2008 Honda Civic Hybrid transmission.
My transmission started making a noise when I came back from a road trip at 60,000 miles. The trans would only make the noise when in drive and reverse. When the transmission was placed in neutral or park, the noise would stop.
This page is designed to help you understand how this transmission works and how to fix this problem. I have taken the transmission out and torn it down.
WARNING: If you want to do this repair yourself, be forewarned... This repair is not for someone who has limited experience working on cars. This is an advanced level repair. It requires good mechanical ability and a large selection of tools. A vehicle lift is a tremendous help. I have 11 years of professional experience with cars, trucks, tractor trailers and heavy equipment. If you don't feel completely comfortable removing a transmission and tearing it down, DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS REPAIR. Seek the help of a qualified and trustworthy mechanic.
Please note that the hybrid battery pack must be switched off prior to starting any work. The battery and switch are behind the rear seat back. The seat must be removed to access it. Also disconnect the 12volt battery under the hood.
Take lots of pictures when taking this transmission apart, this will help avoid confusion when putting it back together.
HIGH VOLTAGE WILL KILL YOU. The hybrid battery voltage in this car is over 160 volts DC. ANY CONTACT WITH THIS AMOUNT OF ELECTRICITY WILL RESULT IN SEVERE INJURY OR DEATH! Have a voltmeter ready, check and recheck voltage points and assume all connections are live even if the switch is turned off. Any switch can fail and a potentially deadly situation may exist any time the hybrid battery is in the vehicle. Proceed with caution and be safe! .
Here is the transmission after being removed from the vehicle.
Left side cover is removed. The engine is directly connected to the input shaft which is in the center of the forward clutch/reverse brake carrier. This shaft will spin freely until the trans is placed in drive. When in drive, the forward clutch engages, which spins the drive pulley. (see next picture)
Here, the input shaft, reverse planetary gears and reverse brake/hill hold unit have been removed and you can see the drive pulley shaft behind it. This is where the bad bearing was located. The forward clutch is still in place. A large snap ring must be removed and the forward clutch disks and steel rings can be removed along with the return springs. Keep all the disks and steels in order. The forward clutch piston can then be removed by twisting and pulling it out. There are o-rings on the inside and outside of the piston that will make this quite difficult.
The drive and driven pulleys will spin anytime the transmission is in drive or reverse. All the power from the engine is sent to the pulley on the right and to the start clutch which connects to the splines at the top.
Here is where it gets complicated... The start clutch is at the top in the middle. When you lift your foot off the brake pedal, the start clutch engages and sends power to the small gear just to the bottom left of it.... which sends power to the ring gear at the bottom left. This is where the axles connect and go to the wheels. The shaft at the top right is the input shaft. This shaft carries engine power to the forward clutch and drive pulley. The chain which is driven off the input shaft drives the oil pump which is below the input shaft.
In this picture, the forward clutch piston is still in place. You can see the bad bearing beneath it. Apparently the retainer came apart for unknown reasons. It could have been from heat, load, or maybe just a defective bearing. The bearings dimensions are 75mm OD X 40mm ID X 16mm width. Honda doesn't sell this bearing by itself. It ONLY comes with the intermediate plate assembly (which can cost from $1975 to over $3000, depending on where you buy it). I looked everywhere for this bearing. I called numerous bearing manufacturers, looked at countless websites and even sought to have one custom made. NO ONE could help me. The manufacturer of this bearing is NTN. They informed me that this bearing has a Japanese part number and is only available to Honda Motor Company. NTN is under contract by Honda to make this particular bearing, for this reason, it is not available to private individuals. See the next picture for my solution.
NOTE: I've removed the forward clutch piston and these 4 bolts, disassembled the pulleys, pressed the old bearing off, pressed the new bearing and sleeve on the shaft and reassembled it. Tie wrap the belt together with at least 4 tie wraps to keep it from coming apart during dissasembly and reassembly. It has steel bands which engage the belt links. Note the direction of the arrow on the belt and reassemble it in the same orientation. If the belt comes apart, it will fall into what looks like A THOUSAND PIECES! Yes it happened to me. I didn't count them, but there are a lot of links. I spent 2 hours putting the belt back together and cursing profusely. Do yourself a favor and tie wrap the belt!
The bearing I used is made by SKF. The part number is 6009-2Z/C3.
Here is the new bearing... as you can see, it is the same outside diameter, but the inside diameter is larger than the original bearing. This bearing measures 75mm OD X 45mm ID X 16mm width. To fill in the extra 5mm of diameter, I had a local machine shop make a 45mm OD X 40mm ID X 16mm width spacer (or sleeve). The bearing cost me $10.95, the spacer cost me $40 and the transmission fluid cost $20.95 per quart (5 quarts). It took me 8 hours to remove the transmission and completely disassemble it, find the problem and press the bearing off the drive pulley shaft. It took 10 hours to install the new bearing and sleeve, reassemble the transmission and install it in the car. Total for parts and fluid was about $155.
My email is Hugh738@aol.com if you have questions!
