A CVT is technically an automatic gearbox because it doesn’t require the use of a clutch to change gears, but the major difference is that it does not have any conventional fixed gears.
Nissan states that their XTronic CVT offers rapid, seamless acceleration, significant improvement in fuel economy, and a lighter, more compact unit. Moreover, with fewer moving parts, the friction and heat generated are minimal, so it is more efficient and durable than a conventional transmission.
Due to these theoretical advantages, most of the current models in Nissan’s lineup use this CVT. These include the mighty Pathfinder, Armada, Murano, Sentra, Maxima, or Micra.
However, customers have reported a multitude of problems ever since the first version was released and some of these issues persist even with the current-generation Xtronic. The main complaint is that when accelerating at low speeds, some owners experience shuttering and shaking of the gearbox, which seems to struggle to get up to speed.
In most cases, this problem happened while the vehicles were still covered by the factory warranty, so dealerships fixed the issues by reprograming the gearboxes and replacing parts of the pulley system.
Another reported issue is the painfully slow response time. A CVT feels different when the driver pushes the accelerator, increasing power smoothly and generally slower than a capable fixed-gear transmission, although manufacturers advertise the contrary.
But owners have complained that in some cases, the sluggishness is far too evident, and this can have extremely dangerous outcomes. The main concern of those who reported this issue was that the car would have trouble getting up to speed in critical driving situations like overtaking.
Nissan’s XTronic has also gained a reputation for being loud. This is another real-life problem that is not unique to the Japanese carmaker’s CVT and goes against another main advertising point.
All these problems are mainly caused by overheating, and many experienced mechanics who studied the transmission concluded that its cooling system was inadequately designed.
Apart from the problems that we already covered, certain overheating Xtronic transmissions caused cars to suddenly enter fail-safe mode, which instantly limits the power of the drivetrain, causing potentially dangerous situations.
This was the main issue reported in a class-action lawsuit that involved 2012-2017 Sentras sold in the U.S. equipped with the Xtonic CVT. The case was eventually dismissed, but concerns remained. Nissan never publicly acknowledged any wrongdoing but provided support for any failing CVT and, in some cases, even extended affected customers' warranties.
The current generation of the Xtronic promises to address these issues and comes with a five-year/60,000-mile (96,560 km) warranty.
Those who are thinking of buying a new Nissan should not completely avoid this transmission, but they should know its history, consult current owners for accurate feedback and make sure they understand the conditions and benefits of the warranty when purchasing the vehicle.
One thing is certain, the Xtronic and CVTs, in general, are innovative but far from perfect, flawless gearboxes.
Understanding CVT transmission failure is critical for any Nissan owner facing problems, especially when critical deadlines may be looming regarding legal rights and more. CVT is an acronym for ‘continuously variable transmission’ and references a unique transmission that differs from the common automatic transmission’s design and system. Nissan built many vehicles with Continuously Variable Transmission technology, CVT Transmission such as Cube, Murano, Altima, Altima coupe, Maxima, Rogue, Pathfinder, Sentra and Versa. For this educational tutorial we have in our programming bay 2013 Nissan Altima. Perform the following after the transmission assembly is replaced: 1. Our Nissan CVT transmission sale has begun. The CVT or Continuously variable transmission utilizes a revolutionary design that eliminates the process of gear shifting. This is a one speed transmission with an endless amount of gear ratios allowing the CVT to have smooth seamless acceleration and increased efficiency. Nissan teamed up with Jatco.
| transmission/dave-riccio'> |
| Dave Riccio, Owner/Technician |
By Dave Riccio, ASE Certified Technician, Owner of Tri-City transmission & Auto Repair, Co-host of Bumper to Bumper Radio
CASE STUDY: Nissan CVT Repair versus Replacement (Continuously Variable transmission)
Customer Saves $3,000 over CVT Replacement Quote
RE0F09B / RE0F09A / JF010E (Nissan nomenclature / JATCO nomenclature)
This customer owns a 2012 Nissan Murano, front wheel drive (fwd) with 148,057 miles. He began to notice when leaving a stop, a slight hesitation that was getting progressively worse. He also began to notice the vehicle would hesitate when accelerating to pass someone when he was already at a cruising speed. Both of these subtle symptoms were getting increasingly worse, so he took his Nissan Murano to his trusted dealer.
