When taking off the transmission seems to slip unless I take off very slowly. All other gears shift smoothly though so I'm thinking it may not be the transmission, but a computer issue.

Any ideas of what it can be and what I should try?

 

What kind of transmission is it , MT, Automatic or CVT? H

 

If it's a CVT automatic, it sounds like it may be the transmission, maybe the start clutch.
Usually the first thing they do to try to alleviate the symptom is a (sometimes multiple) transmission fluid change, or a "burnish" procedure. (refer to Honda TSB 07-049)
It could also be "belt slippage" (see Honda TSB 07-050)
Do a search here (for start clutch Civic) and you should find info.
There's also some information on this link to another forum, pertaining to similar problems:

http://www.cngchat.com/forum/showthr...or-Slip-Judder

 

If it is the judder problem, a transmission fluid change will fix it for awhile. I've had it done (under warrentee) twice by the dealer and it lasted about a year each time. The last time I did it was in August of 09, after my warrentee had expired. Believe it or not, I took it to Jiffy Lube and they did it for $99 with syntheic fluid. It is still holding and that was almost 11k miles ago.

 

Neil, what kind of synthetic oil did they dump into your CVT. I have never heard of anyone trying anything other than Honda CVT fluid. Could be interesting if your CVT continues to purr along better than the Honda oil. Honda is very adamant that you use their oil. Please keep us posted. H

 

I don't remember what brand of CVT Fluid they used but I know it was not Honda brand. It was a white and red bottle that read 'Synthetic CVT Fluid' on the bottle. Looked kind of generic. While I was waiting inline to tell them what I wanted, a UPS truck showed up and dropped of their first case of CVT Transmission fluid. I was their first CVT transmission fluid change ever . Luckily the lead tech used to be a service manager at the local Honda Dealership and he seemed to know what he was doing. He got down in the pit and showed the guys where to connect up the hoses from the the vacumn machine and knew the capacity of the transmission without looking it up. Apparently their 'standard' service is like 8 quarts, and the Civic tranmission is only 5 (or something like that) so he assured me that they would run the extra three quarts through the transmission which will give it a better flushing.

I'll be happy if I make it until August. When the dealer changed the fluid it didn't last a year (judder came back in like 9 months), and I think the owner's manual calls for a tranmission flush every 20k or 30k anyway. At my current rate, I'll be right around 20k miles in August.

 

Neil, if you can, try and find out what kind of CVT oil that is. I will bet it cost less? It may be another option for us DIY guys! Well I hope you make it allot after AUG!!!
Cheers;

H

 

Thanks for the response everyone. It is an automatic which I think is CVT.
I tried the fluid change and that didn't help much at all. Maybe the burnish procedure would work? Basically, I just step on the gas and brakes for a few minutes?

 

That does not sound good. I think I would have it repaired before it is toast!!! H

 

This might not be relevant but, I had transmission issues with my car from new. I was at the dealer the third time ready to tell them where to shove the keys and demand my money back (you can do that over here).

Anyways the service manager heeded my call to take the car in and let someone drive it around (take it home and so on) till they found the problem.

I got a courtesy car and after a few days I got a call saying they had experienced what I had and had loaded a software upgrade to the gearbox cpu.

This is after them saying they had called Honda earlier and Honda said there was no upgrade software available to fix the problem.

I was quite upset with the dealer at that time and was always wary after that but, the car has driven like a dream since.

The trouble was that it would decide of it's own accord to suddenly loose power. That was at taking off from a junction or overtaking. All related in some way to accelerating. It didn't have to be hard acceleration either which is what the chief mechanic had experienced as it was he that was given the car to drive and find the symptom...

So now I am very happy with my Honda. That has been 2.5 years now with only little niggles since then. An engine protector plate screw had disappeared last winter allowing the protector plate to scrape here and there over bumps. Some loose wiring in the steering column was scraping when the wheel was turned and I have had an ongoing problem with wheel hub covers getting blisters in the lacquer and corroding.

Anyways I digress - see if your dealer might have a software fix for the transmission... if they don't think changing the oil will do the job.
I remember when I had an old Ford automatic that there was a similar problem with it's gears slipping and a specialist replaced a vacuum seal and changed the oil for me. That car ran like a dream after that.

Good luck.