CVT Fluid

[guest6474]

Hi Everyone. .  My first post.

Bought a 2011 (12) Jazz ES CVT about a month ago. Loving the car.

When looking through the paperwork given with it I saw that it was covered by a Service agreement paid for by previous owner, so I requested this to be transferred to me.  However when I started to look through service history, i.e. Service Record booklet, I could not see any records of specific work carried out, just stamps by the original Sales Agent (Virtu Honda Lincoln). The last stamp indicating a service was carried out in July 2016 (about 3k miles ago).
I decided to pay them a visit to see if they could give me any info.  My main concern was as to whether the CVT fluid had ever been changed after reading some scary posts on this forum.  They told me that the fluid had been changed at the last service "paid for by the previous owner".  I was temporarily re-assured by this and was beginning to consider taking the car to them this year for service.

However I decided to check the dipstick myself this morning and although the level looks good the liquid is CLEAR, like Manual Trans Fluid.  Should I be concerned about this?

Also, the colour of the engine oil dosn't look like its only done 3k miles.

I'm beginning to think I should stick to my usual habit of doing servicing myself.

I would appreciate any comments re the CVTF colour though.

RS.

[Eddie Honda]

I would appreciate any comments re the CVTF colour though.

Hello and welcome.

I can only make comment on the CVT-F colour. My 2006 GD1 Jazz I serviced myself when bought at 34,000 miles / 8 years old.

***bear in mind that this is the earlier SWRA transmission which uses a start clutch and not a torque converter and was suffering some judder***

This is what the CVT-F looked like (no sign of it having ever been changed):


DSCF7483 by E Honda, on Flickr

Best described as resembling a very dark rum.

On the paper it did have a brown/red colour


DSCF7487 by E Honda, on Flickr

Fresh fluid on the other hand is transparent red, akin to Tizer.


DSCF7489 by E Honda, on Flickr

I don't have a shot of that on kitchen roll, but on the dipstick after a change it very clear and hard to make out on the dipstick. So I wouldn't worry about the colour in your case.

Hope this (partly) answers your question.

[chrisv]

Hi,
There is a section in the service book which should be filled in by the garage when the cvt fluid is changed,
Chris

[guest6474]

Thanks for replies . .

Think you may be right about the dipstick. I've asked Honda, we'll see if they reply.

I've seen the page in the book, it wasn't filled in. Honda agent did it retro when I enquired.

R

[chrisv]

I would like to see the jobsheet for the cvt oil change, I would not be impressed by somebody filling out the book well after the event, its a bit late now but having had trouble with vertu nottingham regarding their standard of servicing........
Chris

[Pumpkin]

I've been reading up on CVT fluid changes - my car is five years old and has never had it done despite always being serviced by the same main dealer. I recently asked the dealership why, they said it's not due yet. I know it's generally agreed that Honda wants it changed every two years, only a lot of dealers don't understand this.

So during my research I found that the Jazz needs the CVT fluid drained and filled three times as only a third of the fluid can be drained at once. A workmate also has a CVT Jazz and has an interesting way of doing it: he changes a third of the fluid every 6 months to a year. It's less hassle that doing three flushes in a row, and if you use 6 month intervals you'll only ever have max 18 month old fluid in your car between changes. I think I'm going to do it this way.