CVT surging up and down

RDMerBC

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That "surging" sounds like it may be pretty normal to me from my experience. Keep in mind, things like wind, road grade (angle), and surface material will all effect the stress put on the engine, and as such, what RPM it decides to stay at. My guess is that if you put it in Sport mode, that "surging" would be gone. This may not be a defect at all, but more a feature to ensure you don't do what's known as "dog the engine" which is put high loads of stress under low RPMs. My other car will go so far as to drop a gear or two just based off the angle of the car, even if I do nothing else. The CVT, since it lacks gears, tries to do this in its own right by moving up or down in the ratios while attempting to keep the same speed as best as possible. Could also be a technique to avoid running at the same RPM / ratio for too long which isn't terribly good for the drivetrain.

In any case, just my $0.001, could very well be an issue, though I haven't really noticed the car doing this myself.
I appreciate your input. I think your experience of your Touring CVT appears to be different from that of those who've reported the problem. I've experienced engines compensating for road grade etc. while maintaining set speeds while using cruise control, but this is a different beast and occurs on long flat level stretches of new pavement (on a calm day) where the engine would normally be humming along at a constant RPM.

It's encouraging to hear you do not have the problem, though. My Touring did not have the problem during the first week of ownership (arrived at around the 1000 km mark), which I take to mean it CAN run properly.

I have an appointment for servicing at Honda this morning and I'll let the list know what transpires. Thanks again.
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RDMerBC

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I appreciate your input. I think your experience of your Touring CVT appears to be different from that of those who've reported the problem. I've experienced engines compensating for road grade etc. while maintaining set speeds while using cruise control, but this is a different beast and occurs on long flat level stretches of new pavement (on a calm day) where the engine would normally be humming along at a constant RPM.

It's encouraging to hear you do not have the problem, though. My Touring did not have the problem during the first week of ownership (arrived at around the 1000 km mark), which I take to mean it CAN run properly.

I have an appointment for servicing at Honda this morning and I'll let the list know what transpires. Thanks again.
I'll take a printout of the Honda USA Technical Service Bulletin (TSB) regarding a malfunction of the 2016 Civic Audio Amplifier that some owners are experiencing -- see if the TSB and related software patch have arrived at this Canadian Honda service department.
 

RDMerBC

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So, I had my Honda dealership service department look the surging issue yesterday. They had my Touring model for most of day. They were "Able to confirm complaint. Able to to feel vehicle surging when trying to hold a steady speed on the highway." They contacted Honda Canada about the issue and were told to "perform a battery cable reset and recheck." They did this and reported "no surging after reset." The quotes are from their "invoice," printout -- total charge was zero as the work was performed under warranty.

I will be able to test this out on the highway tomorrow and will report back.

It doesn't inspire much confidence to hear that the way of dealing with the issue (so far) is to essentially "reboot" the car's computers. As we know from personal computing, the problem may be the software and the issue may occur again. On the other hand if it is a software or computer issue a patch or component replacement might be expected to cure it.

I also brought up the infotainment unit issues. They contacted Honda Canada on this as well, who said they were working on a software update for the infotainment issues. I thought I'd let them run that when it arrives and then see if I'm still having any issues with the disappearing sound and the occasional lack of response from the touch screen (tap, tap, tap, and nothing happens, then it finally works, and the volume slider is sometimes erratic). I'll report back on the results after they run the update.

I have to give a shout out to Kingsway Honda (Vancouver Canada) for the way they dealt with me and my issues yesterday. Very professional service and they are seriously and respectfully committed to correcting any issues with the car.

Back tomorrow after a highway test for the surging issue.
 

PRak_CivX

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Extremely curious to hear if your issue was solved with the battery reset.
 

otaviovigato

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I had the exactly same problem on my car and thank to RDMerBC i did reset the computer removing the battery Cable and it worked for me..I have not notice any problem since then..lets see how long will last..thank you very much for the update it's really helpful and I'm glad that the problem is not with the cvt..
 


marriott29

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So, I had my Honda dealership service department look the surging issue yesterday. They had my Touring model for most of day. They were "Able to confirm complaint. Able to to feel vehicle surging when trying to hold a steady speed on the highway." They contacted Honda Canada about the issue and were told to "perform a battery cable reset and recheck." They did this and reported "no surging after reset." The quotes are from their "invoice," printout -- total charge was zero as the work was performed under warranty.

I will be able to test this out on the highway tomorrow and will report back.

It doesn't inspire much confidence to hear that the way of dealing with the issue (so far) is to essentially "reboot" the car's computers. As we know from personal computing, the problem may be the software and the issue may occur again. On the other hand if it is a software or computer issue a patch or component replacement might be expected to cure it.

