# Concerns with CVT Transmissions in all Nissans



## Torysb (11 mo ago)

Hello all! While searching for cars we recently fell in love with Nissans. Have been looking at used Sentra's, Altima's, Maxima's and Rogue's for the last few weeks. Finding out more and more information we have come across a lot of reviews with transmission problems for all of these vehicles. Also, searching in google, cars with transmission problems, we came across a Consumer Report article from May 29, 2021. This article stated that out of the top 10 cars with most transmission problems, 5 of them are Nissan's. After Corona, we are in a situation where we have to borrow money from family members to purchase this car and don't want to have to borrow thousands more 6 months down the line to replace the transmission. Really needing as much feedback as possible in order to make this decision quickly. 

Thank you


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## VStar650CL (Nov 12, 2020)

This is a big topic, so I'll try to boil it down a bit. No CVT from any manufacturer can be driven indefinitely without maintenance, and the biggest problem with Nissan CVT's is Nissan's maintenance recommendations. They're absurd, so forget the book. With regular fluid changes, there's nothing in a CVT to wear out, so they can pretty much be perpetual motion machines. With zero maintenance and a leadfoot driver, failure before 100K miles is pretty much guaranteed. That's because of a CVT's construction. It has a metal belt riding on metal pulleys with only fluid in between. So when the fluid wears out, metal meets metal and the tranny is cooked. Simple as that. With 30K changes we've literally seen one old Murano approach 500K miles, and it's still going even though the rest of the car is falling apart around it.

CVT's are also susceptible to failure from overfilling, so if you get your services done by others and don't DIY it, watch out for places that let oil-changers service CVT's. That's becoming increasingly common in these days of labor shortages, but simply dumping 5 quarts of fluid in after a change amounts to a CVT death sentence. Stick to professional technicians and not Jiffy Lube. If you DIY it, there are two perfectly good methods of getting the level right every time, and plenty of posts in here about how to do it. Past warranty, you can keep the cost of changes down by switching to a quality aftermarket fluid like AMSoil or Eneos. Both of those are equal or better than Nissan NS3 in all performance categories, but cost less than half.

Lastly, the other enemy of CVT fluid is heat. That can be from lead-footing, climbing steep hills regularly, or any sort of trailering. If any of those shoes fit, invest in an aftermarket trans cooler.

With all that said, when buying used, insist on records. If the previous owner went 60K or more with no transmission service on a 4-cyl CVT, or 80K or more on a 6-cyl, proceed to the next car. Here are a few other notes:

The 6-cyl CVT's will absorb a lot more neglect and abuse than 4-cyls. That's a function of the smaller belt cross-section in the 4-bangers. While you might think the higher horsepower of a 6-cyl would make it more failure prone and not less, the reverse is true, at least in Nissans.
Gen6 Altimas ('19~21') have beefier belts and we've seen very few problems with them. The Rogue is getting the same treatment for '22. Maximas and Muranos are pretty bulletproof in any year.
Avoid '16~17 Altimas unless there are records that the Valve Body or entire trans has been replaced. The VB's on all '16's and early '17's had a problem with soft material.
The Sentra, Versa and Note all have a hybridized CVT with planetary gears and a high-low range. That works well to keep excessive torque loading off the belt, but sacrifices longevity because the clutches in the planetary assembly will wear out like regular A/T clutches. Most of the non-heat-related tranny failures we see in those models are in the clutches and not the belt, but on the good side of the ledger, they tend to wear out at fairly high mileages like a regular A/T.
Some Sentras, Versas, and Notes don't have transmission heat exchangers, and we see many heat-related failures in those. The exchanger is basically a system that dumps CVT heat into the radiator outlet tank, and it works extremely well provided the car's cooling system doesn't have issues. You can tell if an exchanger is present by how many hoses come out of the "beehive" on the front of the tranny. It's a device that looks just like an old beekeeper's box, and four hoses coming out of it means an exchanger is present. Two means it isn't. If not, invest in an aftermarket cooler and a 4-port hive immediately.


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## Torysb (11 mo ago)

First, thank you so much for taking the time and providing us with so much information. It's greatly appreciated. I have one more question for you. We are looking at 2013-2015 Sentra's and Altima's that have between 100,000-150,000 miles. Being that they are used cars, and that they normally have 1-2 previous owners and we have no way of knowing how they drove it. Do you have any suggestions?


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## VStar650CL (Nov 12, 2020)

Get a good aftermarket warranty if you can. Buying a "pig in a poke" CVT is a crapshoot unless you can get a look at the fluid. If you can take the car to a mechanic you trust and get a small sample of fluid from the tranny, it will tell you immediately if there was maintenance done. For a '13~'15 it will be NS3 and will have started out turquoise. If it's slightly brown but still has color and has no bad smell, it was definitely maintained. If it still has color but smells varnishy, it had some maintenance but not the best. If it's all brown, particularly with a burnt or heavy varnish odor, it's been abused.


