How's your CVT holding up?

Subaru states to inspect. If ours (Subaru) is a sealed system how would you inspect it? I'm assuming Toyotas are different?
Our Subaru has an extended goodwill warranty from SoA due to reported CVT issues. Dealer wont touch it, they just check for leaks and codes. There is no fluid change requirement until well over 100K miles IIRC in the O.M.

I think since there had been a spate of NISSAN pusher-belt CVT failures, folks started doing partial drain and fills and there were with either Valvoline CVT or Castrol with (almost ) no failures reported. In fact, the only failure I've read about is from walterjay above in this thread. If the fluid is overfilled there can be foaming issues. This trans fluid goes from off the bottom of the dipstick to above the FULL HOT mark after a long commute. Thats why they are supposed to D&F at a specific temperature. My dealer overfilled mine. Pull the DS out and there are bubble all over the DS. Brought it back and they said " better over than under". Dopes. The consumer can do a d&f on their non leaking unit buy doing the drain and fill at ambient - the trans proper and the fluid normalized to ambient temp. Just measure what you drained and replace with same amount. Many shade tree have reported excellent service doing just that. and Using "Cheap Valvoline or Castrol fluid. Just a s good as the overpriced dealer stuff that is OE in the FAILING transmissions.
-Ken
 
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Honda Accord 2014, did first drain/fill with 3.7 quarts with Honda CVT Fluid at just over 50,000 miles. Fluid looked surprisingly like the new fluid. At about 59,000 miles the "CVT Fluid change" Maintenance Minder code lit up...so, perhaps I changed it too early. Did another drain/fill at 86,000 miles before my daughter starts an 80 mile round-trip to college. Used fluid looked fine. I will probably just wait and do this every 50,000 miles as long as she keeps this car. Interesting to note, we BOTH thought we felt the transmission making small "hunting" adjustments immediately after the drain/refill...IF what we felt was real, perhaps there was some difference in friction with the new fluid, which the car needed to "learn" and adjust to. Then again, it could have just been our imaginations...
 
I agree that the stouter Jatco CVT's, used in V6 applications, fare better than the lighter units. our two series 7 units have been nothing but problematic. I recommend fluid change every 20k; otherwise ours begin squeeling. with fluid degradation rates that high, I believe that they need more cooling. We ditched our 2015 Rogue due to the CVT. Loved the Rogue - except for the CVT. In our experience, the Jatco 7's are absolutely worse than any other transmission. 5 repairs in 3 years; frequent squeeling, even with 20k fluid changes. garbage.
 
My 2014 Nissan Maxima has almost 200k miles now, and I always change the CVT fluid every 30k miles, and it's running very smooth like new. I plan to see how long this CVT tran will last since people keep saying bad things to CVT trannys.

First 60k miles, I did with Nissan NS-2, then I switched to Aisin NS-2 until now because of Nissan's warranty until 60k miles only. Aisin NS-2 on eBay goes for only $8 or $9 per quart.
 
2017 Nissan Altima 2.5 SV, bought it at auction, wrecked and repaired from Enterprise as a former rental. It had 10K on the clock when I got it, and other than the repair it was like brand new (it had been rear ended badly but not salvaged). Only paid $11K for this 6 month old car. Hell of a deal.

Was planning on reselling it BECAUSE of the CVT, but fell in love with the comfort, economy. Installed a ScanGauge 2 on top of steering column (see photo) have is set for Water Temp, Intake Temp (under the hood temp) Trans Temp and Throttle Position / load. Car now has 60K on it, owned it 31 months, changed CVT fluid twice, at 26K and 48K. At 60K it runs great (as great as a CVT can) sometimes it does weird things after long drives, but nothing alarming. (brief and slight shutters, minimal fleeting lugging as the tranny sorts itself out after a long freeway cruise, but its nearly imperceptible)

I've observed the CVT does run very hot. Temperature seems to have nothing to do with ambient temp either, driven it in icy weather, and across burning deserts. Heats up quickly on grades. Heats up quickly at speeds above 70. The CVT has HEATER (not a cooler) so the engine does warm the fluid. If the temp gets too high, back off the speed to 60-65 and it cools right down, even in 100 degree weather, with 3 passengers, on a grade. Highest CVT temp I ever recorded was 235. (climbing a 12 mile grade in the hot desert, in 98 degree weather with 3 people / luggage on board) CVT temp typically runs around 180, heating up very slowly to 215 on freeway at speeds 60-65 (by slowly I mean it can take half an hour to climb over 215). 70+MPH it gets to around 220. Takes steep grades at 65, CVT quickly gets around 215 degrees, take the same grade at 85MPH and you'll heat it up well past 225 fast. I LOVE my Scangauge, and I think its a great addition to a CVT vehicle, because you can quickly see if the tranny is getting into trouble. The factory water temp gauge is useless. I'm hoping by monitoring temp in real time, I can prolong its life by adjusting speed when the temp rises too high, but overall I think the CVT is great for a fuel economy and regular driving, not so good if you want "fun" driving though, but for that, I have my BMW 3 series convertible! (with a GM made transmission LOL)
 

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2017 Honda accord sport, did a 3x drain and refill at 30K with amsoil cvt fluid, no issues with a little over 12K miles on the fluid so far. 43,252 miles on car. WIll do a d/f every 30-40K here on out with amsoil
2015 Nissan Altima with just over 59K miles. at 48,800 miles did 3x drain and fill with Castrol transmax cvt fluid. all is well. will probably do a d/f around the 80-90K mile mark if she hasn't traded it in for a Tacoma by then.
 
