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Nice job, Mike! I'm glad Bluesight is ready for more autocross.

Sam
 
Discussion starter · #63 ·
I don't know...maybe 20 hours total, slowly taking things apart and putting them back together, plus 3 hours or so fiddling with the shaft oil seal. Quite a few additional hours investigating and ordering stuff. Good I'm retired...

If you knew what you were doing, and had the right tools, its probably 2 to 4 hours out and 2 to 4 hours in. Then waiting for parts in between unless you pre-ordered them.

There are probably more than a few G1 CVT Insights out there that appear CVT dead that actually have this problem...and are probably going for cheap, or are already in the junk yard. And, keep in mind, that G2 Insights, CVT CRZs and CVT Civics all have the same potential problem where it looks like there is a dead CVT that wouldn't be worth fixing, but actually has this relatively cheap fix. Again, I expect some of these can be found at a pretty good price.

B
 
Your input shaft splines.

Just looking closely at the splines on your input shaft, they appear a bit damaged or is that my imagination. Too late now I know.. but..

The ridges along the edge of the splines looks like chattering damage?
Some damage that looks like chips in your pics?

How would you assess the splines?
How do they compare to an undamaged intact CVT I wonder?.

Scott any comment?
 
Discussion starter · #66 · (Edited)
My evaluation is that the CVT input shaft splines are way harder than the splines in the flywheel. I expect they are intended to last "forever" (1M miles) and the splines in the flywheel are sacrificial. As long as they make reasonably good contact with the flywheel splines (which they seem to) and are well lubricated (which they currently are), I think they are good. But I absolutely see your point. There are ridges that might indicate enough wear on the input shaft splines that there is a slap gap with the flywheel splines that might cause premature wear on the softer flywheel. But, in my opinion, what really caused the flywheel splines to turn to dry dust was the disintegration of the O-Ring seal and loss of the lifetime lubricant. I'll find out...eventually. What I am hoping is that it will be 20K to 50K miles (5 plus years) before the flywheel splines go again (actually, it would be loss of the seal again). If the lubrication stays in place, I think it will hold up. But it is a risk. The alternative was to throw Bluesight away. I wasn't going to buy and install a replacement CVT...which would probably have similar problems from a 100K plus mileage vehicle.


We're kind of getting into the editorial parts...

B
 
After a closer look at the photo of the input shaft it does appear to have some wear, more than I’ve seen on any of the ones we’ve replaced in our shop.

I do believe the shaft wear is probably because of the racing.

I also suspect the flywheel will last Mike a long time, like he says 20-50K miles, maybe more.

Congratulations on getting it all put back together.

Scott
 
Discussion starter · #69 ·
The racing would definitely put a load on the input shaft splines and it sounds like, from Scott's experience, that contributed to my input shaft wear indications. It's also possible that the racing contributed some to the loss of the flywheel splines, possibly to the extent that spline slap (or equivalent) might have contributed to the deterioration of the shaft seal. But, since Scott indicates that the failure of the flywheel splines is not an uncommon CVT Insight killer, I expect the racing isn't a primary culprit. Scott...I'd be interested to know how many of these things come through your shop in a year, especially recently...cars now typically aged ~20 years and maybe 200K miles?

B
 
Discussion starter · #71 ·
It has a slightly different appearance, but it fit just fine. So far, it seems to work the same. Others have had OK experience with the G2 version as well. On mine, there was still lubricant in the splines indicating that the O-Ring must have still been intact at the time of removal, and that the "lifetime" Urea grease was still protecting the splines, as per the nice look of them in the picture. You'd really want some assurance about this if you get a used flywheel.

B
 
Discussion starter · #72 ·
A quick update...I went off to two autocross events over the weekend and Bluesight worked the same as it had before the flywheel problem. I must have gotten most of the parts back in correctly...a bit of a relief...

B
 
I replaced a CVT a few years ago. To take the tranny out and hoist it back in, I used a boat trailer hand crank winch mounted on a 2x4. The 2x4 had a hole drilled in it to pass the winch rope through. The winch had to be spaced up enough to clear the crank handle. Worked perfectly. Harbor Freight sells similar winches for less than $25.

I remember the Honda manual was real specific of how much grease to apply to the input splines and cautioned about applying too much grease. I don't remember the exact amount, but I do recall the weight was called out in grams.

I got a chuckle when you were dismayed at the amount of extensions it took to get to a bolt head. I guess you never owned a BMW. My son had a 318 and to get the starter out required enough extensions to reach the rear bumper!!

Best wishes to you and your Autocross racing... Glad you got it all working again
 
Discussion starter · #77 ·
If you're going to get to the point of having access to the flywheel and shaft, you're most of the way there to just replacing the relatively cheap flywheel with a used one form several vehicle types (not just G1 Insights). Welding would probably not be cheaper. This assumes the shaft splines are still OK, which is likely. If they aren't, then getting a balanced weld would probably be difficult or impossible. And I assume this is a splined connection for some good reason. There maybe is some minimal movement between the engine shaft and the transmission components that would not be happy if the flywheel was welded in place...not sure.

B
 
Discussion starter · #79 ·
Mentioned earlier in the thread that I used a G2 Insight flywheel (~$100), but there was also discussion of the Civic Hybrid flywheel as an option. I don't think the splines are any more robust. At lease can't tell by just looking. Scott had a line on someone that would rebuild G1 flywheels with heavy-duty splines, but I don't think that is available any more.

B
 
Has anyone ever considered or tried welding the flywheel to the shaft?
This isn't feasible because you wouldn't be able to get it all reassembled with the flywheel welded to the transmission shaft. When you take the transmission out, this will be obvious.
 
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