2021 Nissan Altima SR 2.5l CVT fluid change

[driftwood8891]

Hello everyone!

I just bought a 2021 Nissan Altima SR 2.5l from my folks with about 73K miles on it. The dealership had always done their oil changes but had never serviced the CVT fluid or filters. I have always changed the fluids on all of my other vehicles but am fairly new when it comes to Nissans and especially the CVT transmissions. Other thanchagning the fluid and filters, is there anything else that I need to keep in mind? I have read and watched videos where some say you need to reset your TCM after a fluid change? A truly appreciate any knowledge and tips anyone can share with me. I really enjoy driving this car and I want to keep it maintaned as well as possible. Take care!

[VStar650CL]

Sorry for the late reply, I just saw your post. If the CVT fluid has never been changed, I suggest doing two consecutive spill-and-fills with about 1K in between to void about 75% of the old fluid. Do the first one simple, change the fluid cold and replace exactly what you take out. It's up to you if you want to get more complicated on the second one. If you feel up to it, you can drop and clean out the pan (there will be a scum of break-in clutch material coating the bottom and very fine metal shavings on the magnets). Unless you find substantial metal stuck to the two magnets (shavings 1mm or larger), just blow the main filter clean (it's a screen and not a real filter) and don't bother with the paper one at all (it's there for break-in and nothing else, Nissan doesn't recommend ever changing it, and changing it is a PITA). You can either do the second spill cold as well (being careful to catch all the spent fluid when you drop the pan so you can refill accurately) or warm it up beforehand and use the leveling plug afterward, but bear in mind that using the plug requires all 4 corners of the car to be raised evenly.

[D1dad]

I’m not a pro like vstar, who’s one of the most helpful Nissan techs you’ll run across on any forum and who has a ton of knowledge. But, I have managed to keep these things upright since 07. Here’s what I’ve done, and I’ll use my 18 rogue as an example. It currently has 123k on it. Change the fluid, drive it for 100 miles and do it again. I like to use the leveling plug the 1st time, I just found out on my wife’s 1st cvt change on her 24 Altima sl, that it was underfilled by close to a qt from the factory. I’d do a pan drop asap to get a baseline on how things are. If nothing else to clean the pan and magnets. To much gunk and the magnets aren’t doing their job. The little cartridge filter is a royal pita and should be done once. I usually do them around 60k only to realize it probably was fine, but at least I did it. I did just do another pan drop and changed out the cellulose filter in the trans itself (easy job) @120k and there was not a lot of sludge compared to the 1st time. I use eneos eco on all 3 of my cars after warranty is up. It’s better than oem in my opinion. Until then I order Nissan ns3 from a dealership to be safe. You don’t have to worry about that. I have the exact same car and it’s been bulletproof. @57k it’s still like new.