2011 Nissan Sentra CVT fluid question

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LexAtlanta

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I have 89,000 on my 2011 Sentra with the CVT and its time to change the fluid. This is not the CVT with the extended 120K warranty....just the regular warranty which has expired.

I don't want to use Nissan fluid if at all possible as I feel there are better options available. I have used Amsoil products for years with success and see they have a CVT fluid. Valvoline also has a CVT fluid. I use Maxlife in two of my vehicles and think its a great oil. I have confidence in both company's products. Both Amsoil and Valvoline are synthetic and claim much improved performance and fluid life over Nissan fluid. I wanted to see if anyone out there in BITOG land has experience with either CVT fluid, especially in a 2011 Sentra.

If it was your car, which would you use? The vehicle is a commuter car in Atlanta traffic.

TIA for your responses.
 
Good point. The CVT I saw from Valvoline was not their Maxlife but rather the blue bottle with CVT written on it.

Maxlife is regular ATF only.
 
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In December 2014 I bought 50+ quarts of Valvoline Full Synthetic CVT fluid from Autozone for $1 each. At 59k miles, I drained and filled my Impreza four times using about 18 quarts. The capacity is 13 quarts so I think I got a lot of the old Subaru CVT fluid out.

I have no complaints with the Valvoline so buy whichever is cheaper. They are both good brand name products.
 
I know when Amsoil developed their cvt fluid, they did a ton of research and testing. They even did a real world comparison test where they got 4 identical vehicles (Nissans). They used oem fluid in 2 and Amsoil cvt fluid in the other 2, and ran them all for 100k. They tore them all down and the Amsoil fluid protected the transmission just as well as the oem fluid. There are photos on the Amsoil website of the steel belt and drive sheaves.
I can't speak to the Valvoline fluid, they usually make pretty good stuff.
What is the cost on each? I suspect the Amsoil fluid may be cheaper with a preferred customer discount.
 
Read your owners manual.. See what it says about which CVT transmission fluid is "best". I will bet you a $1000 to a penny its not from Valvoline or Amsoil. I hope whatever you run works out good for you.
 
My Honda's AT is known to be fussy but Castrol's ATF works great there and cheaper than OEM fluid. If they make CVT fluid you should give it a try.
 
The best value seems to be the 6-pack of Castrol CVT on Amazon. Under $6/qt, but you have to buy something else if you're not a prime member (in order to avoid shipping charges).

Valvoline CVT is also good stuff. Smitty's makes a CVTF as well, and it should be inexpensive, but I've never seen it available for sale anywhere.
 
I looked on the Amsoil page and they recommend not mixing fluids.....I read it as not to mix factory NS-2 with their Amsoil CVT. Here is the verbiage from Amsoil.

Nissan recommends using genuine NISSAN CVT Fluid NS-2 ONLY
in NISSAN CVTs. Do not mix with other fluids. Using fluids
that are not equivalent to Genuine NISSAN CVT fluid NS-2 may
damage the CVT. Damage caused by the use of fluids other
than as recommended is not covered under NISSAN's New
Vehicle Warranty.

Shouldn't they have said in the disclaimer that Amsoil CVT fluid is equivalent? Or it exceeds Nissan specs? This doesn't seem like a ringing endorsement for their own product.

Just to be sure, I am going to check my warranty before I do anything. From what I was told the 2010 Sentra was the last year for the 120K warranty. The 2011 Sentra CVT had improvements made to the design and covered under the regular new car warranty. The car is 5 model years old so that warranty would have expired.
 
Originally Posted By: LexAtlanta
I looked on the Amsoil page and they recommend not mixing fluids.....I read it as not to mix factory NS-2 with their Amsoil CVT. Here is the verbiage from Amsoil.

Nissan recommends using genuine NISSAN CVT Fluid NS-2 ONLY
in NISSAN CVTs. Do not mix with other fluids. Using fluids
that are not equivalent to Genuine NISSAN CVT fluid NS-2 may
damage the CVT. Damage caused by the use of fluids other
than as recommended is not covered under NISSAN's New
Vehicle Warranty.

Shouldn't they have said in the disclaimer that Amsoil CVT fluid is equivalent? Or it exceeds Nissan specs? This doesn't seem like a ringing endorsement for their own product.

Just to be sure, I am going to check my warranty before I do anything. From what I was told the 2010 Sentra was the last year for the 120K warranty. The 2011 Sentra CVT had improvements made to the design and covered under the regular new car warranty. The car is 5 model years old so that warranty would have expired.



I asked Amsoil if their fluid and NS-2 are compatible, I'll let you know when I get a response.
 
Yes Amsoil recommends their cvt fluid for NS-2. They even have pictures of their fluids performance after 100,000 miles with side by side pictures of the oem fluid showing picture of the belt and pulley in the cvt. They also mention that in every category their fluid met or surpassed the oem fluid. Pictures here as well as recommended applications.

http://www.amsoil.com/shop/by-product/transmission-fluid/automatic/synthetic-cvt-fluid/

Now keep in mind recommended for is not the same as licensed or certified but with such a recommendation you have to go by who the company is and Amsoil is certainly a reputable company in this regard as they have many years of transmission fluid experience.
 
Well, I goofed up and emailed the question to the wrong address. I had asked the correct dept now and will let you know when I hear back.
All the product literature says it meets or exceeds the NS2 fluid, so I couldn't imagine there being any problem.

I'll let you know for sure, sorry for the delay.
 
OK, after emailing the correct dept at Amsoil last night, I got a prompt response today.
Amsoil response:
"The Amsoil CVT fluid is compatible with the Nissan factory fluid remaining in the transmission. There is no issue if the transmission in not completely changed over to Amsoil CVT fluid."

So you are in the clear if you just want to do drain and fills with the Amsoil fluid!
 
Ended up getting another response from my email to the wrong dept.
This was the other response:

"Joshua,

Thank you for the question. Yes, AMSOIL CVT Fluid is compatible with Nissan NS-2 fluid. You will have no problems if the two products are mixed after a normal drain and fill."
 
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