2004 HCH stopped working at the traffic light
Created June 11, 2008, at 2:09 pm by honghh
My husband just called me that our HCH won't move forward after the stop at the traffic light. He said the engine seems still running but the car won't move when he stepped on the paddle. This is a used car we just bought in March. It had about 72k miles when we got it. We just fixed (hopefully) the leaking problem last week. Now, another heart-attack. He has called to get the car towed to a Honda service.
Any idea what might have caused this problem? Do you anticipate a big problem, if so, do we have any type of Honda warranty? (we didn't buy any additional warranty when we purchased this car in March because we didnt' have enough $ and we trusted the HCH!)
Thanks for any feedback!
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3 years ago
Sorry about the predicament.
However, can you provide a few more details?
-Vehicle Year?
-Transmission type (MT or CVT)?
-Did it make any noises when attempting to move forward?
-Was it sold to you by a Honda Dealer? If not, did you have it checked by a Honda dealer prior to purchasing it?
-Lastly, when was it that you had last serviced at a Honda dealer, and why?
Cheers;
MSantos
3 years ago
Thanks for your reply!
-Vehicle Year?
It is a 2004 vehicle with 72k miles when we purchased in the middle of March.
-Transmission type (MT or CVT)?
Automatic.
-Did it make any noises when attempting to move forward?
It did make noises when attempting to move forward.
-Was it sold to you by a Honda Dealer? If not, did you have it checked by a Honda dealer prior to purchasing it?
It was not sold from a Honda dealer. But the dealer said they did have their mechanics check the vehicle before they sell it.
-Lastly, when was it that you had last serviced at a Honda dealer, and why?
After we purchased the car, we found a leaking problem when we had a heavy rain. We went to the GoodYear auto service nearby (we have their membership), they refered us to a place to fix the windshield last week. It seems the problem has been fixed. Other than that, we didn't have any service done.
3 years ago
Hi Honghh:
- You may have several issues worth being looked after. How many those are depends on how much was actually missed by the so-called "technicians" at the place where you bought the car. The CVT probably has been fed the wrong fluid (not surprising and quite common) and from the "sounds" of it you could have a problem with your forward clutch.
- It has always been my contention that regardless of experience and proficiency, a non-Honda hybrid technician is neither qualified nor able to guarantee that a Honda hybrid is fit and in good working order. To be honest, not even Honda's own technicians get it right sometimes and they have all the support, equipment and literature they need to assess and repair an IMA hybrid platform. So, I suggest you avoid opening the hood of your hybrid to people who have no qualifications or business being there.
Yes, it may appear to be more expensive at first to visit a Honda service department but going to any other shop will sooner or later cost you much more than the nickel and dimes you are trying to save.
You should visit a Honda dealer anyway just to determine how much warranty you still have on the car.
Cheers;
MSantos
3 years ago
Thanks for the feedback again!
The car was towed to a Honda service yesterday and we called this morning and were told they are working on it now.
I was reminded when you mentioned the "wrong fluid" that we had the oil change two weeks ago at GoodYear. We were charged more than the regular oil price because they said specifically that the oil was for hybrid. (I think it is around $100). Could it be possible that they did not use the right oil? Or were you talking about the oil the dealer (from where we purchased the car) put in?
3 years ago
There's only one type of CVT fluid that should go into your Honda Hybrid, and that is the right amount of the freshest batch of Honda H-CVTF fluid. As it has been said many times in this forum, Honda has reformulated these fluids over the years in order to better address the uniqueness of their CVT's operational requirements. Not only that, but depending on what is observed by the technician several other measures may be required at the time of servicing to ensure reliable and long lived operation of your CVT.
As it is becoming all too common, Honda and Toyota hybrids that are serviced by "outsiders" often develop problems of this kind due the use of wrong or incomplete service procedures and materials. So, yes. If they did not use a Honda HCVT fluid then they used the wrong fluid.
Good luck;
MSantos
3 years ago
We just learned from the Honda service that the flywheel needs to be replaced. They said this is not a manufacture problem, but caused by the user operation. They said it is damaged because the peddle is stepped too much or something like that. So we need to pay all by ourselves. It costs $1,350!! Does this sound right?
