How To Identify Cvt Gear Box In Ek3 1998??

Randeep · October 14, 2014

Recently I bought a Honda Civic Ek3(vi) - 1998 with auto transmission. I am not sure about the gear box. Currently its working without a trouble. I just want to know whether it has a CVT or normal auto gear box. If it is a CVT I have to be careful right?? please give me some instructions... thanks

Chanaka Gunawardena · October 14, 2014

According to this your car should have a CVT gear box

http://www.civic-ferio.info/specs/1998_sep/

Do you have the Ferio badge ? If its not a Ferio I might be wrong.

Randeep · October 15, 2014

Yes it has a Ferio badge. My concern is, if it is CVT I have to change gear box oil every 15000 km (as far as I know). But the previous owner said change in 40000 km is enough. I am a bit worried about it. No problems found in the gear box yet. Working smoothly.

maheshw · October 15, 2014

it not valid. you need to change it every 15k. it's good if you can do it earlier 2-3k as we are running here with lot of traffic & short journeys. also if he has not done any recent ATF change im telling you to do it with out any delay. as cvt boxes are vey sensitive.

Amila_Silva · October 15, 2014

What are the letters near the Gear shift?

Is it P, R, N, D, 2, ... or P, R, N, D, L, ...?

If the letter L is there, it is CVT and you have to change the Fluid in every 15K kms with HONDA CVT fluid and otherwise you have to change the fluid in every 40K kms with Honda ATF DW1 (ATF Z1 is discontinued).

Change the gear oil according to the manufacture recommended intervals. Doing it frequently than the recommended intervals will not save you anything. It is like pumping 95 octane to a vehicle where the manufacture recommends 91 octane leaving aside the fact that the God only knows what is what in Sri Lanka.

Randeep · October 15, 2014

On 10/15/2014 at 8:33 AM, Amila_Silva said:
What are the letters near the Gear shift?
Is it P, R, N, D, 2, ... or P, R, N, D, L, ...?

If the letter L is there, it is CVT and you have to change the Fluid in every 15K kms with HONDA CVT fluid and otherwise you have to change the fluid in every 40K kms with Honda ATF DW1 (ATF Z1 is discontinued).

Change the gear oil according to the manufacture recommended intervals. Doing it frequently than the recommended intervals will not save you anything. It is like pumping 95 octane to a vehicle where the manufacture recommends 91 octane leaving aside the fact that the God only knows what is what in Sri Lanka.

Yes. Letters are P, R, N, D, L near the gear shift. So it is a CVT. Then I got to change it ASAP. However its only 5000 km from last gear box oil change. I will change it in next service. Thanks for the replies.

Amila_Silva · October 15, 2014

On 10/15/2014 at 9:33 AM, Randeep said:
Yes. Letters are P, R, N, D, L near the gear shift. So it is a CVT. Then I got to change it ASAP. However its only 5000 km from last gear box oil change. I will change it in next service. Thanks for the replies.

Glad it helped. On a side note, The agent (Stafford Motors) refused to give oil unless I am going to do the oil change through them. Then I managed to buy oil from Teck Motors for a reasonable price than the agents and do the oil change with the aid of my trusted mechanic for a very reasonable price. So, unless you are expecting to do the oil change through agents, please contact tech motors when the time comes near to reserve oil because sometimes they don't have the stocks.

MkX · October 15, 2014

On 10/15/2014 at 9:33 AM, Randeep said:
Yes. Letters are P, R, N, D, L near the gear shift. So it is a CVT. Then I got to change it ASAP. However its only 5000 km from last gear box oil change. I will change it in next service. Thanks for the replies.

If you have correct information about exact mileage on last oil change and if it's only 5000Km, dont want to change in hurry. But if you are not sure, change it. And most important thing is to sue the genuine Honda CVT oil.

TheClutch · October 15, 2014

if it is vtec...then must be CVT....take care of it....VTEC with good CVT is something you cant ask for more

kmeeg · October 15, 2014

On 10/15/2014 at 9:33 AM, Randeep said:
Yes. Letters are P, R, N, D, L near the gear shift. So it is a CVT.

You cannot tell whether its a CVT or not by seen P, R, N, D, L near the gear shift right? Not even having S and + / - will tell that its CVT right? Am i wrong?

Or is this only apply to EK3? I'm saying this bcos there are vehicles with <P, R, N, D, L> , <P, R, N, D, 3, 2, L> and <S and + / - > which does not have CVT gear box.

maheshw · October 16, 2014

This is apply only for ek3 where the CVT box are coming with p r n d l and s s1 or e & s switches in steering or near by great lever.

Randeep · October 16, 2014

On 10/15/2014 at 7:00 PM, kmeeg said:
You cannot tell whether its a CVT or not by seen P, R, N, D, L near the gear shift right? Not even having S and + / - will tell that its CVT right? Am i wrong?
Or is this only apply to EK3? I'm saying this bcos there are vehicles with <P, R, N, D, L> , <P, R, N, D, 3, 2, L> and <S and + / - > which does not have CVT gear box.

Is that so?? I better take this to a mechanic and get his opinion....

Randeep · October 16, 2014

On 10/16/2014 at 12:28 AM, maheshw said:
This is apply only for ek3 where the CVT box are coming with p r n d l and s s1 or e & s switches in steering or near by great lever.

There are two swithces on the steering wheel. One for sport mode(S). Other one is for E-->D. Don't know what it does

maheshw · October 16, 2014

we called them V tec magic Switches..... while you are driving around 60-80kmph just press S & see what's happening..

S- for Sports mode where your engine running @ high RPM

E-For economy mode

kmeeg · October 16, 2014

Correct me if i'm wrong. If the transmission is CVT, if you go to an empty road and floor your foot on the gas pedal you don't see the RPM droping like a traditional automatic gear box or feel / hear the gears changing when you listem to your engine.

As of i know its really hard to tell whether your vehicle is CVT or not by looking at the gear label. For Eg even velicles with gear labels P R N D & S + / - comes with both CVT and not CVT (mostly i've seen 6 speed automatic) gear boxes.

Yet again i don't know speficially about EK3. I'm telling in general which could be wrong when comes to different manifactures/models.

Randeep · October 17, 2014

On 10/16/2014 at 4:26 PM, kmeeg said:
Correct me if i'm wrong. If the transmission is CVT, if you go to an empty road and floor your foot on the gas pedal you don't see the RPM droping like a traditional automatic gear box or feel / hear the gears changing when you listem to your engine.
As of i know its really hard to tell whether your vehicle is CVT or not by looking at the gear label. For Eg even velicles with gear labels P R N D & S + / - comes with both CVT and not CVT (mostly i've seen 6 speed automatic) gear boxes.

Yet again i don't know speficially about EK3. I'm telling in general which could be wrong when comes to different manifactures/models.

Hmm. I better go to a mechanic and get his opinion. Anyone knows a good mechanic specialized in Honda ?

The Don · October 17, 2014

On 10/17/2014 at 4:06 AM, Randeep said:
Hmm. I better go to a mechanic and get his opinion. Anyone knows a good mechanic specialized in Honda ?

I don't think kmeeg has disputed your particular box setup though. He is making a general point that you cannot always say its CVT or not CVT by the labels alone.

You can normally tell whether its CVT or not in the way it drives. You can feel gear changes in a normal AT but you can't with CVT

Whether its CVT or not CVT is irrelevant in terms of ATF fluid changes, because I personally think 15K is a good mileage to change either in SL.

The best place I know for automatic gearbox maintenance is a place called Nilwala. For more information and feedback, search the forum.

Edited October 17, 2014 by The Don