That really makes no sense. You can’t just pour in a bottle of something and improve the characteristics of a fluid like you’re mentioning. That kind of performance comes from many of the components in the fluid. If you could then that is how Amsoil would formulate their fluid, right? Formulate an inferior fluid and then just fix it all up with a bottle of Justice Juice.
Justice Brothers CVT Conditioner
- Thread starter Jimmy9190
- Start date
What is the cost of Nissan CVT service?
MolaKule
Staff member
What do you mean by "thin" fluid? CVT fluids hover around 7.0cSt@100C. I know, I formulate many fluids, including ATF's.
I would invite this Master Technician to BITOG to tell me what is needed to "IMPROVE" the composition of the fluid and what is in the aftermarket fluid that supposedly 'improves' the CVT fluid.
I would posit that the new fluid improved the driveability, not the additive the dealer upcharged you for.
Next time you go to the dealer for an ATF replacement or other service, hand the dealer a printed sheet that states what will be done and that no aftermarket additives will be added. Have them 'staple' that paper to the Service Order and check the service order after service to see what items were replaced, etc. This then becomes a legally binding contract.
Here's the deal, anything they add that was not requested by you should be free, gratis, no charge, zip; but no aftermarket additives should be added to any fluid, period.
MolaKule
Staff member
Have the dealer show you a Nissan bulletin or TSB that shows this fluid is approved by Nissan.
I have two Nissans (2012 and 2015) and have not seen any such documentation.
I use that now, Every 10k miles I draw 2 quarts and replace. When we first got the car the Cvt got hot in the mountains and started whining. Used the lubegard additive and went away. Soon after I started using the Lubegard Cvt fluid that has the additive in it. 70k plus miles later still no problems. (got 110k on it now)Lubegard also makes a complete CVT fluid, if you're interested
Yeah but its synblend, not meaning anything by that but i think better options might be availableLubegard also makes a complete CVT fluid, if you're interested
When I had the 2015 Civic, pushed the factory cvt transmission to 382500 on castrol cvt fluid with bg cvt 303 additive.
2017 Accord Sport living on Redline Non Slip CVT Fluid and six ounces of Hotshots Shift Restore as a precaution that these bc5a units might seep or leak.
Intervals on both never exceeded 15k mile service.
2017 Accord Sport living on Redline Non Slip CVT Fluid and six ounces of Hotshots Shift Restore as a precaution that these bc5a units might seep or leak.
Intervals on both never exceeded 15k mile service.
Once upon a time I was a lover of every additive that was put on a shelf. Now days I am very skeptical of these things. Personally if it were me I would take it back and insist on a drain and fill with the correct unadulterated fluid. Just remember additives don't need to meet any API or manufacture specs.
As Lake Speed Jr said, you are playing Russian Roulette when you use these products.
As Lake Speed Jr said, you are playing Russian Roulette when you use these products.
Thanks everyone for your advice and information here. I agree, the CVT additives are not good and really should not be used. I read a lot of other threads online that said the same thing. I really did not want to go back to the Nissan dealer and try to get them to drain and fill my cvt again so I found a very good how-to on a Nissan site. Today I did my own drain and fill here at home. First I drove around in some stop and go traffic, stopped at Autozone, picked up a gallon jug of Valvoline CVT fluid and a transmission funnel with a long spout on it. When I got home I jacked the car up level on 4 jackstands, even used my bubble level to be sure it was as straight as possible. Then I removed the CVT fluid overflow bolt and let it drain for a good 20 minutes, when it did finally slow to a bare trickle of fluid I put the bolt back in. The CVT was overfilled by not quite half a quart. I think that is because of the added amount of fluid from the Justice Brothers additive.
Then I cycled the gears through reverse, neutral, drive and back to park, holding it in each gear for about 10 seconds. After that I drained the cvt fluid from the pan, measured what came out, it was just over 3 quarts, I put the pan drain plug back in, torqued it to 25 ft-lbs like the Nissan manual says and used a new crush washer on it. Then I removed the overflow plug again, just a squirt of fluid drained out. I put the plug back in and added back about half an ounce of new fluid.
The test drive went very well, the CVT is running even smoother now with the Valvoline fluid than it did with the Nissan NS3. It's real quiet too. The only thing I found odd, other than being overfilled was that the "new" Nissan fluid was already black, with only about 60 miles on it. I don't know if CVT fluid is supposed to do that. I do know that new Nissan NS3 is blue but I have no idea how long it stays blue. I will do this same drain and fill again after I put another 500 miles on the car. I also bought a transmission dipstick from Amazon, a guy on Youtube showed how you can use the same dipstick for a Nissan Altima in a Rogue, but I will check the fluid cold and hot tomorrow and calibrate it myself on the stick to be sure it shows the right level. The dipstick is just to check the fluid level though, Nissan says not to drive with it in place, it goes too far into the transmission or some other problem.
I read on a couple of Nissan sites the Valvoline fluid does real well in the newer Nissan CVT's. It cost a lot less too. I am calling this done for now, until my next drain and fill, hopefully that will get the remainders of the Justice Juice out of my transmission. This was a lesson learned for me. I paid a lot for the "CVT flush" at Nissan and have now found out they really didn't do anything that I cannot do for myself. I won't make that mistake again.
