These are pics of the steel belt inside the CVT. Its basically a belt made of hundreds of pyramid shaped steel plates riding one 2 opposing variable cones.

This is the top of the valve body

 

Nice pics turbizzy! i dont know but it looks surprisingly "easy" to fix?

 

Very interesting views, and great photos!! Thanks.

 

It's actually a lot less scary looking in there than I expected. I've always imagined a cartoonish bursting of springs and parts ala Tom and Jerry taking apart a watch if you ever opened one up.

Looking at that it makes me more upset that Nissan refuses to rebuild these or make parts available so a 3rd party could rebuild them.

 

Very cool stuff. And I agree, not as complex as I expected.

I have always heard that these CVTs are made by JATCO (Japan Automatic Transmission Company) for Nissan and others. Can you confirm that piece of info?

 

I have always heard that these CVTs are made by JATCO (Japan Automatic Transmission Company) for Nissan and others. Can you confirm that piece of info?

Yes, JATCO is the manufacturer of the MO's CVT.

Here is a link to the website of their US subsidiary:  NA Products

-njjoe

 

Amazing! Quite the engineering feat designing one of those and making it work right. Nissan seems to be way ahead of the curve when it comes to CVT's.

 

t-

Thanks for taking the time to take and post the CVT photos! It is very much appreciated.

Was this part of a training class? Is Nissan now looking to repair CVTs in-house instead of simply replacing them?

-njjoe

 

No problem guys. I don't know who makes the trannys but i know they're name branded "Xtronic".

Theres a little more to it than i can show you as they don't let us take the actual cones apart as they are extremely calibrated and they don't want anyone going in there and messing with that.

Ill get more pics whenever i come across more opportunities. This was at work but I have seen a completely dissassembled CVT at Nissan school although they kinda frown upon us taking pics of stuff so yea...

 

...Theres a little more to it than i can show you as they don't let us take the actual cones apart as they are extremely calibrated and they don't want anyone going in there and messing with that...

Maybe that is why Nissan does not want any third party shop trying to repair theses CVTs.

 

Turbizzy, you are always there for US with "hows that work" curiosity. We do appreciate your willingness to educate us. HAVE A great 2012. THANKS

 

Is it just Nissan to Jatco CVTs? Or does it apply to all car manufacturer that uses Jatco CVT? Having not heard of any explosion of information regarding CVT repairs in general...I assume that no one really has done it yet Jatco or any other CVT manufacturer.

 

Replaced reduction gear due to bearing damage, valve body and oil pump due to metal contamination and all seals.

Oil pump

Filter

 

Is this a learning exercise or is there an actual customer waiting for this CVT repair? Hopefully its the beginning of actual repairs to CVTs and eliminating the full replacement mandate of nissan.

 

No this is on an 07 Altima with a growling type rotational noise that increases with vehicle speed. Nissan has released a TSB to address this and instead of automatically replacing the transmission, they have us first split the case open and inspect the reduction gear bearings for damage to them. If there is no damage found to the bearings only, then we reassemble it and replace it entirely. If there is damage found to the bearings, then we replace the reduction gear entirely and also replace the oil pump, valve body, filters and seals, flush the trans a few times and recheck for noise. This is the first time i've found damage to the reduction gear bearings so its the first time i've done this procedure. Most of the time there isn't any damage found so i've replaced the trans entirely.

 

I think it looks a lot more robust than we were lead to believe. When folks talk about CVT problems it's like it is a very fragile piece of equipment. Doesn't appear that way to me when I look at the innards.

 

THIS THREAD IS FANTASTIC!!!

I've seen the breakdown schematics of the CVT but never real pictures. Like others have stated, it doesn't look as intimidating as I originally thought. Looks like a pretty standard tear down when compared to taking out the valve body in a regular automatic transmission.

Keep the pics coming. Extremely happy to see the guts of the CVT. Fantastic technology!

 

I was sure it was going to be full of plastic belts and gears. It looks pretty substantial to me.

 

Turbizzy-

Thanks for the photos! I enjoyed viewing them.

Unfortunately, something went wrong. As soon as I viewed the last photo my laptop started playing the theme from Mission Impossible, wisps of smoke trailed from my DVD tray, and then the screen went blank. Now I have two black Ford Crown Victorias parked outside and four guys wearing Oakleys and earpieces are going through my trash. :13:

-njjoe

 

Lol!

 

Well bad news, guys, After reinstalling everything and resetting things, flushing the cooler and such, got no forward gear. Only goes into reverse. Weird cuz it drove fine before just was noisy. Removed valve body to recheck things, looked ok. Contacted our techline and was recommended to replace the entire CVT as i may have received a faulty valve body or something else and to just cut our losses and replace it with a reman so.... oh well.

 

Those are some interesting pictures!! :29:
Looks like a very precise and sturdy version of a snowmobile transmission. I hope mine holds up for many hard miles of my wife driving.

 

when should the oil be changed on the CVT?
I noticed the CVT had a filter. Does that need to be replaced when the CVT oil is changed?

 

There is no filter on the CVT like on a normal automatic transmission, just a screen and drain plug. I did my tranny fluid change shortly after I got my MO at around 95K miles. Theoretically, the cvt can go roughly 120k miles before cvt fluid needs changing. WARNING: use only Nissan cvt fluid when doing fluid change. It costs $20 a quart and uses 6 quarts. If you use any other fluids you void any warranty on the tranny.

 

Just got my CVT swapped out so I guess I don't need to do a fluid change until past 200K, if I still have the MO that is.

 

I didn't think the CVT had a Filter. But then I saw the picture on post #14. It shows a filter. Is that filter for CVT? Or another thing?

Confused now???

 

I didn't think the CVT had a Filter. But then I saw the picture on post #14. It shows a filter. Is that filter for CVT? Or another thing?

Confused now???

The photos are of an Altima's CVT, which is a different model from the one installed in our MOs.

-njjoe

 

The filter in the pic is an internal filter, only can be changed by specially trained Nissan mechanics. We home do it yourselfers are not equipped to even attempt it. All we can do is the routine maintenance, IE fluid change. Sorry for the confusion. . Oops, just reread Turbos post. Thats on an Altima, not a Murano even.

 

Why do these things break so easily?

 

Break so easy?? What are you talking about and where are you getting your information?

The vast majority of MO owners have years of trouble-free service with the CVTs. The reliability issue appears magnified here because that is the nature of an automotive forum that specializes in troubleshooting.

Do you play golf expecting to get hit by lightning?

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, however misinformation adversely affects the credibility of any forum.

-njjoe