2004 Civic transmission slipping
Created November 18, 2006, at 9:49 am by fchristian
At about 30,000 miles I noticed my transmission slipping a bit. I know that there was a group of Civics that were recalled becaused of a bad belt in the transmission. Mine does not fit into that group since my Civic has a gear transmission, no belts. Honda said that the 30 K maintenance transmission fluid change would fix it. And it did for about 5 K miles. Then it started again. Honda recomended flushing the transmission a few times, which I did. When it started up again in a week I took it to Honda. They could not get it to repeat my problem, therefore no fix. Since then I have not had a repeat performance. My worry is that it will start up again and, since my warrenty is up, I will get stuck with replacing a 2-3 year old transmission! Is there anyone out there that is having the same issue?? I would sure like to know what your experience has been.
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5 years ago
Leave the car for the Technician to drive for few days; get a loaner car from dealer. This might helps.
5 years ago
Does the car have a manual or CVT transmission? I'm a bit confused about your 'gear' comment. If it is a manual, with gears, then there is no transmission fluid to flush. I'm not sure exactly how the Honda CVT works so I can't be sure but if there is a fluid torque converter, I can't believe that fluid change would affect a slipping CVT belt though.
If it's a CVT, it could be beyond the capability of your local Honda technician and you probably should try to escalate the issue. Certainly keep all reciepts and paperwork in case they drag it out past the warrantee coverage period.
5 years ago
Please address all concerns of power loss and surging due to faulty CVT transmission parts and the EGR valve in the civic hybrid to the national highway safety agency at http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/ivoq/ . The following has been copied and pasted from the link.
By Phone
Call the DOT Vehicle Safety Hotline at 1-888-327-4236 and a NHTSA representative will record your complaint information.
General Information
Your complaint information will be entered into NHTSA's vehicle owner's complaint database and used with other complaints to determine if a safety-related defect trend exists.
If a safety-related defect exists in a motor vehicle or item of motor vehicle equipment, the manufacturer must fix it at no cost to the owner. Your complaint is the first step in the process.
Government engineers analyze the problem. If warranted, the manufacturer is asked to conduct a recall. If the manufacturer does not initiate a recall, the government can order the manufacturer to initiate a recall.
We do not have to receive a specific number of complaints before we look into a problem. We gather all available information on a problem. Your complaint is important to us.
5 years ago
Actually, this is a known issue for the first generation HCH with CVT. The changing of the transmission fluid at a more aggressive interval than initially suggested by Honda is the "solution".
Honda knows this and acknowledged it as a design contraint of the Belts used in their earlier CVT's. The newer HCH-II vehicles use CVT belts with different specifications that were purposely manufactured by Honda (instead of being produced by an external supplier as before) thus making these issues a thing of the past. The ATF fluid for the new HCH-II generation was also reformulated to guarantee better and more reliable performance.
Cheers;
MSantos
2 years ago
I have a 2004 Honda Civic Hybrid with a CVT Transmission. I've expierienced problems with sliippage. shuddering, and now a whinning. They supposidly extended the transmission warranty to 100,000 miles. This car has been serviced religiously and I have the backup paper work. At 77,774 miles the transmission is shot and Honda says it will cost me $6400.00 to replace it. Honda and I, are now at war. I have retained a Lawyer and I'll let you know how it turns out. I've been a motor head since I was a kid and I allways purchase the factory maintenance manual when I purchased a new car. They did not test or follow factory prcedures when they analized the transmission. It was never documented on my reciepts so I am holding them responsible for their inadequcies. They could have fixed the transmission if they had a competent mechanic work on the vehicle. Their inadequecies have cotributed to the failure, now its on them.
2 years ago
I have a 2003 honda civic hybrid. Under warranty I had the transmission replaced about 4 months ago. Car is working fine. Brought car in today for oil change, etc. Dealer is advising that I change the transmission fluid now as it is dirty. I thought you only change the fluid every 30,000 miles under normal circumstances. Does it make sense that on a new transmission you need to change it earlier??
Please give me your opinion. I'm also going to check my manual to see if it was advised after I bought the car new in 2002.
2 years ago
Hi June;
Please do not hesitate in getting the CVT fluid changed. Believe me, it is the single most important thing you can do it you want your CVT to be long lived and trouble free.
Not even the engine oil is this sensitive since you can keep it in even a bit beyond the recommended change interval without any major issues. But the CVT fluid should be changed aggressively and well before the recommended change interval. It should also be changed as soon as the techs recommend.
