3.5 CVT Reliability and Maintenance

General discussion area for the L32-chassis Altima
MellyBigNose
Posts: 1
Joined: Sun Dec 02, 2018 5:07 pm
Car: 2009 Altima 3.5SE CVT

Post

Hello all, I'm new to the forum but I've had my car since early 2015, almost 4 years!

I have a 2009 Altima 3.5SE with a CVT, and it currently has about 105k miles on it. I never babied this car, but I never really beat on it either. (Usually accelerate up to the speed limit with the engine at 3k RPM, no flooring the gas from a stop, etc.) I got this car at 56k miles as a certified pre-owned from a NIssan dealer, and as far as I know, this car was maintained well. Sometime after I bought the car, I had access to a dealer-level scan tool, and I looked up the CVT deterioration number, and it was only a couple thousand, if I remember correctly, way less than 210000. That leads me to believe that the CVT fluid was changed sometime in its life, maybe around 50-56k miles. The CVT fluid is now a very light brown, and is likely due for another change. No other issues to speak of other than what seems to be a bad wheel bearing. :rolleyes:

My questions are these: How does the longevity and reliability of the 3.5 CVT compare to a 2.5 of the same generation? And should I ask to change or flush the CVT fluid if I take it to the dealer for service?

I have done my fair share of reading on the problems with these transmissions, but as far as I have seen, there seem to be a lot more complaints on the CVT in the 2.5 4 cylinder model. Perhaps that is just because many more 4 cylinders were sold than V6's? Or is it because the V6 uses a different CVT altogether that doesn't suffer from the same issues? What do you guys think? Thank you for your time. :)


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