Transmission is slipping. Help.

16Bivic

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Hi, so I have a 2016 2dr ex-t with a cvt transmission and about 30k miles on it and plenty of mods such as, downpipe, cat back exhaust, cold air intake, cvt transmission mount and a nice 21 psi tune with some other mods as well. For a couple of times when I would start it I heard a grinding sound and though nothing of it until a couple days ago when my transmission started slipping gears. My car now jerks forward when I come to complete stops and often stalls out and kills the engine. It also will sometime get stuck at a cap of 10 mph and when I would give it gas it just revs. Im not sure what the problem is and was kinda hoping someone here has had a similar issue and can help me out. Any and all advice is welcome please and thank you!
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First, the CVT doesn't have gears, so gears aren't slipping. It's the belt, and they're notorious for being sensitive to increased torque over stock.

Individually, I don't see any of your bolt-ons generating a bunch of extra torque to make the CVT belt slip. Definitely not the CAI, tranny mount (assuming it was installed properly), or the catback.

First thing I would do is flash back to stock on your Ktuner and see if the issue persists. If it does, I'd then revert your DP to stock. Those two (in that order) would be most likely stress the CVT.

If the issue still persists, I'd say your CVT is permanently damaged. Revert everything to stock, go see the dealer, and see what they have to say.

CVT + heavy modding = recipe for disaster IMO. I know plenty of people mod without issues, but the anxiety around CVT longevity once you start tweaking is enough to stop me from ever modding one.
 

hobby-man

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And it could be something other than tuning.
Yep, that's the problem with modding and tuning. When something breaks, the line between manufacturing defect and damage you caused becomes very blurred
 


NotSerious

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Almost every problem that I have seen here with the drivetrains have been someone who modded their car. Especially those with CVT transmissions. There has been almost no one who has an unmodified car that has had catastrophic engine or transmission failure on a tenth gen Civic.

I have recommended that people do not modify their engine if they have a CVT because these transmissions are not that robust. The transmissions are designed to work with stock power. You add more torque and you put more strain on the transmission.There is a good reason that used car buyers stay away from modded cars and manufacturers refuse to honor warranties on modded cars.

Of course all of those who have already modified their cars jump down my throat. They have rationalized their modifications with "As long as the modifications are mild, you should be OK.". They give out bad advice to others on the internet.

Moral of the story. Don't take advice from random people on the internet. They are not going to be paying the $7,000 for your new transmission. They will just shrug their shoulders and claim "You must have done something wrong.". And you get stuck with the expensive repair.
 
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latole

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Almost every problem that I have seen here with the drivetrains have been someone who modded their car. Especially those with CVT transmissions. There has been almost no one who has an unmodified car that has had catastrophic engine or transmission failure on a tenth gen Civic.

I have recommended that people do not modify their engine if they have a CVT because these transmissions are not that robust. The transmissions are designed to work with stock power. You add more torque and you put more strain on the transmission.There is a good reason that used car buyers stay away from modded cars and manufacturers refuse to honor warranties on modded cars.

Of course all of those who have already modified their cars jump down my throat. They have rationalized their modifications with "As long as the modifications are mild, you should be OK.". They give out bad advice to others on the internet.

Moral of the story. Don't take advice from random people on the internet. They are not going to be paying the $7,000 for your new transmission. They will just shrug their shoulders and claim "You must have done something wrong.". And you get stuck with the expensive repair.

:thumbsup:
 

Troy Jollimore

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Well, you usually can get away with minor power gains. If the stock boost level is 17-20psi, 21 or so isn’t really going to hurt anything. Unless you have a weak component. One of the few that has a flaw, and is stressed to the Max already, before adding more power... Then you’re behind the eight-ball if you go looking for warranty support.
 

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First, the CVT doesn't have gears, so gears aren't slipping. It's the belt, and they're notorious for being sensitive to increased torque over stock.

Individually, I don't see any of your bolt-ons generating a bunch of extra torque to make the CVT belt slip. Definitely not the CAI, tranny mount (assuming it was installed properly), or the catback.

First thing I would do is flash back to stock on your Ktuner and see if the issue persists. If it does, I'd then revert your DP to stock. Those two (in that order) would be most likely stress the CVT.

If the issue still persists, I'd say your CVT is permanently damaged. Revert everything to stock, go see the dealer, and see what they have to say.

CVT + heavy modding = recipe for disaster IMO. I know plenty of people mod without issues, but the anxiety around CVT longevity once you start tweaking is enough to stop me from ever modding one.
:agree::agree:
 

CVTsport18

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How many of those miles have been put on while modded? Have you already done a cvt fluid change? Which tune are you using, custom dyno, Hondata, Ktuner?
 


julianzh

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40k with only ktuner 21psi and all stock. Cvt.

Wish my car has problem so I can complain about it on here.

I say go back to all stock and bring it to dealer and see what's up.
 

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The thing is that a cvt transmission was never designed to handle much torque. They are great for fuel economy and do perform well by always adjusting to get the most out of the engine. The combination of a turbo motor and cvt transmission is awesome! But they were not designed to handle too much torque. By tuning these motors and bumping up the torque over 200 lb/ft is where the transmission kinda calls it quits. You got to remember it is a belt and not gears. It will slip as soon as too much torque is applied. These transmissions were never meant to be performance transmissions. They have limits. Even the manual transmission has limits, even though a bit higher than the cvt. But the cvt can not handle too much torque or it will slip and get burnt up. If I had to guess, I would say the limit is 200 lb/ft for the cvt and 300lb/ft for the manual. That’s just my opinion and guess.
 