And since the fluid is dirty, it is already well past due.
Cheers;
MSantos
2 years ago
Ayyy Caramba!
That means my Civic hybrid will start slipping next year!
What a car..........
1 year ago
I have a same problem I will take the issue to the court
42 weeks ago
I have a 2003 Honda Civic Hybrid. The transmission startead slipping at about 40,000 miles. I took it to the Honda Dealer and they recommended changing the transmission fluid which I did. It started slipping again about 5,000 miles later. I changed it again (each time it cost me $100 plus fluid).
that seemed to fix it for a long time. At about 100,000 miles I noticed it slipping again. I was on my way home from N.Y. When I got home I had a letter saying the warranty was extended to 100,000 miles. I called them and they asked for the milage. It was 100,450 (or thereabouts). They said it was beyond the exteded warranty mileage and refused to fix it.
Since that time I have changed the transmission oil twice and it still slips.
34 weeks ago
Am curious, how is your situation going with Honda re: your Hybrid Civic. We are having the same problems. I and my son-in-law both purchased 2004s (built in 2003) and have had problems. This weekend my son-in-laws car stopped moving.
27 weeks ago
30,000 miles is the recomended interval for normal driving. The problem is this: there really is no "normal" when it comes to driving.
Check your ATF often (at least monthly). Friction material from clutch packs, metal fragments from wear, and burnt fluid can mess up a transmission very, very quickly. ATF is much less expensive than replacing or rebuilding a transmission, so cut the recommended interval in half (or simply change the fluid yearly). It will save a ton of heart ache, and keep the local technicians from emptying your wallet.
The same goes for brake fluid. Change it yearly (have it flushed). DOT 3, 4, and 5.1 are hydroscopic (readily absorbed moisture). On average your car's brake fluid will absorb 4 to 6% of its volume in water over a year simply from popping the cap when you check the fluid level. Water boils at a much lower temp than brake fluid, and rotors/calioers get more than hot enough to do this. It causes steam bubbles in your brake lines (resulting in spongy pedal.... Harder to stop since gas compresses and liquid doesn't.)
21 weeks ago
I recently bought a 2007 civic hybrid. Not having driven a hybrid before, I wasn't sure how the engine should sound or feel. After reading other comments, I'm convinced I have a transmission problem.
When I try to accelerate, the engine starts to race. If I keep the accelerator pushed, the engine races higher and higher , upwards to 4500-5000 RPMs with little response from the car. Sometimes it barely climbs hills while the speed of the engine seems to race. It feels/sounds like a slipping clutch in a manual transmission.
Am I correct in thinking that my transmission is slipping and needs a repair? And is simply changing the fluid repair enough?
Thanks for you help.
6 weeks ago
My wife has a 04 hybrid civic also and it runs great except for the slipping and jurking with the transmission.
I think she should sell it. honda dealers have not accepted any responsibility for the default.
how are your civics doing?
6 weeks ago
Check your ATF often (at least monthly). Friction material from clutch packs, metal fragments from wear, and burnt fluid can mess up a transmission very, very quickly. ATF is much less expensive than replacing or rebuilding a transmission, so cut the recommended interval in half (or simply change the fluid yearly).
5 weeks ago
I have a 2004 Honda Civic Hybrid with 114,000 miles, and have been closely following the transmission issues on this forum. At about 50K miles, my HCH would begin "shuddering" when taking off from a stop, especially noticeable when the CVT fluid was getting "old" (i.e., over 10Kmiles). The problem would resolve when I changed the fluid (using Honda-brand CVT fluid). I agree strongly with MSantos -- aggressive CVT changes are very important, probably every 10K miles or less! I've never had to do the "CVT belt burnishing" that Honda recommends for problem CVTs, and I've never felt any "slipping"... but then I always try to accelerate pretty slowly, for good mileage.
I've done oil analyses using a commercial lab to check for problems with my HCH engine, always good results. However, I recently asked them to do a CVT-fluid analysis, and they saw abnormally high levels of iron (412ppm, over twice normal). They expressed concern at these high levels of iron -- perhaps from the CVT belt/pulleys.
My question is... any engineers out there who know if high levels of iron in the fluid might be typical for 2004 HCH CVT transmission wear? If the CVT fails, are there reports of catastrophic failure?... or does the belt just not engage at all? Should I overhaul the transmission now, even though the car's running well? ... or just wait until something fails? Any thoughts?... and thanks for the advice!
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