Hello all. Yesterday we had a late model Nissan Sentra in the shop that was equipped with a CVT transmission. We checked out several different things, and found(among other problems) that the transmission fluid was low. Long story short, I am not in a management position, and we ended up getting a quart of Nissan CVT fluid from the local dealer. We've had but one other car in our shop in which we dealt specifically with its CVT trans, and that was a Honda Civic Hybrid, and we changed the fluid. It received Valvoline's CVT fluid, as that met spec. Are there other, more readily available brands that meet the Nissan spec for their CVT transmission, other than their own brand?
Alternatives To Nissan CVT Fluid
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During my tenure at the Nissan dealer I worked it, we had very good luck with both Valvoline CVT as well as Eneos CVT fluid. At the time it was about half the cost of the Nissan branded fluid, and not once did we ever have a problem.
I was thinking the Valvoline fluid met spec. I think it runs around 11.00 for a bottle, against 16.00 for the Nissan branded fluid.
I think NAPA has Idemitsu fluid which might be OEM or the perfect equivalent. I'm not totally sure, unfortunately. Carquest might have the Idemitsu stuff, but I don't know for sure.
Good thing you can get the parts man to order one from the big Carquest or NAPA warehouse.
I have never seen CVT fluid at an Advance Auto or Autozone, but I also don't know for sure.
Good thing you can get the parts man to order one from the big Carquest or NAPA warehouse.
I have never seen CVT fluid at an Advance Auto or Autozone, but I also don't know for sure.
My Suzuki has the same Jatco CVT. I'm at 55,000 miles on it and wasn't planning on changing out the fluid until 60,000 miles (the diffs. have been done once at around 10,000 miles by the dealership under warranty). My manual specs "Suzuki" CVT fluid or Shell Green CVT fluid. I have no idea if that fluid is synthetic (or semi-synthetic) and was thinking there might be a "better" fluid available (Redline's CVT fluid might be another option...they state it meets the specs). In fairness, the CVT has been flawless though I'm not very hard on it. I'll have to make a decision by fall as I'll be at the 60k mark by then (will need to swap out the plugs and do the diffs. again...will definitely use Redline in there). Does anyone know if the Shell Green CVT fluid is synthetic? It's a shame Suzuki went bust here...this is the best (so far) car I've ever owned.
Originally Posted By: oilmaven
My manual specs "Suzuki" CVT fluid or Shell Green CVT fluid. I have no idea if that fluid is synthetic (or semi-synthetic) and was thinking there might be a "better" fluid available (Redline's CVT fluid might be another option...they state it meets the specs).
This may be helpful:
Eneos CVT Fluids
To the best of my knowledge all the metal belt CVT fluids have synthetic base stocks.
I have no personal experience with the Red Line CVT fluid. I have fairly extensive experience with their C+, D4, and D6 ATFs and they're exceptional.
My manual specs "Suzuki" CVT fluid or Shell Green CVT fluid. I have no idea if that fluid is synthetic (or semi-synthetic) and was thinking there might be a "better" fluid available (Redline's CVT fluid might be another option...they state it meets the specs).
This may be helpful:
Eneos CVT Fluids
To the best of my knowledge all the metal belt CVT fluids have synthetic base stocks.
I have no personal experience with the Red Line CVT fluid. I have fairly extensive experience with their C+, D4, and D6 ATFs and they're exceptional.
According to Nissan if you use anything other than their NS-2 or the backwards compatible NS-3 trans fluid you will void your warranty. They don't fix CVT's they replace the whole thing and you can bet they will check what fluid is in your trans before replacing it under warranty.
Considering the 7 year/100,000 mile drive train warranty on the Suzuki (which from the reports I'm reading on the Suzuki forums they are honoring...might have to drive a bit to get to a dealer though as only the ones still in business at the time of the bankruptcy filing are authorized to perform warranty repairs...for me that's 200 miles away), I'll probably stick with the Shell Green fluid.
