Garage tales: Filled with the wrong oil . . .

is the 1399cc, it’s the one that comes with the Red Dot Model and features two valves and two plugs per cylinder and runs a single overhead camshaft.

That means it has 8 plugs in total. According to Honda, it helps with fuel efficiency. You will find out that the Red Dot is then a bit more expensive to service than normal cars and it tends to be a bit more expensive to fix with 8 plugs and 8 ignition coils.

The L15A is the one that comes with the Blue Dot Honda Fit model and it has the 1500cc motor. This variant comes with Vtec setup, 4 valves and one spark plug per cylinder.

The Vtec generates more power. Both these engines are highly fuel-efficient engines and Honda claims fuel consumption of around 20km/litre.

In Zimbabwe you will not however, get that mileage with our sugar-laced fuel, it turns to burn faster than unleaded fuels.

We have now established that Honda Fits have continuously variable transmissions (CVT). In isolated cases you can find a 5-Speed manual gearbox on a Honda Fit.

This popular CVT is misunderstood by many people who treat it as an automatic transmission as it is in this case. The Blue Dot Honda Fit with L15A is the sportier version and comes equipped with a 7-speed option. Since it’s a CVT, it makes more sense to say it has 7 different speed ratios since it doesn’t actually have gears.

Some people despise them saying they have weak gearboxes but that is not the case. Proper maintenance of these gearboxes is what is lacking.

As the first owner, start your own service record the right way and you will not be disappointed with your car. I know a few people that have serviced their Hondas correctly and are still enjoying the smooth drive even after years of owning the cars.

If filled with the wrong transmission experiences negative changes.

It then confirms one thing . . . ATF in CVT is a recipe for disaster. It’s hard to tell the extent of the damage but what we are sure of is that it is no longer the same.

It would be wise to flush all the fluid but it is near impossible because in total the fluid in the gearbox should be about 7 litres but when you drain you will only get about 4 litres and the rest will be trapped in the torque convertor, cooling lines and radiator.

There is a procedure to drain fluid from the torque convertor which involves starting up the engine so the fluid can be pumped out but this procedure needs a professional to do it. fluid one

You will need to have it done if you are going to drain all the diluted fluid, well, at least most of it.

Honda Fits are strong cars compared to other smaller cars. Honda has a history of making engines that last beyond expectation and the L series engine is no exception.

The CVT is just as good and offers more efficiency than an automatic transmission ever could. There is a general point of view that Honda Fits have problematic transmissions and it’s not so true. Its transmission problems are more o f human error than an engineer i ng weakness . . . all the best. Happy motoring!

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