CVT Preventative Maintenance
 

Hey guys im about 1500 miles away from my 15K shop visit that my nissan recommends and I was just wondering if there was anything you guys have done CVT wise in order to keep it trouble free as the miles accumulate. Thanks in advance!

Not yet. Over the years of car ownership Ive found 40K miles a good interval for transmission service. 50k is too long on this car, 60 is worse. I had some hiccups between 40-50k that were starting to annoy me. Harshness and other little oddities made me tell my service advisor I want cvt service early.

A lot of us do a cvt drain/fill every 30k.
I'm at 140k now with no issues.

Second vote for every 30K, it's $90 well spent.

Awesome thanks a lot guys I really appreciate the advice seeing as I want to take care of this car the best I can.

I'm at 82,XXX miles and taking mine to the dealer today for general maintenance for the first time since buying it new.(Typically have all my service done at a very reputable 3rd party shop) I was reviewing my manual and it NEVER says when to service the CVT or anything only to "inspect CVT fluid" I just find this really odd, does anyone know what "inspecting" the fluid constitutes?

Probably pulling the dipstick for visual and reading the ecu values for cvt fluid.

This is from the 2014 Nissan Service and Maintenance Guide:


For these vehicles with a CVT
transmission, cube, Murano, Altima,
Altima Coupe, Maxima,
Rogue, NV200, Sentra, Pathfinder
(except HEV), Quest and Versa,
replace the CVT fluid every
60,000 miles or request the dealer
to inspect the fluid deterioration
data using a CONSULT. If the deterioration
data is more than
210000, replace the CVT fluid.

Yes, what does inspecting the fluid deterioration data using a CONSULT mean?
Also, when you follow the service / mileage interval guide it never says replace. It only ever says inspect.

bificuss99 - I don't believe these transmissions have a dipstick. Do they?

Yes, they do have dipsticks. If I recall its just in front of the motor towards the right side and it has a funny looking safety/tamper cap on it. It's hard to miss

So, my dealer recommended a power flush. Which I've read bad things about on here. I told them I was not interested in that, but if they would please inspect the fluid per the manuals recomendation and advise of its condition.
This apparently is part of their standard multi point inspection; and it revealed the fluid was not in need of exchange. I'm at 82,XXX miles.

The computer is calibrated in such that fluid will be bad after 100k, after which your transmission will eat itself, based purely on evidence from other vehicles and manufacturers.

There is no magic fluid, and parts wear. For at least 20 years, a trans flush has been recommended at 30k. I am going to stick with what is known to work, especially on a transmission that is still relatively in its infancy.

I personally have only drained and filled every 60k and then flushed and replaced the filter at 270k. (Most Nissan techs will swear there is not a cvt filter and hence won't change it.) it is located by the front left tire and looks like a type of fuel filter.

If I knew then what I know now, in addition to the drain and fill I would replace the $12filter at the same time.

BUT, I do highway driving 98% of the time. Stop and go metropolitan driving is one of the hardest things on our cvts as they can't cool as effectively stopped in traffic and hence the cvt fluid deteriorates quicker.

The manual recommends 60k intervals for a drain and fill but it doesn't know your driving habits. YOU are the only one to determine that, albeit guided by a lot of sage advice on this forum.

Some will change every 30k, others at 80k and some have never done it. While I do not favor the hands off approach, the key is knowing your driving style, formulating a maintenance plan and stay on target. Everything will eventually break, but with consistent maintenance, it can be a long time coming.

303,000 miles on my 09 and still climbing!

Nice! I'd kindly ask for the normal CVT fluid service.

@LtLeary What is the part number for the tranny filter or where did you buy it?
Some DIY pics will be appreciated!
I only have 38000 KM on mine and thinking of doing that and adding a transmission cooler.