2 Subarus 18.5K and 17K miles. Fine so far. I think the days of unreliability of the CVT's are over or never occurred.
 
My latest cvt issues. My 2012 Versa went in for a couple of drain and fills at 74k. Had a slippage/hesitation at acceleration which the d/f seems to have cured. My 2013 Sentra starting to get wonky with identical symptom, it’s got 58k. Going in Thursday for d/f. I really hope it takes the cure. If so I’m gonna get more aggressive with intervals on both cars. We’ll see.
 
We have a 2015 Pathfinder with 57k and no CVT issues. I will be servicing it soon via the drain and fill method using Nissan NS3 fluid. The Pathfinders had some troublesome CVT issues from 2013-2015, but sometime in 2015 they changed the size of the hydraulic lines and the failure rate has gone down. Ours is a late 2015 and we bought it in 2016 with under 10k miles.
 
45k on my 2017 Pathfinder. I generally drive it hard. Changed fluid at 40k, plan on it again soon. I'm not a fan of the herky-jerky-jolt when you hit the gas or let off at low speeds, but it's smooth overall and I ended up liking it a lot
 
No problems with ours. A co-worker with 2012 Legacy CVT recently had a TC lockup control solenoid issue and had the solenoid replaced for $~500. Before you just had to buy whole new valve body from subaru but Mister Transmission here seems to have a source of replacement solenoids. If he has an issue again I'll add it to this thread.
Here's an article explaining the problem and the fix.
 
No problems with ours. A co-worker with 2012 Legacy CVT recently had a TC lockup control solenoid issue and had the solenoid replaced for $~500. Before you just had to buy whole new valve body from subaru but Mister Transmission here seems to have a source of replacement solenoids. If he has an issue again I'll add it to this thread.
Here's an article explaining the problem and the fix.

I saw a south main auto video a month or so ago where Eric O from SMA replaced some portion or maybe it was the whole valve body on a later model Subaru. I want to say it was a 2016 with higher miles. The access cover for the valve body/solenoids is on top of the engine bay. Access wasn't bad, but getting the cover off didn't look fun.
 
I saw a south main auto video a month or so ago where Eric O from SMA replaced some portion or maybe it was the whole valve body on a later model Subaru. I want to say it was a 2016 with higher miles. The access cover for the valve body/solenoids is on top of the engine bay. Access wasn't bad, but getting the cover off didn't look fun.
I saw that one too, he did replace the whole valve body with a new one from subaru, which if you don't have a supplier of known quality solenoids is a good idea to keep from potentially redoing the job in a few months or the next day! It is interesting that they mention in the article that there are more of the same solenoid in the valve body, but it seems only the TC lockup one fails? I don't even think its all that busy but as once you are up to some speed the TC locks and I don't think unlocks until you nearly stop.
 
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Those whom I know with Nissan CVTs have close to, or over 200K miles without doing a single fluid change before the tranny fails. They also drive easily. So, I figure if I change the fluid out on a regular basis and drive like a human being instead of like I stole the car, I should do OK. Same for the Civic.

This can't be. On BITOG CVTs have poor reliability and often break down as soon as they leave the showroom.
 
Well, the Sentra is back from 2 drain and fills and and it’s better by far. Hesitation/hunting is gone. Smooth acceleration. Aggressive fluid change intervals are the way to go. I’m convinced.
Well, the Sentra took a dump on the way home the other night. Surging, hunting, loss of low gear and reverse. Flat bedded it to a local Nissan dealer this morning. Just gave them the ok for a $145 diagnostic. Waiting for the dreaded results. Will keep you all posted.
 
Not that we have lots of mile piled up on the two CVTs(Altima-63K & Civic-45k) in my signature but, they're holding up very well. With fluid changes on time(between 30K-50K) and will continue to do so during our ownership, I hope we have decent success with them.

I have had tranny issues in the past with shiftable trannies even when they were well maintained so again, I certainly hope for good success. I do like the feel of a CVT as I feel that they do just fine in the everydayness of life and normal driving.
The only thing that concerns me about the CVT is their reputation and that's all. Otherwise, they're just fine.

How'bout yours?
1 more year to go. Maybe I’ll find a vehicle that has a traditional automatic
 
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