Yes within a hundred hours or so. That's one of the things that worry me. We even see it on many homeowner models that don't get the severe usage.
Granted snowblowers normally do not see that many hours, so I am hoping they are going to hold up for at least 30 years without any problems there.
The other thing that worry's me is the steering clutch design. I see too many transmission gears with damaged dogs on motorcycles, repaired many at a cost and they are built with much stronger metals than the Hydro-Gear transmissions, and the steering clutches work on the same principle as the bike transmissions with the shift dogs. I repaired many older Honda lawnmower transmissions that used the same drive clutch set-up. That was back in the day when you could repair them and get replacement parts for them.
It was a simple design set-up, but in time they wore out and would jump out of drive all the time. It was a common repair for them. We had many that we rebuilt, and they were a robust transmission.
I had one of those Hydro-Gear transmissions apart and saw a lot of things that are going to give a problem with them in the future.
I am still from the "Old School Honda" where they were designed to last for 10-20 thousand hours or more, and that is how my customer base is, they spend the money, they want things to last for eternity, like the rest of us.
I think "Ahead" and can see problems with them. We are not seeing or hearing of too many of them yet, but there have been a few, that's why I say to give them time, and do not be surprised when you start hearing of problems with them in the near future.
My Honda's are 27 years old without any problems yet, and they are used commercially, so my customers and I want to see the new models last at least that long for the price of the machine.
We would like to see Honda guarantee the transmission for a minimum of 10 years at the very least, more like 20 years for a snowblower that does not see the kind of hours that lawn equipment gets.
We have seen the aeration problems on many Hydro-gear transmissions used on lawn equipment, and usually as soon as that happens, the trans is in for an overhaul because of the damage to the pistons and cylinder blocks. You can't run a hydro unit low in oil or you will have immediate damage.
We constantly are repairing or replacing Hydro-Gear products used for power transmission, way more than any other manufacturer's units, and that's what scares us with Honda using them.
We would have thought with Honda's engineering from years ago, that problem with the aeration and not having a fluid resivour would have never happened, they would have known better enough to have one installed from the start.