CPO is good. The sound is the differential for sure, peak at 32 mph under light throttle. Sounds just like a rear drive solid axle car from the 60’s.
Still present to a lesser extent with shifting to neutral.

I checked the fluid level in the cvt, it was full. I’m gonna follow it for 6 months. If it’s worse I’ll complain to Honda dealer.

 

Update: 137K miles CVT still going strong. No lag in the transmission. Fluid changed at approx 50K and 100K miles, change cost by dealer and independent about $110 each change.

 

Hi Guys, a new member here.
I Want to add some information about Honda CVT,
I follow an Instagram Profile, He's an owner of Honda Independent Workshop in my town. The owner share info about his customer that own an Honda HRV with CVT that has 275K Km or Approx. 171K Miles. the CVT has never been repaired and has no parts replaced. But The owner change CVT oil every 20K Km or half of the Honda dealer recommendation at 40K Km.
but the workshop owner doesnt say about the car owner driving style, and i think that is one of the important things to make CVTs last longer.

and i have question: Does Honda Fit CVT has the same design as HRV, Civic, CRV , Accord ? does it has any interchangeable parts?
Thanks.

 

My '16 has 230k so far and it's only now acting kinda funky. Keep up with your fluid exchanges. At my old job, we had a guy who came in for oil changes/inspections with a 2015 and his went out around 220k, he's at 420k right now and it's only starting to act up/slip again.

 

Scotty Kilmer, the well known You Tube retired mechanic stated that if you want a good CVT, buy Toyota. Supposedly Toyota invented, (or at least perfected), the CVT. He mentions Nissan and Honda, maintaining that their CVT are made by third parties. Not sure anyone would want a CVT, the power band is weird and the increased fuel economy is not that significant.

 

I like Scotty but I do get annoyed by his inaccuracies. Honda makes their own CVTs. But yes, Nissans are made by the notorious Jatco. Scotty likes Toyota because they added a separate first gear to their CVTs which gives the engine initial start up power and acceleration before switching over to the CVT system. It's certainly an innovative idea.

And as far as the CVT goes I love my 2018. It's perfect for me and I have no complaints.

 

what year was your Fit?

 

I have to agree with you on Scotty. I like his style and delivery, but he sure shovels in a hefty dose of clickbait sometimes. The chassis dynamics of my lil' Fit are SO much better than something like Scotty's eternal Toyota.

I haven't had any CVT troubles with my '15, but it's only done 61K miles. I drain & refill every two years with genuine Honda HCF2. I believe Honda recommends every 24K miles or 24 months, whichever comes first? I do worry about the ultimate durability of the CVT, but I have to admit that I like the way the CVT drives. It's an especially nice appliance for all the meaningless driving (rush hour, typical interstate) and it's an outstanding car for "non-car" people. I'm also a fan of 'Sport' mode, very entertaining on such a low-power car. That might be the minority opinion, LOL.

 

I see no such recommendations in my owners manual. Once upon a time perhaps but now Honda seems to totally rely on their silly Maintenance Minder system to tell you when to do things. I'd be surprised if most people don't see the CVT fluid change recommendation until the 40K to 60K range. Maybe longer.

 

Is changing the fluid a pretty straightforward affair?
New guy here to the forum, and new to owning a Honda.

I’m fairly handy with a wrench, but there’s a limit to how deep I want to get into something if I don’t know what I’m doing.

Is it as simple as pulling a drain plug, and then refilling it from the top somewhere?
Is there a filter to clean or replace?

I just picked up a 2015 Fit Ex with 100,000 miles on it.
I don’t know if the fluid has ever been changed.

 

Essentially yes. Three plugs: fill plug at the top, level plug in the middle and drain plug at the bottom (use square knob on a ratchet to undo this). I couldn't bother using the fill plug because it was too hard to get to - removing air filter housing and other incidentals to get to it. The easy to get to level plug in the middle is where the fluid level is supposed to be. Essentially you use the top fill plug to slightly overfill and then take out the middle plug and allow the excess to simply run out then put it back and tighten. Instead I used the middle plug and poured into that until the excess started coming out. That way I didn't have to touch the top fill plug. I have seen a video on a 2015 where someone was able to slip their little fingers in and remove the top plug without removing anything else but either my fingers are too fat or my 2018 is slightly different because there was just no way.

No filter to clean or replace. I imagine there is one that you'd have to drop the pan to get to, and when you get to maybe 500K+ miles or so you can worry about it then.

 

ha haa ... yeah, funny because there are no gears.

I came here to see what kind of transmission fluid people are using. I actually have the 5 speed auto and I've never changed it yet. I wonder if any modern tranny fluid will work or if I have to go to Honda?

