Hi
I took my 2004 CVT in for its regular maintenance schedule at 130,000 miles.

I also had them check a peculiar, and slowly worsening issue.

Beginning from a complete stop, if any "reasonable" acceleration is applied, a strong "Shutter" or "Judder" and associated vibration and kind of "Groaning" noise.

I could make it go away, but only with extremely light acceleration.

After diagnosing it, they said it is a bad start clutch, which the CVT must be completely dissassembled to replace.

$1300 for the repair including labor.

They submitted a "Good will" suggestion to Honda, which they agreed to pay about half which I think is very reasonable. Apparently this repair would have been covered under a Honda service bulletin, but expired 20,000 miles ago.

Just thought I'd mention this repair in case your HCH-1 should develop similar trouble. I've had no other trouble with the car since I bought it new in 2004.

Efficient drivers do it better.
1003 miles a tank personal record. 74MPG calculated. HCH1 CVT

Update: Car fixed the next day. Also had valves adjusted.

Honda paid about half the clutch repair, and includes an additional 3yrs and 30,000 miles whole CVT warranty.

A satisfied customer.

Efficient drivers do it better.
1003 miles a tank personal record. 74MPG calculated. HCH1 CVT

Steve did you try a fluid chang before the over-haul? H

No. I don't think this was fluid on the clutch. You could tell that something was getting seriously wrong.
My CVT gets to be a bit eratic in trying to find the correct ratio when the fluid needs changing. The effect is a jerky motion while exellerating. I have the fluid changed about every 30,000 miles to correct this.

The main clutch going out was an entirely different experience

Efficient drivers do it better.
1003 miles a tank personal record. 74MPG calculated. HCH1 CVT

Hey Steve,
How long had you noticed the symptom/sound that it was making? Did it start out mild/subtle and get progressively louder and more noticable? Did the car ever make any loud rumbling sound on the highway?
Just asking because I've heard some unusual sounds lately and want to get it checked out.

Let us know how she performs after having the service done. Hope your mpg continues to be as outstanding as it has been previously. That's great that they put an extension on your warranty too.

http://www.greenhybrid.com/compare/m.../car/5679.html

Thanks Steve. H

Civic hybrid owners with the CVT should have gotten a warranty extension in the mail. I took my 2003 civic to the dealer last month with only 30,000 miles on it that had a slight shudder when starting out from a dead stop. Honda put in a new clutch starter kit, new cvt tranny fluid, for free. The dealer charge back to honda was for over $900.00. They even gave me a free loaner.

I am a little embarrassed to ask, but is the start clutch independent of the "normal" transmission clutch? My 04 MT is in the shop to get the transmission clutch replaced so I was wondering if it was something separate that they could go ahead and replace while everything was torn apart.

Thanks!
--Larry

Larry, I think the starter clutch is a part of the automatic CVT transmission, and probably not a part of your manual transmission. Looking through the service manual, I don't see any reference to the start clutch in the MT section of the manual, only in the CVT section.

http://www.greenhybrid.com/compare/m.../car/5679.html

Thanks, the dealer is already into me for $2100 I figure why not pile it on all at once? Glad I don't have to add to this list.

Thanks!
--Larry