I hope someone here would know what may be wrong... I have a CVT Civic that has been exhibiting hesitation at low speed and low throttle. It's behaving like as if though I was driving a stick and I tried to start from standing in 2nd gear w/o giving enough gas. I spoke to a salesperson at Autozone and he thought I might need new spark plugs. Could someone clue me in as to what may be wrong? Thanks.

My car:
'03 Civic CVT w/52700 miles

 

Autozone probably won't have the best answer. I suspect they aren't too familiar with CVTs and hybrids. I get some bucking when I'm slowing down with my foot on the accellerator on rare occasioins. How long have you been having this problem. It seems weird to use the word hesitation when you are talking about low throtle and low speed. I wouldn't expect it to not hesitate myself.

What speed and rpms and throttle position are you talking about?

 

I think I've had this issue in the last month or so. However, I think because I didn't notice it before because I had never experienced this on an automatic I probably didn't notice it until it had been occuring for a while.

I hadn't noticed what RPM the engine was at, but the problem usually happens either in a parking lot or crawling in traffic. So I would say I was applying just enough gas to crawl around 10-15mph. (Once I'm at highway speed I'm fine.)

 

Could be anything. Your Honda dealer will have to diagnose it. Things like this makes one appreciate the fact they bought extended warranty! Hope you did with the miles on your car.

 

Maybe the CVT isn't getting into the lowest ratio? I have no idea how to diagnose that, but maybe there's some fluid level problem? That's all I can think of as far as simple things to check.

 

im having that exact same problem- it really feels like im engaging in 2nd. is yours also an automatic? help!!!

 

I read somewhere about this being caused by a dirty EGR valve.
It should be convered under the emissions warranty of your vehicle.
It will not set any codes on the cars computer. The valve will need to be taken off and looked at. Most likely it is clogged up pretty good.

Hope this helps with your problem..

 

I took the Civic to the dealer last week and it turns out there was something called the EGV valve that failed. Now that I've got it back the car purrs again. I'm glad that I got the extended warranty since I didn't fork over anything out of pocket.

 

Thanks for the follow up. Its realy helpful to those of us that may start having the same problem. Now we know where to look when this happens to us.