I have a theory on why some Honda CVTs are failing.
Lack of lubrication will cause a CVT to fail. This shouldn't have happened as the fluid was changed and tested (even have a sample that was never sent in, taken a few months before the failure).
Before mine was towed to the dealer, I noticed the CVT fill plug was missing.
Exhibit A:
Honda's TSB
The screenshot of the TSB shows what happens - the CVT breather plug gets clogged, pressure builds up and that makes the CVT fill plug pop out
I check the breather plug every time the fluid is changed but I guess that wasn't often enough.
Since I drive on dirt roads, this is what probably happened:
1) Breather plug got clogged
2) Fill plug popped out
3) There are many reports of fluid coming out of these holes so either sand/dirt got in or fluid came out when braking hard
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Exhibit B: Countless comments in this YouTube video of people saying CVT fluid leaked out of their fill hole.
The mechanic in the video thinks it's a good solution to use a ziptie to secure the fill plug and also purposely points it the opposite direction of what the TSB says so it doesn't get filled with dirt.
It's a bad idea because someone wrote a comment that when he used a zip tie on the fill plug, transmission fluid came out of the breather hole.
Exhibit C: The fact that someone in China engineered a ventilated fill plug.
I ordered it from the Chinese online marketplace, got it a few days ago and will install it after this replacement CVT fiasco is over.
Here are some translated screenshots from their product listing
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