Hi all,
I bought an 05 Civic Hybrid back in 2016 for $3300 with just under 60k miles. I got it from an elderly woman who regularly maintained it and kept it in good condition.
After about 5k miles of usage and an oil change I began noticing rumbling during takeoff and a rare hesitation and jerk during coasting. (Now I know this problem is called juddering).
I was only 18 at this point and didn’t know the first thing about transmission problems and I was told/read that this problem is normal for a CVT hybrid so I ignored it. I also did not know that you were supposed to regularly change the transmission fluid… Whoops.
Long story short I am at about 97k miles on this car and it is in otherwise amazing condition but when I just took it into a shop to get a transmission flush, the mechanic told me to start looking for a new car because my clutch was burning up. This was after a free inspection and not from a super reputable mechanic so I wanted another opinion.
I’ve read countless stories of people fixing this exact issue by burnishing the clutch and then drain/filling it a few times.
My question is whether this is risky to do because changing the old gritty fluid that the transmission is used to can cause the clutch to stop engaging and potentially"clot" or if I should take the risk and potentially save my CVT.
I love this car and like I said it still performs well. I’d love to take it past 100k if I can and at this point the blue book value of this car is only about $1k so not worth expensive repairs.
Should I do the burnish/drain/fill?
If it were my vehicle, I’d risk the drain and fill, the best thing it can do is help, the worse is that the transmission will still be junk. I know you said the car is only worth 1k, if everything else mechanical about the car is in good shape, the body is in good shape, and you’ve continued to keep up on the maintenance, it could be worth getting the transmission replaced. It’s a large upfront cost, but you’d still have a car that you know that maintenance history of vs a newer used car that is a complete mystery.
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Long story short I am at about 97k miles on this car and it is i my clutch was burning up. This was after a free inspection and not from a super reputable mechanic so I wanted another opinion
You need a better mechanic as the CVT is an automatic and don’t have a clutch as far as I know.
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A CVT has two starter clutches in a single clutch kit: a forward clutch and a reverse clutch
Is it possible the mechanic was referring to the belt? Still, you’d think he’d say what he meant. Our guy, Mike, always takes the time to explain stuff. Agreed that the next step is a better–or at least more eloquent–mechanic. If it were my car I’d compare the cost of a new transmission with the cost of a newer car. The transmission route will be considerably cheaper.
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You may be right when I hear the word clutch I always think of a manual transmission.
The starter clutch is a common issue on this car. I would probably attempt the flush, but I would suspect it probably won’t work. You might contact a shop that specializes in hybrids and ask what they would charge to have it fixed. The starter clutch can be replaced without rebuilding the transmission.
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