| mrbill65 |
I recently bought a black 03 murano sl awd in may, great car I love it, but I have some fears. I have put over 10k miles in the time I have owned it, it know has 54k miles on it and sometimes it feels like it shudders when starting from a dead stop and once in a while it feels like it shifts gears. is this a warning that the cvt is going to die? if it is I will most likely trade it in before it happens. It was a well maintained vehicle and it still is I hope the cvt is notgoing because I have fallen in love with this car. what is the life exceptancy of the cvt? and who has the most mileage?
Thanks
MrBill65 |
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| njjoe |
MrBill-
Welcome to the forum.
When you say the CVT is shifting gears, what are the conditions? Is the car running at a steady speed on level ground or are you ascending a hill?
-njjoe |
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| mrbill65 |
Once in a while when I jump on it to get on the freeway it has a feel like it shifts gears, I have noticed when it does happen the rpms drop, not quite to cruising rpms, but they drop just like when you shift gears in a standard shift. it shudders on start up from stop lights and when starting up a hill every now and then. the shudder could be road conditions we don't have the best roads here in Ohio.
Thanks
Bill |
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| mrbill65 |
Once in a while when I jump on it to get on the freeway it has a feel like it shifts gears, I have noticed when it does happen the rpms drop, not quite to cruising rpms, but they drop just like when you shift gears in a standard shift. it shudders on start up from stop lights and when starting up a hill every now and then. the shudder could be road conditions we don't have the best roads here in Ohio.
Thanks
Bill |
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| njjoe |
quote:
Originally posted by mrbill65
Once in a while when I jump on it to get on the freeway it has a feel like it shifts gears, I have noticed when it does happen the rpms drop, not quite to cruising rpms, but they drop just like when you shift gears in a standard shift.
Bill-
Don't sweat it. My MO acts the same way. My guess is the CVT's brain determines it no longer needs the low-ratio gearing, and simultaneously reduces the throttle while adjusting the gear ratio. It just feels like a "shift".
The "shuddering", however, could be a sign of trouble. The CVT is covered by the 5 year/60,000 mile Powertrain warranty, so you can always bring it to the dealer and have them check it out.
-njjoe |
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| GripperDon |
What kind of warranty do you have?
Either way it might be worth to $ to get it checked out by a Stealer.
If there is a problem, you can plan appropiately.
Can you buy an extended waranty? If you don't have one I personally would buy one. I would never drive a CVT (belt version) unless it's under warranty. The replacement cost is totlly out of control 9yours) and IMO is just a setup for big Stealer profits.
I sure wish the government would force a free extented warranty on the CVT for all and also on the Transfer case for the AWD. |
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| mrbill65 |
I am taking the murano to dealer tomorrow to have the tranny looked at, while it is there they will be changing the fluid in it. gives it 4000 miles to fail if it is going to. I am also checking on some extended warrantys. Thanks for all your input
Bill |
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| njjoe |
quote:
Originally posted by mrbill65
I am taking the murano to dealer tomorrow to have the tranny looked at, while it is there they will be changing the fluid in it.
Bill-
It may be worth reminding them that the CVT takes NS-2 fluid only. There have been at least two reports of Nissan dealers using conventional tranny fluid in the CVT, with disastrous results.
-njjoe |
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| mrbill65 |
I dropped the car off this morning and expressed my concerns on the transmission and told them to change the fluid in the tranny,
and what do I get? a hard time the guy is telling me that the car will tell you when the fluid needs changed and he is telling me he thinks it is missing, I bit my tounge told him to check the tranny and he agreed that he would test the fluid to see if it needs changed. I do not understand getting a hard time about requesting service early. thanks for letting me vent |
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| GripperDon |
| They can't stand having "The Customer" do anything but bow and scrape and pay. |
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| cmb |
| your sa could be right. i had the same shuddering problem you are talking about in my co car. it was indeed missing. changed spark plugs and it ran like a champ. hate to side with the dealer on this one but he actually could be right. i too, thought it was a tranny issue. |
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| HuskyFan |
quote:
Originally posted by mrbill65
what do I get? a hard time the guy is telling me that the car will tell you when the fluid needs changed and he is telling me he thinks it is missing.