 

I have a 2015 EXL with 75,000 miles. Started making a high pitched sound. Kind of like was described as rear trans case of older cars. Just different from what it has sounded like since I have owned it since 2017. Bought with 13,000 CPO and changed trans. fluid at 30,000 and 60,000. Dealer diagnosed as CVT starting to go. Said noise is from bearings with in trans. and would get worse until starts slipping. $6,500 to change to a Honda refurb. CVT with 3yr 36,000m warranty. I called a tranny shop and was told price wasn't that far off. Called Honda and even though car is 10yr old and out of warranty they are meeting me half way. Hopefully injectors don't go next. I hang on to cars and maintain them so didn't want to get rid of it as I really like the body/design. Hoping I can get 100,000 out of the new CVT. I had the starter go out prematurely too and I paid for it and then called Honda and they said they would have helped if car was still at dealer so this time I called Honda first. I had a 1998 Jeep Cherokee that I bought with 78,000 miles and everyone said don't by a jeep but that thing went for 200,000 miles with same tranny, injectors, starter. It did go through 3 water pumps but loved that car.

 

I have 216,000 miles. A sensor went out at 120,000. A gas station replaced for about $50 total.

Change fluid AND both filters.

i was a happy camper for the first five years until I realized that the places I went to did a reverse flush with no filter change.

No one wants to touch it at this mileage, so I do it myself.

 

what Honda number did you call for assistance?
Did you have your cvf replaced yet? Did the noise resolve itself with new cvt?
The differential looks to be a replaceable part inside the cvf case but I would imagine the dealer would just replace the whole unit.
Your answer would be greatly appreciated.
Vic

 

I think "in general" is the key here. I haven't heard bad things about Honda's CVT, but Nisson and others have had lots of problems. My 2015 Fit has 93,000 miles, and my son has 89,000 on has 2020. No problems.

I think by the time it goes bad, and we hear the price of a new one, we'll start looking for a new car. The cost is see online is $3,000 - $8,000. I don't think $3,000 is realistic for a replacement. A quick search online didn't give me good information. Change the fluid using Honda fluid every 35k or so.

"How long do Honda CVT transmissions last?
Features like S Mode for gasoline models and E-CVT for EV drivers give drivers the ability to switch up their driving style as efficiently as possible. Despite their durability, Honda CVTs can encounter issues; however, with proper care, they can help owners exceed 300,000 miles on their vehicles."

 

The fluid is pricey, but it is available from Amazon.

 

my '19 LX 6 spd has only around 63k on it , so i expect to have it at least another 6 or more years ( my last two Hondas went well over 200k ) .
my situation is , when it's finally time to buy a new car , manuals will be history . all that might be available for any compact type car will most likely
be a CVT . my Hondas were manuals / original clutches . i still think the jury is out on CVT longevity . it's basically a friction drive almost constantly
in friction mode . yea , i guess some may go the distance but i think a lot won't . maybe there'll be some improved version by then , i know there is a
gear drive CVT being developed which does sound promising

 

Car manufacturers rushed into CVTs without proper testing and evaluation and kinda got into a mess initially. They're slowly working their way out of it but they still haven't acknowledged that shorter fluid change intervals are necessary. Toyota took it's time and ships a CVT with an actual first gear to eliminate initial start up wear and tear (and then the real CVT takes over). That should significantly improve the life of their CVTs.

It's known that CVTs are unsuitable for large cars because the extra weight causes too much wear on the CVT, However so few small cars are made now that the makers can't resist moving CVTs up into SUVs, but no need to worry - the turbos jammed into SUVs will probably burn out the engine long before the CVT goes.

You mention fully gear drive CVTs and yes that is a very promising development but still many years away and car makers may not be interested as they focus their efforts more on electric cars..

 

In the sense of static friction perhaps. Unlike a clutch, the CVT belt has no partial-engagement/slipping state. The belt is held taut against the pulleys at all times. The only slipping that occurs is when the pulleys are actively changing gear ratios. The pulleys are effectively changing diameter, and therefor the length of the pulley circumference that the belt is contacting. That should mean the portion of the belt contacting the pulleys needs to "stretch" or "contract" a bit as that change is happening. The belt is made of steel bands and segments, so it's not so good at stretching - more likely the segments will slip slightly on the pulley. Another possibility is the two halves of each pulley are engineered to rock slightly with respect to each other - to go slightly out of parallel so that the belt-entry side of the pulley is actually a different width (effective diameter) than the belt-exit side. This would let each successive belt segment contribute to a stairway-like formation as it goes around the pulley. The trouble with that: out-of-parallel pulley halves would have greatly reduced contact area with the belt segments (whose shape is cut to match the pulley vee), which would be its own potential wear issue.
It's unfortunate all the engineers have to sign NDAs - I would love to hear about the challenges and solutions of modern tech.