I also brought up the infotainment unit issues. They contacted Honda Canada on this as well, who said they were working on a software update for the infotainment issues. I thought I'd let them run that when it arrives and then see if I'm still having any issues with the disappearing sound and the occasional lack of response from the touch screen (tap, tap, tap, and nothing happens, then it finally works, and the volume slider is sometimes erratic). I'll report back on the results after they run the update.

I have to give a shout out to Kingsway Honda (Vancouver Canada) for the way they dealt with me and my issues yesterday. Very professional service and they are seriously and respectfully committed to correcting any issues with the car.

Back tomorrow after a highway test for the surging issue.[/QUOTE
So, I had my Honda dealership service department look the surging issue yesterday. They had my Touring model for most of day. They were "Able to confirm complaint. Able to to feel vehicle surging when trying to hold a steady speed on the highway." They contacted Honda Canada about the issue and were told to "perform a battery cable reset and recheck." They did this and reported "no surging after reset." The quotes are from their "invoice," printout -- total charge was zero as the work was performed under warranty.

I will be able to test this out on the highway tomorrow and will report back.

It doesn't inspire much confidence to hear that the way of dealing with the issue (so far) is to essentially "reboot" the car's computers. As we know from personal computing, the problem may be the software and the issue may occur again. On the other hand if it is a software or computer issue a patch or component replacement might be expected to cure it.

I also brought up the infotainment unit issues. They contacted Honda Canada on this as well, who said they were working on a software update for the infotainment issues. I thought I'd let them run that when it arrives and then see if I'm still having any issues with the disappearing sound and the occasional lack of response from the touch screen (tap, tap, tap, and nothing happens, then it finally works, and the volume slider is sometimes erratic). I'll report back on the results after they run the update.

I have to give a shout out to Kingsway Honda (Vancouver Canada) for the way they dealt with me and my issues yesterday. Very professional service and they are seriously and respectfully committed to correcting any issues with the car.

Back tomorrow after a highway test for the surging issue.
i took my car to the dealer today and they reset the computer pf the car we test drive again and now i dont feel the up and down and hes driving smoot and you can feel more power on the car ! Im very happy !
 

PhotoVoltaire

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Doing a battery cable reset appears to have resolved this issue for me as well. I just took it on a little test drive on a particular highway in my area where I always seemed to notice the surging the most, and it was as smooth as butter this time. Now let's hope this "fix" sticks!
 

RDMerBC

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Just got back from test driving my Touring on that same straight level stretch of highway and I'm glad to report Honda's cable reset has worked to stop the surging on this car as well.

It's still less than ideal as I know I did not have the surging issue during the first week or so of ownership. It arrived, somehow, after that. So unless Honda comes up for a fix for what caused the issue in the first place, it may return.

For now though, very smooth and civilized on the highway, and a bit of a relief.
 

PRak_CivX

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Dropped off my 16 Civic EXL at my Honda Dealer this morning. They replicated the problem and acknowledged the issue... They are still working on the fix. I did not mention the battery cable reset yet. I was going to see what they came up with following their standard procedures. Interestingly enough, one of the service desk kids also has a 16 Civic and mentioned he was having a similar issue but played it off as normal... I quickly informed him that it is not normal for a car, CVT or not, to pulse and surge... Especially on a flat freshly paved road where there are not any significant "conditions" requiring the transmission, torque converter or other component to make adjustments. He looked concerned. Will let you know how it turns out.
 

PRak_CivX

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Honda Dealer called and they explained that they replicated the issue, did a ton of diagnostics and worked with Honda engineers and confirmed a software and or hardware problem, did a full reboot (battery cable disconnect) and the problem is now gone on road test and diagnostics (for now). They said Honda is working on a long term software/hardware fix. I look forward to road testing myself.
 


jmat

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I need to bring mine in and have it tested for this. Last night was the worst experience. Slowing down into traffic on the highway, the car stopped and paused for a second, then bucked back and forth. It is getting to the point that something is clearly wrong. Stupid transmission!
 

PRak_CivX

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Drove my civic home from the dealer and I did not experience any of the subtle surging that I had previously (including during the drive to the dealership). Hope to experience the same smooth ride on the highway and that the problem doesn't return before honda can permanently patch fix what apparently is some kind of computer software/hardware issue. It appears that the technician(s) put about 80 miles on my car in the process (hopefully my car was able to provide some good data for the honda engineers to work with).
 

Mocha90210

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Honda Dealer called and they explained that they replicated the issue, did a ton of diagnostics and worked with Honda engineers and confirmed a software and or hardware problem, did a full reboot (battery cable disconnect) and the problem is now gone on road test and diagnostics (for now). They said Honda is working on a long term software/hardware fix. I look forward to road testing myself.
When they did the reboot by disconnecting the battery cable, did you lose any of your vehicle settings (door lock/unlock settings, programmed radio stations, etc)?
 


 


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