After leaving his vehicle with the dealer, they quickly quoted him $4,800.00 to replace his CVT (Continuously Variable Transmission) transmission. He loves the car and wants to keep it for some years to come, but he had a hard time swallowing that price. He had always gone to his trusted dealer so they were his first stop when he wanted the transmission looked at. Like most with a CVT issue and sticker shock, he scoured the internet and found us. We invited him in for our preliminary no wrench transmission diagnostic. Our technician was able to identify a problem with the pump flow control valve. The good news was it could be repaired without having to replace the transmission. The customer approved us removing and repairing his CVTtransmission.
Disassembly of the transmission showed a fully stuck, pump flow control valve just as our technician had diagnosed prior to removing and disassembling the transmission (see figure 1). The rest of the transmission looked to be in good order. The combination chain/belt assembly looked good. Both of the sheaves surfaces looked relatively clean and could simply be mildly resurfaced. The pulley slides showed some wear, but were very serviceable. For less than $2,000 we were able to put this customer back on the road, in a vehicle he loves, for years to come.
When the customer came to pick up his vehicle he was inquisitive as to why the dealership did not offer him the same repair we performed. We explained, the dealerships in general, almost never actually repair a transmission. They simply replace them. In this case of the CVT, it’s not just the dealerships. Almost no one, including transmission shops, are repairing continuously variable transmissions. At the end of the day, he was happy to keep the extra $3,000 and gained a new relationship with Tri-City transmission.
There is a lot of good information mixed with bad information in regard to CVTtransmissions. Here is the problem with CVTtransmissions:
Yes, in some cases, especially the early versions, they did seem to fail more often than traditional type automatic transmissions. However, this is quite a bit overstated or misrepresented since they are unique making them easy to identify with that stereotype. There are plenty of traditional transmissions that won’t last as long as a CVT, those transmissions just aren’t uniquely identified. The other reason CVT’s are overstated as being a bad transmission is most don’t understand them, so they simply blame the style of transmission for any issues. It’s easy to blame design when you don’t understand it and unique new things will always stand out. So if you consider this very job, this transmission went approximately 150,000 miles and still was only mildly symptomatic, by no means broken. Because continuously variable transmissions are so misunderstood, they have an unwarranted bad reputation. People inadvertently are replacing them in error every day compiling the bad reputation.
| transmission/dave-riccio'> |
| Figure 1: Pump Flow Control Valve |
While this particular customer had to get a more major repair, in many instances, we can fix CVTtransmissions without ever removing the transmission from the vehicle. We oftentimes perform repairs that cost less than the car payment. This is where people go wrong. Like reading Web MD, you can talk yourself into an ailment you don’t have. People always think the worst when it comes to transmission problems and so with the misunderstood CVT, this is even more true. Customers can be their own worst enemy here. They go in and ask for a whole transmission. Guess what? It’s almost always what they get when working with a shop who does not understand the CVT technology.
Like it or not, CVTtransmissions are here to stay. They will be more common on the lighter vehicles. They offer so much benefit when it comes to fuel economy and getting every last penny out of the fuel you burn. Nissan was the first to carry the torch as the sacrificial lamb to get CVT technology started in their Murano. Honda tried in the late 90’s, but only for a brief moment. Also, in the 1990s, Saturn and Subaru had CVTtransmissions in their vehicle, but only for a for flash in the pan.