Interesting that some blame the dealer for everything and think they overcharge, and you are complaining that the dealer is trying to save you some money by suggesting the CVT fluid change service is not necesary at this time. |
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| mrbill65 |
my complaint is that I asked for the transmission fluid to be changed so I didn't have to be down again for a day in two months.
by that time I will be over the 60 k mark. My regular mechanic will do the rest of the 60 k service in half the time and half the cash. Besides that gives tranny 5k miles to take a dump after the fluid change. I am thinking about getting rid of the mo and getting my wife a jeep liberty and then I would take her pilot. We have never had a jeep we didn't like. but that would be a step backwards in comfort but it would be a vehicle I wouldn't hesitate to take off road unlike the mo or pilot |
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| GripperDon |
| Wonder why they don't just do what you ask for since you are paying? |
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| mrbill65 |
| It looks like we maybe getting rid of the murano and getting a Nissan frontier 4X4crew cab. I love the murano but don't like the history of the CVT transmission in the 03s. So we have decide to dump it before any thing happens we have 3k miles left on warranty and do not want buy an extended warranty. When we do get rid of her it will be the first time I have ever got rid of a car with less then 100kmiles on it.Just doesn't't seem right. We should have bought the 05 or 06 then I would not have the fear of the CVT dieing. I will let you know. The worst part is I have never seen what she would do in the snow or the top speed. I hit 95mph once and she was smooth. |
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| craigster |
quote:
Originally posted by mrbill65
I love the murano but don't like the history of the CVT transmission in the 03s.
History? What history? Where are your statistics or scientific facts? Just curious as I am not aware of any high CVT failure rates and would be most interested in some believable data. |
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| Gonzo |
| Yea if you find any I would like to know.... my 03 has been great. |
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| mrbill65 |
| I have no hard facts but I have found a number of different web sites of owners who have had failures. That includes this site. As well as the repair cost of transmission seems very high. What kind of mileage do you have on your muranos? |
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| craigster |
Hmmm. The way you stated it, it sounded like you had a factual source. :confused:
Well, I think if you were to check any site that caters to an automotive crowd, there will be the odd complaint about a failed transmission. It is normal. I had a couple of Chrysler products that had 3 or 4 (conventional) trannnies replaced.
There is a survey on this site that suggests (to me, anyways) that the failure rate is not significant. It is true (or a rumor?) that the CVT seems to be a high repair bill if it needs to be done outside of warranty but as I read these pages, most of the CVTs that have been replace were still under warranty. Some would say the CVT is less prone to failure, actually. The good thing is that as more and more models get the CVT - not just Nissan - there is a likilihood that the repair costs will go down a lot.
I have 60,000+ miles on mine, BTW. |
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| Corin |
Agreed. You have to remember that on a forum like this you hear about ALL the problems, and only a few successes.
Couple that with the fact that there was/is a lot of concern about the CVT since it is a new technology (well, new for the SUV market) so people have a bit heightened sensitivity towards problems related to it.
Yes, past repairs (especially reported on this site) are quite high-priced, but that is primarily due to the fact that Nissan would not repair the tranny, but rather just replace the entire thing. Buying the whole new tranny is expensive. But, as was mentioned, as CVTs become more mainstream and they take more an more of these apart, they'll be able to start REPAIRING them rather than replacing, and that should drive the costs down significantly. |
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| njjoe |
Keep in mind that other manufacturers are now using the JATCO CVT. Chrysler is utilizing the JF011E in the Caliber, Compass, and Patriot. And Nissan is using the MO's JF010E in the Maxima and Altima.
Sooner or later JATCO and Nissan will have to become more adept at diagnosing and REPAIRING the CVT.
-njjoe |
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| Tyler_Canada |
| I would also like to point out that there has been no significant change in the drive train at all since inception. Except of course, the crippling of the AWD to prolong the lifetime of the transfer case beyond the warranty. :rolleyes: |
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| njjoe |
quote:
Originally posted by Tyler_Canada
I would also like to point out that there has been no significant change in the drive train at all since inception. Except of course, the crippling of the AWD to prolong the lifetime of the transfer case beyond the warranty. :rolleyes:
Crippling? :confused: Did I miss something? :8:
-njjoe |
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| Gonzo |
| I wouldn't exactly call it crippling but I think he is referring to the reduced manual engagement speed. |
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| Tyler_Canada |
Yes, I am referring to the speed at which the locked AWD reverts to auto. I guess I should have said crippling the AWD lock. It was 18mph in the '03 and now it's 6mph. Add in that it also switches off the lock completely after reaching a certain speed (IIRC), and the lock is pretty much useless. In the '03 it would relock anytime you dropped back below 18mph as long as the switch was engaged.
I much prefer older 4WD setups, where I can control exactly when the transfer case is sending power to all 4 wheels (and when it's NOT).
I think a large portion of the transfer case failures are caused because the Murano has plenty of power to spin the front wheels on dry pavement, causing the AWD to kick in on dry pavement, which is very bad. |
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| Gonzo |
| Lets be clear though, the AWD will engage at any speed any time automatically if the system senses the need. |
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