Transmax CVT acceptable for a '07 Sentra?

[michaelluscher]

That is a good price

How does the car drive now?

Since the old fluid was amber, you made the right choice with Valvoline

The transmission itself seems about right
I don't have much wheel time with this era Nissan
It goes, it's got a flat spotted tire/CV joint shake, but the transmission itself varies as it should, it'll do 80

Rest of the car, a WIP
I also just found the engine block to body ground is completely severed, which could be causing some weird problems, not too sure

https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/threads/what-are-you-working-on-today.331303/post-6889901

 

[TomYoung]

Generalized grammatical rant of the day:
“orientated” is not a word. Period.

Acceptable uses/spellings: orient, orients, oriented, orientation, orientations, orientor.

Thank you.

I don’t like it, but it is absolutely part of the language and the common British variant. Two really good grammar rants are the widespread use of the adjective “everyday” in place of the two words “every day.” That’s a bit of a tangent, but the answer to this thread is to use OEM fluid.

 

[TomYoung]

I don’t like it, but it is absolutely part of the language and the common British variant. Two really good grammar rants are the widespread use of the adjective “everyday” in place of the two words “every day.” That’s a bit of a tangent, but the answer to this thread is to use OEM fluid.

The other rant was on the fake word “alot,” meaning “a lot.”

 

[slacktide_bitog]

The transmission itself seems about right
I don't have much wheel time with this era Nissan
It goes, it's got a flat spotted tire/CV joint shake, but the transmission itself varies as it should, it'll do 80

Rest of the car, a WIP
I also just found the engine block to body ground is completely severed, which could be causing some weird problems, not too sure

https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/threads/what-are-you-working-on-today.331303/post-6889901

Wow a CVT Nissan where the CVT is the least problematic part of the car

 

[michaelluscher]

Just for reference when it returns next week for other work and I recheck the fluid level

The dipstick is confusing me, two notches and a hatched area above
The hatched area above is what I want to be in the middle of at 122°-176° F
I added since this picture, but I just want to be sure
I'm told overfilling these units is not good for them

Are the notches cold, hatched area hot?
Like I remember older Nissan ATs being?

 

[bbhero]

Just for reference when it returns next week for other work and I recheck the fluid level

The dipstick is confusing me, two notches and a hatched area above
The hatched area above is what I want to be in the middle of at 122°-176° F
I added since this picture, but I just want to be sure
I'm told overfilling these units is not good for them

Are the notches cold, hatched area hot?
Like I remember older Nissan ATs being?
View attachment 220127

Two notches equals cold….
And cross hatch area hot…

Typically when I checked my Nissan Altima VQ with its CVT I did it right after running… And it was hot and near the top of the cross hatch area.

 

[GR_CoB]

Hood or bonnet?
THAT is the question...

I always liked that generation of Sentra. The SE-R model (6-speed manual is the way) always looks to me like it's in a pitbull stance.

I also had a 2005 Altima 2.5L (175hp) old school automatic, and it beat the V6 2.7L (190hp) and 3.5L (250hp) Chargers of same era, all the way up to its 114MPH speed limiter. Then the Chargers took lead... It was fun in Mexico.

 

[michaelluscher]

It came back for other work today
I got it up to 180°, added a few oz to get it into the hatched markings

Apparently these are sensitive to overheating by overfilling?
It's in the hatched area at the hotter end of the temp check range
It should be fine
As fine as an '07 Sentra can be

 

[Triplicate]

I have done CVT fluid changes for years on a MR20E Sentra (sold to a new owner who uses it as her daily driver, great and reliable car for 13 years of ownership) and a QR25E Rogue with 156k miles, my daily driver, no mechanical problems in the past decade.

CVT oil changes are easy with Nissans of this era as they still have a dipstick/charging tube. The fluid is cheap and about as easy to change as the engine oil. The internet vitriol against the JATCO transmission failures is overblown. This is like the Porsche IMS bearing issue, just for poor people (lol).

A CVT failure rate of 6% during the warranty period leads me to believe that 94% of the Nissans with this transmission, and 100% of the 06-14 or so Nissans left on the road, are rugged, reliable, and cheap to own. Also the MR20 engine series itself is great. It's a Renault design. Unexciting but as reliable as any similar engine of the era, including offerings from any other major manufacturer. You do need to remove the plastic intake manifold to change the spark plugs, pay someone to do that, you only need to do it once every 100k miles. Other than that it's rock solid. The evap solenoid failed on mine, easy fix.

When I sold my Sentra it still had the original brake light bulbs, original alternator, water pump, AC compressor, starter, etc. Car was a tank.

 

[Nessism1]

Well, I got 5qts of Valvoline CVT for $49 locally
I used that, felt better about it
It's a 2007 with 83,000 miles on it
What does this figure mean?
The old fluid was a pale ish amber
I'm assuming it's factory
View attachment 219972
I cleared it after the fluid change


4.5ish qts came out
I put 4.5ish qts back in
I'll recheck the level when it returns next week

The CVTF deterioration date relates to how many times the trans fluid exceeded 90C. Nissan recommends "inspecting" the fluid, and changing at 210,000. Some car owners manuals recommend changing at 60k, and others, Inspect only.

As mentioned in a different thread about transmission fluid, I changed the trans oil on my old 2006 Nissan Sentra (FO4 trans, not CVT), used Maxlife ATF that supposedly met the Nissan spec, however the transmission never shifted correctly again. I'm glad to hear that the Jatco CVT's are not so picky, but with my auto transmissions, regardless of type, only OEM fluid is used. Once bitten, twice shy...

 

[Revving2Redline]

True…

Eneos Eco CVT fluid wa green and quieted down my Nissan Altima VQ with a CVt quite a lot… Even my wife noticed how much quieter it was.

I didn’t change my CVT fluid until after 285,500 miles. It made it to 365,500 miles before it went out.

Did you throw away the car or take it to get a complete overhaul and new parts.

 

[DadTim@No1]

Trying to figure out why all my CVT Valvoline changes since 2016 ( last one a month ago ) have been basically a light green color ? I'd have to call the company before I'd put in an amber color from Valvoline....