Need advice on Nissan CVT transmission UOA

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Hi All - first post here, but need some help. 2010 Nissan Maxima with the belt CVT transmission with 148,000mi.

This transmission is the Nissan RE090FB (Jatco JF010E) - in all V6 equipped Altima and Maximas. Car has been WONDERFUL with only basic maintenance. Very suddenly, Saturday, the transmission lost pressure (pulled fault codes P0868 - secondary pressure low) and the car wouldn't even make it up my driveway. My diagnosis is a messed up valve body, have new one on the way (for $1000) and highly doubt it is any of the mechanicals inside the transmission (pulleys, gears or belt).

Sent analysis. Everything is beautiful, except iron level of 91 at 43,000 miles, 117 at 111,000 miles and now at 145 at the time of failure. I consider this mildly abnormal, but not critical. What is your folks' opinion? Fluid looks great, not burnt, smells fine and has been changed every 40,000 miles.

Does anyone know anything at all about the typical wear signature of CVT's? I would imagine iron would be a little higher than traditional AT because of the belt drive, but unsure about this. I've scoured the internet trying to find out anything on this and have came up empty handed. I suspect the elevation in iron is due to A) using kit to suck sample out of dipstick tube and was scratching around with the tube on bottom of transmission pan (has never been removed or magnet cleaned) and B) drove it about 15 miles with a bad valve body (runs really good until it gets hot and then not at all).

Do you all think that iron of 145 is indicative of impending or failed internal parts in the transmission? Insolubles are 0.2.

What would you all do? Replace valve body and monitor or get entirely new transmission - that's my ultimate question?

Thanks,
Travis
 
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Call a Nissan dealer /shop and see what they have to say. Some one who works on the trannies.
 
Id put a junker stick it at this point vs $1000- valve body
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07 Maxima and I did a UOA of the CVT at 93k. Mine came back with Iron of 85. I know for certain there had never been any CVT service. I also have zero issues and now am at 98k (was my mothers car bought new). I would replace the valve body and drain/fill the CVT a few times and go from there. I'm using Amsoil CVT for mine. Only 5k so too early to say its great....but it's smooth and runs excellent.
 
In the grand scheme of all things automotive the CVT is early on in it's development.

I would go for the valve body because even if you later replace the CVT you can keep that valve body for the swap.

I just don't know if working on the belts and all that other stuff wouldn't be more of a risk.

I would certainly go for the best fluid I could find and change it a couple of times over the next year.

My daughter had a Honda with a CVT that started acting strange at 123K miles, like not gradually shifting up and difficulty starting from a dead stop, and my son-in-law did the fluid swap twice and it cleared up.

This avoided the dealer diagnosis that the CVT needed to be replaced. I got the feeling from being there and listening to the service manager that they don't risk working on them and just recommend a replacement. Imagine that?

He used an Amsoil CVT fluid. Just before he did the first change of fluid when the drive line was completely warmed up he poured in a couple of pints of carb cleaner and drove it around the block. What came out was really ugly, dark and smelled.

The improvement was noticeable and immediate. The second dose was done just to be sure.
 
Originally Posted By: OneEyeJack
He used an Amsoil CVT fluid. Just before he did the first change of fluid when the drive line was completely warmed up he poured in a couple of pints of carb cleaner and drove it around the block. What came out was really ugly, dark and smelled.

The improvement was noticeable and immediate. The second dose was done just to be sure.

Can normal drain will remove all CVT fluid with cleaner ? For standard AT with torque converter only about 1/2 would drain out, the rest is mostly in the converter.

My daughter 2014 Accord LX 4-cyl has CVT too. I'm thinking to siphon CVT fluid with Mityvac 7201 at half the recommend interval. CVT fluid isn't cheap but change it every 1/2 interval is no more 1 cup Starbuck a week.
 
First off, it is upsetting to me that despite your pro-active maintenance you have problems.
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From what I've read, there is not a lot of qualified rebuilding for this CVT, replacement is standard at Nissan dealers. Why? probably considered too complex for dealer level technicians, OR Nissan wants these broken CVT's back for analysis without the tampering of dealers affecting the root cause study.

