This is a demonstration of the Honda Civic Hybrid and natural gas vehicle continuously variable
automatic transaxle this transaxle has been in use since the mid-90s I believe 1996 through
today and the CVT stands for continuously variable transaxle and this CVT allows the engine to go to
its maximum efficiency point as far as rpm and clean emissions and power and stay at that point
and then use the drive pulley versus driven pulley and a drive chain or belt drive belt to vary the
gear ratio in the transmission or transaxle itself this transaxle has an input shaft
right here we have a drive pulley that connects the belt to the driven pulley and then the driven
pulley has a gear that connects to the final drive and ultimately the front tires that gear is
connected to the driven pulley through what's called a start clutch and then over here the the
input power from the engine and torque converter is the torque damper runs all the way down to a
planetary gearset inside of this housing where we have a reverse brake which is going to hold the
ring gear in the input planetary gear set and then we also have a forward clutch that allows
one-to-one connection of the input shaft to the drive pulley so power coming in from the engine
through the torque damper goes to the forward clutch and then to the drive pulley directly
1 to 1 gear ratio or it goes to the reverse or the reverse brake is applied and then we have a
first gear ratio involved to backup there is no power delivered to the wheels though through this
gear unless the start clutch is also applied now the torque damper this nickel does
not use a torque converter this is the torque damper for the Honda Civic Hybrid and natural
gas vehicle these holes right here are where it bolts right to the back of the reluctor wheel
on the back of the Civic Hybrid ima system and then as you can see we've got splines here that
connect to the input shaft and this gear right here drives the oil pump for the CVT but what I
want to show you is that I can flex that input back and forth this input shaft is not directly
connected to the engine it's connected through some rubber dampers that are inside of here so
I'm going to set this on the input housing or input shaft here and get it lined up so this is
our engine the back of the crank shaft is going to connect right here and then turn the
turn the input shaft and like I said we've got a forward clutch that provides forward power to
the drive pulley we've got a reverse brake that is going to reverse the direction here and then
once this starts to turn then we push the drive belt and turn the driven pulley the driven pulley
then sends power or to the start clutch the start clutch if it's applied which it's not applied in
park in neutral it's only applied when you put it in reverse and drive when it's applied it
allows power to transfer through it to this gear which goes through an idler gear into the final
five to connect through the axle shafts to the front wheels of the Honda Civic this has been a
pretty good transmission transaxle over the years it has had a few problems there was an updated
start clutch for kind of jerking as shuttering of noises and feeling as you're accelerating or
vehicle wouldn't move at all or it would kill the engine when you went into gear and then they've
had a few issues with failed drive belts also where they've done some updates but it's it's
overall been a good transaxle and is still used today the 2012 Honda Civic Hybrid uses the CVT
transmission this is this particular model is a 2003 but obviously they do update through the
years and make improvements but it's still used like most CVTs with smaller four-cylinder or three
cylinder engines this the CVT this particular one is actually a recalled transmission for a belt
failure and we've got all these little keys here and then a bunch of little steel belts on the top
of the keys and bottom the keys that are kind of sandwiched together they'll hold those keyways
in place and as I turn the driven pulley here kind of a snapping sound right there that's one
of the steel belts that has failed in the pulley or in the drive belt itself but like I said it's
it's been a good transmission good transaxle for Honda other vehicle manufacturers have used CVTs
and still use CVTs but the majority of them have it appears to me to be designed to use them with
smaller engines they seem to not hold up with the larger engines with a little more power but
these are very good for efficiency although there are some frictional losses with this belt rubbing
on the pulleys I've got another video on YouTube that Shell's CVT operation and this pulley here
the drive pulley can actually get smaller and the driven pulley can get wider and change the gear
ratio and you can see that in that other video that that I have so this has been a demonstration
of the Honda Civic Hybrid and natural gas continuously variable automatic transaxle