CVT belt failure at 14k miles...

HandyAndy1013

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Today my Civic decided that I didn't need to make it to work on time. Everything was business as usual until leaving my son's day care. I put the car in reverse, moved about 8 feet, then the car lurched 3 or 4 times. After leaving the parking spot I put it into drive, leading to 2 more lurches forward, then nothing, the car would not move in any gear. Car has no warranty due to salvage title. I know what was damaged, and it did not involve the transmission. Now I have to decide which route to go: Reman Honda trans, a used one, or be bold and attempt a MT conversion. Thoughts?

This is what I found

Honda Civic 10th gen CVT belt failure at 14k miles... CVTBelt
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gtman

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Today my Civic decided that I didn't need to make it to work on time. Everything was business as usual until leaving my son's day care. I put the car in reverse, moved about 8 feet, then the car lurched 3 or 4 times. After leaving the parking spot I put it into drive, leading to 2 more lurches forward, then nothing, the car would not move in any gear. Car has no warranty due to salvage title. I know what was damaged, and it did not involve the transmission. Now I have to decide which route to go: Reman Honda trans, a used one, or be bold and attempt a MT conversion. Thoughts?

This is what I found

CVTBelt.jpg
Before everyone here jumps to the conclusion that the CVT is weak garbage, please explain a few things in detail.

First of all, explain a little bit about the car being a salvage. What exactly occurred to the vehicle before you took possession? What exactly lead up to this belt failure? There's no way I believe a properly maintained, undamaged, unabused CVT would just explode like that at 14,000 miles of normal usage. Let's get all the details here. Thanks.

Btw, here's a little blurb from Wikipedia to keep in mind about salvage vehicles:

Honda Civic 10th gen CVT belt failure at 14k miles... IMG_20190219_031541
 
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Gruber

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Just a hypothetical, but...
Taking into account the high price of a new CVT (or any AT) transmission, wouldn’t it be profitable for someone who came into possession of a salvage car or several salvage cars, to pull out a good transmission from a body-damaged, flooded or whatever, car and replace with a “fixed” failed transmission, and then sell ? Would the labor cost prevent this? I guess this could be verified by matching the part numbers.

Then, it is important to completely stop any AT car after reversing, before shifting to D, even when in a hurry to make it to work on time. Could the failure to do this (once? Often?) break the transmission? Honda says yes.:thumbsup:

Finally, it is already known for a fact, that these transmissions just don’t fail early at any significant frequency. If yours did, you are just out of luck and normally it would be replaced on warranty.

I would go for either used or new CVT transmission, not remanufactured. Remanufactured geared - maybe, CVT - no. My opinion. Btw. whoever sells used transmissions....gets them from wrecked, salvaged, or otherwise junked broken cars....
I’m not sure what would a conversion to MT involve, but I doubt it would make sense to do it unless you really want a MT. But the argument “no more CVTs for me, because they are prone to failure, so I will change to MT” doesn’t speak to me.
 
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HandyAndy1013

HandyAndy1013

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Before everyone here jumps to the conclusion that the CVT is weak garbage, please explain a few things in detail.

First of all, explain a little bit about the car being a salvage. What exactly occurred to the vehicle before you took possession? What exactly lead up to this belt failure? There's no way I believe a properly maintained, undamaged, unabused CVT would just explode like that at 14,000 miles of normal usage. Let's get all the details here. Thanks.

Btw, here's a little blurb from Wikipedia to keep in mind about salvage vehicles:

IMG_20190219_031541.jpg
This car had body to the bumper, left fender, and the driver's door. The impact was strong enough to set off the driver's air bag, as well as the curtain and seat bags. Nothing in the engine compartment was damaged. I bought the car when it had 10k miles thinking "Hell, its a Honda with 10k miles, what could go wrong?", so I took the risk. I have no idea how the car was treat prior to the accident, but overall it is clean (except for the title), and shows no physical signs of abuse. I have driven the car about 4500 miles with no issues, or any warning that there was an issue with the trans. More info to come.
 

gtman

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I'm sorry to hear this happened but you also have to understand that a topic titled "CVT belt failure at 14k", might raise some concerns and eyebrows. Especially considering this car is, I assume, stock and not tuned.

I guess the key here is that you don't know how the car was used or abused for the first 10,000 miles. I mean, the previous owner could have tuned the car with high torque levels and been launching the vehicle often, for example. Plus, the accident could have caused internal CVT issues.

Anyway, I'm sorry you're dealing with this and best of luck on the fix.
 
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Snoopyslr

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It's not uncommon for transmissions to suffer internal damage in the event of an impact. Sorry about your luck, but this is the risk of buying a salvage title. I'd never buy a salvage unless me or somebody I know was the rebuilder.

