I have a 2009 Sport (manual) with 160k km on it. Haven't had any problems with it, but it has sat in the garage for about 3 weeks. Last night I went to move it. It initially fired (I'm pretty sure) on the first crank or two, but then died. Now it will turn the engine no problem, but zero firing. I also hooked up jumper cables off of my other vehicle with the same result. I can hear the fuel pump come on for a couple seconds when I turn the key, but at the end of the couple seconds there is a funny noise (don't know how to describe it). With my spark plugs being in a difficult position, I don't know how to check if I'm getting spark. Any suggestions?

 

I think it's unlikely that all four spark plugs/coils would fail simultaneously while the car is parked. With the individual coil packs, you basically have four independent ignition systems.

Does the immobilizer light stay on? If so, you have a problem with that system or with the chip in the key. It should typically just flash very briefly when you go to start the car. (I'm assuming the Canadian Fits have the immobilizer system). You might also try resetting the computer by disconnecting the negative battery cable for a spell in case it's somehow in some strange state.

 

That was my thought too, that it should at least stutter or run rough if one or two spark plugs/coils were bad. How does the immobilizer work? Does it cut spark or fuel, but still allow the engine to turn over? I'll try to disconnect the battery.

 

The immobilizer is part of the ECU, so I think it does just prevent spark and fuel injection. I believe the starter motor solenoid is wired more or less directly to the key switch, so the engine will crank and turn over regardless. There is a dash light that illuminates (a key shaped green light, at least in the US) when the immobilizer is active—that is, when it doesn't like the key. I haven't verified this behavior personally, as I don't have a nonfunctional but correctly cut key handy.

Things may well be different on the new Fits with keyless ignition, but that's unimportant here.

I had a car once where I replaced the wires and distributor cap and rotor and got two of the plug wires swapped. It started just fine and ran a little roughly and noisily with only two of the four cylinders operating. You should get at least some sign of life with a bum plug or coil, and probably be able to drive the car.

 

Left the battery unconnected for half an hour and tried again with no luck. Tried with the other key - no luck. I don't see any key symbol coming up on the dash, so I assume it isn't the immobilizer. I have tried pumping the gas pedal and holding it down while trying to start and I can't smell any fuel with my head beside the engine. If I can hear the hum of the fuel pump for a couple seconds with the key on, then that means that my pump has power right?

 

Don't know what I did, but it's running now. The battery was getting low on juice after quite a few attempts, so I hooked it up to a booster and tried again and got a bit of a stutter. I then let it crank while holding my foot on the accelerator and after 5 seconds of cranking it reluctantly stuttered to life. Thanks for the help DrewE

 

Glad you got it going!

Although I'm not sure I was necessarily all that much help in the end...hopefully whatever was wrong was just some transient glitch and won't return.