he's spamming.....

 

This just happened with my son's 2010 Fit Sport. I had just told him a few minutes earlier that it appears he needs a valve adjustment, because I could detect a bit of roughness. All of a sudden it seemed to lose compression and was misfiring badly, running like a Harley. We had it towed home and I went to work getting to the plug coils. The #3 was broken off, hanging by the wiring harness and the spark plug was gone. I bought a scope camera and found the threads were damaged. It's at a Honda dealer right now being repaired. I have done a ton of work on my Hondas over the years, even a head replacement on a '96 Civic, but I didn't have the experience doing a rethread/insert job and figured I would pay the pros to do it. Pretty pissed and disappointed in Honda about this. The car is 10 years old, but doesn't have enough miles to justify this.

 

Sorry to hear that. When I found out about this thread I took mine apart and tightened them down more than the original spec and also used thread lock.

 

I agree, but on the flip side, poor maintenance is often to blame.

Don't know about your Son's car, but in the case of my good friends 2009 Fit, I blame him mostly. He had almost 100k miles on it and had never done a valve adjustment or spark plug change. #3 Spark plug ejected from his head and destroyed the threads along the way. We pulled the head, had it repaired, and put it all back together with a good valve adjustment and spark plug change. Did another adjustment at 160k miles. He traded it in with over 200k.

If your Son's car has 90k plus miles on it, make sure the dealer or you do a valve adjustment. It is absolutely mandatory whether the you can hear the valves or not. The exhaust valves tighten over time which makes zero noise, but can cause valve seat wear which can lead to the spark plug ejection issue.

 

My maintenance reminder for the spark plug change came at around the 100k mark, I had it done at the dealer along with the valve adjustment and it still blew a spark plug and ruined the threads before the next spark plug service interval.

 

That sucks! Makes me wonder if the dealer under torqued the plugs. The manual calls for 13 ft/lbs, but that's not even enough to fully crush the washer. I believe in turning them until they bottom out. Not saying to use a breaker bar, but they need enough force to compress the crush washer or they aren't seated properly.

 

I changed mine at 120k miles and checked them 5k miles later and 1, 3, 4 were loose! I had tightened them down to 25 foot pounds but they still came loose! Used blue thread locker on them and installed them again. Check those plugs every 5k miles. Hopefully the blue thread locker will solve the problem. Best of luck Clay

 

Make sure you torqued them enough! Have to fully compress the crush washer.

I don't think Honda has even close to the correct torque spec on these plugs with crush washers.

 

My wife did something similar. I realized that she had insufficient regard for expensive joint property that she knew I worked hard to maintain, that she knew I spent money on to maintain, as well as insufficient regard for her own safety and well-being, as well as for that of her passengers (my child). After she did this a third time, despite my frequently reminding her to call me if a light went on, I filed for divorce. I didn't want to work my ass off, and spend lots of money, for the purpose of having a reliable, safe, car, only to have the care damaged by careless use. I had no choice but to get rid of the woman. She showed insufficient regard for my well-being too. I realized this woman was not someone good to have in my life..

 

My lady did something similar also. I told her to not get rocks on my floormats when she sets foot in my car. The other day she left a rock on my floormat. Her and her dog will now be spending their xmas in a homeless shelter downtown.

 

Wow! Talk about having your priorities in the wrong place!

 

Yup...thats exactly what i told her.
Probably what Nomenclator told his lady too.

 

Once again,

revised torque spec from Honda is 20 ft.lbs.

if you don't know whether your plugs have been torqued to 20, do so as soon as able.


This is a baby lizard we found sleeping on the chicken coop. "The world isn't so bad if you can just get out in it."

 

None of us should be paying for the spark plug unscrewing issues. Honda could have taken care of this for many owners while the cars where down for the Takata airbag backups. Instead they get to sell coil packs, spark plugs and the occasional head job. All I could get the dealership to do was reduce cost by 30% which is nothing.

 

I agree, but forgive me if I'm repeating myself.

My Check Engine Light (CEL) came on but thinking back I was detecting gasoline odor when starting / warming up (winter time in Pennsylvania). What threw me was the the Vehicle Stability Assist (VSA) light was on too with the CEL ('11 Sport AT ~38K miles at time, now 91K miles). So, I broke my Golden Rule and took it to the dealer. They wanted / I paid $50 for a diagnosis: Misfire #2. They determined that misfire code meant coil pack / I paid +$165 with tax for a coil pack. They said / I paid $50 labor. So, let's round it off at $300 that includes the PITA factor.

I left and the CEL was off. Within 2 days, the CEL was back on and I stopped at an AutoZone / Advance Auto for a free error code read: Misfire in #2 'and' #3. I called the dealer and the tech assistant says the coil packs must be bad. I'm thinking $300 + $300 = another $600 after already paying $300 = $900

The saving grace was that I asked for the old coil pack that was supposed to be bad on the original change out (Who knows if I even got mine back?). After absorbing the shock of more problems, I got out the old coil pack and I'm looking it over and it's covered with soot and had a strong odor of gasoline. I'm thinking, 'How can soot and gasoline get on this part that is 'outside' the engine?' Only way is that the spark plug is leaking.

So, I did the left-handed 'reach-around' and started removing the electrical connections, then the 10mm nut holding the coil pack. I put the spark plug socket with shorty extension on the plug and #2 & #3 are loose. S - O - B !!!

I decided to do it the right way and removed the windshield wipers, cowling, and the upper pan of the HVAC airbox. Installed new spark plugs, torqued to spec and I reused the original coil pack that was deemed bad by the dealer. All Ok. Within a month / 15K miles, the CEL was back on. Did the 'reach-around again and #2 & #3 were loose.

I decided to use a little blue threadlocker paste on each plug and tightened each without a torque wrench. CEL went out and I've put on another 30K-40K miles without an issue.

Several years later, I'm taking a welding class at the local vo-tech and there's a tech from the same dealer there. I asked him about these misfire issues. He told me that 'loose spark plugs' are a 'known issue'. To me, it sounds like a money-making scheme: I have a misfire, $300, but don't fix the underlying problem, loose spark plug, charge another $300, over and over.

 

@spike55_bmw: Good post and recap of events.

 

This is what happened to my 09 Honda Fit, buy brand new at 09 and first check engine light on on 17 then back to dealer and been told Misfire no.3 cylinder due to the no. 3 spark plug loosen due to reason unknown, new spark plug replace and cost over Canadian$300 more. After about 18 months, check engine light on again then back to dealer and found out the same spark plug came off, I ask if replacement needs, I would replace all four spark plugs, after few hours received the call from services that only no1 and 3 can replace and no 2 and 4 is too tight and unable to take out, also, the no.3 thread is wear out and not guarantee when it will loosen again, it really scare me four cylinder ,spark plugs for No. 1 is able to replace, no.3 is loosen for reason unknown, and no.2 and 4 will be there for good and unable to replaced. No idea how Honda would give me explanation in this, totally disappointed, for those owner 09 honda fit, be aware when time to change the spark plugs, make sure don't break the thread on the cylinder head or your car is tossed.