CVT or Motor Mount?

[jbc379]

Hello All. I have a 2008 Altima 3.5 SL with approx. 28k miles on it. My issue is that when I back out of my driveway and go into Drive, I feel a slip or a slap (sounds like a thump with a a slight jolt) under my hood. At first I thought it was the CVT but after some research I found that the symptoms point more towards a broken motor mount. I am still under warranty and took it to my local dlr. They advised that there is no broken mount and that it is just a "pad slap" from the motor shifting and that it happens in the V6 because it's a stronger engine (just a slight pivot in the engine from the gear switch). I've had plenty of V6's (including Nissan's) and NEVER experienced anything like it. They also said they could not "duplicate my concern". What they don't know is that I worked for a major car manufacturer for 4 years and that I speak DEALER/SVC Dept. language. The two things they told me contradict themselves. Now I need to figure out what the F is going on with my car because if the dlr is going to say that they can't duplicate a concern and then feed me a random term like "pad slap" without any explanation, then it's going to be hell trying to get them to admit that there is something wrong and furthermore, warranty the repair. Can someone PLEASE help me in diagnosing and/or advise me in what to do or say to the dlr? Thank you all so much in advance.

[davemat]

Interesting question....My '08 Coupe does the same thing under the same conditions (backing out the driveway, then taking off in Drive.)
Funny thing is, that's why I'm searching the forum for an answer.
Come on folks, at least point us in a direction to find the answer here!

This is my 2nd Altima. The first was an '08 sedan with the V-6 and a six speed manual. Loved that car... until the dealer wanted $5300 to put a transmission in it. (I should've paid their over-priced diagnostic fee and drove it somewhere else..... hindsight is a b*tch..)
Now, I have an '08 coupe with the V-6 and the CVT. Still not sure about this thing....and I've owned it for a year now.
Any help with an answer would be greatly appreciated.

[jbc379]

I'm totally with you on that. Its one of the reasons I joined the forums and still haven't gotten anything to point me in the right direction. The Nissan shop manual says that the cvt fluid could be low so I'm gonna check that tomorrow. Thanks for the reply... maybe strength in numbers will inspire someone to throw a bone our way.

[mattyfo0z]

I feel the same thing sometimes, but it seems to only happen when I'm in a hurry and rush it between park/drive, and I kinda get on it right when I put it in drive. If I put it into drive and just let off the brake and ease onto the accelerator, the "backlash" isn't nearly as noticeable. I'm not quite sure on what it could be, though...

[jbc379]

You hit the nail on the head bro. That's exactly what happens to me. Nissan says they can't duplicate the concern and when they did, they said it was normal operation. BS! This isn't my first rodeo nor my first Nissan V6, and I've never had anything like this on any of my other cars.

[mattyfo0z]

Yeah me either, but this is also my first automatic/CVT car so I'm not really used to them (I've driven 5spds forever). Maybe it's just the gears inside the transmission slowing down and switching between the two gears or something? I'm not sure.

I wouldn't say it's a motor mount just because I've been in a few cars with bad motor mounts and you can feel that s*** vibrate like crazy. If anything, Nissan might be right and it could just be a characteristic of the CVT transmission.

[jbc379]

If that's the case then Nissan needs to go back to the drawing board cause my Alti hasn't broken 30k and eventhough they extended the warranty on the transmission out to 10/150, I feel like if anything goes wrong that they are just going to claim "normal operation" on the whole issue. ya know? Anyway, hopefully more people will read our posts and drop their two cents in cause I'm kinda pissed about this and also frustrated that Nissan won't explain anything.

[davemat]

You said in your last post that it could be low fluid causing the problem and that you planned on checking into that. If you've checked, what did you find?
Curiosity is getting the better of me on this one. I sat here for the last 2 nights reading older posts and have found nothing. Maybe I'm not going back far enough or I'm not reading the right ones, but I can't believe only 3 of us are experiencing this problem.