I would stick to what the MM suggests, really.
"Break-in wear" isn't the thing it used to be, and Honda understands what they built.
I'm as Old School as they come. Oil and filter every 2500 miles, along with points, plugs and the condenser.
(After checking the magnetos and the crank)
But Honda had made a believer out of me. Plenty of their vehicles run 250,000 miles with their suggested maintenance.
Of course you're free to change the fluid, I doubt anyone here has done it on a Hybrid, (maybe in the UK?) but it doesn't appear difficult.
But I wouldn't do it until the MM says it's time.

 

I'm as Old School as they come. Oil and filter every 2500 miles, along with points, plugs and the condenser.
(After checking the magnetos and the crank)

Did you check to see if you had the 2 red flags in it for the person who had to walk in front of your vehicle to warn the carriage drivers that you were coming down the road?

 

I understand your reasoning for replacing the fluid. The hybrid specs DW-1 and not HCF2?

I know from our HR-Vs that Honda's CVT chains can produce metal shavings, in fact there is a recall on the HR-V that includes using a magnet to move all the chaff to where is easily drained and out of harms way.

Regards the amount needed: I would collect the old drained fluid in a graduated pan, then add the same amount.

If that L shaped tube is not the trans vent, find it!. On HR-Vs there was a service bulletin reminding technicians to clean the transmission vent. We clean ours every engine oil change.

 

I know from our HR-Vs that Honda's CVT chains can produce metal shavings, in fact there is a recall on the HR-V that includes using a magnet to move all the chaff to where is easily drained and out of harms way.

No CVT chains in the hybrid, in fact no CVT.
Honda's nomenclature is confusing. There's no such thing as an "eCVT" except in Honda's lexicon.
I read somewhere they called it that because they were afraid of scaring buyers off if they said it had no transmission.
To me that would have been a major selling point.

 

If you want learn how the e-CVT works go to YouTube and do a search for "Understanding the Honda Hybrid E-Drive" ti's a really good video by Weber University in Utah..

 

The reason I want to change the fluid is to get all the break-in wear out.

The purpose of the transmission fluid is different for a Honda Hybrid. Like in EVs it acts as a coolant to cool down the electric motors. I wouldn't replace the fluid early unless you drive under the severe condition listed in the maintenance section of the owner's manual.

 

That is the spot, you correctly found. a long funnel will need to be used. Premature or early changes, are due to neglecting you breaking in the car at a moderate level, drive it like you stole it, is why you may want to get the fluids out. taht only goes for Oil, for the ATF its what you want to decide as well the AWD

 

So, based on all the replies no one knows for sure where the fill plug is located, since no one has replaced the e-CVT fluid yet. This kind of reminds me when we first got our 2012 Ford Focus and the dealer said the transmission fluid is a life time fill. It turned out Ford required the fluid be changed every 60K, but I couldn't find any information on it for almost 3 years, until someone finally posted a YouTube video about replacing the fluid. I guess I will wait, because even when I talked with the Honda dealer they were not sure.

 

Same reason that some parts are almost non-existent on the market yet for Hybrids as well.

Try finding the "running battery" that powers all the vehicles non HV electronics systems from after market suppliers, for example. It is not a starter battery, and as such is not a run of the mill battery with a common group number such that you can just run down to the local parts store and pick up a replacement. Nobody is going to bother stocking these, much less listing the part numbers until the front end of the CRV Hybrid production runs completely through the factory warranty. Until then.. it's take it to the dealer for warranty service. And I hear even the dealers have to order the replacement right now.

This will change as hybrids actually approach typical intervals in miles or time for service or parts replacements.

The fact that you cannot yet find the information you seek is a clear indicator that it is NOT yet time to be changing out the fluid. Be patient... it will be readily available by the time your MM actually alerts you to change the fluid. And Honda engineers are conservative, so if they say first change is at X miles... it probably is well inside their design parameters... so changing earlier than a MM alert to do so is waste fluids and service effort.

According to the owners manual for the hybrid, it says to NOT try and replace the fluid yourself, and to have your dealer check fluid levels and to replace as required. The MM still uses a "3" to alert for time to change the transmission fluid, and it specifically notes that if you drive in severe conditions to have it replaced at 3 years or 47,500 miles. And severe conditions change recommendation is generally half of what it would be for normal use. So you are WAY early on this.

 

Engineers see blueprints. Marketeers see infomercials.

 

And consumers see boogeymen and manufacturing conspiracies behind every issue with their vehicles.

 

You need to understand that the trans capacity is NOT 2.5 quarts; it's significantly more. That's merely the amount of fluid that can be drained out when you remove the drain plug. There's still a lot more fluid in the trans but it won't drain out. Similar to previous automatics, pulling the drain plug drains just what's in the "sump" area. I used to drain my trans, add new fluid in the amount that was drained out, then run the car with the drive wheels off the ground running it through the various ranges so all the fluid gets mixed. Then I'd drain it out again (you'll see it gets a little lighter in color each time you do it) and repeat the process over and over until the fluid color is close to what the new fluid is. On the regular auto trans it gets to that point after putting in about 10-12 quarts of fluid; basically about a case.

 

Total fill of the e-CVT is 2.5 Quarts. The e-CVT techincally is not a transmission (so no torque converters or steel belts, just fixed ratio gears), but rather a Transaxle, with a Transfer Case built into it. However, Honda didn't know what to call it, and did not want to confuse people (which they did anyway) and called it a e-CVT. So, the CR-V Hybrid does not have a Transmission, a Started Motor, a Alternator or Hydraulic power steering (it does have electric power steering).

I understand your reasoning for replacing the fluid. The hybrid specs DW-1 and not HCF2?

I know from our HR-Vs that Honda's CVT chains can produce metal shavings, in fact there is a recall on the HR-V that includes using a magnet to move all the chaff to where is easily drained and out of harms way.

Regards the amount needed: I would collect the old drained fluid in a graduated pan, then add the same amount.

If that L shaped tube is not the trans vent, find it!. On HR-Vs there was a service bulletin reminding technicians to clean the transmission vent. We clean ours every engine oil change.

The HR-V's have CVT transmission. The CR-V Hybrid does not technically have a transmission, but rather what would be called a Transaxle with Transfer Case built into it. There are no torque converters or steel belts, just fixed ration gears for transferring power between the ICE, and two Electric Motors (one a drive motor and the other a generator motor).

 

Your Vehicle’s Black Box Data—Who Owns It and Who Controls It?

Silverman, McDonald & Friedman is a premier personal injury law firm serving clients throughout Delaware.

www.smflegal.com

 

Policy Research

NCSL’s experts are here to answer your questions and give you unbiased, comprehensive information as soon as you need it on issues facing state legislatures. We answer more than 20,000 requests for information a year.

www.ncsl.org