I dropped my car off on Tuesday. They called and said they did one of the TSBs but the car was still having problems. They are going to order the clutch for the other TSB and replace it. They said it is going to take a day and a half for the work but that it will also be under warranty.

I have a courtesy car so I don't mind the extra days without my car.

 

Do you have extended warranty Tom? Six year old car and it is still on warranty! Boy that must be nice! Hal

 

Harold, honda extended the warranty on the transmission. So I think a lot of 1st gen civic hybrids have a 100K/7 year warranty.

So if you know of someone that has their transmission acting up they might want to check with the dealer to see if the TSB will cover them and extend their warranty.

update: 2 days after dropping the car off I hear from the service department saying that there was a miscommunication between the service person and the repair department. The part never came in. The service guy was very apologetic and said the part should come in tonight or tomorrow. Since I have a courtesy car from them I don't mind. They say they are going to put two guys on it and see if they can't get it done for tomorrow but it was clear that it it would be a longshot. Hopefully I'll get it back on monday all fixed up.

 

Honda called and said the parts weren't on their shippment today. They said the parts should be there first thing in the morning when they open their door. I told them to not make the techs rush on my account, I'd rather have it done right than quickly. He said "thats the way we do things here. So we are on the same page."

It has been a week so far, but I don't really fault them much. They have been very nice to me so far.

So, maybe my car will be done tomorrow or Wednesday.

edit: I got the car back today (Thursday). The transmission is working like it just came off the showroom floor. In fact, driving it around I kept feeling the car wasn't working properly because I was so used to the judder. I think it is going to take a while for me to get used to the smoothness of the transmission. I walked away without paying a cent.

 

my transmission started juttering at 104,000 miles, they burnished, which bought me 8 months, it got much worse, and by 115,000 miles the dealer tried to rebuild it, but eventually they replaced it. corporate paid 1/2 and the dealer paid 1/2 and I am pleased with the results. no more jutter.

 

Other than the egr and transmission it seems like the HCH is fairly well built. I've had no other problems. I guess the next big thing will be the battery. Not sure how long it is going to last, I expect it is going to depend more on personal circumstances than a generic number of miles.

With the new transmission parts my car feels just like when I got it off the lot 7 years ago.

 

I'd love to know how this worked out. I have a 2003 honda civic hybrid with an awful transmission judder. It's had the judder for years, maybe all of them..... I've had it serviced for this 3 times under warranty, and once before the notice was issued, but the fix never lasts long -- and now I'm almost at the end of the extended (7y) warranty! They've topped off the transmission fluid (& maybe changed it -- maybe even done the burnishing thing people have mentioned) 3 times. This has fixed the judder for a month each time -- and then it has returned. Once, they replaced the starter clutch. This fixed the judder for 4 months -- and then it came back.

That was the 2nd last fix. Then when I brought it back last time they just did the FLUID thing again! I couldn't believe it -- I knew it would only work for a month, as it had been done twice before. I have a hard time making time to bring the car to the dealer so I was upset with this (2 kids, one car, husband doesn't drive, went through a year of breast cancer treatment 2 yrs ago, so dealing with this was REALLY the last thing I needed....) HOwever, the dealer promised me that if it didn't work he wouldn't need me to bring it in to be looked at next time; I could just call and they'd order a new starter clutch. So of course when I called he said I needed to bring it in to be looked at -- despite his promise to the contrary.

Meanwhile, I don't expect a new starter clutch to "fix" the problem for more than 4 months anyway. I think they probably need to put in a new transmission -- but that they're following Honda's mandated guidelines, which are aimed atgetting my car past the warranty time. I did express, last time, my worry that all these quick-fixes would just get me past the warranty, and the dealer rep said that they'd continue to cover it because it was a problem we'd been dealing with.... however, I have no reason to trust his word on that.

ANy ideas? Anyone know any way I could get the transmission replaced? I hate dealing with this kind of red tape..... Also, does anyone know if it's dangerous to drive with this judder? My 16 yr old son just got his driver's license a month ago ....

 

I had the same judder problem which the dealer kept doing the brunish and fluid change (until it was out of warrentee). Those fixes would usual last about 6 months and the judder would return. Once it was out of warrentee and the problem returned, I took it to Jiffy Lube and had them do the fluid change - $99 vs. $240 at the dealer. Jiffy Lube used fully synthetic fluid and completely flushed the system, including running three additional quarts of clean fluid through the system. That was exactly a year ago and it is still running great.

I nornally wouldn't trust Jiffy Lube to empty the ash trays in my car, but I figured the transmission was shot anyway, so they couldn't do too much damage. 12 months and counting.

Anyone know how much a rebuilt transmission costs?

 

Hey Tom --

What's TSB stand for? I only had one starter clutch replaced, I think (& it worked for 4 months.) I'd like to think Honda would have checked the other one, but you never know.

Honda has offered to do a couple of things to my engine..... I guess I should bring it in for that, but it's hard for me to have any faith at this point in anything they're going to do, short of replace the transmission.

I love Tom's happy ending story. I bet I forgot how to drive a car without a judder too!!