Somewhere on the old forum I had a thread from when we purchased this car brand new in March 2009. We drove it for ~170k before giving it to our oldest daughter in 2016 after her Vitara was totaled by an uninsured drunk driver. 
 

Since then her & her husband took the car to Germany, back to New Mexico, then up to Colorado, before deciding they were ready to replace it. The final straw was when it broke the passenger side outer CV joint while we were visiting them. They offered to give the car back to us, so I had their mechanic replace the CV shaft & we towed it home. 

 

It has somewhere around 236k on it now(iirc), but they've taken pretty good care of it. The clear coat is peeling, but the interior is still pretty nice & it runs/drives fine. They had the AC system overhauled a couple years ago, replaced shocks/struts, and changed the plugs/coils within the last couple years too. There are a couple things to address though:

  • The rear hatch doesn't always lock when you lock the car from either inside or with the remote. I noticed that at least once the cargo light inside the hatch area was still on too. The battery was replaced earlier this year, so it should be good. They drove the car daily, so it wasn't a problem for them. 
  • It sounds like the valves may be due for adjustment. I might farm this out, as it looks like access is much tighter than on the 1st gen Fit.
  • The Continental DWS they installed 2 years ago have quite a bit of shoulder wear(I taught her how to drive...). It won't be a problem here, but this will probably become the vehicle for any trips back home to IL which seem to happen in winter. So I may need new tires in a few months. 
Woody (Forum Supportum)
Woody (Forum Supportum) GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
7/10/23 11:03 a.m.

5 speed?

glueguy (Forum Supporter)
glueguy (Forum Supporter) GRM+ Memberand Dork
7/10/23 12:03 p.m.

Wow, love this story and the beginning of Life 3.0 for this fun looking little ride. 

AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter)
AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
7/10/23 12:44 p.m.

if the Fit has a similar hatch release handle arrangement to the Odyssey, it may be corrosion on the pivots of the release handle not letting the handle return all the way to it's home position, which will not let the latches fully latch, which will cause the non-locking issue you experienced. it's worth a look.

Pete Gossett (Forum Supporter)
Pete Gossett (Forum Supporter) GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
7/10/23 10:08 p.m.

In reply to AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) :

The handle its self quit working several years ago, but they had that fixed within the last year. We drove it to run errands today & it seemed to work fine, so I'm not sure what the root problem is. I'll get a pic of the part inside the hatch that I had to flip to get it to lock previously though. 

Pete Gossett (Forum Supporter)
Pete Gossett (Forum Supporter) GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
7/10/23 10:10 p.m.
Woody (Forum Supportum) said:

5 speed?

Automatic. Though our son-in-law has a 2009 Fit Sport manual that I helped him pick out 2 years ago. I'm sure it's partly due to 150k+ plus of wear, but I don't care for either the clutch or shifter feel on it at all. I honestly prefer the automatic to the manual in this situation. 

jimbob_racing
jimbob_racing SuperDork
7/10/23 10:11 p.m.

Definitely sounds like the rear handle. They fail so often that you can buy an oem one on Amazon. I've done them on both my 2007 and 2008 Fits.

Pete Gossett (Forum Supporter)
Pete Gossett (Forum Supporter) GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
7/12/23 6:40 p.m.

This white oval bit is the piece that needed flipped when the rear hatch wouldn't lock. 
 


 

I'm thinking something might not have been aligned correctly when the handle was replaced, since it moves freely & operates the latch smoothly. 

Here’s some freaky E36 M3 for you. I walked out of Walmart about a. Hour ago & was 5’-6’ from my car, looking at it, when the driver’s side rear door window just shattered. I didn’t hit anything with the cart, I didn’t see or hear anything hit the window. Just “crash” & it fell to pieces. 

Datsun240ZGuy
Datsun240ZGuy MegaDork
2/2/24 5:30 p.m.

In reply to Pete Gossett (Forum Supporter) :

Dang Hondas and their quality......

CyberEric
CyberEric SuperDork
2/2/24 5:33 p.m.

Wow, that is FREAKY! Especially that you saw it happen! Dang. Was it cold?

OHSCrifle
OHSCrifle GRM+ Memberand UberDork
2/2/24 5:54 p.m.

Pellet gun?

jfryjfry
jfryjfry UltraDork
2/2/24 6:42 p.m.

You must be who defined the phrase "staring daggers."

 

Is spontaneous window shattering a thing?

chandler
chandler MegaDork
2/2/24 7:38 p.m.
jfryjfry said:

You must be who defined the phrase "staring daggers."

 

Is spontaneous window shattering a thing?

Yes, high humidity and changes from cold to hot sometimes exploit weaknesses in the glass and this happens. I've never seen it on a car this new though

CyberEric said:

Wow, that is FREAKY! Especially that you saw it happen! Dang. Was it cold?

It was fairly warm, in the upper-50's. The parking spot was partially shaded on the passenger side of the car, but the driver's side was to the north, so the sun wasn't shining on it. 

OHSCrifle said:

Pellet gun?

That would be really highly unlikely. It was the Walmart Neighborhood market, so a relatively small lot. The driver's side was facing toward the store(that I had just walked out of). There was no sound, except the glass shattering, and there was another guy next to the cart corral who saw/heard it happen too. 

There aren't any houses, or anything else close by where someone might have been hiding, and I was near the middle of the lot, so there were closer/easier targets. 

jfryjfry said:

You must be who defined the phrase "staring daggers."

More like zoning out, it had been a long day. 

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