2011 Nissan Cube CVT issue

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place_desjardins
Posts: 7
Joined: Mon Dec 05, 2016 10:39 am
Car: Nissan Cube

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Hi, This is my first post here. I am also on NissanCubeLife.com
I posted a lengthy post of what's been going to I am going to cut and paste that here too for more visibility among Cube owners. I hope to get some advice.

So, I bought my car used back in July. No problems.
I had gotten some whining noise so I added a 1/2 quart of NS-2. It is green from the bottle and the fluid on the dipstick appeared yellow when I checked the level. this is normal?

I took a long trip over Thanksgiving. It started having problems on the return trip.
1. While cruising, it was doing these small surging revs instead of staying constant at x000 RPMs.
2. After coming to a stop at a stop light, when I want to accelerate, the tachometer stays at idle around 1000 RPMs. If I press the accelerator pedal, it doesn't respond until maybe after two seconds. Then, it revs up and I take off.
3. The transmission will shudder with metal sounding jolts, and then go into the 1000 RPM idle mode.
4. The "Service Engine Soon" appeared on my instrument panel but not the check engine light. The engine runs fine, as I rev smoothly in park or in neutral.

What I did since.
1. Drained and filled new Castrol TransMax CVT fluid (5 quarts). The CVT appeared somewhat dirty and it only had NS-2. This kind of worked. It drove smooth again. But when i went on my long commute, the highway driving for an hour was fine, but when I got near to my destination which includes city driving, it would go into limp-mode at red lights. Sometimes, it would do the shuddering thing.

2. I had driven the car about 150 miles. I added a transmission oil cooler and drained and filled with new Castrol TransMax CVT fluid (5 quarts) again. The fluid appeared more cleaner as it was draining out, but Castrol is red and not green like NS-2. This made is a bit more smooth driving locally. But now, when it is cold out, it doesn't want to shift down after initial driving. I drove about 5 minutes and it was going into redline and not downshifting. I pulled over into a local road, stopped and started the engine and it drove fine.

3. I replaced the battery. It's a 6 year old battery. It wasn't giving problems but I read that it worked for someone else. So, I replace it. It cleared out the "Service engine soon" message from the instrument panel.

4. This morning, its cold so I start the engine and let it run for a couple of minutes. I stop and start the car and go on my commute. The temp gauge is about 1/4 warm, normal driving temp is 1/2 warm (there's no temp numbers on the gauge). It drives fine driving on local roads and onto the highway. It cruises fine without issues when I get onto the highway. I have a long commute. About 50 minutes, I get onto local roads. When I get to my first stop light, the car goes into limp mode when I want to accelerate from a stop. I pull over onto into a mini mart which happened to be after the stop light. I stop, put the car in park, stop the engine, start the engine (I have the intellikey so I press the start button) and I reverse and go forward without any hesitation. I continue with my local driving. I get to my second stop light and I stop. When I get the green light, I accelerate but it shudders and goes into limp mode. I put on the hazard lights, put the car into park, stop the engine, start the engine, put it into drive, and off I go without hesitation. Later, I get to another stop light. I stop the car. Then, I put the car into park. Stop the engine. Wait. Start the engine, put it into drive, wait until I get the green light, and my car accelerates without hesitation. Now, I hate my car, somewhat.
After parking my car, I touched one of the tubes going to the transmission cooler. It was warm but not hot.

I've had a manual transmission car in the past. If it drove bad in first gear, it was bad in all gears until I replaced the clutch. If I was driving in snow, I would want to start in second or third gear from a stop to avoid slipping so the car would accelerate slowly and get a grip.
Here, the internal clutch of the CVT can catch fine in the beginning of long drives, in short drives, and after long drives after I restart the engine. The fact that it has a tachometer showing 1000 RPMs at idle tells me the engine is running without issues, so no CEL errors are thrown.
When in "limp" mode, the engine doesn't shut off, but runs at 1000 RPMs like it is engaged in the wrong gear. If it was in the first gear, it would take off. If it was in a high gear like second or third gear, it would drive real slow, but the engine is getting enough fuel not to stall while engaged in that high gear.

I don't know what else to do. I don't feel like I need to replace the transmission. The next thing I've read that might be the problem is to replace the brake light switch, which is kind of crazy if it works considering the symptoms shown.
Thanks in advance.


place_desjardins
Posts: 7
Joined: Mon Dec 05, 2016 10:39 am
Car: Nissan Cube

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Well, it ran worse today.
I drove it over an hour and then got into local roads. From a stop in Drive at 0 MPH, or in park and in neutral, the engine wouldn't rev higher than idle when I pressed on the accelerator pedal.
I have two CEL codes.
P1778
P0746

rwb
Posts: 25
Joined: Fri Jan 13, 2012 3:15 pm
Car: 2011 Cube

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How many miles on your cube?? The trans is covered up to 60k.

place_desjardins
Posts: 7
Joined: Mon Dec 05, 2016 10:39 am
Car: Nissan Cube

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rwb wrote:How many miles on your cube?? The trans is covered up to 60k.
47,000.
I screwed up. I did a drain and fill with Castrol TransMax CVT which is red in color so the warranty does not apply. :facepalm:

Just a warning, use NS-2 when changing out your CVT fluid when it is still under warranty, even through NS-2 costs $20 a quart.

rwb
Posts: 25
Joined: Fri Jan 13, 2012 3:15 pm
Car: 2011 Cube

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Ebay replacement cvt, $600

seldomseen
Posts: 1308
Joined: Thu Jan 24, 2008 7:40 am
Car: '12 Altima Coupe 3.5 SR & '15 Lexus GS350 F Sport

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Be VERY CAREFUL when buying a used CVT from a third party vendor, as in many cases the CVT that's being sold will have problems as well.

A re-manufactured CVT from Nissan is typically the best best, due to the 12/12k warranty. Nissan's re-manufactured CVTs have been know to still be problematic. :yesnod

place_desjardins
Posts: 7
Joined: Mon Dec 05, 2016 10:39 am
Car: Nissan Cube

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I ended up getting the transmission replaced at a Nissan dealership.
They installed a remanufactured one. After the work, I looked at just to make sure they didn't screw me over. They replaced it. The new one is completely clean and the fluid was completely green so I know they just didn't clean up the old one on the outside, because I, by stupidity, replaced it with red colored Castrol CVT fluid.
Anyway, the car drives fine now.

Romvert
Posts: 11
Joined: Fri Dec 07, 2018 10:13 pm
Car: 2010 cube s

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You can see the color of the fluid on the stick? Mine looks clear.


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