Hi all,I have an '04 Civic Hybrid with the CVT and 74,000 miles. When I come to a complete stop, and step on the gas to get the car moving again, I feel a rumble/grinding noise from the passenger's side of the car, as though the passenger's side was over rumble strips or rough pavement. It varies in intensity with how hard I step on the accelerator. Anyone have any ideas what could be causing this?
Thanks!
Grayson

 

Hummm... wheel bearings going bad do make such a noise under those conditions.

Good luck

MSantos

 

It is the transmission. You need to have the fluide FLUSHED a few times. That means emptied completely, filled up, run a little, drained, and then filled again until it goes away. My dealer did it for free for me. I think there is a service bulletin about this.

Note the word flushed. This does not mean changed. When they "change" your transmission fluide they just drain and refill, often leaving some bad stuff still in there.

If the dealer doesn't know what to do then go to another dealer. I don't know of anyone doing this themselves, but It might be possible if you have enough transmission fluid.

 

Tom, I agree that this could be yet another case of a CVT flush being needed.

However, Grayson mentioned that the noises were emanating from the passenger side. The CVT housing is located closest to the driver side.

What do you think?

MSantos

 

Hmm.. I just took the Civic for a slow drive around my neighborhood with the windows down and now I'm not convinced any more that it's from the passenger side. I also heard a distinct medium-pitched whine just before the rumbling, and I also noticed a small hesitation (like a kick-down in an automatic transmission) when I stepped on the accelerator at about 10 mph.

I'll take it to the dealer and find out what they have to say. I sure hope they cover it, since my car has almost 74,000 miles...

Thanks for your help!

Grayson

 

I have the same problem with my '04 Civic Hybrid at 30,000 miles. Our driveway is on a slight hill which connects into the garage. I wait on the hill to open the garage door, then as I accelerate to go up the hill into the garage, I get this rumbling under the car, neither on the drivers side or pasenger side, just all over. When I level out in the garage, it stops (but then again, I'm not going terribly fast in there ;-) I just happen to be taking mine in tomorrow for the 30k mile service, so I'll ask them, especially in light of tbaleno's service bulletin mentioned above.

 

Well, the dealer reports that it's a varnish that builds up on the low speed CVT clutch gears, and that they drain the fluid, fill with a second different fluid, drain it, then fill with new fluid. I haven't driven it yet, but when I do, I'll report back its hopefully improved performance.

As an aside, they also cleaned about two pounds of sunflower seeds out of my air intake which had been deposited there by critters, probably mice. So, part of my car maintainance is going to have to be to clean out the garage ;-)

 

Haven't taken mine to the dealer, but from what everyone says, this seems to be the case. I'll report back after I take it in.

Thanks!

-Grayson

 

Hi,
I recently had same problem and wrangled this "Honda Tech Line Summary Article" titled "Shudder Up to 15MPH (Drain and Burnish)"
from my reticent dealer. This procedure worked and solved the problem.
I'm new to this site and hope the scan is readable. I'm new to scanning also.
laz ross

 

My receipt from the dealer has "burnish" on it, too. I misheard over the phone and thought it was "varnish". Anyway, problem solved. It's smooth as silk.