Originally Posted by avTronic

Things I know. Honda service locations and techs only go by what Honda specifies and are not to think outside the box for you. Don’t take this as them being idiots. When they say there is no filter to replace that is the spec. Yes there is a filter on the CVT (actually 2 that I found) and they are meant to go the expected life of the transmission. Vehicles (and transmission; even CVT) these days can last much longer than what the manufacturer will support.
The filters job is not meant to catch major material and especially not metallic material. There are other mechanisms in place to help with this but this is after excessive wear possibly from a failure. If your filter is so clogged that it needs changing, then there is something failing in your transmission or you have an excessive amount of miles on it. If you are prolonging the life of the transmission then you are on your own to find a replace what you think is needed. Honda owes you nothing at this point.
When I changed the fluid at 80k, on the wives 2014 coupe, I only replaced one filter, the easier one. The other one was smaller and required much more than I was willing to deal with that day. Over 100k and all is still going well with that CVT that I am still weary of but thankfully I never drive the car or it surely would have failed by now.
We also had the issue with the plug popping out and had no idea if fluid had spilled or worse, if water had got up in there. There was no sign of fluid but thus was when I first changed the fluid. I researched the issue and found the rubber vent cap and it was clogged. Cleaned it and the plug, changed the fluid and no pop outs for sometime (checked it every month for about 6/7 months). Over 1.5 years later and saw it was out again. Who knows how long it had been out since I had not checked in so long with much going on in life. Again, everything was dry with no sign of fluid spillage. Cleaned the vent cap and replaced the plug with two small dabs of weak glue that will release with ease when needed. If the pressure pops this out then I know the pressure is significant but I think it’s not at all. Possibly just perfect storm where you hit a bump and rise up and the transmission is revved up and then coming down under full load on a warm day? Who knows. If you have fluid spill out then this is happening under much more stressful conditions. Again just a guess but I know how you all got rid these toys.
I may update after a few months to see if the plugged stated in. I may even pull on it to see if the glue actually held or the rubber, metal, heat and fluid caused it to break loose even if it didn’t pop out.