Got my 20 y/o daughter a 2011 Fit recently, and mostly it's been great. 175K. Got it checked out and had a few things fixed, but otherwise we were happy.
However, she was heading off into the mountains today for a week long mountain road trip, and it suddenly started shaking and losing power. Check engine light came on and she pulled over and shut her down - good girl.
Had it towed back to town, and I got the codes read - came up with a P2646 - Rocker Arm Actuator. AKA VTEC.
Did some searching at it looks probable that it's a bad pressure sensor. Maybe a clogged filter. Oil is full and pretty new.
What else should I be looking at?
In reply to TVR Scott :
That sounds similar to what happened to my daughter's 1st gen Fit, though I don't remember the code. The part was cheap & easy to replace, if that's the same issue.
In reply to Pete Gossett (Forum Supporter) :
Did you just swap out the pressure switch and then everything was fine? Do you recall if you had to pull off the entire solenoid block?
I ordered the whole solenoid assembly from the local dealership. It includes a new switch and new gasket. I feel better knowing that the whole set is new and ready to go.
Any idea if this is going to barf oil everywhere when I remove it? The service manual doesn't mention any fun like that.
Should I coat the gasket in a little oil? Or just put it together dry?
I've not done it on a fit, but the CRV 2.4 often throws a vtec actuator code that may be, but has never been, the oil sender. It gets the solenoid/ sender combo in every case in my life.
I also have zero memory of what code it sets.
In reply to Streetwiseguy :
Ok, cool. Sounds like the same situation. I feel even better about my choice to get the whole assembly.
TVR Scott said:
In reply to Pete Gossett (Forum Supporter) :
Did you just swap out the pressure switch and then everything was fine? Do you recall if you had to pull off the entire solenoid block?
I think once the airbox was out of the way & it was maybe 4-bolts for the top of the assembly to come off & that was it. There was a bit of oil seepage, but no major mess.
If it's like the 2.4 in my wife's old element there is a screen on the gasket for the solenoid that can clog up & be cleaned for a cheap fix. The solenoid should come with a pressure switch installed so it's a good bet at fixing the problem in one go. Her element ended up having too low of oil pressure as the cause, it had lived a rough life & burned a large amount of oil at highway speeds though.
Got the new part, and changed it out. Super easy - only about 20 min.
Cleared the code and drove the car around a bit, and it didn't reset. Seemed to drive fine.
Only issue is this is what the old screen looked like:
Now is it time to panic?
Did some searching for "honda vvt solenoid screen full of metal" and it would seem this is not exactly uncommon.
Several people reported finding non-small chunks of metal in this screen, similar to what I found above. Many then dropped the pan and/or cut open the filter and found no issues. The metal in my looks like aluminum, not steel or copper.
Could there be something else that sheds metal into this screen? Maybe an early wear-in situation that prompted Honda to add the screen in the first place? Grasping at straws...
Yikes, I get understand your concern. Metal shavings in any part of an engine gives me the creeps.
We made it to Burlington with no issues beyond a smashed fender liner. Three days and 2000 miles
Looks like you solved the issue. Those filters get easily clogged and cause all kinds of fun with the L15s and K20/24s.
