2011 quest CVT fluid change

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I recently bought my wife a 2011 Nissan Quest minivan, with about 48k on the odometer. I would like to service the CVT transmission and do a drain and fill now and about every 30k.
I had a quick peak under it, I cannot seem to locate a drain plug.
Anyone know if these have a drain?
I saw a finned aluminum transmission pan, but no drain plug in that.
 
There's a drain plug -- it's sort of flush with the surface of the pan. It takes a 10mm Allen Key IIRC.

Here's the manual from a 2014: http://www.nicoclub.com/FSM/Quest/2014 Quest/tm.pdf

Page 150 goes over the fluid change procedure. It's pretty easy - just drain and refill. It should take about 4.5 qt, but I would get 6 to be safe since some report draining more.

Be sure to only buy the Nissan NS-2 fluid. I got a 6-pk off eBay for $95 shipped.
 
Well, I just crawled under again and looked at mine. No drain plug. You can see the flat where one would go, but this one is not drilled or tapped. Maybe I got the odd, early model, that didn't come with one. Just my luck!
I'm tempted to take the pan off and drill and tap it. It's a nice cast aluminum, finned pan.
 
Originally Posted By: cronk
Well, I just crawled under again and looked at mine. No drain plug. You can see the flat where one would go, but this one is not drilled or tapped. Maybe I got the odd, early model, that didn't come with one. Just my luck!
I'm tempted to take the pan off and drill and tap it. It's a nice cast aluminum, finned pan.


That is odd. I would highly advise against tapping the pan - Nissan is very particular about these transmissions in the event of a warranty claim.

The best solution would be to buy an oil extractor and to extract the fluid from the dipstick tube. The dipstick tube on this particular unit is fairly friendly to an oil extractor, so you should have no problem getting 4-5 quarts out using this method.
 
Good idea! Someone on a Nissan forum, who was a Nissan tech, said they use an extractor at the dealership on the ones without a drain plug. I still have 11k on my powertrain warranty, and I certainly don't want to do anything to void it.
Thank you!
 
Well, I got it done tonight!
I got a marine oil extractor off ebay for $40.
http://www.attwoodmarine.com/store/product/high-speed-oil-change-pump
It worked great! I drove a little to warm up the fluid and inserted the suction tube down the dipstick tube. Pumped up the plunger until the oil was flowing rapidly. Only took a few minutes and it had extracted 4 quarts of CVT fluid, then started sucking air. I was told by a Nissan tech friend they normally drain about 4 quarts from the pan, so I feel pretty good about getting most all the fluid out of the pan with the extractor. I refilled with 4 quarts of Genuine Nissan NS-2 CVT fluid.
The fluid that came out was darker than the new stuff, but did not look awfully bad. It shifted well before, and I don't feel any difference.
My plan for now is to do this every 15-20k to keep the fluid fresh.
 
That's great to hear. Just be sure to check the fluid level after the vehicle is warmed up (158F is ideal). There has been a lot of issues with overfilling on these transmissions, and they can cause the unit to go into failsafe mode.
 
Digging up an oldie here, but it's all I can find associated with ~2011+ Nissan Quest CVT dain/fills.

From what I've read, the Quest uses the same basic drivetrain as the Murrano and Pathfinder. Does anyone know how much CVT fluid drains out from the drain plug on these later model ~2014+ vehicles? My 2016 Quest CVT has a drain plug on the pan and a dipstick to refill from. At 32K miles (just bought the van), I'd like to do an NS-3 drain/fill on it. I'm assuming I need ~4qts?
 
In preparation for a CVT fluid change on my 2016 Quest, I read up on how to defeat the stupid 'dealer only' cap on the CVT fill tube. MAN did I have a hard time getting that stupid locking cap off. I used a tiny flat-head screwdriver for the locking tab. Problem was, it STILL would only wiggle a little. There's not a lot of access to this area on the Quest either, making it a joy. I wound up chewing up my hands a bit and broke one of my ultra-high quality Harbor Freight Tools picks, but I eventually got the fill tube cap off. The O-ring seal on the cap was sticking to the inside of the tube, which I believe was the problem all along. I lubed that sucker with some Sil-Glyde, now it pops on/off like butter. Now to mail-order some Nissan CVT NS-3. I'm guessing I need anywhere from 3-5qts. Plan to order 5-6qts.
 
