Did dealership due your repair?
What are the 2 mods you did to improve your transmission?
I just bought a 2014 XV before I knew about the issues with the CVT… Now I’m freaking out a bit.
I guess I didn’t do enough homework 
That guy you mentioned advocated performing some BLATANTLY illegal procedures and trying to get something he’s not legally entitled to
I would be hesitant about heeding ANY advice from such a person
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Michael you have no idea how any of this works. First they will not just give you new transmission if asked. Second: You can use any brand of oil you like as long as it is the right type i.e You need Dexron and you put in Type F. Just as it is illegal to say They will Void your Warranty if you go to someone else to change the oil or you do it yourself. You can take your car to who every you want.
The idea behind NO dipstick is to keep plenty of Dipstick out there from over filling their transmission you be surprised how many idiots can not check their fluid level right and then like idiots Over fill it causing more harm So many car makers are making “sealed” Transmissions. You can order the “dipstick” for you auto its not illegal and does NOT void your warranty only if you are crazy enough to leave it in. NEVER trust anything a Sales person tells you about a car on the mechanical side they for the most part do not have a flipping clue.
Eliminating the dipstick reduces fluid oxidation:
35 years of toyota’s and honda’s with non-cvt transmissions (automatics and manuals), 150,000 - 250,000 on each car, never had a transmission problem. 2015 Nissian Sentra, 71,000 miles, $4,500 to replace cvt. I will look for cars without a CVT.
I have read on this forum that the manufacturers do not design and manufacture CVTs they buy them from suppliers and some cvt manufacturers produce reliable products and some produce junk so don"t write them off altogether just research it next time
I respectfully disagree.
Virtually all automatic transmissions in Japanese cars are made by the same company–JATCO. However, JATCO manufactures them to the design specifications of each car manufacturer. Thus, you wind up with highly problematic CVTs on Nissans, and CVTs from other manufacturers that are much more reliable.
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Ironically Nissan owns 75% of JATCO.
Years ago, there was a saying to the effect of…
The shoemaker’s children go barefoot.
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Thank you VDC, I did not know that. I do not understand why a manufacturer would specify an inferior transmission from JATCO. I know manufacturers look for ways to increase margin but to do that by putting a weak transmission in their cars seems crazy.
Who would ever buy another Nissan after the CVT fails at 70K miles and then get no help from Nissan? And why would Nissan of all companies cut corners when they own most of JATCO and pay less for the transmissions?
There’s so much I don’t understand. Do they make up for it with increased advertising and popular styling and hope first-time buyers didn’t hear about the problems?
It seems irrational that Subaru has an almost cult-like following after years of head gasket failures followed by piston ring failures and now CVT failures. After the first head gasket failure why wouldn’t Subaru immediately tell their engineers to determine
the design defect and modify it?
The big problem with chronic issues and class action lawsuits is that most of the afflicted refuse to believe that their actions (or lack of…) had anything to do with the problem.
As for the comment “ask a service manager because they were a former mechanic who got promoted”; well, that is totally false. Very, very few service managers or service advisors have ever turned a wrench in their life.
In my lifetime I’ve worked with one former mechanic turned service manager and he was (now deceased) a great, standup guy who could speak with knowledge about mechanical issues.
All the rest were (as the VW factory rep stated so eloquently) “the dumbest SOBs on the face of the Earth”.
I’m 77 so I drove standard shifts for decades and probably close to a million miles. Can still drive them. And if I were getting, say, an SUV that I intended to do serious off-roading with I’d get a manual tranny. But as automatics got better and better (getting as good or SOMEtimes better milage than standard shift) and I noted that on a standard I’d need a clutch replacement likely at 100K but with any luck and if not abused an automatic would make it to 250K with no service other than, say, three changes of tranny fluid, they beat out the standard for cost and reliability. (Had two Nissan standard trannies fail at less than 120K miles.)
