CVT Blew Up at the Dealership

[Longislandcivic]

I know itll break at some point, but when? 100k, 150k? Im fine with that

I ran the TSP on my other civic and never had an issue. Funny how that goes.

You'll blow it but you definitely have the right attitude about it haha

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[Bootleg Bill]

That's what I mean, I'm not running wild parts that are untested, I feel like most of us have some version of the same basic bolt on build going on here.



I believe my CVT always had an issue because I recall bucking and almost stalling very early in my ownership.

That's very true I'm trying to be safe with the CVT but then again it reaches it's limits pretty quick sadly
But yeah sounds like early signs sadly
We all learn from our mistakes

 

[jconnway]

I know itll break at some point, but when? 100k, 150k? Im fine with that

I’d have loved 100k out of mine

 

[Tac3403]

I'm somewhat worried of my setup now

right like thats the direction i was headed towards lmfao.
just Prl cobra w/ race maf and TSP 1 right now, but had planned on phearable 1.5R +27won intercooler and downpipe soon...
Already spins 20-40mph but thats just on a continental contiprocontact, 83k miles now

 

[bluehatch17]

Honestly sounds like the 20k miles before you brought it was the issue. First owner didn’t take care of it.

I got my car brand new with under 9 miles on it.

It sucks for you a lot. But I am not sitting here thinking my car is a ticking time bomb. And I have basically all of the mods you have.

 

[Bootleg Bill]

right like thats the direction i was headed towards lmfao.
just Prl cobra w/ race maf and TSP 1 right now, but had planned on phearable 1.5R +27won intercooler and downpipe soon...
Already spins 20-40mph but thats just on a continental contiprocontact, 83k miles now

Gotta love those spins but yeah always gotta take the risk

 

[jconnway]

Honestly sounds like the 20k miles before you brought it was the issue. First owner didn’t take care of it.

I got my car brand new with under 9 miles on it.

It sucks for you a lot. But I am not sitting here thinking my car is a ticking time bomb. And I have basically all of the mods you have.

Yeah I mean the tuning thread is proof positive that a CVT failure is more of an exception than a rule... but it definitely does happen.

 

[CMarks]

Yeah, it does seem like the previous owner got his fun out of those first 20k miles. Good thing I got my car brand new because I don't trust a previous owner, even though all my friends and family advised me to get a used car because it's a way better deal psshhh.
It also could have been when they said the CVT fluid was changed at the 20k mark maybe they did it incorrectly and that could have messed up the trans, or you could have just had very bad luck and it happened to be a poorly built CVT that was inevitably going to fail. Not sure if you still have the fluid in it or not but maybe send it in for testing and that could give you some answers.

 

[gtman]

As has been said, for the most part, CVTs have done well with tunes. I kind of think two things are likely the main culprit here.

1. You don't really know how the car was driven for the first 20,000 miles. I mean the owner could have been brake launching the hell out of it. You just don't know.

2. I remember you mentioning having issues with bucking and stalling and having issues getting the transmission "in gear" a few months ago. That was a sign the CVT was having problems. It could have been from the way the first owner drove it or even a factory defect. Honestly, the tune you've been running has a pretty soft low end torque curve to help protect the CVT. Still tuning does add stress but the CVT failure numbers overall are pretty solid reliability wise.

Good luck moving forward and sorry this happened to your car. As an aside, four owners with failed CVTs in my tuning thread actually had them replaced under warranty even though they were tuned, so there's hope.

 

[Shankmeyster]

Sounds like it's time for a manual swap.

 

[jconnway]

As has been said, for the most part, CVTs have done well with tunes. I kind of think two things are likely the main culprit here.

1. You don't really know how the car was driven for the first 20,000 miles. I mean the owner could have been brake launching the hell out of it. You just don't know.

2. I remember you mentioning having issues with bucking and stalling and having issues getting the transmission "in gear" a few months ago. That was a sign the CVT was having problems. It could have been from the way the first owner drove it or even a factory defect. Honestly, the tune you've been running has a pretty soft low end torque curve to help protect the CVT. Still tuning does add stress but the CVT failure numbers overall are pretty solid reliability wise.