We feel so upset that we have to pay $1350 to fix the car we just bought for only 3 months. It is a 2004 car not super old. I belive we cant' argue with the dealer who sold this car either because the car seemed to be in "good" condition when they sold it. But we didn't do anything crazy to the peddle or flywheel whatever in the past 3 months.
It is just frustrating... Is it normal that the flywheel to start having problem in the fourth year of a HCH?
3 years ago
Sorry for the outcome. I always hate to hear stories like these. Sadly your is not the first nor will it be the last. :(
The flywheel is definitely not the most expensive replaceable item in the transmission. In fact, in some cases where the transmissions are abused (poor service, user operation or combination of the two) the only recommendation is to replace the entire transmission. You don't want to know how much that goes for.
Anyway, by just checking against the typical labor rates and the cost of the parts, $1350 is not a lot to ask for this type of work. Now, have them also check the rest of the car as well including all the software updates and if they clear it then consider this a fresh new start. Then, from here on I suggest you service the car as recommended by Honda and if you take good care of it in this way and driving it as well I can't see why it won't serve you well for many more years.
Also, have them check into the balance of the warranty just to get a good idea on what you are truly looking at further down the road.
I suspect the previous owners likely weren't very good to this car and that is a pity.
Cheers;
MSantos
3 years ago
Please pardon me for barging in on this, as I am not a Honda person... but I can not think of anything a driver could do to damage the flywheel (flexplate) on the engine in an automatic transmission car. The flexplate goes with the engine, and is an integral part of the engine balance system. When a flexplate goes "bad", there are very few reasons for it.
On a regular starter motor setup, if the starter pinion is not meshing properly anymore, or not releasing cleanly, it can eventually destroy the teeth on the ring gear area. This would prevent the starter from engaging.
The other issue is cracking of the flexplate. This can be due to metal fatigue of the flexplate, or improper torquing/poor quality fasteners of flexplate to crankshaft or the transmission's torque converter to the flexplate. If the trans has never been pulled out of this car before, then it IS a manufacturing problem.
There is one other possible cracking mode - severe and prolonged over-revving of the engine... not likely with an auto trans! And most engine control computers these days have rev limiters built into the software that cut fuel injection off at X RPM to avoid over-revving.
I think the real issue is it's dead, it's out of warranty, and you have the $ to fix it. Anything else is probably just stories.
3 years ago
Sadly, this HCH has been sitting in the bodyshop again for a week now. Unfortunately, the technician at the Honda service can not find the problem.
About three months ago, this car was broken down at the traffic light on the road. It was towed to a Honda auto service. We were told the flywheel was bad so we spent about $1300 with the flywheel replaced. It has a year warranty for the same problem.
In the past month, this car suddenly slowed down on highway and couldn't speed up. The same thing happened twice in a week. The first time when it happened, the check engine light was on. It can start up so we drove the car to the same Honda service, they couldn't find the prolbem but did something to turn the engine light off and told us to come back if it happens again. A few days later, it happened again. We sent the car to the same place the next day. They can't find the problem that day and asked us to leave the car there for further investigation. Two days later, they called and told us that they suspected a transmission problem. But the problem still exists after they replaced a good transmission. They said they are going to call Honda manufacture. Today, when we called, they said they are checking CVT.
We are both very frustrated and have no idea what type of problem they may find and how much it is going to cost if it is not flywheel related (One year warranty provided from Honda service is only good for flywheel problem). We can't spend another $1000 on it! I know we have no manufacture warranty on this car any more. Can someone help here and provide any suggestion on things like reducing the cost and what we can do?
Thanks!
3 years ago
Still no answer?
I would say that it is a mechanic problem!
If he cannot tell you what the problem is in more than a week, I don't know if I would trust him or the shop.
I am sorry about this!
Let us know what happens
Did you buy warranty for the car when you purchased it?
3 years ago
I feel always sorry when i hear stories about these things. It should be really frustrating to be stopped in a traffic signal. I think you should run a maintenance check for checking these problems.
2 years ago
Did you find out what the problem was?
2 years ago
We just bought a Honda Civic Hybrid yesterday. We don't know much about them. It's a private sale, what should we be wiery of? Our local machanic came with us and advised us that it was in good working order, should we believe him? Hope the car never stop working at a traffic light, or slow down whilst on the motorway!
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