CVT Issues

[Puckrobber]

Chapter 4, or thereabouts, of this saga appeared this morning.

Got a call from the dealer. They had put a 2nd used CVT in a couple of weeks ago, only to have that one go belly-up as well. So, they've finally threw up their hands, and are installing a brand new transmission in it. It's at a tranny shop in Sunnyside (near Yakima) right now. I should, unless something goes wrong, have it back next week.

And the story continues.........

 

[john_pifer]

Originally Posted by Puckrobber
Chapter 4, or thereabouts, of this saga appeared this morning.

Got a call from the dealer. They had put a 2nd used CVT in a couple of weeks ago, only to have that one go belly-up as well. So, they've finally threw up their hands, and are installing a brand new transmission in it. It's at a tranny shop in Sunnyside (near Yakima) right now. I should, unless something goes wrong, have it back next week.

And the story continues.........

Good deal! Now, sell it and get something with a good ole 6-speed manual!

 

[AC1DD]

Originally Posted by john_pifer

Good deal! Now, sell it and get something with a good ole 6-speed manual!


THIS!

 

[red7404]

last week i took my girl friends nissan to an old transmission mec i have known since the late 60s. cost $150. it all turned out good. but ill still do a lot of praying. LOL.

 

[Puckrobber]

For those that are still waiting to hear the ending.........so am I. Haven't heard anything yet. Maybe they took the whole week off?

Stay tuned, car lovers.

 

[Puckrobber]

OK BITOG'ers, the day has finally arrived. My Altima is back home! After 2 1/2 months, a new CVT transmission has been installed. Took it on the highway for about 45 miles, and it was smooth as silk. Good acceleration, too! Hallelujah! ...

 

[AC1DD]

Originally Posted by Puckrobber
OK BITOG'ers, the day has finally arrived. My Altima is back home! After 2 1/2 months, a new CVT transmission has been installed. Took it on the highway for about 45 miles, and it was smooth as silk. Good acceleration, too! Hallelujah! ...


Thanks for taking the time to follow up ! So many folks post about something like this and you never hear the outcome, keep us posting with how things go in the future...
I wish you trouble free motoring from here on out.

 

[JeffKeryk]

Good luck with your Altima and thanks for the update. Closure is always welcome.

 

[JTK]

Good deal! So was it the dealer that put the most recent CVT in it or did they farm it out to a transmission shop like you mentioned above?

So odd that this dealer would do that. I dunno of any Nissan shop that can't properly swap out a transmission. Most have a tech or two who are 'transmission specialists' that can have one done by lunch they do them so often.

 

[Puckrobber]

Originally Posted by JTK
Good deal! So was it the dealer that put the most recent CVT in it or did they farm it out to a transmission shop like you mentioned above?

So odd that this dealer would do that. I dunno of any Nissan shop that can't properly swap out a transmission. Most have a tech or two who are 'transmission specialists' that can have one done by lunch they do them so often.


Thanks, everyone! I will keep updating if anything changes.

And to answer you, JTK, the dealer I bought it from is a Chrysler dealer. So, they farmed it out to Speck Motors in Sunnyside, WA. They are, oddly enough, a Chevy dealer. ... Strange, but, whatever works, I guess. And to top it off, I still have a 3 yr./36,000 mile warranty that covers it. Woo-hoo!

 

[Puckrobber]

Oops! I mistook Speck Motors as only a Chevy dealership. Just found out they have other makes, including Nissan. So yes, it was installed at a Nissan dealer. Apologies to all!

 

[fcjeep]

Puckrobber, I also thank you for the courtesy for updating us on the outcome. So often people don't bother to do that. Very rude in my opinion.

I'm happy that everything worked out for you. I don't want to rain on you parade but I understand from researching that even the replacement CVT transmissions from Nissan don't last very long. Might not be a bad idea to unload that car while the warranty is still in force. Just my 2 cents.

 

[Puckrobber]

Thanks for the thanks, FC! I didn't want to leave some of the BITOGers hanging, since a few of them own Nissan CVT vehicles. You're gonna start a story, finish it!

As to my car, I just purchased it in October. So, I'll need to keep it awhile before I can trade it in. I do understand about these trannies, though. Some last forever, others die within a handful of miles. At least I have a few years of warranty coverage (doubt I'll go that many miles). Next up is an oil change! ...

 

[D1dad]

I just did my first drain and fill on my newly warrantied cvt altima. I drained the fluid after running 75 miles at 80mph, filled exactly 4 qts in a jug and left it set and it didn't budge.




Originally Posted by ARCOgraphite
Originally Posted by dkryan
Wonderful. Simply wonderful.