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Hey seems I found an up to date thread about cvt and ktuner or hondata. So I have already gone through one cvt and now gonna be on my second one.

I have a hondata flashpro 6+ on my hatch ST. The first time I flashed the car I cant remember the exact miles but I put it on around 17,400 in March of 18. Around Christmas of 2018 I was about at 33k when I lost my first trans. I flashed back to stock and took it to Honda. I'm keeping it 100 with you guys. The dealer told me that cvt cant be repaired it's an automatic replace part when it goes bad, for general knowledge it cost about 3600 dollars for a cvt. The dealer itself did not check for a flash. However the factory hooked up my cvt and found that the car was flashed at some point in its history. Luckily my cousin is one of the managers at the dealer and pulled some strings, car got fixed under warranty.

I got the car back in like late January cause of alot of the back and forth btwn the dealer and the factory and then it was like a 3 week delivery process like they chose the slowest possible way to send it back to us here in NJ lol. So I lasted about 2 months with the cars ecu at stock. I have like 3 bolt ons and that I know isnt anything to be ooo and ahh over, but none the less in March I got tired of seeing my little warning popping up exhaust problem, because of the down pipe and front pipe yadda yadda so I flashed the car(I'll admit i was dying to flash it back) turned of the secondary 02 and started enjoying life. Back in March i was probably likely at about 38k, we are now in June exact milage at 45635 and my trans in gone again.

Now I can tell you honestly in Christmas time I was abusing the car I wont deny it. There is a strip on bruckner Blvd in the bronx where there are a bunch of lights that and generally in sequence with a nice chunk of travel in between me and this older si were just messing around having fun(I was taking him every light). I got to my destination shut the car off came back turned it on notice a big jolt or jump when the transmission was put into drive and it would either "catch" and go smooth, no faster than 30 or it would stall send me the D with the slash through it and disengage all together. Turn off the car put it back on revs to about 2500 for it to "catch" and get moving.

This time around the time in general was a lot less shorter, and alot less milage. I drive with it in econ mode just to keep it off. I really just wanted the 02 sensor off and I was grandma driving the car. Now my theory perhaps Honda lied to me and actually fixed the old cvt and put it back in cause I cant explain for the life of me how i ran through the new one in less than a few months and barely 8k miles. Who knows, but just so you know at least from my experience it is not the dealer that checks for the flash it the factory. So the dealer may likely tell you it will get replaced under warranty and then the factory will get your cvt and find out otherwise. Best of luck as I'm in the same position, I'm send my car in today to my cousin as it's not even driveable this time.

Somethings I do wanna say I'm not upset at all with the flashpro the reality of the situation is cvt really isnt up to the task it seems. Other cvts are probably built better as I can think of the wrx and the maxima as two cars which push way more power from their factory builds. My Hope's, that the trans gets replaced and I can be like it probably still shows the car was flashed because the same ecu and tcm are still in the car unless the tcm is attached to the CVT and it would be brand new with a brand new cvt. None the less if by the grace of God I luck out a 2nd time this mid life crisis old man is going to get an accord. I honestly need more room to be comfortable and it's naturally a "stronger" car from the factory. The 2019s are coming with a tradition automatic trans so there is that to. Although I have no intention of messing with the car. A Camry xse v6 is also looking like a possibility. I rely on my car to much for work to be doing dumb shit and to be uncomfortable. I drive an average of 300 miles a day combine city and highway delivering registrations to car dealers in ny nj and ct. Anyways if you read this far you are the mvp lol. Much love and blessings to the OP let's hope we both get covered under warranty.

Last tid bit my car's ecu is back to stock and flashpro is unlocked considering selling it to avoid temptation. Do a little thanos like action and "destroy the infinity stones" will keep you guys posted. I'll probably have the car at paramus Honda by like noon.

If you live in NY or NJ and dont wanna go to the dmv to do car stuff and car stuff only, hit me up.
 

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A percentage of failures occur even with the lack of tuning. Just like some people smoke all their life and don't get cancer while some people that don't smoke do get cancer. There are some variables that might influence this such as WOT from 0, brake boosting, pushing the car on steep inclines, etc. If I were you, i wouldn't have pushed my luck and tuned after the first failure. I'm interested in how the factory determined it was tuned. I've read on some other threads that Hondata doesn't revert back to original factory ECU state prior to tuning hence leaving it traceable.
 

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Update so Honda warrantied 2nd time. Just picked up the car. They told me that this time they reviewed my driving patterns and said I do a lot of stop and go. They didnt mention the tuning, I guess maybe they dont reset the tcm or do or they already fixed me once having a tune so maybe they suspect the car was tuned again. But they reviewed my cars computer and said I drive aggressive and beat on the car. I'll be honest with ya I was harsher on my Toyota than I am with the civic even with the tune. If anything I baby it more cause I knew the risk of tuning. None the less 2 times is all they said. Next one is on me, so I fried the valve body of the cvt which sounds intense sense I only flashed the car back in March of this year and kept the eco button on at all time. Barely played with the shift paddles or put it on S and yeah. Welp now to talk to my cousin and get out of this car. OP I hope you get taken care of well bro I cant imagine having to pay 3600 for repairs. I'm not refreshing the car this time unless I know what the spec are for the car at factory that way I'd tune everything to factory and just close that loop for the exhaust. But other wise I'll just have to live with it or go back to everything stock. Much love fam
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