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## VStar650CL (Nov 12, 2020)

In addition, one thing you can do yourself is check it for "judder" on the test drive. Get the car on an uphill at 30 mph or so, drop the throttle momentarily, then roll the throttle gently back on until the tranny is "pulling" again. If you feel any jumpiness in the trans or the RPM's do anything quirky, the CVT belt is slipping and it has a problem.

One other thing a mechanic with a good scanner can do is see if there are self-diagnostic codes for judder in the trans controller (TCM). On a Nissan those are P1F70 and P1F71. The 70 is a "death code", the tranny is shot. The 71 can sometimes be cured by a fluid change but usually means replacing the Valve Body. The TCM also stores a record of any overheated fluid in two parameters called CVT-A and CVT-B. Both should read zero on a healthy trans.


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## ofcbob (8 mo ago)

VStar650CL said:


> This is a big topic, so I'll try to boil it down a bit. No CVT from any manufacturer can be driven indefinitely without maintenance, and the biggest problem with Nissan CVT's is Nissan's maintenance recommendations. They're absurd, so forget the book. With regular fluid changes, there's nothing in a CVT to wear out, so they can pretty much be perpetual motion machines. With zero maintenance and a leadfoot driver, failure before 100K miles is pretty much guaranteed. That's because of a CVT's construction. It has a metal belt riding on metal pulleys with only fluid in between. So when the fluid wears out, metal meets metal and the tranny is cooked. Simple as that. With 30K changes we've literally seen one old Murano approach 500K miles, and it's still going even though the rest of the car is falling apart around it.
> 
> CVT's are also susceptible to failure from overfilling, so if you get your services done by others and don't DIY it, watch out for places that let oil-changers service CVT's. That's becoming increasingly common in these days of labor shortages, but simply dumping 5 quarts of fluid in after a change amounts to a CVT death sentence. Stick to professional technicians and not Jiffy Lube. If you DIY it, there are two perfectly good methods of getting the level right every time, and plenty of posts in here about how to do it. Past warranty, you can keep the cost of changes down by switching to a quality aftermarket fluid like AMSoil or Eneos. Both of those are equal or better than Nissan NS3 in all performance categories, but cost less than half.
> 
> ...


Thank you VStar for taking the time to help thousands of Nissan owners. I have a habit for many years now of putting the transmission in Neutral when stopped for a long light or RRXing. I've never had any transmission issues in the past 30 yrs or so but I now have my first CVT in the 22 Rogue I bought. Is it harmful for me to continue my "habit" with this new Nissan CVT? I want to keep this Rogue a long time, like I have all my vehicles.


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## VStar650CL (Nov 12, 2020)

ofcbob said:


> Thank you VStar for taking the time to help thousands of Nissan owners. I have a habit for many years now of putting the transmission in Neutral when stopped for a long light or RRXing. I've never had any transmission issues in the past 30 yrs or so but I now have my first CVT in the 22 Rogue I bought. Is it harmful for me to continue my "habit" with this new Nissan CVT? I want to keep this Rogue a long time, like I have all my vehicles.


You're most welcome. Coasting in N with a CVT is a bad idea, but idling in N when stopped is fine. Just keep in mind that because of the way they're valved, most CVT's take 1~2 seconds to drop into D, especially when cold. Gassing it prematurely can be hard on the belt, so if you're used to doing a quick "shift-and-go" when the light changes, you might need to slightly modify your habit.


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## ofcbob (8 mo ago)

VStar650CL said:


> You're most welcome. Coasting in N with a CVT is a bad idea, but idling in N when stopped is fine. Just keep in mind that because of the way they're valved, most CVT's take 1~2 seconds to drop into D, especially when cold. Gassing it prematurely can be hard on the belt, so if you're used to doing a quick "shift-and-go" when the light changes, you might need to slightly modify your habit.


I'm an older driver, so I'm in no hurry off the line. When I sense I'll be shifting into D, I know to wait a second or so for it to connect (I can feel it), then I accelerate cautiously. Thanks again, for all your replies.


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## VStar650CL (Nov 12, 2020)

You're most welcome, happy motoring!


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## SparkPlug (5 mo ago)

Just purchased a 2020 pathfinder with 17K miles, with the CVT concerns i serviced/drained/filled the hot/warm trans with 4.5 qts of N3 fluid with the car running i pulled the over flow plug and when the stream went to just under a pencil diameter flow , closed the plug. Wow what a difference it made ! feels great , goes right into gear , no hesitation as felt before this service. I noticed this vehicle has a trans cooler in the forward drivers wheel well. I'm currently looking for the trans part number # to see if a larger fluid pan is available, another qt or two would increase trans life greatly.


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