Honda HR-V 2004 CVT Auto (yeah yeah I know, but I’ve had it from new and it’s been faultless up to now) 227,000 miles.

Missis was driving it this morning and it lost all drive while just driving along at a steady 55mph.

Car starts and runs as normal, but just no drive to the wheels, forward or reverse.

It made no noise, no vibration, no clunks bangs or rattles.

A couple of weeks ago the shifter got a bit stiffer to move. Checked the shifter still moves the cable and lever at the gearbox end – all moving ok.

Recovery have just dropped it on my drive. What should I look at first?

How to tell if it’s terminal or fixable? Don’t mind a bit of serious spannering if needed (not got engine crane if one would be needed). Rest of car is spot on but will need new exhaust at March 2017 MOT so need to factor in overall costs of repairing a known quantity motor with maybe being able scrape together up to £5k to buy an unknown quantity.

As usual, the timing isn’t great, and we have no second car, and need a motor for work etc. Have a short term loan of a car from a friend to get us by this week. Might need to get a second car at any rate as a stop gap plus an element of future protection.

Prepare for “What bangernomics car” thread!

I’d go for a broken rubber band.

[edit] turns out they’re not rubber.

I do think my elastic has snapped 🙁

Is there any sign it’s shifting when you put it into drive or reverse? It could either be an issue between the selector and the gearbox or an issue with the gearbox itself – the latter being the more expensive option.

I do think my elastic has snapped

rather that than your banjo…

Right… this post is going to be based on what I’ve read/experienced with the Audi Multitronic CVT (mine has almost 300,000km on it, and I rather like it), but I don’t have a fast enough internet to compare it to the Honda.

I’m also assuming it isn’t a broken belt.

First thing is to check the OBD fault codes: you can get Bluetooth dongles that do the basics, hopefully the gearbox is classed as a basic function.

Can the internet confirm how many of the gearbox functions are physical (through the cable, e.g. P lock) compared to electronic (switches and sensors)? Gear ratio and the clutch pack seem to be entirely electronic on mine. Maybe a switch or position sensor has failed and the brains have failed-safe dumping the ‘box in neutral?

When stopping mine there is an automated clutch (no torque converter) that disengages the drive. I know for a fact that mine is getting worn and slipping because getting out of basement car parks is becoming a challenge. Could it be that the clutch pack or actuator has failed?

Just been out for another look and listen.

When I put it into reverse at idle there is now a rattley sound from the gearbox. This goes away when increasing revs even slightly.

No noise when in D or L or N or P.

When I select any of the gears the revs do dip a little then settle, as if it is trying.

At one point the D light on the dash was flashing whenever any gear was selected, but that has gone away again now and only did it the one time. Maybe a fault code that I need to check out.

I’ll try a bit of google fu Knottinbotswana but this isn’t a common car so so far no luck.

have you checked the transmission oil level

Yup, trans oil present and correct. Looks clean on the dipstick with no metallic flakes.

Have you checked the fuses?

****** awesome that you’ve stayed real eco and not new car every other year. Need pics and keep it going 🙂

Cheers Hora.

Despite its idiosyncrasies, it just seems to “fit” me.

Will be sad to see it go if it is terminal.

Will be looking for a runabout for now and then pulling the gearbox out at my leisure. A new experience for me 🙂

[Salutes fellow 12yr old vehicle devotee].

Have you tried turning it off and then back on again?

More seriously (but not really on topic) is this a ‘proper’ CVT with constant revs as you speed up, or a CVT that is variable but mimics a manual by changing in steps (apparently drivers don’t like the constant drone of a CVT staying constant)

[Waves @ takisawa2]

Spooky – this is a proper CVT.

Managed to get another car sorted for now to give me a bit of breathing space, so back to the problem.

I haven’t found much so far on HR-V problems. All sites seem to point at the new HR-V or CR-Vs, so not much luck with fault code options.

Might be able to borrow an engine crane, but before I go to the effort of pulling the lump out, any more views on diagnosing the torque converter? Presumably the TC acts a bit like a clutch, so if all drive has gone, that’s a likely candidate?

This is going to be a harsh read but.

Why are wasting time and effort on a 12 yr old car that is currently worth £100 scrap, and even if you cold fix it is only going to be worth £900?

If you can diagnose the dive issue, then source the parts , if they are still available it wont be cheap. Its a Honda , and probably needs a new CVT gearbox, and good luck in finding one of them .

Then there is the agro of getiing it delivered , and swapping out and hoping the new one works, but as it isnt new and you have no real idea of miles and condition it might be a dud too.

