Can CVT's last over 200k with no problem?

[tangojetta]

I have Ford Freestyle that have 206,000 miles on the CVT. I have just change fluids on the CVT and nothing else.

 

[Anthony]

Originally Posted By: dlayman
Originally Posted By: Anthony
Not at 200k, but my moms Altima CVT is showing no sings of weakness at all with 131k.

Since we are comparing Traditional Autos, my dads 01 Supercharged Frontier has 261k on the original Auto trans. The pan has never been dropped. Just frequent drain, and fills with conventional Dex 3.
It's operating like new as far as I can tell.

That is the standard I'm hoping to get out of the Altima. It gets CVT Drain, and fills every 25k-30k with Nissan CVT fluid.


How much does the CVT drain and fill cost? That's pretty frequent servicing, could add up to a good bit of money over 200k miles.


It needs about 5.5 quarts. Fluid is $20 per quart. Not cheap, but not too much form something that gets done about every 2 years. The car hasn't needed anything else other than a routine Belt, plugs, oil changes etc so I'm ok with it.

I was skeptical about the buying this car because of the CVT, but so far it's been a good one.

 

[dlayman]

Nissan seems to be doing better with their CVT's as of late. With those fluid changes, it would add up to over $1000 over 200k miles. Probably twice that much if you didn't do it yourself. Still, a lot cheaper than replacing the CVT. I think I'd have Nissan check the fluid with their sensor and change it when its maybe 60% used up, but I can understand the conservative interval you use.

 

[Anthony]

Nissan CVT's are reliable. Yes the Murano's had a few failures in the early 03-04 models when they were first used by Nissan in the states.

Like with everything it's overblown on the Internet.
Nissan sells over 300,000 CVT Altimas a year. Throw in the other 5 or so Nissan Vehicles that have CVT's, and you will definitely have some bad apples out of the large number of vehicles out there.