accelerator. If I would remove my foot, the deceleration felt odd too-- like it was pulling itself to a slow stop, instead of smoothly decelerating on it's own. I've brought it into the dealership three times now to check on this problem but they keep telling me the car feels fine. "feels like a Honda fit should feel" - but that doesn't make it feel any better for me. I even drove around with a tech a few times. I had my transmission fluid and air filters replaced, and the oil is new. I've also tried a fuel injector cleaner, but-- no luck. It bewilders me because it feels entirely different from how it did before-- the drive is not comfortable and feels to be shifting roughly- like I'm forcing it more and the drive just feels a more rough and bumpy. The dealer said the only thing they probably needs replacing are my tires soon-- would that play a part into my uncomfortable drive? It feels like a shifting problem but I don't have much knowledge in cars so it's hard for me to say exactly.

Any advice? I'm at a loss and don't know what to do-- thanks so much for any tips!

 

OK this may seem odd but any chance the floor mat has moved and somehow interferes with gas pedal? I put my Weather tech mat in last week wrong and had it over the pedal. duh.

Then take the car out and give it a good spirited run and see if that helps. Maybe someone else can help.

 

Worn tires could make it feel more "rough" but I wouldn't expect to notice this during shifting. I'd probably get another opinion (different honda dealer?).

The factory drive train warranty is 5 years 60k miles.

The transmission does have grade logic which downshifts when you descend to help with braking. It could be you started noticing this and it was there all along. On level ground this wouldn't have an effect.

 

wow, my 09 is still on factory tranny fluid. one thing i dont change out early.

 

did the dealer update the AT map or something? that could be the problem too.

 

I'd consider anything so I'll check those floor mats-- thanks Black3sr.

Thanks for the advice Steve-- I was thinking about checking with a mechanic friend of the family and see if he see's anything. I had my brother drive it around and he said it didn't feel too odd to him but, again-- it's a big difference for me from one day to the next. Not sure what might have happened.

Kenchan, I'm not sure that the dealer updated the AT map...?

Here's something I should have mentioned in my first post-- I did have it to the dealer a few weeks prior to this happening because the vehicle stopped accelerating on my way to work altogether. It was feeling a bit funky, I pulled up to a light and when I hit the accelerator it didn't move. I turn the car on and off and the check engine light went on. I had to towed to the dealership. They told me something (forgot the name) was clogged and they removed it. I got it back and it worked again. Maybe that is contributing to this new feeling in the car?

 

Just wondering if your dealership will let you test drive other fits to see if this really is the normal way the fit drives. If not, you could at least point out those differences to the techs, instead of having them claim your acceleration is fine.

 

Good idea, Connor55-- I'll give that a shot.

Anyone think it could be a sparkplug issue? I know my car is only 40k miles but, I've heard other people have that jerky acceleration with bad sparkplugs... anything I could specifically ask my service guy to check?

 

Not by themselves (spark plug design life over 100K). And the engine braking behavior doesn't lead me to think plugs.

Knowing what engine malfunction code resulted in the check engine light, and what exactly was clogged could be important. Should be on your receipt.

There are some reports of solenoid pack failures on automatic Fits. These are the electromagnets that actuate valves controlling the transmission. If they are bad enough it will trigger the check engine light.

You're well within the factory power train warranty, so I'd probably adopt a wait-and-see attitude unless it's really annoying.