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Just got a 2004 Civic Hybrid and I'm checking it out and the transmission fluid looks really high. Do I need to drain some transmission fluid?

Could overfilled transmission fluid be why it's got small "shudder" when taking off no matter if it's in D,S,L or reverse? Not a bad shudder, it's very similar to trying to take off in second in a manual and the engine isn't producing quite enough torque to take off smoothly. It's worse on hills, but does it every time I step on the accelerator. Mileage is also poor. I'm getting about 30mpg instead of 40+.

I know whoever prepared the car for sale was an idiot wasn't very thorough because the battery cables were loose and it wouldn't start the second day I owned it.

 
Rep Power: 126

Sounds to me like whoever prepped the car for sale did so with little regard because of other issues with it.

The fluid looks relatively new so I assume someone was in there recently. Correct me if I'm wrong but the hybrids use the same transmission as the gas cars, and the automatics were fairly weak. This could also be indicative of poor fuel economy because it may be beginning to slip. I would guess someone changed the fluid in an attempt to hide a failing transmission, and then threw the car back together with no care. Keep an eye out for a specific engine code. Off the top of my head, I believe it's P0740. That would indicate your transmission has crapped out.

The only real fix if that turns out to be the case is to replace it altogether.

 
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The hybrids use a CVT. I'm a new Honda owner and haven't done a ton research, but everyone else's CVTs seem to be terrible.

 
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Thanks for bringing this up. I think automatic transmission fluid and cvt fluid are different and I bet they used ATF. I'm going to change the transmission fluid and oil tomorrow. I have no idea what they were thinking. The battery was brand new and transmission fluid was overfilled, but it didn't have an antenna, windshield washer fluid reservoir was empty, and radio was stuck on C0dE. It came with one key, no fob.

I feel like the car runs well after it reaches 4 mph, but then again I'm used to an 04 Sentra which didn't quite make it to 300k miles.

 
Rep Power: 126

CVT’s definitely lag more than the standard automatic so that may just be what it is. The newer ones have improved but a 20+ year old CVT is hardly refined.

I would get on replacing that fluid just in case though.

 
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This has help some other Honda cvt users. Use cvt fluid and then try this and see if this will help any.

https://www.insightcentral.net/threa...3#post-1520090

 
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Do one or two fluid changes a couple days apart with Honda Genuine CVT fluid 1 (not 2 or HCF2). Do not use any other multispec fluids claiming HMMF. The wet
​​​ clutches in these CVTs require friction properties other fluids can't meet without breaking all the other specs they claim. Most of the time, that will take care of the clutch stiction and judder.