When did your CVT Transmission break? Or not?

[CR94]

Originally Posted by miden851
... CVT are just different and bashed for no reason IMO.
I somewhat agree. Bashing them because you don't feel lurches when it shifts, or because they allow steady high RPM at appropriate times is stupid. Bashing the ones that are absurdly short-lived is reasonable.

 

[JTK]

Oldie thread for sure. Javacontour, thanks for the update! I think bbhero has some crazy mileage on a CVT altima as well. There is some misinformation in this thread, or maybe things have changed over the years..

As far as I know, the Nissan Quest (now gone) and Pathfinder (since 2013) as well as some of Nissan's small box/utility vans are the largest vehicles offered with a CVT and I know the Pathfinder's 'tow rating' is 6000lbs. They come with a class III hitch from the factory.

Hardly an endorsement for longevity, but we've got ~90K miles on our 2016 Nissan Quest with CVT. I've done drain/fills on it since ~32K miles. It's been great. I've also owned two Subarus with CVTs, a 2012 Legacy and a 2016 Forester. Didn't own'em past ~40K miles. Both were excellent.

 

[bbhero]

True man....

Try.... 283,000 miles on my 3.5 Altima VQ CVT...

And original fluid in it too...

 

[JeffKeryk]

I helped a friend get a Hertz 2015 Altima with 80K miles.
1st thing I did was service the engine and trans.
CVT fluid was black. Just replaced with 4 quarts Valvoline Syn CVT fluid.
Did is again at next OCI; fluid looked better.
3rd time was a few months ago; used Castrol this time.

30K later the abused Altima is fine.
That's my experience.

 

[bbhero]

Yeah if that fluid was jet black....

That was not good at all. You did a very good job doing what you did.

The fluid in my car looks like regular oil with about 2k miles on it.

 

[Xeno]

2008 Sentra 2.0 CVT original with no issues or noises. Bought with 8k miles currently at 120k miles. Change CVT oem fluid every 30k or so.

 

[john_pifer]

Originally Posted by JimPghPA
The Murano is the largest vehicle offered to the general public with a CVT.

My brother and his wife had one of the early Muranos with a CVT. Add driving around the Pittsburgh Pennsylvania South Hills area where you are constantly going up and down hills, and it is a failure waiting to happen. They had the CVT on their Murano fail under warranty. After they got the vehicle back, they asked how much it would have cost if it had not been covered by the warranty. The reply was "you don't want to know".

Nissan stopped making the Murano for a year because of all of the problems with the CVT.

And while I do not own one, I heard that they require changing the special fluid more often than a regular transmission, and that the special fluid is very expensive.

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That said, years ago I heard that the all wheel drive vehicle used at some airports to push and pull the largest aircraft in the world require a CVT. And apparently someone managed to figure out how to make a CVT that can handle the heavy loads put on it in that application.


Actually, the Pathfinder has a CVT, and outweighs the Murano by several hundred lbs.

 

[Gebo]

Originally Posted by ethangsmith
To me, CVT's are the 8 track cassette of transmissions. A novel idea for the time in which we live now, but better things will come out of conventional automatics in time. I've driven several vehicles with a CVT, and I find them annoying to drive. They don't seem to get off the line well and they just rev strangely. It's just not comfortable for me. To each their own though. At least the CVT's of today are significantly more reliable than the early attempts of the 1990's!!


+1 Great analogy!

 

[Fifth87]

My '09 Dodge Caliber has one. Had the opportunity to purchase it when it was three years old after my FIL passed away.
Currently at 68K miles.
No maintenance costs to date, have noted a weeping output shaft seal.
My mileage is maybe 5% city driving. I am rather disappointed with the fuel economy overall, 25-27MPG at best
Have owned it for 7 years, took quite awhile to get used to the characteristics of its operation. Very much go-kart like, or more like winding up a rubber band.
That being said, I am still leery of its longevity and most likely will replace the vehicle due to that and other issues unrelated to the CVT sooner rather than later.