The Subaru Forester CVT I got 4 years ago gets an amazing (for a full sized SUV) about 34 to 37 mph on highway/freeway driving. Compared to the 25 -26 mpg for my previous 2001 Forester with its four speed automatic. That great mileage is for the most part due to the fact with the CVC it cruises nearly always at the most efficient gear ratio.
And truth be told it’s really a bit safer to not be both shifting AND controlling speed and direction going round corners. More attention on fewer controls.
And frankly, although she can certainly handle a stick shift, I feel my wife is safer with an automatic.
Yeah… To an old time gear-shift and clutch jockey it does seem sort of demeaning to have less direct control of RPM … But on net I find the CVT a significant improvement. Time will tell if they hold up on reliability. Subaru has extended my CVT warrenty to 100K or 10 years.
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When you say you had 2 Nissan manual transmissions fail at 120K miles I hope you mean the clutch and not the transmissions themselves. It’s extremely rare for a manual to fail at all, much less 2. You’ve got a bunch of bearings and gears and then the
synchros and that’s about it. The bearings and gears are bathed in grease so usually nothing goes wrong there. Was it your synchros that failed? Early Hondas had that problem.
Our experience has been that clutches last far longer than 100K miles, in fact we’ve never replaced one and sell our cars at around 140K miles. Of course we don’t pull a trailer or do stop and go driving and perhaps you do.
I would have changed that tranny fluid closer 5-8 times by 250k miles personally (30-50k miles)…
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Hi Lee,
Yes, I agree that with a bit of luck at proper shifting technique and no abuse clutches can go over 100K even 150K. But not THAT rare for one to go at 60K even with TLC. And have one member of the household who as poor technique and they can kill a clutch in 30K. But even if a clutch lasts 130K having a shop (very few owners are going to do a clutch replacement themselves) do it can easily run $700 to $1200. The chance that an owner of an automatic tranny will have to have any tranny problems, let alone one that costs in that range at less than 150K is very slim. The chance that the standard tranny owner will need at least one clutch replacement by 150K is almost a 100% bet.
No, Lee, I did not mean it was the clutch…The Tranny itself failed. Don’t remember the exact symptoms (It was long ago on a Nissan Stanza … 1987 model IIRR.). Had been driven and serviced with TLC)… Something like locked up in second gear or syncro into second gear didn’t synchro. or making horrible noises. Whatever it was it was clearly lethal and not repairable.
It was replaced with a guaranteed used tranny by my local trusted mechanic. And that one failed within a week with exactly the same symptoms. I was going to get the tranny free from the parts source but I was on the hook for all the labor… Fortunately, my mechanic said “I won’t charge you labor… I nave to be able to sleep at night.”
But I go back to my main point:
There are some advantages to manual trannies and some of us just like them… But in practicality and cost (remember, that clutch replacement isn’t “if” it’s “when”) modern automatics beat them out. The days when automatics got significantly less mpg than standards are long gone… and for many drivers in city traffic the automatic will actually get better mileage.
The only reasons I’d ever be likely to go back to a standard shift is if I was going to do a significant amount of serious off-roading… or wanted to show off how car savvy and skilled I am. ;-).
Agree with you 100% but CVTs have complicated the issue. ATs used to be predictably reliable with proper maintenance (fluid and filter change at specified intervals) and no abuse (pulling a trailer in hot weather) but now we have manufacturers using sub-standard CVTs.
I agree with yiu that CVTs make it less clear. Unlike traditional auto trannies, I CAN’T tell a buyer .of aC T car
“In the long run odds are almost certain that your automatic tranny will be more reliable than a stick shift.”
CVTs may not in principle be "Substandard” or inferior in fundamental design.
The reality is they really only been out in significant use for about five years, compared to the 70 or 80 years of development and testing and shake down that traditional automatic transmissions have behind them.
Time will tell on The reliability and owner incurred repair costs of the present generation of CVTs.
That said , They do you significantly improve mileage, smoothness, and even performance…
Just a little Subaru status report. 2011 Outback 2.5i. CVT passed 148K miles. One fluid change out at 100K; may do another at 60K. Spent far more on tires than I have on the CVT.