Here are pictures of the fluid that came out of the overflow and the pan. I am not sure it should be that dark, unless the Justice Juice did some cleaning.
Then I cycled the gears through reverse, neutral, drive and back to park, holding it in each gear for about 10 seconds. After that I drained the cvt fluid from the pan, measured what came out, it was just over 3 quarts, I put the pan drain plug back in, torqued it to 25 ft-lbs like the Nissan manual says and used a new crush washer on it. Then I removed the overflow plug again, just a squirt of fluid drained out. I put the plug back in and added back about half an ounce of new fluid.
The test drive went very well, the CVT is running even smoother now with the Valvoline fluid than it did with the Nissan NS3. It's real quiet too. The only thing I found odd, other than being overfilled was that the "new" Nissan fluid was already black, with only about 60 miles on it. I don't know if CVT fluid is supposed to do that. I do know that new Nissan NS3 is blue but I have no idea how long it stays blue. I will do this same drain and fill again after I put another 500 miles on the car. I also bought a transmission dipstick from Amazon, a guy on Youtube showed how you can use the same dipstick for a Nissan Altima in a Rogue, but I will check the fluid cold and hot tomorrow and calibrate it myself on the stick to be sure it shows the right level. The dipstick is just to check the fluid level though, Nissan says not to drive with it in place, it goes too far into the transmission or some other problem.
I read on a couple of Nissan sites the Valvoline fluid does real well in the newer Nissan CVT's. It cost a lot less too. I am calling this done for now, until my next drain and fill, hopefully that will get the remainders of the Justice Juice out of my transmission. This was a lesson learned for me. I paid a lot for the "CVT flush" at Nissan and have now found out they really didn't do anything that I cannot do for myself. I won't make that mistake again.
Here are pictures of the fluid that came out of the overflow and the pan. I am not sure it should be that dark, unless the Justice Juice did some cleaning.
Also, I don't think it really matters here but sometimes these graduated buckets are just suggestions.
I recently drained a 4R75 and the bucket (HDX from HD) read just a hair over 4 qts -- call it a weak 4.1 qts
I then transferred this to a graduated, empty motor oil jug (ie with the translucent strip to view fluid level) and it read more like 3.6 qts. Almost exactly 1/2 qt difference.
Which is more accurate ‐‐ the bucket or jug? I have no idea. And for most applications 1/2 qt is not a big deal, but it's good to remember these are not gospel.
I recently drained a 4R75 and the bucket (HDX from HD) read just a hair over 4 qts -- call it a weak 4.1 qts
I then transferred this to a graduated, empty motor oil jug (ie with the translucent strip to view fluid level) and it read more like 3.6 qts. Almost exactly 1/2 qt difference.
Which is more accurate ‐‐ the bucket or jug? I have no idea. And for most applications 1/2 qt is not a big deal, but it's good to remember these are not gospel.
MolaKule
Staff member
I got these 5L measuring pitchers to use when doing one-person cooler line flushes and the like. They should come in handy when I do the sealed UA80E in the Highlander.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08HNFF92S/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1
The graduations are relative; as long as you use the same container to drain/measure/refill it should be close enough.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08HNFF92S/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1
The graduations are relative; as long as you use the same container to drain/measure/refill it should be close enough.
Thanks so much for the update. Now that you are familiar I would urge you to consider dropping the pan for the next (or third) fluid change. Cleaning the pan & magnet is very important and it will also give you a chance to see the condition of the inlet screen/filter.
Dropping the pan will also increase the old fluid you get out especially if you remove/loosen the filter and again if you loosen the valve body.
A friend of mine had a 2015 Rogue with really bad shudder from the CVT, was around 160;000 miles and the CVT was never serviced. He was ready to trade it (vehicle was otherwise in great condition). I convinced him to try a drain and fill with Valvoline CVT fluid. I would not have believed the difference had I not witnessed it myself. After a few miles the shudder was gone. We did another drain and fill 500 miles later and it’s still going strong.
They (Jatco/Nissan) must have made some significant improvements from 2011 to 2015. IME I'd expect the CVT to be worn out around 100k miles without service.
How long has it been since the fluid change?
Thanks, I will look at this when I do the next drain and fill in about another 450 miles. I believe there are Youtube videos on the pan drop. And I know the Nissan forum has some threads about it, but not many people there recommend replacing the filter. There is one filter at the front of the transmission, and one of the bolts for it is very hard to R&R. Nissan itself does not recommend ever replacing the filter. There is a screen in the CVT that can be accessed with the pan removed but you don't really replace it, all that is done on it is to blow it clean with an air compressor or just clean it with WD40 or some other solvent.
About 20 months and 15,000 miles or so.
SammyChevelleTypeS3
$50 site donor 2023
Exactly. We all can bet money there are zero Manufacturer manuals that come with vehicles from the factory that state any place for the owner to use any types of additives. I have never seen this in any manual in all my years driving. Driving since the early 70s and I am a read-a-holic who has read all of our vehicle manuals over and over / cover to cover. Not to take away anything from Justice Brothers who make excellent products. Simple as you state thought. Not needed.
The fluid has to be at a specific temperature before removing the checkbolt. Your CVT is likely underfilled now.
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