Honda City CVT Start-Up Clutch Position Memory

For Honda City owners who might have experienced bad fuel consumption after installing grounding cables onto the car, taking out your car battery for extended periods of time or anything that might have caused the ECU memory to be reset, go back to your Honda service center to rectify the problem.

This is an issue with the CVT gearbox, where there is a start-up clutch activated via hydraulics when you shift into D from N or P gear positions. When the ECU memory is reset, start-up clutch calibration information is lost and sometimes the ECU detects the clutch full engage/release positions wrongly.

Please refer to this thread on Temple of VTEC Asia forum where a very experienced Honda driver WongKN has posted his thoughts on the matter.

I believe this information should also apply to Honda Jazz drivers as the engine and CVT gearbox is the same.

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Paul Tan

After dabbling for years in the IT industry, Paul Tan initially began this site as a general blog covering various topics of personal interest. With an increasing number of readers paying rapt attention to the motoring stories, one thing led to another and the rest, as they say, is history.

 

Comments

  • HumanSannz on Sep 05, 2005 at 6:17 am

    Wah Honda cars also will cause this problem ar??? I wonder Toyata cars face any problem like those.Will there any damages done to the engine or gear box if the setting reset?

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 1
  • HumanSannz: there might be start-up clutch failure. just a theory.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
  • Naruto on Sep 06, 2005 at 4:08 am

    HumanSannz

    its not even failure or a problem. its just a characteristic of certain technology to reset the memory if among the actions eg the batt is replaced for extended period. even computer is needed to restart to when certain thgs is made on. tis is wht u call technology dude. i guess u toyota ppl dont understand since theres hardly any tech in ur cars.

    i hv a hi tech watch above rm 1k which need to reset once batt is chged. its a superb watch btw.

    dont simply state thgs as u think and sound like a smart aleck. u might get sued for it. u know there are many honda lovers out there.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 4
    • Whirlybits on Jan 03, 2011 at 8:36 am

      Of course this is a problem. It is either a design flaw or a software bug.

      Honda should have devised a better way for the settings to be retained. Can you seriously say that Honda intended this to be a feature? That when you replace the battery you have to reset the transmission? It is a shocker.

      There are thousands of products that use the same memory technologies that do not have similar problems when their main power source fails.

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 2 Thumb down 0
  • Stingray on Sep 07, 2005 at 12:18 am

    ouch :)

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
  • toyota is using the fool proof technology.. (or so called the older ones)

    thus no big problem

    and CVT is more advanced compared to the normal autobox

    thus there might be some technology flaw in it.. :P

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 2 Thumb down 4
  • is honda accord also have this problem?

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 2 Thumb down 2
  • ahmad on Sep 12, 2009 at 12:38 am

    just asking, when is switch on the car before start my car ( honda city vtec) the light is on at P and D for a while, then the D light gone.. is there a signal to me that the cvt problem?

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 4
 

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