[bigtrouble77]

I've had my CVT insight since 2001 and until a couple months ago I haven't had a single mechanical repair... and I'm closing in on 130k miles.

I just had to make the painful choice of trashing my insight or paying $4,500 for a new CVT as mine was completely worn out in the lower gear area. Unfortunately Honda doesn't offer rebuilt CVTs so I was gonna get slammed. I still decided to keep the insight and take the hit.

Anyway, just wondering what other repairs I should be preparing for. My battery is still going extremely strong. In fact, I was shocked how strong it still is when I took a 7,500 mile road trip to Montana this past october. The goal is to reach around 200,000 miles before I need to replace it. Do the batteries suddenly go out? Or is impending death pretty obvious months in advance? Anything else I should be prepared for?

Thanks,
-Bob

 

[flymuck]

Hi Bob,

Sorry to hear about your transmission troubles. Are you sure it's not potentially covered by the recent "transmission judder" recall? I guess it would depend on the type of problems you were having, but I know in some cases the "judder" can only be fixed by rebuilding or replacing the transmission (and according to my Honda dealership, they rebuilt the CVT in a Civic for this recall -- it was a pain!).

I have a 2001 CVT with about 65K miles. The battery is still in great shape. I have not had the "judder" problem (yet?). I also have a 2000 manual with about 75K miles. I recently had the battery pack replaced in this car, so I can tell you, the battery degradation is gradual at first, then fails suddenly. You will notice that the SoC drops lower than it ever did before, down to 3 bars or less, and then goes into forced charge. After some weeks of this kind of behavior (for me, it was only weeks, but then again, I have only had the car for "weeks"!), the IMA light will eventually come on.

Hope this helps!
-fly

 

[Guillermo]

There are always the option of getting used parts for Insights instead of new parts, this includes used CVT transmissions from crashed Insights.
$850 to $1600 for Insight CVT transmissions here:
http://car-part.com/index.htm

 

[Scott]

Bob,

What type of maintenance was done to your CVT during the 130K miles? I'm curious as I have 60K on my 02 CVT and just took mine in to dealer for "judder/hesitation". They drained/refilled 3 times and did "burnish" or "slip clutch" procedure. Seems much better now.

 

[gomarlins3]

I have the tranny fluid changed every 30,000 miles and it helps with the 'jutter'. I am at almost 109,000 miles now. I have had the coolant changed once and did the spark plugs a few thousand miles ago. I changed the front pads at about 90,000 miles.

 

[bigtrouble77]

Sorry for not responding sooner, I have been in the middle of moving and didn't get a chance to check back here.

Unfortunately I needed the car fixed immediately so I had it repaired by a guy that had done half a dozen of them. If there was a recall, would Honda reimburse me? I figured at 128,000 miles I didn't have a chance at them fixing it for free. Had I known at the time I would have had him order a used part, but I was desperate so I didn't do much research.

I guess I'll see what the dealership wants to do when I bring in the car again. Not sure what service I'm due for at 130k. Hopefully it's not a hugely expensive one 'cause I just bought breaks too so it's been an expensive few months for my little insight.

Thanks for all the maintenance info. I'm happy I decided to keep the car and fix it up.

-bob