Last night my wife and I were driving home on a very dark highway on the way back from a little vacation. Just as I summitted a decent size hill, I noticed my RPMs shoot up to about 5k and no power was going to the front wheels. I lost momentum pretty quickly and barely got over to the side before running out of mo. My car was like it had 5 gear selections of neutral--whichever position the lever was in, the engine just reved without the car moving anywhere.

They towed it to the nearest dealership in Denver and I'm awaiting news about what happened. I think it's safe to say that the problem is CVT related. The smell on the side of the road smelled more like burned rubber than burned clutch (I am assuming the CVT clutches smell similar to a manual clutch burning out). I have the extended warranty so it should be covered no matter what the problem was.

I'll post updates as I find out more information and as I drive the fix. Cross your fingers for me!

 

I would guess that the belt in the CVT broke.

 

I understand it is a metal belt. Is it in fact a rubber belt in the CVT similar to a snowmobile? H

 

I'll cross your sparkplug wires for you. Best of luck for a quick fix and many more happy miles!

 

I recently saw a diagram of the belt in a Civic hybrid I, and it was like a metal chain. I'm guessing it's also a metal belt in the HCH II.

Good luck to you kristian.

 

Update 1:

The dealership called a few minutes ago and said that the transmission plate was bad. I'm not sure if that is similar to a clutch plate, or what that means. They are expecting a replacement part tomorrow and a day of labor (I hope he was padding his time estimate) before the car will be driveable again.

 

This must be a new issue to Honda. Must be due to all that mountain conditions you put up with. What is the mileage on your HCH2, kristian? Hope this is not a weakness as I to deal with this type of condition. Maybe not as sever as yours , but probably close. I had to change CVT oil sooner than most! Have you experienced this as well? H

 

My mileage is only 35k. Most of those miles are suburban driving on rolling hills, but it's definitely seen some mountain driving. Since moving last year, I drive up a steep 300 foot long driveway every day. There have been several times when I've noticed a "hot" smell when my car was in the garage after just going up the hill so I wonder if this problem hasn't been happening for a while now.

If it was a defective part, that's fine and I won't worry about it. However, I'm a little concerned that I'll have this issue again at some point. I guess I've got about 65k miles for it to happen again before my warranty is up, but my wife is not going to trust this car for long trips.

 

Well lets hope they find a cause of the CVT problem. I have been over some steep passes and have never smelled any hot smells, so maybe your CVT has a defective part and won't show itself again.
Cheers;

H

 

Update #2

I just got a call from the dealership. They installed the new transmission plate and were not happy with the results. They are ordering a whole new transmission and putting it in next week. It's kinda a pain to be with out the car for over a week, but I am glad they are replacing the transmission--I'll feel a lot better about it when I'm driving the car away from town.