If it was my car, and I do have a 2013 Maxima, so maybe I'll be faced with this down the road?, I'd try the valve body repair. I don't have pricing on a new CVT, so that's clouding my opinion. Nissan did extend the CVT warranty on the earlier 7th Generation Maxima's - it makes me think that they are pretty confident that they have a good design.

You have used the Nissan approved fluid? right?
 
Thanks guys! MUCH more helpful than the folks over at the Maxima.org forum. And yes - have only used Nissan NS-2 fluid. Will be changing to Amsoil soon, but for now, I'm going to refill with the NS-2 and (assuming the valve body fixes it) most likely will replace in 5,000 miles with Amsoil. That'll be enough time to see if anything is getting chewed up in there.

Also - honestly, I'm kind of shocked something didn't break on the car before now. My driving style is pretty aggressive and I have absolutely no problem stomping it to the floor. I'm a field case manager and drive 3000+ miles per month, so frequently in a hurry to get to appointments, etc. Not deliberately abusive, but I utilize all of the 300hp the VQ can offer up quite frequently.

NEW transmission cost is $2100 from dealership. Valve body was $1000 (actually $1151.52, but my dealer was nice and charged 1000 even). If it comes to transmission replacement, I'll be heading to the junkyards - can find them in the 30-40,000 mile range for about $500-1000. Probably should have just gotten a new transmission, but truthfully, just don't have the time to do a transmission swap and my car is kind of my livelihood, so - I can do the valve body in a day (theoretically - LOL).

Thanks for suggestions folks - really appreciate it!!
 
2k is not bad for a new cvt. I would have been tempted to replace the entire trans. certainly I understand its more work - but a trans swap does not take that long. I truly hope that your valve body fixes the problem - and yes, I replaced the valve body in two of my Dodges albeit at much lower mileage.
 
Well folks - iron level of 145 is certainly significant. No valve body replacement - new transmission. Pulled pan and found tons of metal shavings. Looked like someone had taken a knife and sliced off big long strips of metal. Something came loose in there and has absolutely chewed something all to pieces. Tranny is toasted. Junkyards here I come. Bummed I am...
 
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Change the CVTF every 30k.
If VB fixes issue, make sure dealer loads up to date TCU software.

Besides Amsoil, Valvoline Redline.... and numerous others make a cvtf.

Post the UOAs.
 
Yep.

I have been suggesting 30k pan drain and re-fill OCI's with analysis for umpteen years, in spite of the OEM's insisting on 100k or lifetime fills.

Nuff said.
 
Originally Posted By: MolaKule
Yep.

I have been suggesting 30k pan drain and re-fill OCI's with analysis for umpteen years, in spite of the OEM's insisting on 100k or lifetime fills.

Nuff said.


The OP claims to have changed the fluid every 40k miles. Would a 10k difference in the fluid change interval really make that much difference?

Or would driving it 15 miles with a bad valve body have been more of the cause for the tranny failure?
 
Originally Posted By: dkryan
Originally Posted By: MolaKule
Yep.

I have been suggesting 30k pan drain and re-fill OCI's with analysis for umpteen years, in spite of the OEM's insisting on 100k or lifetime fills.

Nuff said.


The OP claims to have changed the fluid every 40k miles. Would a 10k difference in the fluid change interval really make that much difference?

Or would driving it 15 miles with a bad valve body have been more of the cause for the tranny failure?


I wasn't saying that at all. We are discussing two different issues here.

Changing fluids periodically is a preventive maintenance process.

A tranny with an internal defect or design, whether a valve body or a sun gear failure, is going to fail regardless of how many times the fluid is changed.
 
The scariness of CVT is any failure could be so sudden and so catastrophic, that you cannot just replace a small amount of parts to patch it up.

A sudden fluid pressure lost could cause belt / pulley contact surface slippages that shave a lot of material off the belt or pulleys, and it is toasted.

On a step type automatic transmission you can tolerate a lot of slippage before it is non repairable.
 
Can you show us the UOA so that we can see the full picture? I don't suppose you have a VOA for comparison by any chance?
 
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