Good luck moving forward and sorry this happened to your car. As an aside, four owners with failed CVTs in my tuning thread actually had them replaced under warranty even though they were tuned, so there's hope.

Thanks man. Yeah this week I should get the final word on what Honda is gonna do.

I do skew towards thinking my particular CVT had an existing issue, especially considering the history of bucking and sort of stalling.

 

[jconnway]

Sounds like it's time for a manual swap.

If it is actually feasible, I’m ready for that adventure

 

[Gnvanny]

Does the integra cvt have a higher power rating? If so, you should look into swapping on of those in instead. If you can get your hands on one.

 

[cvc17]

We've reached the end of the road for my CVT... 38k miles, almost on the dot. Read on...

After a litany of irritating and unresolved engine issues, last week I was driving around conservatively to try and get my MAF to act up (so I could see if replacing it fixed my current P0103 issue). Suddenly, the car lost power at a stop sign and refused to move.

Not wanting to surrender to a tow a few miles from the shop, I decided to let it cool off, clear everything out, and disconnect the battery to hard reset the ECU.

The car was miraculously able to get into "gear" and limp back to the shop.

The following day, I had her brought to Honda since I'm under the 5 year and mileage mark for the powertrain (don't worry, I know the warranty is likely way out the window).

Now we all know that mods and dealerships don't get along but I know the guys and they know the car, so I wanted them to at least look at it with Honda equipment and expertise.

This is where it gets interesting.

The Honda tech called me a few days later and said he had someone drive it EIGHTY miles (sounds excessive but ok) trying to get hard codes for trans to rear their ugly heads. He also reported that immediately upon driving, he felt the stalling and bucking I described some time ago in a different post - that others are also suffering. I have no way of knowing how the car was being driven, but presumably they were on it because they were trying to get the codes to throw.

He then simply says "yeah and then there was a catastrophic CVT failure".

Apparently all kinds of codes for assorted transmission components indicated that the unit is , in fact, kaput. From what I've read thus far, a CVT is irreparable and must simply be replaced with a new one.

I'm waiting now to hear Honda's proposition - slim chance they replace it, much more likely they quote me something insane for the repair and I end up just towing it home until I decide how I want to resolve this.

There is a valuable lesson here to those who mod - the CVT is simply not a sufficient jumping off point for a build. I kind of knew this going in, so I'm not really surprised that ultimately, it was the weak link.

I have a little regret about this happening, naturally, but that brings me to another salient point. Going big on a build like this is fine if you truly don't NEED the car to be reliable. I'm therefore fortunate to be in the position I'm in; this Civic is an awesome hobby for me and I have no qualms about covering it up in the garage for a while to let the dust settle. I won't rush to tell my wife exactly what's going on but that is a whole other topic.. haha.

Final thought - The more I read, the more I am miffed at both myself and the car.

I hadn't upgraded the turbo, I didn't modify the fuel system, I didn't drive it like a savage (at this point, I'd come clean if I had)... when it comes down to it, engine wise I just did intake and exhaust mods and an off the shelf flash from a reputable company. I suspect that the previous owner may have just driven a hard 20k before I bought it a few years ago, weakening the CVT to the point that whatever extra power was eeked out by my modding was too much for it. The things I modded are tried and true, hence my relative disappointment.

To those who have read this much, I hope it was a good one! I've thoroughly enjoyed my ownership and build and I'm sure this isn't the end... Unless someone wants a loaded hatch with a blown CVT for an absolute steal (DM me lol).

To be continued!

that bites. my civic has over 86,000 miles with no ( other than K&N Intake ) performance mods & the CVT has had 2 fluid changes already, and a 3rd is coming up ( these 2nd Gen CVT should be serviced every 30,000 miles irregardless of whether maintenance minder alert ). the vehicle has never been raced, only driven daily . mine has started to have hard shifting & some slippage AGAIN despite the regular servicing, and 2 different Honda dealers have stated that EVENTUALLY to EXPECT a complete CVT failure AT OWNER'S COST.

 

[Testudo]

Forgive my ignorance about CVTs but what was the previous version on civics before the CVT? Was it more robust? I feel like those lasted forever. And if they were better, why then would Honda just keep the older ones rather than switching to the CVT?

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