Originally Posted By: Kira
"We the people" need to set up a "CVT Guide" where lifespans and failures of the different CVT models are logged.
A friend has a 2011 Mitsubishi Outlander (4 cyl.) and at 92,000 we did a pan drop and filter replacement and fluid refresh.
The fluid was the color of dark maple syrup and the filter was completely untouched.
It was stainless steel mesh and perfectly clean. There was no need to change but we did anyway.
Another pal got a Subaru Impreza Sport and we've a date to do the same to his car a few years from now.
I have to admit that I've been way too scared to mess with the CVT in my Subaru, but is a pan drop really possible with these?
My impression was that these are sealed units and the fluid replacement is accomplished by a complicated vacuum out/force in procedure at a specific range of fluid temps. I hesitated about chiming in since I haven't gotten my hands dirty on this part of my car and let a dealer take care of it at 60kmiles, but I have also read a couple of threads on subaruforester.org about doing this job and it didn't sound like a pan drop was an option.
My FXT has a special high torque unit and it even has its own special fluid from Subaru as a result, so trying to make absolutely sure that the dealer used the proper fluid was an extra stressor for me after realizing that another dealer didn't even seem to know that my turbo took 5W30 instead of 0W20. 10kmiles after the 60k service I realized that the wrong air filter had been installed, NA version instead of the part specified for the turbo, so I am really wondering if the CVT got the right stuff...I'm not worried about hydrogen fusing into helium in the CVT as a result, just figure it couldn't be a good thing long term. I'm sure Subaru didn't develop a special fluid for the FXT/WRX CVT just for the heck of it.