Nissan started in the first generation of Murano ranging from 2002 to 2007. The Murano was fairly successful but still caught some bad press because of the reasons described above. Nissan continued with the CVT from the Murano moving it into several more models. Early on, they have learned some hard lessons but are probably on the downhill slide of that learning curve. Eventually they ended up putting this style of transmission in their Nissan Cube, Nissan Altima, Nissan Juke, Nissan Maxima, Nissan Sentra, Nissan Rogue, Nissan Versa, Nissan Pathfinder, Nissan Pulsar, Nissan Quest, Nissan NV200 and Infinity QX60.
A little clarification, Nissan does not actually build the continuously variabletransmission. They are built by a company called JATCO (Japanese American transmission Company). JATCO CVTtransmissions show up in a lot of the other auto maker brands. Mitsubishi Outlander, Mitsubishi Lancer, Jeep Patriot, Jeep Compass, and Dodge Caliber all share the same JATCO Model# JF011E CVTtransmission.
Almost all the other major mainstream auto makers have followed suite when it comes to utilizing the CVTautomatic transmission. This would include manufacturers such as Ford, Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge, Honda, and Toyota. The automatic CVTtransmission is used exclusively in all the new Subaru vehicles.
https://www.tricitytransmission.com/about-tri-city/media-stories/latest-news/item/5883-nissan-cvt-transmission-problems-continuously-variable-transmission-repair#sigProId03930c87db
Transmission Background Information:
The idea of CVTtransmission technology has been around for a solid hundred years. In concept, it’s older than that considering Leonardo da Vinci put the idea to paper in the late 1400’s. From concept to production, 500+ years later, the CVT was typically found in lighter vehicles such as snowmobiles.
CVTtransmissions were just not utilized in the automobile until the late 90’s with a few Honda models. In 2002 Nissan went all in with the CVT in the Murano. Even with the proliferation of CVTtransmissions, you probably won’t see them for a while in the truck transmissions.
Trucks are just too heavy for the CVT technology, at least at this present moment. For fuel economy and creature comforts, trucks still need the granularities for shifting provided by CVT. Since the CVT won’t work in a truck, in order to accomplish the same goals of a CVT, trucks have gone the route of the 6,7,8,9 and 10 speed transmissions. This offers similar benefits like the CVT in regard to seamless shifting and fuel economy, but they are able to handle the weight and horsepower typically associated with trucks.
People originally were very adverse to the way CVTtransmissions shifted or didn’t shift. It felt unnerving to most. However, that was the early models, almost two decades ago. As the design of the CVTtransmission has not only improved, so has the software that runs the transmission. Some of the newest CVT models feel just like a normal automatic transmission. Yes, many of the bugs from that model 2002 Murano have been worked out.
Toyota was one of the last manufacturers to get on board with CVTautomatic transmissions. Reading the engineering papers, it seems they wanted to utilize CVTtransmissions, just not until they had it perfect. Frankly, we are impressed by the way the Toyota CVTtransmissions operate. It was well worth the wait.
The Moral of This Story:
1. Don’t waste money on replacing your CVT when in some cases, we can fix it for a fraction of the price.
2. Don’t be scared of CVTtransmissions. The bugs seemed to have been worked out thanks to the sacrificial transition to CVT from Nissan.
Other Common JATCO transmissions in Nissan Vehicles
Nissan Cvt Transmission Reliability
JF011E / RE0F10A – Nissan Sentra
JF009E / RE0F11A – Nissan Note
JF010E / RE0F09B – Nissan Murano, Nissan Altima
JF015E / RE0F08A/B – Cube and Note
Nissan Cvt Transmission Warranty Extension
Each automaker typically will have their own model # for a particular transmission and then the actual manufacturer of the transmission has different model #. It can be hard to keep track of all the variations between different transmission manufacturers and auto makers. Iso creator for mac os. Mta for mac. These references are in no way meant to be used as a diagnostic tool, rather points of reference.
Nissan Cvt Transmission Explained
Other CVT Related Case Studies
Nissan Cvt Transmission Problems
Nissan CVT Transmission Problems | Continuously Variable Transmission Repair