Just curious from your experience @db4690, Is it possible or practical for a diy’er to check the Civic CVT’s fluid level using the fill hole? the reason I ask is b/c the car probably has to be level to get an accurate reading, and there may not be a simple way for a diy’er to lift the car and maintain a level position enough to access the fill hole while working in the driveway. With the typical garage shop car lift such a thing is quite easy I presume.
That leads to my question, can an ordinary mechanic (not a dealer) check the CVT fluid level? replace the fluid?
These are new and mechanics may not have experience with them.
b
There is at least one Youtube video of how to do it on a Subaru. The biggest problem seems to be that the fluid has to be checked at a specific temperature that is somewhere between ambient and normal operating temperature. What genius engineer came up with that?
No . . . the fill hole is straight down, viewed from above. You fill using a funnel
The fill plug has a handle on it, and “appears” to be the end of a dipstick, but alas it’s just a plug to cover to cover the fill hole
You don’t need to raise the car to access the fill hole or the check plug, so you CAN maintain a level position
Now if you have a sloped driveway, that’s YOUR problem, not mine 
Seems like if the owner can fairly easily check the trans fluid level by verifying the level is at the check hole, without having to raise the car, that’s nearly as good as a dipstick. If you have to raise the car and keep it level to access the check hole, that’s a big problem for a diy’er. My understanding is that some newer automatics are unfortunately configured that way.
Could you simply stick a long enough rod down the fill hole until it bottoms, and check the level?
But you’d have to mark the rod accordingly
Far easier to just use the check plug, in my opinion
Yeah, but easily done after confirming the correct level once with the check plug.
Just out of curiosity
why are you so against using the check plug on the side of the transmission?
This is not a procedure you’ll be doing that often
Never said I was against anything…just posing an easier way to check the level.
Just got this notice in the mail. Found it interesting for a couple reasons
- Never had a problem with my transmission. But I’m only at 75K miles
- Subaru marketed the lineartronic CVT as maintenance free for the lifetime of the vehicle (see image clipped from their newsletter)
#2 might also explain why theres no easy way to check fluid levels
My mom has a 2014 Civic with a CVT
The manual says to service the fluid at 25K under severe service conditions
So I did it. There’s a fill hole, a drain plug, and a plug on the side, so you can check if you’ve got the correct fluid level
I suspect that Subaru you’re talking about also has some method for draining, filling and checking the fluid level. Easy, maybe not. But it should be possible
“No maintenance” does not mean “reliable”. Often it means the opposite 
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