So yet another project fell into my lap today. This began with my sister taking her 2006 Nissan Murano to our local Nissan dealership for service. It ended up getting a new cat, and they also gave her $2200 worth of "suggestions", which included a tranny flush. Heres the part that pissed me off; they told her that her fluid level was "dangerously low" and that was why she kept on smelling a sulfuric odor. I called BS as soon as I heard that, and sure enough, the fluid was filled to recommended levels, and that sulfuric smell was coming from a malfunctioning cat, not from low trans fluid. This is why I hate dealerships, nothing but lying scum who try to scare you into services.

Despite that, the car does have 70k, and a tranny flush should be done. Continuously Variable Transmission fluid is really expensive, best price i could find in NY was $18.70/qt. and the beast takes 10.8 qts! Does anyone know where to get ns-2 CVT trans fluid any cheaper? If anyone has some lying around, I'd certainly buy it off you, even if you don't have 11 quarts of it.

Stupid things like this make me happy that I drive a cavalier.

Unless the shop has a flush machine just for the CVT cars, which I HIGHLY doubt they cant do a flush. I work for nissan and all we do with the cvt's is a drain and fill and the at most take 6 quarts to do MAYBE 7. Even when we replace them they only take 6 quarts to get full. Nice part for CVT owners is that nissan extended the warranty on them to 10/120k. Mainly cause the trans suck lol

I don't happen to have some ns-2 cvt trans fluid laying around anymore...But I do understand what you are going though.

I just sold my Nissan Versa SL with CVT trans 6 weeks ago. This car was more expensive to repair or do maintenance than a Porsche. They quoted me 395$ just to change the plugs and another 400$ for changing the transmission fluid. I just traded the car in for a brand new Forte Koup 2010 with an easy 6 speed trans.

I bought my CVT trans fluid off Ebay I'll try to remember what was the name of the distributor! If I remember correctly I paid under 20$ per qt in canadian funds.

Oh, and the employees at the Nissan dealer here are freaking arrogant pricks. When I called the service manager when my fuel pump and pressure regulator @!#$ on me at 8000 km, the guy responded "who cares just bring the car in" when I called him stuck in the middle of nowhere. lol

Eco, I'm not surprised at all to hear that the dealer wont change out all the fluid, 6-7 quarts of actual fluid does not surprise me. The shop I took it to (I trust the guys with my cav when I get a little over my head) said that they could do it, but they would need to order the fluid from Nissan. I was calling around to auto part stores today trying to find a somewhat better price, best quote I got was $5.99/qt., which would be great, but I dont think the guy was listening to me when I said ns-cvt fluid. Do the nissan CVTs NEED ns-cvt fluid or is it just "recommended"?

MyKoup, I totally hear you about the Nissan dealers being complete pricks. Present company excluded (ecotecpower), but the guys around here really worked my sister over when she came in for service. I understand they need to make money, and they arent making money on warranty-related catalytic converters, but these guys were flat out lying when they told her what needed to be fixed. In addition to the lie about the tranny fluid, I later found out he tried to sell her:

-2 Michelin tires (which would have been fine except for the fact that there are Kumho Solus KR21s on there now. Neglected to tell her what happens when mismatched tires go on a AWD/4WD vehicle). Pure markup incentive.
- $120 full synth oil change, also told her she couldnt switch back to conventional or else she'd ruin her engine
- Cat back exhaust (this is legit, definitely needs exhaust work, it sounds like my bro in laws F150). Didnt see under the car, dont know if cat back is accurate.
- $150 alignment???


Theres more, but you get the idea that im pissed as hell how many lies they filled her up with. Dealerships are the worst, they could care less about the customer. All those guys in the office care about is getting the various awards car manufacturers give out for high sales numbers and their own commissions. I hope one day there will be dealerships that operate on customer satisfaction and return business more than commission and sell sell sell.

heh, sorry about that. Dealerships just make me very ranty.

WOW that place sounds like a COMPLETE rip off!!! As for the CVT fluid yes you have to run the specific fluid thats called for. Its this weird green shi*. Think the price for that is bad. I just had a 07 maxima in my bay and the spark plugs are $35 a PIECE!! .

ecotecpower wrote:WOW that place sounds like a COMPLETE rip off!!! As for the CVT fluid yes you have to run the specific fluid thats called for. Its this weird green shi*. Think the price for that is bad. I just had a 07 maxima in my bay and the spark plugs are $35 a PIECE!! .

just for plugs??? I mean, I used to love driving my friends '94 SE-R but goddamn, its the cost of parts which will make me never want to own a Nissan. Guess its gonna have to come from ebay... Thanks for your input, eco

wt I though parts/costs weren't that bad owning a nissan

markup on michelin tires sucks. youd be damn surprised if you knew the cost. its why they are so expensive. and you really should stick with synthetic once you start usong it. ruin engine? no

and yes i work with part/tire costs all day.

Yeah even the parts guy was dumb founded by the cost of the plugs. All others are just the normal prices

You might want to look into it, but I know a lot of dealers require you to use their brand fluid to hold the warranty. I.E. Nissan fluid, Honda etc... How they'd ever know otherwise i'm not sure, but might want to look into that. A friend ran into that issue with his Mitsu@!#$i.

I wouldn't count on finding it much cheaper than what others have suggested. But just in case, banish any thoughts of using other fluid in that car. CVT fluid contains a specially designed "liquid rubber" that allows the steel belt to have friction against the steel cone-pulleys. It really is rather ingenious. But that dealer sounds like a real STEALERship.

Quote:

It really is rather ingenious.

Maybe. I hated this transmission so much. God. I never broke into the 30 MPG's just because of that trans. I had better gas mileage with an old as sh!t 3 speed Sunbird with knocking engine. So happy I sold the POS. No more Nissan for me I guess.

Not gonna argue with that. Just because it's ingenious doesn't mean I like it. I really do hate driving anything with a CVT transmission. I can't stand anything that doesn't have a normal automatic. Or at least one that really "Shifts".

After reading all this drama here is my take.I am SO glad I still drive my 1987 mazda b2200 cabplus that I bought NEW in march of 87 and have my 1985 cav that runs just fine and sits in my garage awaiting some work I have yet to do on it(new axles which I have).Both are simple get good mpg and best part NO freaking car payment.I however am planning on buying a new car maybe next spring just to do as a daily since 87 was when I last bought a new car,and will be going for a civic,something I actually like that's newer.

I did a little research back when I had a murano concerning the recommended replacement of the fluid in the CVT. A lot of useful information can be gained from nissanmurano.org

There is a diagnostic test that they can do to check the status of the transmission fluid. They do this whenever there is a problem associated with the CVT. Nobody has been able to determine what units the test results are given in, but anything less than 110,000 is considered "good". You can ask them to do this diagnostic and if your fluid comes back in the 50,000 range, I wouldn't have the scheduled maintenance done as it costs somewhere around $200. The "50,000" range is the range most people on the other forums were seeing when having this diagnostic test done.

I had problems with mine at around 98,000 miles and they replaced the transmission even though I'd never had the recommended fluid change. They also said that the problem wasn't due to the fluid as it seemed to be in great shape. It's not as if these vehicles are used to tow heavy trailers so unless you are constantly trying to go as fast from 0 to 75 as you can, then I wouldn't think you are putting any undue stresses on your transmission.

Just my opinion, so take it for what it's worth.