Originally Posted By: bbhero
Well the CVT has a way to measure when this fluid needs to be changed by a deterioration number of 210,000 in the cars computer system. I've seen people with 60k miles and their deterioration number was less than 58k. There's no requirement for mandatory fluid changes. The Nissan Consult scan tool can get this reading from cars onboard computer. That's what it means by "inspection" in the maintainance guide.
My car has 130k miles with the fluid not being changed in it yet. It runs great. I do plan on pulling out 3 quarts of fluid later this yr and adding new fluid to it. And repeating this process the next 2 yrs.
If one doesn't change the fluid early on and decides to with higher miles then it is not wise to dump all brand new fluid into a CVT. This is due to a great change in the friction coefficient being changed so greatly that it would cause the transmission not work properly. Particulate matter in old fluid creates "grip" for a transmission and increases friction coefficient. Eliminating this all at once with brand new fluid will lower coefficient to point that it causes a slipping issue.
The 2.5s with the CVTs seem to have FAR more trouble than the 3.5s. From what I've read on the Nissan and Infiniti site this seems to be an odd deal. I'm hypothesizing that the 3.5vq motor just mates up better with the CVT and keeps in a better operating zone than the 2.5s.
I prefer to over maintain the CVT. I'd change the fluid every 30k or 3 years. On the B16 Sentra, it's very easy, just undo the bottom drain bolt, and pour the same amount that came out. Easier than most oil changes, only draw-back is getting fluid, since it's dealer only.
I changed the fluid out on my friend's Sentra, and the whine sound it had before, went away.