A friend of mine used the Redline CVT fluid a few years ago to change the CVT fluid in his 2009 Altima 2.5. The CVT was starting to act up, and would noticeably hunt for the proper ratio causing the car to very slightly lurch back and forth while cruising. Almost felt like my friend was not steady on the gas pedal, but after driving it myself, it did the exact same thing.
We did one cooler line exchange and 2 drain and fills (yes, overkill) to try and get as much of the stock fluid out as possible, going for a good drive in between each process. After doing this, the car drove better than it did when new. Absolutely flawless operation. The same fluid is still in the tranny (3 years now at least) and still works very well.
We did one cooler line exchange and 2 drain and fills (yes, overkill) to try and get as much of the stock fluid out as possible, going for a good drive in between each process. After doing this, the car drove better than it did when new. Absolutely flawless operation. The same fluid is still in the tranny (3 years now at least) and still works very well.
I just read that Amsoil now offers an NS-2 compliant synthetic CVT fluid. I don't know how Amsoil pricing works, as I have never used any Amsoil product, but the price shown on their website is $13.70/qt. or $129.85/2.5 gal. I don't know how that compares to the Nissan fluid. I'm going totally from memory here, but I believe I read that the Subaru NS-2 CVT fluid runs well over $20/qt.
According to their website, they ran 4 Nissan cars to 100k miles, 2 with Nissan NS-2, and 2 with Amsoil NS-2 complaint fluid. The website shows pics of both. Both are very clean and free from wear.
http://www.amsoil.com/shop/by-product/tr.../?code=CVTTP-EA
According to their website, they ran 4 Nissan cars to 100k miles, 2 with Nissan NS-2, and 2 with Amsoil NS-2 complaint fluid. The website shows pics of both. Both are very clean and free from wear.
http://www.amsoil.com/shop/by-product/tr.../?code=CVTTP-EA
would castrol be ok? i see autozone has it and they had it on sale previously and it was 9 a quart. the dealer wants 19.99 a quart on the ns3 nissan fluid and castrol cvt, i saw they listed nissan ns3 too under the specs, so is it safe or no? thanks.
and the dearler said they recommended a cvt flush at 60k, is that safe or ok or no? the vehicle is a 2015 nissan rogue with 8k on it now. should i just do a drain and fill at 30k and every 30k thereafter and never do a full flush (expensive) at the dealer, and would a flush hurt the cvt, or would only draining and filling it hurt the cvt, too, since i heard there were lots of cvt issues and this cvt is new but the old ones were picky and prone to problems and failure.
MolaKule
Staff member
I prefer drain and refills every 30k so that slow cleaning takes place, and the additives are replenished.
Now is a good time to get most of the factory wear materials out of there.
The Amsoil CVT and the Redline CVT should work FB.
Now is a good time to get most of the factory wear materials out of there.
The Amsoil CVT and the Redline CVT should work FB.
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Originally Posted By: engineer20
would castrol be ok? i see autozone has it and they had it on sale previously and it was 9 a quart. the dealer wants 19.99 a quart on the ns3 nissan fluid and castrol cvt, i saw they listed nissan ns3 too under the specs, so is it safe or no? thanks.
If your manual recommends NS-3 then I believe the fluid you put in has to be NS-3 rated.
would castrol be ok? i see autozone has it and they had it on sale previously and it was 9 a quart. the dealer wants 19.99 a quart on the ns3 nissan fluid and castrol cvt, i saw they listed nissan ns3 too under the specs, so is it safe or no? thanks.
If your manual recommends NS-3 then I believe the fluid you put in has to be NS-3 rated.
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NS3 is just a lower visc version of NS2.
Pennzoil also has a CVT fluid... Pennzoil Platinum CV-2
Pennzoil also has a CVT fluid... Pennzoil Platinum CV-2
0w30 motor oil will work just 'fine'. Anyone else don't like this word?
does the price go down over time as more cars use ns-3 or does it go up due to inflation? thanks. and if i buy it now, can i store it for 3 years before using it?
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