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Hi everyone,

I wanted to clarify the effects of FAS on a '03 CVT HCH-I: namely, the part about reengaging the transmission. Since I'm driving an automatic, after I key on while-in-motion after a FAS, I usually rev up between 1,000 - 2,000 rpms on the tach when my speed is around 35-25mph. But my question is, how do you properly reengage? (what do you with the pedals)

Specifically, what I do is,

- shift to N, let tach drop and hold steady
- key off, and back to to IG-II to regain power steering
- finish coast
- key on, push pedal to rev up while still in N to desired rev match rpm
- hold pedal down while keeping the rpm steady, and shift to D, then resume driving.

Now for these last two steps, is this how you would rev match in an automatic? Or overall, is FAS not a good idea for my CVT? I want to be sure that I'm not ruining my transmission everytime I do this, since I'm trying to incorporate more FAS in each of my routes.

Thanks for your time

hello, and welcome. sounds like you are doing some good things with your HCH. the drivers who can probably answer you best are on their way to a cross country drive, check the thread about the race. they may not be able to answer you right away, since they will be out of touch for a while. however, someone elses may pipe up and help you out before then. i just wanted to welcome you, and let you know not to worry if you don't get answers right way.

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Now for these last two steps, is this how you would rev match in an automatic? Or overall, is FAS not a good idea for my CVT? I want to be sure that I'm not ruining my transmission everytime I do this, since I'm trying to incorporate more FAS in each of my routes.


Hi adagdag, and welcome.

First off, you don't need to do any rev matching because your vehicle's PCM module does that for you. However, you are right to be cautious as it is still possible to abuse a CVT, and I am quite sure that you will want to avoid hurting where it hurts the most: Your wallet.

Anyhow, a FAS can be performed quite safely provided that you do not rush the CVT. With this I mean, allowing the CVT a good 2-3 second transition time for the solenoids and CVT valves to deploy or close.
In colder days I would be even more observant of this transition time and even in the first 5-10 minutes of the vehicle's warm up operation I would avoid FAS altogether just to be sure. The use of a block heater during the colder days will allow for this warm-up period to be even shorter.

The other thing I would be VERY religious about, is the proper and even early replacement of your CVT fluid. In fact, I would suggest making the CVT fluid replacement a little more aggressively than what Honda originally recommended. When you do that at your dealership you'll also get the latest PCM software available as Honda pushes these out almost serially.

Cheers;

MSantos

Thanks a lot for the info and welcome, this clears things up for me. After paying attention to how I'm using the FAS, I'm being good about FASing to a stop or at least to quite a low speed, so the tach is pretty smooth when I switch back to D.

Recently I replaced the CVT fluid, since my car hit 95k miles, but I'll be sure to do it a bit earlier next time. Thanks again for the info.