Forget Ghosn. That gang of rag-tag thieves in Japan should all be indicted.

I had the dealer perform a drain and fill at 30k miles on my 2014 Altima. At 61k miles, being out of warranty, he exchanged ALL of the CVT fluid.

With 88k miles on that ride, I plan on doing it again in the near future.

In spite of focused maintenance on this and all my vehicles, with the Altima it seems like the 30k mile CVT fluid replacement is just delaying the inevitable.



I had a Rogue Select and did and early pan dump as these thing shed tons of "mud" during wear -in and if left in will mess up the hydraulic logic.

Aftermarket Valvoline works fine - nothing magic here about Nissan Fluid. Just don't overfill due to foaming issues.

This fluid expands over and inch from cold to hot on the dipstick!

Rogue select and Sport are two of the most comfortable, competent and best affordable CUVS out there - if you dont need tons of passenger space.

 

[D1dad]

Meh, I git 905k out of my first one and the dealer installed a new one the next day under extended warranty. My wife 07 Murano had over 200k when I sold it a few yrs ago and it's still running a college kid from northern Ohio to the university of Louisville. My buddy had his 2013 z71 tranny replaced under warranty and at 150k needs another one. When a cvt fails everyone assumes it's garbage but when a ford or Chevy trans fails it's a fluke.


Originally Posted by fcjeep
Puckrobber, I also thank you for the courtesy for updating us on the outcome. So often people don't bother to do that. Very rude in my opinion.

I'm happy that everything worked out for you. I don't want to rain on you parade but I understand from researching that even the replacement CVT transmissions from Nissan don't last very long. Might not be a bad idea to unload that car while the warranty is still in force. Just my 2 cents.

 

[PandaBear]

Originally Posted by PimTac
The CVT issues were taken care of a few years ago.


You can only prove that when all these cars from a few years ago becomes 150-200k miles old.

To OP: congrats on finally getting it fixed, now unload that thing and buy something with an Aisin tranny or a stick. Nissan isn't what it used to be in the 90s, if you want something like the 90s Japanese cars these days, stick with Toyota or Mazda and keep the tech simple.

 

[pbm]

OP: Hopefully your problems are solved...like the Ford DCT ...the Nissan CVT are hard to trust. I like the new Kia Forte but I want to wait until their IVT (their terminology for CVT) is proven reliable.

 

[wdn]

Just because Nissan's CVT has been plagued with problems and catastrophic early-life failures, does not mean that CVT are problematic. That is like saying "car engines are no good". Other makers like Toyota and Subaru are fine. Subaru had some drivability issues with theirs not failures 2012-2015 models and put in a 100,000 extended warranty on some of their prior generation models three years ago. Gen 5 models like the new ‘17+ Impreza and WRX were never affected. It was overwhelmingly the Legacy, Outback and Forester.

 

[JeffKeryk]

Originally Posted by PandaBear
Originally Posted by PimTac
The CVT issues were taken care of a few years ago.


You can only prove that when all these cars from a few years ago becomes 150-200k miles old.

To OP: congrats on finally getting it fixed, now unload that thing and buy something with an Aisin tranny or a stick. Nissan isn't what it used to be in the 90s, if you want something like the 90s Japanese cars these days, stick with Toyota or Mazda and keep the tech simple.

A few years ago I bought a Hertz rental return; 2015 Altima. It had about 80K miles and but I got it for a pretty fair price, maybe $8K or thereabouts.
This was for a friend who I named a game after: "Daniel the car killer". I have been losing that game for about 30 years.
I serviced the CVT right away with Valvoline synthetic; the drain was nasty lemme tell ya. Hardest part was removing the fake dipstick cap.
I did another service in about 3K and then about every 25K.
Has 130K now and has been perfect. In fact I just put tires on it; ready for the next 50K or so.

I consider this a pretty good test. So far so good.

 

[JTK]

Just to add to what JeffKeryk experienced above, I too have purchased 4 ex-rentals in the past 25+ years. Three were Nissans and one was a Hyundai. The way I see them is if these vehicles have mechanical defects, they're most likely going to happen while in rental service given how they utilize the fleets now. Most ex-rentals will have 30-40K miles put on them in one year of rental service.

All of mine were purchased though dealerships with warranty remaining, but based on at least one thread here, you can still have some recourse though the rental car company should you have issues down the road. There is a thread here with a 2017 Pathfinder owner who's engine was sludged and smoking badly. Even though he was under the 60K powertrain warranty, the Nissan dealer wouldn't cover the cost because of the sludge. Ultimately he got the rental car company the Pathfinder came from to cover the cost of a replacement engine.