My 11 took 4, but I would have 5 on hand just in case.

As a side note, I did end up finding a drain plug on my 11, it was not where I was expecting and farther to the rear. There were cooling fins in front of it, so I never saw it until I put the van up on ramps to do the last oil change.
I feel foolish now for not noticing it but at least I know where it is for next time!
 
Valvoline and Castrol are just as good for much less money
smile.gif
 
Maybe not... If Castrol and Valvoline state their CVT fluid meets BOTH NS-2 and NS-3 then it is not a good deal. Nissan STRICTLY states to only use NS-2 in a CVT with NS-2 in it from the factory. And NS-3 in a CVT that came from the factory with NS-3. Why?? It is not like motor oil where the first generation Dexos is superceded by 2nd generation Dexos. It is not that way.
So if Castrol it Valvoline claim to meet both NS-2 and NS-3 it would be a poor idea to go that route.
 
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Originally Posted By: bbhero
Maybe not... If Castrol and Valvoline state their CVT fluid meets BOTH NS-2 and NS-3 then it is not a good deal. Nissan STRICTLY states to only use NS-2 in a CVT with NS-2 in it from the factory. And NS-3 in a CVT that came from the factory with NS-3. Why?? It is not like motor oil where the first generation Dexos is superceded by 2nd generation Dexos. It is not that way.
So if Castrol it Valvoline claim to meet both NS-2 and NS-3 it would be a poor idea to go that route.


NS-3 is indeed backwards-compatible with NS-2
smile.gif
 
Originally Posted By: slacktide_bitog
Originally Posted By: bbhero
Maybe not... If Castrol and Valvoline state their CVT fluid meets BOTH NS-2 and NS-3 then it is not a good deal. Nissan STRICTLY states to only use NS-2 in a CVT with NS-2 in it from the factory. And NS-3 in a CVT that came from the factory with NS-3. Why?? It is not like motor oil where the first generation Dexos is superceded by 2nd generation Dexos. It is not that way.
So if Castrol it Valvoline claim to meet both NS-2 and NS-3 it would be a poor idea to go that route.


NS-3 is indeed backwards-compatible with NS-2
smile.gif





NS-3 is absolutely NOT backwards compatible with NS-2. Nissan service info clearly states to not use Ns-3 in the older CVTs. This is not a situation where the newer spec replaces the older one.
 
No it is not slacktide. Period end of story. It is not. Normally like 98% of the time you are right in what you say on here. In this one you are wrong. Rare case in this instance
smile.gif


Thank you The Critic.
 
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Apparently NS-2 is dyed green and NS-3 is blue. I'm sure if any other color fluid came out of a unit that had issues, you'd have some explaining to do. From some of the reading I've done on the innerwebs- you know how valuable that can be, NS-3 being used in an older NS-2 application won't destroy the unit, but it should be replaced with NS-2 >> Here

Anyone know what color Valvoline or Castrol NS-2/NS-3 fluid is? I'm all for using alternative products where possible, but given I've got a warranty until ~110K miles on my 2016 Quest, I'll stick with the Nissan NS-3 sauce for now.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: JTK
Anyone know what color Valvoline or Castrol NS-2/NS-3 fluid is? I'm all for using alternative products where possible, but given I've got a warranty until ~110K miles on my 2016 Quest, I'll stick with the Nissan NS-3 sauce for now.


Valvoline is green, and Castrol is red
 
Originally Posted By: slacktide_bitog
Originally Posted By: JTK
Anyone know what color Valvoline or Castrol NS-2/NS-3 fluid is? I'm all for using alternative products where possible, but given I've got a warranty until ~110K miles on my 2016 Quest, I'll stick with the Nissan NS-3 sauce for now.


Valvoline is green, and Castrol is red


IMO, that would be a huge issue. You can guarantee the first thing a Nissan shop would look for is a CVT fluid that's not blue.
 
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