2015 Corolla or 2015 Civic CVT??

[grampi]

Originally Posted By: bbhero
I would suggest your analysis is spot on there. 200k miles is probably the expected life of the CVT fluid before it needs to be changed. On the Nissan site a fella had his CVT fluid analyzed by their scan tool.. Car had 56k miles on it. Per scan it said the fluid had 75% of its life left in it. That would put it easily past 200k miles. Heck my lady's Sunfire never had the transmission fluid changed after 214k miles and it was doing fine. One guy on here has 270k on RAV 4 and he never has changed the fluid in it and its been fine. Coolant and oil are far more important to change on a routine schedule than transmission fluid. Been my experience has well.


I disagree...ATF goes bad and needs to be changed...even the supposed lifetime stuff isn't lifetime...though you've mentioned a couple cases where not changing ATF had no negative impact, I have seen many, many cases where not changing out the fluid on a regular basis leads to tranny failure...

 

[dlayman]

The only issue with never changing it with the CVT is that currently nobody will rebuild them, and the Corolla CVT is a $6800 part. Then add labor. Its a big gamble. If I owned a CVT car, I would at very least have the condition of the fluid checked the dealer's tool at 30-50k intervals. A change of fluid is pretty expensive and tricky too, at least on the Corolla.

 

[dlayman]

double post

 

[dlayman]

double post

 

[SOHCman]

Originally Posted By: glock19
Originally Posted By: Nick1994
Originally Posted By: glock19
Yeah that post doesn't make sense. How can it be junk if it's unproven? If there's not enough data to call it reliable, then how can there be enough to call it unreliable?
Because I hear about cars with CVTs failing at 70k, I don't hear about automatics failing at 70-80k. And I wouldn't buy the new 8 speed automatics until they're proven either. 6 speeds aren't that new.


You can't have it both ways. Either they're unproven or they are proven to be junk. Frankly, I think both assessments are incorrect, but that's not the point I'm making.


CVT's have a poor track record of early failures, and are thus proven to be junk. Yet a solid lasting reliable CVT has yet to be found, so they are also unproven.

See, you can "have it both ways" when those are your only criteria.

By the way the new 8-speeds are in the same boat. A new transmission can only have a solid track record after its been around for a long time without early failures.

Claiming or betting that a new device/transmission is or will be reliable is a logical fallacy. It has to be proven.

 

[SeaJay]

Some or all CVTs may very be "junk". This may be because they are new and all of the bugs have not yet been worked out, or may be for some other reason.

But, they are not by definition "junk" merely because of the fact they are new.

 

[flinter]

The members here who are calling the current generation of 2015/2016 CVT's "junk" are juvenile and uninformed and old school in their thinking.

 

[bbhero]

And I NEVER seen it happen with any car I have owned. Period. I changed the oil on my Nissan Sentra every 4 to 5k miles with Castrol syntec.. I NEVER changed the transmission fluid in it once. Guess what went kaput???? The motor. Get you some of that.
My lady's Sunfire never had it changed.. Never a problem. Period. My Ford Probe though a manual..never changed it.. 250,000 miles never an issue. Like I stated.. One guy had a scan done on his CVT fluid at 56k miles... Per scan it said he had 75% of the life left in the fluid.. That would put it well over 200,000 miles. Also, manual for my car says not to change it.. Just have it inspected...aka hooked up to a concept scanner to evaluate how much life is left in the fluid. In my Altima I will change it at 160 to 175k miles. Again, I have NEVER had any transmission issues. It's not a motor being exposed to harmful contaminants. It's a sealed case. Yes heat exposure can be an issue. But FAR less than what happens inside a motor.

 

[supton]

Originally Posted By: dlayman
The only issue with never changing it with the CVT is that currently nobody will rebuild them, and the Corolla CVT is a $6800 part. Then add labor. Its a big gamble. If I owned a CVT car, I would at very least have the condition of the fluid checked the dealer's tool at 30-50k intervals. A change of fluid is pretty expensive and tricky too, at least on the Corolla.


Everything in the first model year is stupid expensive.

I wonder how hard it would be to do a swap to the 4spd auto. I mean, if the cvt dies, unbolt and swap in a junkyard fresh slushbox as a cheap repair. No I am not going to look into it--but I wonder if in a few years someone else will.

 

[JHZR2]

Id give a hard look at the cruse LT for probably cheaper than either of those two cars. Having driven all three as rentals recently, the cruse was by far the best.

 

[GiveMeAVowel]

Originally Posted By: bbhero
It's not a motor being exposed to harmful contaminants. It's a sealed case. Yes heat exposure can be an issue. But FAR less than what happens inside a motor.


But what about the friction material floating around in suspension in that fluid, it tends to clog up filters, and can clog other areas and wear other parts as well. Your anecdotal evidence is not worth a lot more likely dumb luck.