I couldn't agree more that it will definitely be based on driving habits. Thank you and everyone else for your input and advice it is greatly appreciated!

https://maxima.org/forums/search.php?searchid=3767687

See "CVT pan before and after"

Pn is 31726 from courtesy parts.com or just at your local Nissan dealer. I think it was about $12 at the parts counter but they swore there was no such thing until they looked it up by pn. It is listed as a transmission oil filter.

Thank you for the info.

pn
 

part number is 31726-1xe0f

I have a newly purchased 2012 Maxima with 75K+ don't know history so I want to do a Transmission fluid change. I plan on using the $20/ quart from the dealer OE fluid and doing it myself. The question is the dealer said they get the fluid to the correct temperature and fill til it drips from the fill tube. Anyone heard of this? I was planning on replacing the same amount I took out.

Warm up the cvt by driving it around for 20-30 minutes. Put it in park and run the gear shift through all it's gears. Turn off the engine. Remove the cvt dipstick. Remove drain plug to cvt, (oil will be hot) and let it drain into a container that you can measure the volume, usually around 4.5 qts. will come out. This will be a lot easier if you can get the front of your car up on ramps. Let it drain for 15 minutes. Put back in the drain plug. Pour back in the same measured volume of new cvt oil through the cvt dip stick hole, using a funnel. The oil does not need to be heated up. Put the dip stick back in and start the car running the cvt through all it's gears. Make sure the oil level is where it is supposed to be on the dip stick. There are a number of threads on this site that members have posted doing the drain and fill method.

I just did my drain and fill Sunday. Drained out just under 4 1/2 quarts.
I only have 34k on my 2009 Maxima. It' took about 15-20 min to do. Real simple. My Cvt oil was alittle dark. Not too bad.
After I replaced with new, took it for a spin and it does feel smoother. It's well worth doing !

I'm now at 88k miles and just had my transmission flushed for the first time. The car is "shifting" much smoother now. I hadn't really realized just how clunky the team my has become when going from cruising to coasting to accelerating to coasting etc... But it now drives noticeably better and I didn't realize it wasn't driving good. So, I would recommend sticking with around 60k mile services.

All of the Nissan dealers here do a flush as well, and I really do not want them doing that either. I would rather just have a drain and refill. What all is involved in Nissans CVT flush process, anyone know?

Is this the same tran filter?

No.

this is what the filter looks like. Due to proprietary mounting, I doubt it will be a popular item with aftermarket companies, so stick to Nissan parts on this one.
http://44.img.avito.st/640x480/1403741444.jpg

Great thanks

I must be the exception but after the filter and fluid change I dropped in 4.5 quarts and went for a drive, still not reading on the dipstick so put in about half another quart and just barely getting anything on the stick. Will get another quart tomorrow but has anyone else done this change and needed 6 quarts to replenish?

I didn't do a filter change and was right at 4.5 qts, are you sure your were full before you started?

did you measure how much fluid came out?
the only guess is you were low before you started.
Look around to make sure you dont have a leak too.

That is about right with the filter change and letting the pan drain for about 30 mins. I do about 5.5 maybe less depending on how long I let the pain drain on an incline while replacing the filter.

+1

I have a 2014 Maxima with 11K miles, and I have no idea what to do with the CVT. I took it to the dealer for the first time last week, and they recommended oil change & tire rotation/balance. I'm assuming they would say something about the CVT when the time comes or do I need to know at what mileage I need to ask?

If you use that dealership for all your maintenance then they will let you know when it is time. With normal driving the change will come around 60K miles.

If you go with the dealership they will make you go broke but at least your car is safely worked on. On the other hand I had no idea how do an oil change when I got my 12'. Thanks to research and members on here I was able to do my CVT myself.

I did mine at 65000 I did a lot of highway driving but I live in Texas where the heat is insane. I felt a noticeable difference when I left the dealership. I figure when it comes to things like this I let them handle it.

I have a good relationship with my service department so they only charged me $30 labor + cost of fluid since the car was already on the rack getting the engine oil changed. Considering all the time and work involved doing this myself it was $30 well spent.