Vibation on take off ~ any common problems

**shadou** · 10-02-2009 08:54 PM

oh I was largely put off with the Jazz cos of the CVT, was going to sell my civic and buy one actually, gayness if I knew that a year ago I would've

**Type-R** · 10-02-2009 08:58 PM

Sorry 4 the long post in advance, but I thought anyone looking into a replacement CVT trans should know what could happen before they spend the $$...

I have an Oct 03 VTi-S that had its CVT trans replaced by Honda in Aug 08 @ 74,000 kms (before the warranty expired in Oct 08). This is what happened to me -

The day after the gearbox was changed there was some green liquid that looked like coolant on the garage floor (don’t know why they have to touch this for the gearbox)... I took it back & they said that “some fluid had got caught in the pan area” & that was what I had seen on the floor. All cleaned up and I was off again. About 2-4 weeks later I noticed that there was another oily fluid on the garage floor... it was coming from the passenger side of the bonnet....to my horror when I checked the CVT fluid level it was almost on minimum. I took it back to the dealer who calmly informed that “the seal between the engine and the gearbox needs replacing”...it looked like the NEW seal had been over tightened and had split causing the leak when they installed the new CVT trans. It seems that my car was a real rush job... I’m not sure how long it should take, but they managed to do everything in 2.5-3 hours. What is annoying is that the car drove so well after the gearbox was changed (very responsive). At my work they have a 1.3 Jazz Gli which went better (and now still does) than my 1.5 VTI-S ...now after that incident I have noticed that it has gradually started going back to the way it was with old gearbox. Sometimes (it happens rarely) the car’s revs will drop almost to stall level (staying @ 200-400 for a sec) on a hill if you don’t press the accelerator reasonably hard (kind of like when you don’t rev enough in a manual). It is quite unnerving for people who haven’t experienced this in the car before... I haven’t heard signs of shudder though, just that the car is once again slower than my work’s 1.3 upon takeoff...and has lost all improvement it had with the new trans.

Again sorry for the long post, but the moral of the story is to be very careful who u get any CVT trans work done by (dealer). I am planning to contact the mob who did mine 2 see if they can resolve the problem in the next few weeks (I’ve only done 4000kms in it since the trans change).

**shadou** · 10-02-2009 11:19 PM

good luck and you'll feel the shudder more than hearing it. and 2.5-3 hours is sufficient time to take and put back the transmission if the tech knows his shit. Try a different dealer perhaps ? or keep complaining that always works with dealers, complain your ass off, threats also go down alright depending, but in your case more likely to work if you use solicitor, sue, ect. lol and ask them you don't want the apprentice working on it either, you get your good and your bad but in this day and age the better ones are a rarer sight, a bunch of rev heads who like to imitate a turbo spool and rev limiters....

I think in your case the tech might have used his rattle gun instead of a torque wrench and held the button down to make sure he'll get the "she'll be right" scenario.. total speculation but it does happen..

**debowen** · 14-02-2009 07:32 AM

That shudder is the auto telling you it's past time for a change. 20,000 km is the best option doesn't lead to any contamination. ONLY use Honda cvt fluid, it's dearer but it works and it will cost a fortune to fix you auto if you have a problem ($3-4,000)

**shadou** · 14-02-2009 10:47 AM

um it's a known problem to have the shudders on all of Honda's CVT driven vehicles, search HRV and it's usually common that the owner has had to replace the start clutch.
Hence the reason why Honda's jazz is now a traditional x speed auto box instead I've heard.

**bennib0i** · 15-02-2009 11:00 PM

Hi all. My first post here.

I have had this same problem for a few months now: The shuddering when ever the car starts from stop, and this thread seems to target the same problem.

My car is a 04 Jazz VTi with CVT transmission. I recently had my 4 year major service and they advised me that it was probably a transmission problem, so I took the car to a transmission specialist and got their opinion.
After leaving the car there for a day for them to look at they said that the CVT transmission is pretty f*k and it could cost up to 5k to fix...

Now that seems damn expensive to me so I have yet to have it repaired.

Originally Posted by Philip Lee

my old car did the same and after CVT oil change it got better (only very barely noticible and occurs very rarely).

cvt oil change + reset costed me around $150 at dealer. so that's the 1st thing i'd do in your case.

Do you guyz reckon that a cvt oil change will fix my problem and the transmission guy is just BSing?

**shadou** · 15-02-2009 11:09 PM

few months I would advise you try CVT oil change over first from a Honda dealer as it costs as someone stated $1xx and you may even get it from free.
Transmission specialists and generic mechanics may at times get diagnosis wrong, better to exhaust cheaper options before blowing $5k on an issue that may have been resolved from a $1xx CVT trans oil change.

**bennib0i** · 15-02-2009 11:26 PM

Originally Posted by shadou

few months I would advise you try CVT oil change over first from a Honda dealer as it costs as someone stated $1xx and you may even get it from free.
Transmission specialists and generic mechanics may at times get diagnosis wrong, better to exhaust cheaper options before blowing $5k on an issue that may have been resolved from a $1xx CVT trans oil change.

Sounds like the right idea.
And yes I did read earlier here that Honda dealers are providing free out of warranty service for CVT's...dunno if thats true or not.

I'l give my honda dealer a call tomorrow and have a talk with them and keep you guyz posted.

Thx

**debowen** · 16-02-2009 12:48 AM

bennib0i.
Don't trust a transmission specialist, they are in the business of fixing transmissions and your wallet!
Go to a reliable Honda specialist and have the transmission flushed and filled with Honda CVT fluid. As stated above, you may need to have the electronics reset to to be safe.
The fluids used have been an on going source of confusion and failure. The CVT is the latest one brought out by Honda and it seems to do to do the job. Change it every 20,000km, without fail!

**civiceg9** · 16-02-2009 12:56 AM

Going to get some CVT Oil next week for my 40,000km service. But if there is a free out of warranty service for CVT I take that.
Keep me posted bennib0i

**Jomsy** · 16-02-2009 01:04 PM

Honda are going to replace the start clutch and transmission fluid under warranty even though its not covered still, thats what i call customer service, thumbs up to honda

**bennib0i** · 16-02-2009 03:40 PM

Originally Posted by Jomsy

Honda are going to replace the start clutch and transmission fluid under warranty even though its not covered still, thats what i call customer service, thumbs up to honda

Who did you call? dealer or wat?

Today I called 4 dealers and told them my problem asking if they covered transmission fluids for free for jazz's out of warranty but none of them seem to know anything about it.

I end up taking my car to a Honda dealer that had some free time today and the mechanic there took it for a quick spin.
His analysis is that the transmission fluid needs to be flushed and 9/10 cases that fixes the shuddering problem, so without wasting time I just left the car there for them to service it tomorrow.
They are charging me $305 for the flush and 8L of new CVT transmission oil.

Now if this free service does exist I will contact them asap and cancel my service. I mean $305 saving is alot of money!