Honda Fit Lighting and Electrical Questions

jribakove

I finally tracked down the cause of my low beams failing, and it's not the headlight switch. Here's the deal, and also the reason why changing the switch works for a while, but not for good. The culprit is a bit of corroded wire leading into the plug that goes into the headlight switch. When you pull out the plug to change the switch, that bit of wire gets jiggled and electricity passes thru it again, until the corrosion comes back.

Here's the lousy part. The bad wire, at least on my 07 Fit, is the piece that goes right into the plug. My mechanic was able to scrape away the corrosion but says the plug and a few inches of wire leading to it, should be replaced or the problem will eventually return. But the mechanic, who is independent, tells me that Honda won't sell the plug/wires except as part of the entire Instrument Cluster Harness, which costs about $800 and connects to every gauge behind the dashboard as well as all the lights. It will take hours to replace the whole thing . . . big labor costs.

One possibility is to buy the Instrument Cluster Harness and just cut off the plug/wires that are needed, and splice them onto the existing harness, which seems to be fine except for that one bit of wire leading to the headlight switch.

Currently I'm searching salvage yards for the harness to try and avoid paying Honda $800 for a new one. No luck so far, but my headlights are still working so I'll keep trying until they give out again.

Hope this has been helpful!

flman

Update to My Air Force Daughters 07 Honda Fit:
She has noticed that prior to starting her car she must make sure the A/C level buttons are OFF! If A/C 1,2 or 3 are on when the car is started then the radio volume will not work. Anybody know what is going on?????

hqly2001

Hello,

I noticed last week that my cruise control and the sport feature doen't work on my fit. The lights for CC doesn't turn on at all. When I put the gear to
S, the sports feature doesn;t show up and it drive like in D mode. Anyone have such problem? The horn and emergency lights work. Thinking it might be a switch problem? I wanna hear other experiences before i take it in for diagnostics.. kinda don;t wanna spend $140... but i might..
I do have B1 service light on.. maybe the service light cause the two features to be turned off? Can anyone with B1 light verify that i'm wrong?

hqly2001

anyone?

thegraduate

Try posting here in the Honda Fit Maintenance forum. You'll likely find more help than you would in a thread like this.

I don't own a Fit (two Accords), but B1 is simply indicating the service you have due. Your manual will tell you what this entails (likely just Oil/Filter Change, Inspections, and a tire rotation). It wouldn't affect cruise control or other features of the vehicle. Best of luck.

iancann

@jribakove

are you able to offer advice as to how we can fix the switch/corrosion without going to a dealer?

any tips would be much appreciated!

thanks

jribakove

A private mechanic who is skilled at solving electrical problems should be able to find the source of the trouble by tracing the wire that leads to the headlight switch from the instrument cluster harness. My problem was a corroded wire in that area. It seems that the wire was not properly insulated by Honda. My mechanic found the corrosion and cleaned the wire well, and I have not had a problem for several months, hopefully for good. Honda will also sell the instrument cluster harness, but it costs about $800 and would take several hours to replace. Seems like a lot of trouble for just a bit of bad wire. Good luck!

iancann

hmmm, i see... so it's not something I can tinker with myself then? shame!

thanks for the info though. i was so confused as to how the full beams were working and the others weren't. at least the mystery has been solved.

roger227

Remember as well that "S" mode goes totally manual as soon as you hit a paddle. "S" mode will stay automatic but once you hit a paddle you MUST change gears yourself using the paddles. I've had "normal" stick-shift with cruise of course but maybe cruise doesn't engage in "S" in the Fit?
Just a thought.

