flightstar

Hi folks, so a few months ago the transmission in my daughters 2004 Honda Civic Hybrid sedan literally "turned off" (or so it seemed) from one moment to the next.
I was driving it and pulled up to a red light, all was good, light turned green, depressed accelerator and ... NOTHING. Transmission wouldn't engage at all. No grinding noise, in fact no noise at all, just the gasoline engine running (was not in eco-mode). Had to push the car off the road and get it towed home. I started it a few times in the driveway, engine started up just fine, but shifting gears did nothing, not a blip.

I will mention that the transmission did used to sometimes make a SLIGHT kinda bbbrrrrr vibration noise when you pulled away from a dead stop, but that vibration soon stopped as soon as you got up to about 5-10 mph. My daughter had a transmission flush done about a year ago (they used some other fancy name for it, said it was more then just a flush) and that was supposed to take care of the bbbrrrrr vibration noise but it only reduced it by about half.

I'm not a car mechanic or anywhere close to it, but I did a lot of research on this and there seems to be some talk about -
- maybe the CVT Drive Belt has snapped and needs to be replaced?
- maybe a transmission solenoid (inside the transmission pan?) that might go out and cause this.
- others just say that the tranny may have just "gone bad" and will prob need to be replaced.

We have been unable to find someone to look at this at a reasonable cost (I'm in Port Orange, near Daytona Beach FLA). Taking it to the dealership shop is prob not an option financially.

The car is super clean otherwise and had the hybrid battery replaced at 90K (it has about 190K on it now) and that battery was working just fine before the tranny went out. Plus it has a very recent $500- set of 4 x Michelin Defender tires on her. So I hate to see her get parted out or scrapped but also can't really justify spending $1,500 to $2,000 replacing the transmission.

*** Any suggestions on how I might go about troubleshooting this further and maybe getting it fixed, would be appreciated bigtime, THANK YOU!

PS: If I can't afford to get it fixed I'm hoping I can find someone to sell it to who WILL get it fixed and operational again.

Colin42

Any fault codes? How's the fluid look? Level/colour/smell

flightstar

Thanks for the reply.
I did not get a reading of the fault code after it happened, and by the time I was asked that question some days later, the starter battery had died and now the car sits dead in the driveway. (Tried to charge the starter battery, it won't hold a charge, dead cell I guess.)

I could go to AutoZone and rent the code tester, pull out the battery from my old (daily driver) Subaru and hook that up to the Honda just to turn the ignition and/or start the engine and check the code, if you think that's worth it.

Also haven't checked the fluid but I could do that easily enough.

Think I should do both of these things?
And do you think these actions would confirm anything, or just give us some ideas?

Appreciate the help!

Slumpertcivic

Make sure it actually has transmission fluid.

Get both front wheels off the ground, start car, put it in drive and if the wheels move at all it’s not likely a belt issue.

ezone

They are known to strip splines out of the flywheel ....then there's nothing to spin the trans input shaft

https://www.justanswer.com/honda/3bt...t-fwr-rev.html

flightstar

OK thank you much appreciated.

I will try that plus the other checks mentioned in first reply and get back to you. Going to take me a few days though.

And yes I did check the transmission fluid at roadside when this happened, fluid level was OK at that time, can't recall it having any burnt smell.

However one thing I remembered now though - we towed the car back to my house, about 3 miles, using a tow rope from my friends car. Before we did the tow I looked up how to do this safely as wasn't sure w a hybrid vehicle, and got conflicting results on proper technique. From those results I believe we chose to tow the car with the engine running and gear in Neutral. We towed at a very slow speed, about 25 mph all the way. Anyway about the time we got close to home, I started smelling that a slight burnt fluid smell. Not very excessive, but it was there. There was no noise, no grinding or anything, just the smell. When we got home I opened the hood but there was no excessive smell there. I did not check the trans fluid again after I got home (was pretty well done with it all by then lol).
Not sure if that helps in any way but thought I'd mention it.

Anyway over the next few days I will do following and report back -
- Recheck fluid level, smell and color
- Rent code reader to read any fault code with engine running
- With front wheels off the ground, will put in drive and see if wheels turn.

Till later

flightstar

Thanks for that, I read that post.

Any idea of the cost to replace the flywheel with a new one? Sounds expensive.

Tks

ezone

The transmission would have to be removed to replace a flywheel, but the part cost is much lower than buying a replacement transmission
The car has nearly 200k on it, so I wouldn't be surprised if the transmission failed either.

Maybe double what it would cost in a different location LOL

Prices vary. A LOT. Call local shops and ask.
Some probably won't touch a hybrid. Some probably don't know they shouldn't be touching hybrids.
Who is gonna be able to diagnose it accurately?
Choose carefully.