Nissan CVT torture offroad test.

[GR_CoB]

With how often we discuss the Nissan CVT here, y'all just absolutely have to see this video.
Three guys with $10k budget purchased and "built" sketchy used Nissans (Juke and two Muranos) to torture test the Continuously Variable Transmissions. I am definitely here to see all the episodes. In the first one they set Bonneville Landspeed Records!!! Enjoy

Feel free to chime in with your experiences of CVT transmissions being able to handle the things they absolutely shouldn't.

 

[JavierH19]

Cvt's are great if they're properly maintained which only 1% are if not less. With fresh fluid cvt's have very strong traction and will not slip. With neglected fluid they will slip.

 

[buster]

I'd like to see how much of a difference there is in longevity between a CVT with a 1st gear (Toyota) vs all others. Subaru has improved theirs over the years.

 

[charbaby]

I wish that the manufacturers of CVT’s would stop taking these baby steps in improving the transmission’s strength and reliability and just go for the gusto and make them great. They’ve had long enough to get them right as they have most of their engines that can run 250K-300K miles.

OTOH, the e-CVT’s from Toyota seems to be extremely reliable and in Toyota’s case, pushes their own corporate reliability up to the next level. IDK how tough & rugged the e-CVT would be out in the wilderness but in the everydayness of hybrid owners daily commute, they have almost no failures recorded.

Where did I hear this? From just about every reliability report available!
Can we trust this data? ... IDK!

 

[pbm]

Cvt's are great if they're properly maintained which only 1% are if not less. With fresh fluid cvt's have very strong traction and will not slip. With neglected fluid they will slip.

I probably agree with you except that Nissan seems to have far more issues with their CVTs than Honda and Toyota. I doubt the Honda and Toyota owners are doing more maintenance on their CVTs than Nissan owners are.

One of the best cars I've ever owned was a 1992 Sentra SER and I'd buy a new Sentra or Altima in a heartbeat if it weren't for their CVT's poor reliability.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

I probably agree with you except that Nissan seems to have far more issues with their CVTs than Honda and Toyota. I doubt the Honda and Toyota owners are doing more maintenance on their CVTs than Nissan owners are.

One of the best cars I've ever owned was a 1992 Sentra SER and I'd buy a new Sentra or Altima in a heartbeat if it weren't for their CVT's poor reliability.

The Nissan issues seem to be very easily mitigated with fluid changes every 20-30K miles.
However .. $100 in fluid every 20K miles is not cheap.

Wont be able to watch the video until later but curious if they have coolers

 

[JavierH19]

The Nissan issues seem to be very easily mitigated with fluid changes every 20-30K miles.
However .. $100 in fluid every 20K miles is not cheap.

Wont be able to watch the video until later but curious if they have coolers

$100 bucks? That gets you almost 4 fluid changes. The jatco in my mitsubishi takes about 4.5 quarts of castrol transmax atf/cvt from walmart. Easiest transmission i've ever serviced. Easier than my 4 speeds with aftermarket drain bolt pans. The mitsu has the drain bolt right up front so i don't even bother to jack it up anymore and the dipstick tube goes straight down instead of an angle.

 

[JavierH19]

I probably agree with you except that Nissan seems to have far more issues with their CVTs than Honda and Toyota. I doubt the Honda and Toyota owners are doing more maintenance on their CVTs than Nissan owners are.

One of the best cars I've ever owned was a 1992 Sentra SER and I'd buy a new Sentra or Altima in a heartbeat if it weren't for their CVT's poor reliability.

Nissan says the fluid is lifetime and doesn't list a drain interval. Mitsubishi uses the same jatco as nissan but says to change at 30k. And if you do which I don't since I change it even more frequently you won't have issues. The only time you will have issues is when you never change the fluid as seen here. But amazing these cvts can survive torture beyond imagination. I'm amazed he posted an update in page 4. Same with toyota and honda they say to change it around 30-60k.

Thread 'Poor little CVT! Change your fluid!'

May 10, 2025

Daughter’s boyfriend is over and as he pulls into the neighborhood I hear this screech, like someone is killing robot babies off in the distance.

It gets louder and louder and as a car turns onto our street I can hear it in stereo. Like a high pitched turbo sound revving up and down.

Boyfriend pulls up and says “somethings not right, it’s slipping and making weird noises”.

That poor CVT. 2012 Lancer with 2.4 Mivec has 245,000 kms, could be original fluid. Kid bought the car for cheap couple years ago.

I pull the transmission dipstick it has a terrible smell. Like burnt plastic…

I...

• webfors
• Replies: 88
• Forum: ATF, Differential, Trans, Brakes, P/S

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[zzyzzx]

I wish that the manufacturers of CVT’s would stop taking these baby steps in improving the transmission’s strength and reliability and just go for the gusto and make them great.