nighthawkfit1

This happen to my Honda Fit Sport on 4/5/10 and I took it to my Local Repair Shop (Not the dealer). And he found the problem was an Open Low Beam Ground Wire 2 the Switch due to connector resistance. He had to remove & replace the HEADLAMP SWITCH $67.96 Then Perform Shunt inorder to Repair the Low Beam Headlamps $84.95
Perfomed Wiring Repair due to Overloaded Circuit at the Switch. My whole total was $174.25

mcco

My 2007 Fit Sport also had a sudden failure of both low beam lights (4/20/2010), but high beams still worked. Fuses and bulbs were okay. I took it to DCH Academy Honda in Old Bridge, NJ and the problem was traced to a burnt out wire and connection in the connector (located in the steering column) leading to the multifunction switch (at the turn signal base). The headlight switch was okay. This is the same problem as the 2002-03 Civic recall. In fact, they used the Civic replacement connector for my Fit and also replaced the bad wire. (Parts: $31.50; labor $230). The techs believed the wire's gauge was too thin for its load and the more robust Civic connector should do the job. Otherwise, they were afraid that the only solution would involve replacing the instrument wiring cluster harness. Honda should recall Fits for this problem.

gringoken

Hi,

I just filed a complaint about this issue with the NHTSA; they have 5 other complaints on file.

Even if you had your Fit fixed, call the hotline at 1-888-DASH-2-DOT (1-888-327-4236).

If they get enough cases, they might issue a recall. I don't know if Honda will reimburse you if you already had it fixed, but it certainly would not hurt to try.

Thanks!

eli8

Hello, 10/14/2010
I just filed a complaint with NHTSA..and i hope everyone else does...while driving at night the low beam headlights all of a sudden were low and seemed like they were moving up and down...i saw a complaint also made to NHTSA for this exact problem...in order to correct it i will have to take all that is written here to my Honda dealer....but Honda should have a recall for this...
:mad:

toronto53

I test drove a 2008 Honda Fit today with very low miles. It drove great except the radio wouldn't work (needed the code) and the salesman said this was because the battery was low or needed charging. There was a previous post on the batteries in the 08 Fit which is now closed.:
http://answers.edmunds.com/question-Has-problem-Honda-Fit-2008-starting-battery-- 88710.aspx

Is the battery still a problem with this model?

PF_Flyer

Perhaps the salesman meant that the radio needed to be reprogrammed because the battery had gone dead or had been replaced. In a lot of cars, you need to reprogram radios if you disconnect the battery.

toronto53

Thanks for your response.

The 'battery code' was on the side of the glove box.
The salesman entered it several times, but it didn't work.

The car has less than 2,000 miles; the saleman said it hadn't sold
because of the manual transmission....(maybe the color - its bright blue). Its not on the Honda dealer lot, but on sold through a large used car dealer.

Since the 3 year warranty will be up in a couple of months, I'm concerned after reading the other post about the problem with batteries in this model.

I have very little experience buying cars so any suggestions are appreciated.

lalaland

Received an official recall notice on this yesterday. Extremely happy, as I've been reading the alerts over the last year and have been quite worried about it.

eli8

hi...i had the recall done on the low beams...DID NOT CORRECT THE PROBLEM. My lights low beam are still going up and down...and now my high beams are not bright enought...so tired of this...

jaypare

The interior dome light in my car stopped working in my 2007 honda fit sport and I’d like to know what fuse to check for troubleshooting. I’ve looked at the owner’s manual, but none of the fuse descriptions state interior or dome light. Any help would be appreciated.

freeda_peoples

Greetings! My Check engine warning light on my 2007 Honda Fit Sport (95,000 miles) flashed repeatedly on my way to work this morning. I'm afraid to drive it. It began running rough last week, so had the plugs replaced, and it was better for a few days. Now, running rough again, and I have a flashing engine light. suggestions? If I drive this, will I blow the engine? Help! thanks!

carkarma23

Hi, I hope you were able to get this diagnosed. I had he same problem and it was caused by low oil. I was about a quart and a half low.

wicker79

hey guys
I have an 08 honda fit (AT) base model. while driving on the highway the check engine light came on. the engine preformance has not been affacted but I am concerned since it only has about 61,000 km's. A coworker of mine said it has to do with something to do with the emissions like the O2 sensor. Another says it could be the fuel cap isn't on tight. so I tried to retighten the gas cap to see if that works but it still is on. :confuse: