The attached photo is of my transmission dipstick showing fluid with 71k miles of wear. Other owners have remarked on how black their fluid looked after comparable miles. I do drive like a smurf. The fluid is still green with a hint of black. I would say more green than black. I am setting up to change out the fluid which I anticipate to be no harder than an oil change. My biggest issue so far has been un-doing the lock on the dipstick. No YouTube methods work. I just pried and pried and applied copious amounts of manpower. Given the condition of the used fluid, I do not plan to change the filter. Knowing that the CVT is the weak spot in my powertrain, I am using Nissan NS-2 fluid.

Overfilling the transmission is a major no-no. The dipstick is ambiguous. Do I target the cross hatch area A-B? Or the span between the notches C-D? Or do I refill with the same volume that drains out?

 

What you drain out, put the same amount back in.

216k miles later and that’s my truth.

 

Screwdriver pressed on the dipstick tab makes it easy to remove...you must be over-thinking it.

 

2nd notch is cold level max
Top crosshatched area is hot max.

You should get 4.5 to 5 quarts out if fluid is hot, car on ramps and 30min minimum drain time. Put same amount in.

 

Thanks everyone for your help. It is warm today in New England so the change was done. Fairly straightforward. The old fluid in the catch pan was pitch black; not the green color as it appeared on the dipstick. The bottom line is that I test drove it a few miles so I survived the transmission-death-by-changing-fluid curse.

 

A new filter does wonders for cleaning up the "black" I highly recommend it.

 

Agreed! Easy to replace, I change the filter ever time I do my drain and fill.

 

I saw how easy it is to replace the filter. But I will pass as there is much evidence that Nissan service is oblivious to this filter and does not change it out. Not mentioned in the service guide. Vehicle owners who do their own maintenance tend to over-do it. I am as guilty as the next person.

 

That's a good cheap insurance if you are fine doing it. But I think it's kind of overdoing it. Given what we know about the filter and its function, I'd say it can serve 3 to 4 years or up to 60k miles.
My current plan is to drain and refill this transmission once every summer. With filter change every 3rd D/F.

 

To each his own my friend, whatever works so long as that fluid is getting changed.