I'd say your best bet is to find a CVT out of another wreck and try your luck. Manual swaps were complicated enough 20 years ago... I'd hate to see what it would involve with cars these days.

As others said, make sure you come to a 100% complete stop before shifting from R to D.
 

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Yeah a lot of times the impact can be strong enough to rattle the trans to the point where it eventually breaks. Your best bet is defenitely finding another salvage/totaled 10th gen civic and swapping the transmisison from that into your car. Getting a new one + labor would cost significantly more but that's also an option if you dont want to take any risks.
 

gtman

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Yeah a lot of times the impact can be strong enough to rattle the trans to the point where it eventually breaks. Your best bet is defenitely finding another salvage/totaled 10th gen civic and swapping the transmisison from that into your car. Getting a new one + labor would cost significantly more but that's also an option if you dont want to take any risks.
Jred...

The only thing is, would another CVT from a salvage or wreck be potentially just as problematic as the OP's?
 

Snoopyslr

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Jred...

The only thing is, would another CVT from a salvage or wreck be potentially just as problematic as the OP's?
Of course... That's the gamble tho. Same gamble you take when you get an orange titled car.
 

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Jred...

The only thing is, would another CVT from a salvage or wreck be potentially just as problematic as the OP's?
Yeah there's definitely a risk, but that's why you have to do a bit of digging first. I only suggested this in order to save some $$, OP obviously is interested in saving $$ and taking a risk since he bought a salvage vehicle. For example though, a car that was totaled out due to rear quarter panel damage or damage that is towards the rear in general would most likely still have a perfectly functioning trans because the damage was isolated to the back. Of course like I said in the earlier post, he could still choose to get a brand new CVT but that's up to him and what he feels like is best for him.
 


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bruh, that thing ate itself. First one Ive seen like this. WOW. Assuming you were all stock and not tuned?
 

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It's not uncommon for transmissions to suffer internal damage in the event of an impact. Sorry about your luck, but this is the risk of buying a salvage title. I'd never buy a salvage unless me or somebody I know was the rebuilder.

I'd say your best bet is to find a CVT out of another wreck and try your luck. Manual swaps were complicated enough 20 years ago... I'd hate to see what it would involve with cars these days.

As others said, make sure you come to a 100% complete stop before shifting from R to D.
Do you shift from D, S, L while driving?
 

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Do you shift from D, S, L while driving?
Does it matter if you shift from D to S while your foot is on the accelerator? I usually make a point to keep my foot off the throttle when i'm shifting between D and S but the other day I forgot to do that and I shifted into S while accelerating. However, since the CVT doesn't actually have any physical gears and all it does is change the ratio, does this actually do anything bad to the transmission?
 

Hondaman_MI

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Does it matter if you shift from D to S while your foot is on the accelerator? I usually make a point to keep my foot off the throttle when i'm shifting between D and S but the other day I forgot to do that and I shifted into S while accelerating. However, since the CVT doesn't actually have any physical gears and all it does is change the ratio, does this actually do anything bad to the transmission?
I do the same thing, and honestly I have pressed the gas pedal sometimes. Page 97 in the manual says, "When you change the shift lever from D to R and vice versa, come to a complete stop and keep the brake pedal depressed. Operating the shift lever before the vehicle has come to a complete standstill can damage the transmission. Do not operate the shift lever while pressing the accelerator pedal. You could damage the transmission."
 
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HandyAndy1013

HandyAndy1013

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bruh, that thing ate itself. First one Ive seen like this. WOW. Assuming you were all stock and not tuned?
My car has a stock tune, as far as I know. It has been a dream to drive for the last 4k miles, then this happened. I work in the automotive collision industry, and have witnessed MANY cars that were hit hard, repaired, with no issues like this. Who knows, maybe it was a "perfect storm" situation, but it is odd that there were no symptoms prior to the failure. I work next to a Honda dealer, and have some contacts in the shop to get advice from. I was informed that the belt rarely comes apart like this, but they do see it from time to time. There are no parts available to repair the existing unit (according to Honda), so no matter what the trans has to be swapped. After going on the hunt for a used I found an issue.... The software that salvage yards use shows that all sedans with CVT use the same trans, 2.0 N/A and 1.5t according to them both engines share the same mixer...
I inquired with the guys I know at the Honda dealer and was told that there is a slight part number difference.... So, easy right? Just find a used trans from a CVT car that was paired to a 1.5t, right? They do exist, but no where around here at the moment. Luckily I have other transportation options so I can be patient and find what works best. Honda only quoted me a reman trans @$2200, I didn't even think about asking about a new one till I do some digging. Thanks for all of the replies and condolences. Keep watch for a trans swap post.
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