Ok, this is pretty long so please just bear with me. I bought a '04 HCH last December with 106,000 miles on it. It's now at 109,850 miles and a month ago, I had to replace the A/C compressor. That cost over $1000. It started making a juddering sound a few months ago but being having little experience with cars (this is my first car) I assumed it was something normal to the hybrid and thought nothing of it. Then one day a loud scraping (like metal on metal) sound started and went on for 30 minutes except when turning. I took it to a mechanic and he claimed it was the ball joints which I accepted...until I looked it up and realized that bad ball joints don't make that noise. Then I took it to a Meineke where they actually drove the car and said that the juddering noise is absolutely not normal and that it could be a transmission problem. They advised me to take it to a dealer where they could properly diagnose the problem because they couldn't do it because it's a hybrid. Took it to the dealer where they had to charge me $105 just to look at the car! I let them do it and they said it was the starter clutch and that I had to replace it for upwards of $2000!!! My dad was not willing to pay for another problem and since I am just a college student, I can't afford that. It's out of warranty at this point and the guy at the dealer said if the clutch failed, the car wouldn't drive. Searching on the internet has brought up the cheaper but temporary alternatives of burnishing the clutch and changing the transmission fluid. Should I get these done and hope the problem goes away for a couple thousand miles? The dealer also said if I replaced the clutch at their service center, they would remove the $105 I paid from the cost of replacement. Do you think they would still do that from the cost of changing the trans fluid and burnishing? Or should I change the trans fluid at a regular car shop? Any advise would help.

 

The CVT fluid is used in the section of the transmission where the two pulleys change the "gearing" (if you will) ratio. It does not have anything to do with the start clutch.

The start clutch is an electronically controlled clutch which its basic function could be compared to any regular manual clutch type car. It connects/disconnects the power from the transmission to the wheels.

You can't drive a manual transmission type vehicle with a damaged, scraping clutch and you can't drive a CVT equipped car with a damaged scraping start clutch. (Well you can but not far)

Based on your description, the first thing you need to address is replacing the start clutch, that is your major problem. You can't burnish scraping clutch plates just like you can't burnish scraping brake pads. If it's scraping there's nothing left to burnish. More, the start clutch may be a sealed unit and not servicable.

The start clutch in my 2004 CVT began shuddering real bad (I think) around 120k miles. I've always had the servicing done at Honda, and they took that into consideration when they quoted me $1300 for the start clutch replacement with Honda Corp. paying half the bill.

The dealer put in a "Start clutch kit", so apparently there may be a complete kit available. The assumption is reasonable but I don't know for sure. If I remember correctly the kit only cost a fraction of the overall repair bill. The big soaker was labor. Apparently they need to remove the transmission from the car and partially disassemble it. Personally I would not have a smaller shop do the work. I would either take it to a shop which specialises in transmissions with actual hands-on experience on Honda CVT's... or better go to the dealer.

You need to decide for yourself if your car is worth the start clutch repair. Call around, get quotes. Again I wouldn't hire any fly-by-night shop that "promises/guarantees great results" for a lowball repair quote. You'll likely get your car back many months from now, in worse shape than you brought it and have to pay someone else again to fix it properly.

Typically if a shop charges to make a diagnosis they deduct the cost of the diagnosis off the repair charge, so the diagnosis is free as long as you use their shop to do the repair.
It's a fair thing otherwise a shop could spend hours diagnosing a difficult problem to a defective part, only to have the owner buy that part at a discount auto parts store and have it put in for cheaper somewhere else, leaving the diagnosing shop out the cost of their labor.

If any shop wants to charge you for a diagnosis, but then won't offer to deduct that charge from a final repair bill don't use that shop. Don't walk away, run.

 

I have an 04 HCH with a CVT. It had 180.000 miles when I bought it and it now has 188,000 miles. Since I bought it there was a very slight shudder and over the next 8,000 miles it started to get worse and then eventually just stayed the same the last 2,000 miles. It was very annoying but drivable. I called my local Honda dealership and explained this to them and gave them the service bulletin (see attached). The first step they recommended and what is on the service bulletin is doing a double transmission fill & flush along with burnishing the starter clutch. They charged me $180 for that and it completely fixed my problem. I have put about 100 miles on it since then and it seems to be doing great so far. It also seemed to help my average mpg from about 46-48mpg to 51-52mpg. I specifically asked for the service manager and that is what he told me. He said his girlfriend has an 05 HCH and around 150,000 hers did the same thing and they did the same double flush/fill to hers. It has 230,000 miles and so far no sign of it coming back. Hope this helps.

 

I know this is an ancient thread, but I'm pretty sure the starter clutch is dependent on the correct fluid. Apparently, using regular ATF can cause the judder problem. Make sure that Honda CVT trans fluid is the only thing that goes in your transmission.

Also, the service bulletin for this problem says to soak the new starter clutch in CVT fluid before installation. This suggests that the clutch is bathed in CVT fluid during operation. It is not a dry electronic clutch since it is soaked before install.

12. Soak a new start clutch assembly in Honda Genuine CVT Fluid for at least 30 minutes prior to installation.