2009 Rogue and Transmission Limp mode.

[ronhaha108]

Hi,
Last week I changed the front rotors and pads on my 2009 Rogue. The rotors are slotted and the pads are ceramic. I started with the right side and got that done, when I went to the left side, I noticed the rotor had an R sticker on it. The other rotor didn't have a sticker on it, possibly fell off, and there were no installation instructions.

Of course I had everything disassembled on the left side and thought, hmm, how different could they be and went ahead and finished the installation.

Fast forward 4 days, I'm driving and all of a sudden I hear this whining sound and I lose power, I can kind of move, but putting the foot on the pedal just revs the engine high and I hear the whining sound. I think, oh no, transmission problem. I had the car towed back to my house.

Reading online (great article from nicoclub), I see that the limp mode / whining is part of the CVT failsafe mode where if the transmission fluid gets too hot or is overfilled, this condition can happen. I also saw one person mentioning that the condition can happen if the tire lug nuts are torqued too high which causes the rotor to heat up when braking (post is here, 6th post down). This post is what linked what happened to what I did, so I searched online to see if slotted rotors are side specific and found this article which clearly states that the inside fins should be directing the heat forward.

So now my question, do you think having them on the wrong side, so the fins don't direct the heat the right way could cause my transmission to go into failsafe?

I will be switching the rotors today, but i'm wondering if I should bring the car into the dealership after switching them.

Thanks,
Ron

[ImStricken06]

brake repair/install quick tips:

1. bleeder valve is to be always facing UPwards. air bubbles always go UP, so that is the way to bleed the calipers.
2. left side = driver side. right side = passenger side.
3. air vanes are not always going to be forward facing or rearward facing. in every car, in many applications = they will be in different positions. some people dont understand that in some cars, the vanes are sucking air out of the hub, and in some the air is being brought INTO the hub. not all cars will be the same. some people carry over what they knew about one car, into the other.

[keitarosan]

I also experienced this on my 2010 SL over the weekend. After driving something like 300 kms. I stopped at a red light on an uphill road. Pressed the gas pedal, no whine though just loss of power. Rev goes up to 3.5 to 4 and the car stays at 40-50 kph. Weather all day was hot. Something like 21 - 23 deg C.

Brake lights are all okay so it's not the brake sensor issue. The only thing I can point to now is the coolant. I haven't changed mine yet since getting the car Sept 2010 with 58k kms. I'll be doing a coolant flush this weekend. I have a Prestone radiator flush as well that I'm thinking of asking the people here in Nico first before I use. The coolant I bought from Canadian Tire is OEM Asian 50/50 Premix Long life coolant/antifreeze designed for Nissan.

2 weeks ago, I painted my calipers red and I don't have a torque wrench. I just torqued my lug nuts by feel which I do for years and no problem. This is the 1st time I heard and read about a car losing power (not just CVT per se) because of over torqued lug nuts. Not that I don't believe it but is it really possible??

[ImStricken06]

Never heard of lugnuts causong transmission problems. Its a rumor.

[keitarosan]

Is it possible for Nissan to overfill the CVT fluid? I was checking mine and it looks like it is way past the HOT notch. Engine is cold and wasn't started yet. I checked it this morning. Should I remove some of it?

[ezb57e]

It could definitely be overfilled from the factory, or anyone else for that matter. There was a recall on early Rogues a while back and a critical part of it was making sure the CVT was not overfilled. That and a software update. It is important on all Nissan CVTs too. At it's hottest it should be clearly below the full/hot mark.
ezb