You really can't make something with an inherit design flaws work great. They need to go back to normal automatic transmissions.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

$100 bucks? That gets you almost 4 fluid changes. The jatco in my mitsubishi takes about 4.5 quarts of castrol transmax atf/cvt from walmart. Easiest transmission i've ever serviced. Easier than my 4 speeds with aftermarket drain bolt pans. The mitsu has the drain bolt right up front so i don't even bother to jack it up anymore and the dipstick tube goes straight down instead of an angle.

I used some of that for the 2nd drain/fill when I ran out of Idemitsu N3. Your Mitsubishi should be the same 2 speed unit as in our 2019 Sentra. I'm just not sure about the universal fluids. In my mind, I don't see why it would matter in a CVT ... but I know stepped automatics can get real weird about universal fluids.

The N3 is really expensive!

Apart from having to remove the airbox, once I broke the fill cap off of our Sentra, it's now one of the easier transmission fluid changes I do. WAY easier than my Grand Marquis.

 

[JavierH19]

I used some of that for the 2nd drain/fill when I ran out of Idemitsu N3. Your Mitsubishi should be the same 2 speed unit as in our 2019 Sentra. I'm just not sure about the universal fluids. In my mind, I don't see why it would matter in a CVT ... but I know stepped automatics can get real weird about universal fluids.

The N3 is really expensive!

Apart from having to remove the airbox, once I broke the fill cap off of our Sentra, it's now one of the easier transmission fluid changes I do. WAY easier than my Grand Marquis.

You've gotta remove the airbox to get at the fill plug? poor design but there's worse still out there. Mine's easy to get at. There's dip sticks on the internet for nissans.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

You've gotta remove the airbox to get at the fill plug? poor design but there's worse still out there. Mine's easy to get at. There's dip sticks on the internet for nissans.

Coolant tank ... whoops. Airbox is next to the cowl. I'd hope I don't have to remove that!
Ours doesn't have a fill plug so I have to fill through the dipstick plug tube.

 

[SC Maintenance]

e-CVT

e-CVT is a planetary gear. Its not even remotely close to a normal steel belt driven CVT. Its only possible with a electric motor - where you can get instant torque at startup.

You can't compare them at all.

 

[JavierH19]

Coolant tank ... whoops. Airbox is next to the cowl. I'd hope I don't have to remove that!
Ours doesn't have a fill plug so I have to fill through the dipstick plug tube.

Nevermind. I thought some nissans had a fill plug instead of a dipstick Good that it has a dipstick tube. I can check for bubbles but no driving issues in mine which I had when I overfilled it by a half quart over top mark.

 

[UNC031]

I have to remove the air box on my Honda Civic 2.0 NA. There is no way I can contort my hand enough to get the fill plug out without removing the air box. If Honda would put a filler tube in the plug hole it would be one of the simplest transmissions I've ever owned to do a fluid change on.

 

[SeaJay]

Cvt's are great if they're properly maintained which only 1% are if not less. With fresh fluid cvt's have very strong traction and will not slip. With neglected fluid they will slip.

You mean properly maintained per BITGOG and other folks that maintain their vehicles to a high standard.

Maintaining Nissan CVT transmisions to their manufacturer directions is a lower standard.

 

[JavierH19]

You mean properly maintained per BITGOG and other folks that maintain their vehicles to a high standard.

Maintaining Nissan CVT transmisions to their manufacturer directions is a lower standard.

The Nissan interval is lifetime. And yeah only 1% if not less of people that have these cars maintain them to a high standard. Some manufacturers say 60k and that's way better than nothing, but some say 30k and that's better still.

 

[zzyzzx]

I have to remove the air box on my Honda Civic 2.0 NA. There is no way I can contort my hand enough to get the fill plug out without removing the air box. If Honda would put a filler tube in the plug hole it would be one of the simplest transmissions I've ever owned to do a fluid change on.

Can you make a filler tube for this?

 

[Nessism1]

I wish that the manufacturers of CVT’s would stop taking these baby steps in improving the transmission’s strength and reliability and just go for the gusto and make them great. They’ve had long enough to get them right as they have most of their engines that can run 250K-300K miles.

OTOH, the e-CVT’s from Toyota seems to be extremely reliable and in Toyota’s case, pushes their own corporate reliability up to the next level. IDK how tough & rugged the e-CVT would be out in the wilderness but in the everydayness of hybrid owners daily commute, they have almost no failures recorded.

Where did I hear this? From just about every reliability report available!
Can we trust this data? ... IDK!

e-CVT is not a belt driven conventional CVT. I don't even know why they call them a CVT

 

[supton]

e-CVT is not a belt driven conventional CVT. I don't even know why they call them a CVT

Engine speed is a variable relative to vehicle speed. The gear ratio is not fixed. If you drove a convention CVT and an e-CVT (that somehow had the engine always running) you'd not know the difference. Ergo, the name isn't that far off, despite completely different theory of operation. Different theory, same end result.

But I do prefer them to be called e-CVT vs CVT since the failure modes are certainly different!