Hello and apologies joining this great resource because of a problem! I tried searching about this specific issue on the forum but could only find broken parking brake components or visually/audibly obvious problems, and I have neither.

My spouse is certainly a Fit freak, has a 2016 EX-L CVT with 108k mi.

Today, with no previous signs of unhappiness, the Fit will no longer move. It starts, everything seemingly works as it should, there are zero warning lights, OBD has no codes, nothing out of the ordinary, etc. We have always followed up on maintenance for the car (mostly but not exclusively with Honda dealer) and there was no surging or power loss or anything noticeably wrong before today.

Car says it is in park, engine is on, I can shift to neutral and push it forward and backward so nothing is locked up, I haven’t put it on a lift yet but I can’t see any obvious damage to CVs, etc. Drive or reverse behave almost exactly like neutral in that the engine will rev, and there is no movement or any other noise indicating something is wrong. Everything was completely fine when the car was parked yesterday. Temperatures are fine.

I am hoping that those of you with much more knowledge about this platform can tell me if this is possibly anything besides a broken CVT belt (which from what I am reading for now is effectively a totaled car)? Are there any electronics that can fail that would prevent the CVT from engaging that wouldn’t throw warning codes? Is there any way to check the status the transmission with diagnostics?

I consider myself a pretty serious DIYer and this is stumping me. Freeze frame offers nothing, as mentioned, no codes or warnings, the car on and idling would seem to an observer like it is perfect it just can’t move.

 

Possibly a severed shift cable.

 

Thanks for the guess, that gives me something to look for. If that was the case would it still make sense that I could shift in and out of park (where I cannot push the car forward or backward) to neutral (where I can move it on my own)?

 

I had a similar thing happen with my Jetta, The shift cable had become loose. It was loose in such a way that I could shift into Neutral and Reverse but not into Drive.
I was able to snug up the shift cable and get back on the road. Check your shift cable, see if it's loose, severed or too tight.

What's really strange to me is that there are no codes. This would indicate a failure of something that is not directly monitored by electronics.

When you put the car in reverse, does the reverse camera activate as normal? If there is no reverse camera this might be a clue to electronic failure.

Aside from that, all I can say is to check wires, relays and fuses.
You may also want to remove the drain plug or transmission pan to see if there is any chunks of metal or debris.

 

I assume you've tried all the shift points PRNDSL and get nothing.

Either some kind of a linkage failure between the gear shifter and the transmission.

You do have to step on the brake pedal initially for the car to shift into gear. Dunno how this works but another possible problem area.

Or the transmission is suddenly gone. I'd find this hard to believe.

 

I have tried all the shift points, this model is just lacking an "L" option, but "D" and "S" are identical non-movement. In reverse, the reverse camera comes on correctly, and throttle increases RPM but does not move car. "D" and "S" are similar, throttle increases RPM but does not move car. "P" and "N" have "()" like marks on the top and bottom of the characters displayed near the tach, "R", "D", and "S" are just letters. I'm currently using a Zurich ZR15s and it is showing no codes and nothing out of the ordinary in freeze frame.

I'll put the car in the air over the weekend and start taking things apart (including the transmission drain plug to look for nightmares) and look at cables and linkage. I'm looking back through our service records, we always did everything the dealer recommended, including a major line item transmission service at 60k, and I assume we did fluid changes at 30k and 90k if that was listed in the dealer service package. I am still puzzled, there was certainly no transmission grenade moment, as the car was driven successfully earlier in the day and parked back in its normal place.

Thanks for all of the suggestions. In the meantime, my spouse is trying to contain enthusiasm about the 1999 Land Cruiser replacement...

 

Get the new Honda CRV Hybrid.

 

If the car sensed something was amiss from a software standpoint, the CVT indicator letter on the dash (P, R, D etc.) would flash. It's a visual indication that something is seriously wrong, the owner should not push the engine and get it checked out asap.

Since it's not flashing, the car doesn't think anything is wrong. No codes for that.