You have had your moneys worth from that car now its time to move on. It might be something really simple like a fuse or cable thats come loose, but as the car was in motion, then it went from aok to busted in one second that leans toward catastrophic fail somewhere . There has been no atf fluid leak, no smell of burning coming from the bonnet so something has broken internally. And you probably wont be able to repair it.

How often did you change the gearbox oil in 220K?

Your hobby is spending thousands on oversized children’s toys and playing on them in the woods, and you thinking fiddling with a car is a waste of time and money? 😯 😆

Harsh as it sounds, singletrackmind is correct – this is unlikely to be a cheap or easy repair and will probably cost more than the car is worth.
Doesn’t mean you can’t fix it, if you enjoy that sort of thing it would be very satisfying to get it going yourself and prove everyone wrong!
This is quite an informative (if somewhat dull) video explaining how the Cvt gearbox works.
https://youtu.be/W95YjQ7b3ao
I think it is likely that the starter clutch has failed, I know Honda replaced a few under warranty but yours is out of the warranty period the odd mile or two…

It doesn’t matter if the repair is more than the car is worth. That’s only market value, nothing more. A functioning sound reliable car is worth much more than the market tells you. In countries where new cars are hard to get, old cars are suddenly worth much more and get repaired more. Nothing different about the cars themselves.

If you fix it then you have a known food car with a fixed transmission and a new widget. If you buy another banger it could have its own expensive problems waiting for you.

It’s not an asset, it’s a tool. If the engine is mechanically sound, it’s not rusty, and there are’ a load of other work parts, then fix it. Well cars need money to keep going.

You wouldn’t ditch a £50 commuter bike if the chain snapped would you?

If it were med and I had the time and space, I would Google hard about the gearbox, speak to an Indy gearbox specialist, then get it out and look inside. You may not need to remove the whole engine.

The words rare car

Mean I’d probably agree with the above sentiment.

Doesn’t mean I wouldn’t phone around for an auto box rebuild specialist before condemning it though. But rare cars are unlikely to be cheap to fix unless they share parts with common cars.

Actually no first thing I would do would be read codes.

Your hobby is spending thousands on oversized children’s toys and playing on them in the woods, and you thinking fiddling with a car is a waste of time and money?

Having spent the thousands of pounds on them I would rather be out in the woods using them as opposed to being stuck underneath a busted car on my driveway , in the rain , taking the skin off my knuckles and getting rust in my eyes trying to undo, and most likely failing, to undo the impossible to access bolts neccessary to remove a busted gearbox that probably needs a £2000 repair to get the vehicle moving again. Especially at 220K which is when I would expect all the ancillary componants like starter motor, alternator, power steering pump, abs pump etc to all be beyond design life spec.

If you view car maintenance as a chore, then yes, you’d be better off riding in the woods.

But if you don’t mind getting stuck in, it can be rewarding to fix cars. (especially when you can save substantial sums of cash V using a garage) In the same way it can be rewarding to fix/maintain bikes.

My last car maintenance was fixing the air con on our car.
It cost me about 2hrs, a £3 shim kit, and got an excuse to go and buy a low profile socket set to add to the collection.

Didn’t even need the shim kit, just removed the existing shim to get the clutch gap correct, so the job was free. Honda would have replaced the compressor and charged upwards of £700.

Even on a cheap banger, a bit of financial outlay can still make sense if the other option is to finance a much newer vehicle.

The wife has just waved bye bye to her 12 year old Focus which she’d had from new. I’ve been gluing it back together for her for the past few years and it was getting too much. It used more water than diesel in the end, never oil though.

I finally gave in and she got a new car, but I got my Sunday’s back.

Thanks for the comments guys.

I understand the sentiments re age and mileage of the car.

However. having owned it from new, I know what has happened to it and frequency of servicing etc. All oils etc changed at least on time if not a bit earlier. Cam belt changed by Honda at the right times.

This is the first issue I have had apart from fitting a new radiator earlier this year.

As for the cost and value, I don’t have a problem spending £500 and a few hours to fix this, as I know the car and its full service history. I know that it wouldn’t sell at all with the amount of miles it’s got on it, but the value to me of a known car is much greater.

Look for new thread asking about OBD code reader 🙂

A cheap obd code reader will likely not read gearbox faults.

a diagnostic step would be to jack one wheel up and use that to diagnose whether drive is completely lost (would suggest belt) or just lost so much that it won’t move the car (would suggest clutch/torque converter)

on that note, do you actually know its a t/c rather than a robotic clutch? if the latter it could just be the actuator\clutch plate that’s gone? it might be this system..

Found the problem yet?