So I've had my 2003 HCH for about a year, it had some vibration from a stop the whole time I've owned it. No big deal as long as you take off slowly it's fine.

But while I ussually drive in the city only, and back highways with speeds of 50mph (80kph) , I've taken it on a couple trips where the highway speed is 60mph (100kph)

I've noticed:

trips on the 50mph highways get the rpm's around 2200 and that's pretty ok, when I get off the highway, I get some jerking but not overly bad

trips on the 60mph get the rpm's at 3000 and the car hates it. While it drives fine on the highway and seems to have no trouble at all, when I get off the highway into normal city speed I get bucking and jerking and even cracking in the front wheels. Like it jerks and throws you forward when you're slowing down, and then you hear a big crack.
And after it does this, it's harder to start out from a stop, groans more and I've had a couple rev's with nothing for about a second or two, like its not in gear.

SO, what to do. It seems to me like maybe the trans is overheating at the higher rpm, but I know nothing about how the cvt works.

The cracking and jerking on my last trip made me think the car wouldn't make it home, it's concerning.

Is this trans serviceable, or replacable only, and where do I get a trans and at what cost? Perhaps it's time to junk it. Otherwise a good runner and I've had no issues with it. Has around 150,000 miles

I tried asking Honda dealer but got the same old run around, $$$$ for testing. Like they can't give any advice without charging $95/hour to basically drive the car and say it needs a replacement tranny

 

My 2003 HCH CVT failed with 162,500 miles on it. I contacted 2 local transmission shops and they said they don't repair the CVT's they just replace. I opted for a new transmission since the car is paid off and I plan to keep the car for a while. It cost about $3300.00. My failure was sudden but not total. I pulled off I-95 at a rest stop and when I tried to get back on highway the car would not go above 20 mph. The engine was revving very high like I was stuck in low. After its was looked over by my garage, the transmission was determined to be non repairable.

 

I did not clarify. The $3300.00 was transmission only. Labor to install was another $800.00.