That makes me strongly suspect a faulty or broken mechanical component. Linkage or cable as previously mentioned.

 

I know you said you don't hear any noise when you are in D or R and rev the engine, but you should also check for a broken axle. They're common enough in salt states that there's a TSB about them.

 

I agree with bargainguy. My initial guess was shift solenoids, but a CVT probably has a different set of components to get the thing in gear (like a clutch) and they should ... in my mind .. be monitored by the computer to see that they're doing as commanded. I don't suppose there is a fuse for the cvt specifically?

 

mine sure made plenty of noise, but I don't think that's an issue on the 3rd gen ...? And also the car sure didn't move lol

 

I spent some time looking at the car and have more confusion. I was able to confirm that all of the physical cabling/linkage looks good, I can see the selector moving at the transaxle. From the underside all of the physical drivetrain components look completely fine.

The only thing happening at the transmission is the park pawl clearly works when shifting, in that I can freely push the car forward or backward in every shifter setting except "park". After reading a whole lot about the Honda CVTs it reads like I have a powertrain control module not sending signals and maybe also a hydraulic backup not working to limp the car along in "D" or "R". I remain astonished there are no warnings if that is the case. There was no slow/erratic/abnormal performance the last time the car was driven and turned off.

I also spent time with the diagnostics. Again, no codes broadcast, no warnings. I did every test I was able to find on my unit and it EGR found a code U0416-68, although an internet search of that indicates lots of possibilities. Going to look around ECU/PCM wiring and maybe see if I can get anything useful out of a DC clamp meter.

 

I think the time is approaching where you will have to take it in to the dealer and let them diagnose it.

 

That specific code is for an internal failure of the VSA modulator which is the abs pump under the hood. It's a very generic code and often associated with other abs or eps codes

or so the internet says......
there are some thoughts water may be in the wiring harness....did u go through a giant puddle before parking ?

maybe it wont let you GO.....if it knows you cant STOP ?

how are the brakes ?

 

Wanted to do the right thing and thank you all for your guidance and share an update. Fit was towed to a Honda dealer where it was determined CVT belt was somehow shredded the exact moment we last parked the car and replacement unit is required. Offered new or used options, both extremely expensive with 3yr/36k warranty.

Hard to contain my shock and disappointment about this.

 

The Honda Dealer you went to offered you new or used CVT Drive Belt?

 

I might be using the wrong terminology because I am not a CVT expert, the metal main belt in the CVT is done for, metal shavings galore when the transmission fluid was checked. We were offered a new or used CVT. I doubt they do transmission rebuilds in house.

 

As far as I knew they didn't do any repairs or rebuilds on the CVTs. No parts available. A used CVT was simply as is off a scrapped car with fresh fluid. At least that was my understanding as of a few years ago.

 

It's not worth getting a transmission new or used for your Fit.

Best to look for another Honda.

HRV
CRV
Passport
Civic.

 

Oh I'm done with Honda for good after this. I appreciate all of your help and was hoping for something silly that was an easy fix, but I am not willingly signing up for this nonsense again. I hope this ends up being useful to someone because a lot of what I could find on the Internet said there would be multiple warnings if the CVT blew, and in this case we had no mechanical or diagnostic warnings. The car went through a state-mandated, privately done safety inspection about a hundred miles before it stopped moving, and while those are famous upsell opportunities we were told everything was pristine.

Exploding transmissions with no warning and no codes (and no recalls) is absolutely wild. For the Fit, the CVT strangely is discontinued while the manual transmission is not. The dealer was completely familiar with this issue when I had the car towed in.

We have this Fit and a 2018 Odyssey and we have problems with both of them that I might expect on 25 year-old cars. My wife loves her Hondas but I think her patience is wearing thin. We have routinely not been able to get parts from Honda for these 2016 and 2018 vehicles from the dealer (this isn't us avoiding any dealer powertrain servicing, I am talking about things like trim pieces flying off on the highway), and I can go down the street to the Toyota dealer and get next day parts for my 20-40 year old trucks.