 

[bbhero]

Hey captain.... Over 500,000 miles with no issues with transmission problems is not dumb luck. With several different makes and models. Read what I stated clearly.... A fellow Nissan Altima owner with exact same CVT has mine had it scanned at 56k miles and it showed it had 75% of the life left in the fluid. You can do third grade math I am sure. As a matter if fact.. I bet you may well could do calculus maybe more

Seriously. So, its not a fliud that has a short life span. That's why in the MANUAL it says to inspect it... Not change it all the way through the first 120k miles. With 56k miles that fluid will easily see 200k.
I will change my fluid in the car but it will be 160k .. Another fella on here as 482,000 miles with two vehicles he has never changed the transmission fluid either with zero problems. It is a sealed case. Not exposed to other contaminants. The issues with MANY CVTs is what...... Do you know???? Wrong fluid put in them. By far the biggest problem. What if while your world champion self goes even to a dealership and the 20 year old newbie fella puts the wrong fluid in your CVT?? Brokenville. Or someone takes it to a jiffy lube place?? Brokenville.
Again I've driven over a half million miles... Zero problems with a transmission. I'm not knocking people who want to change their fluid every 30 or 60k miles.. Great. Nothing wrong with that. I just don't see any great benefit from it.
I changed the oil in my Sentra like clock work.. Never changed transmission fluid.. Motor gave up first. I will take my experience not just from myself but others too.

 

[gregk24]

Originally Posted By: grampi
Originally Posted By: Noey
No CVT is "refined" It's all about MPG (and emissions). If you want 'refined', try a Ford Focus or Fiesta//or a Chevy Cruze.

'Twas a time when 'Japanese' meant "Reliable". No more. Just over rated and over priced. And 'unrefined'.

really, go try them.


One of the dumbest and most untrue posts I've ever seen in this forum...


Thank you for pointing that out.

 

[Nick1994]

Originally Posted By: bbhero
Hey captain.... Over 500,000 miles with no issues with transmission problems is not dumb luck. With several different makes and models. Read what I stated clearly.... A fellow Nissan Altima owner with exact same CVT has mine had it scanned at 56k miles and it showed it had 75% of the life left in the fluid. You can do third grade math I am sure. As a matter if fact.. I bet you may well could do calculus maybe more

Seriously. So, its not a fliud that has a short life span. That's why in the MANUAL it says to inspect it... Not change it all the way through the first 120k miles. With 56k miles that fluid will easily see 200k.
I will change my fluid in the car but it will be 160k .. Another fella on here as 482,000 miles with two vehicles he has never changed the transmission fluid either with zero problems. It is a sealed case. Not exposed to other contaminants. The issues with MANY CVTs is what...... Do you know???? Wrong fluid put in them. By far the biggest problem. What if while your world champion self goes even to a dealership and the 20 year old newbie fella puts the wrong fluid in your CVT?? Brokenville. Or someone takes it to a jiffy lube place?? Brokenville.
Again I've driven over a half million miles... Zero problems with a transmission. I'm not knocking people who want to change their fluid every 30 or 60k miles.. Great. Nothing wrong with that. I just don't see any great benefit from it.
I changed the oil in my Sentra like clock work.. Never changed transmission fluid.. Motor gave up first. I will take my experience not just from myself but others too.
You keep talking about how this fluid was scanned. Scanned how? With what?

 

[bbhero]

The Concept scanner Nissan uses to "check fluid life". It is what they use to check it

 

[Nick1994]

Originally Posted By: bbhero
The Concept scanner Nissan uses to "check fluid life". It is what they use to check it

So did they drain any fluid out and analyze it or did they just hook up a scanner and "check" it's life?

 

[bbhero]

To be perfectly honest... I am not 100% sure.. I would lean towards a sample being taken like a blood glucose check and placed in the scanner. That's what I believe I read on the Nissan Infiniti site NICO awhile back....

Didn't take my ginko today.

 

[CKN]

Originally Posted By: grampi
Originally Posted By: Noey
No CVT is "refined" It's all about MPG (and emissions). If you want 'refined', try a Ford Focus or Fiesta//or a Chevy Cruze.

'Twas a time when 'Japanese' meant "Reliable". No more. Just over rated and over priced. And 'unrefined'.

really, go try them.


One of the dumbest and most untrue posts I've ever seen in this forum...


Yeah-those DCT in Fords are real unrefined pieces of junk. I agree with you.

 

[grampi]

Originally Posted By: bbhero
And I NEVER seen it happen with any car I have owned. Period. I changed the oil on my Nissan Sentra every 4 to 5k miles with Castrol syntec.. I NEVER changed the transmission fluid in it once. Guess what went kaput???? The motor. Get you some of that.
My lady's Sunfire never had it changed.. Never a problem. Period. My Ford Probe though a manual..never changed it.. 250,000 miles never an issue. Like I stated.. One guy had a scan done on his CVT fluid at 56k miles... Per scan it said he had 75% of the life left in the fluid.. That would put it well over 200,000 miles. Also, manual for my car says not to change it.. Just have it inspected...aka hooked up to a concept scanner to evaluate how much life is left in the fluid. In my Altima I will change it at 160 to 175k miles. Again, I have NEVER had any transmission issues. It's not a motor being exposed to harmful contaminants. It's a sealed case. Yes heat exposure can be an issue. But FAR less than what happens inside a motor.


Just because ATF is not exposed to the elements doesn't mean it doesn't break down...it does...and you're rolling the dice by never changing out your fluid...you've been lucky so far, but keep doing it and sooner or later it's gonna bite you in the butt!

 

[grampi]

Originally Posted By: GiveMeAVowel
Originally Posted By: bbhero
It's not a motor being exposed to harmful contaminants. It's a sealed case. Yes heat exposure can be an issue. But FAR less than what happens inside a motor.


But what about the friction material floating around in suspension in that fluid, it tends to clog up filters, and can clog other areas and wear other parts as well. Your anecdotal evidence is not worth a lot more likely dumb luck.

^^^this^^^