CVT Rattle/Noise - Discussion Thread

[kerrton]

Remember that you've still got tons of warranty left that you paid for, and warranty work is no cost to you, compare to trading it in and buying something else new which will cost you big bucks. Perhaps in the next couple of years the transmission will get a redesign and they'll replace it at that time, but the point is the responsibility will always lie with Nissan for the 5 year warranty to fix these problems, even if it takes them a few tries to get it right.

Paul, if you talk to your service guy maybe he'll have an idea of what is going wrong, possibly did they not change the transfer case and that could be causing the problem (not sure if these are seperate parts)? I'm not an expert, but I'm saying maybe if given the chance the service dept. can figure it out and come through for you.

And regarding the Venza, it's another first year vehicle, I'd hate for you to take a big hit to trade the Rogue and then have to deal with Venza warranty issues which could be extensive too, it's really hard to say. I know Toyota is known for quality, but the fact is they've had their share of blemishes on the record too, the RAV4 in the early part of the decade had some low reliablity issues for example, and I'd hate for the Venza to take a few years to work out the bugs and you to be stuck with the first year model spending all it's time in the shop when it was supposed to be an upgrade from the Rogue.

Anyway, just some thoughts from a different perspective.

[kcfm]

Remember that you've still got tons of warranty left that you paid for, and warranty work is no cost to you, compare to trading it in and buying something else new which will cost you big bucks. Perhaps in the next couple of years the transmission will get a redesign and they'll replace it at that time, but the point is the responsibility will always lie with Nissan for the 5 year warranty to fix these problems, even if it takes them a few tries to get it right.

Kerrton, I must give you praise for always maintaining your optimistic attitude. I think mine is becoming more like Goblins. You are lucky, you have a great dealer that OFFERED to replace your transmission. You didn't have the long, long, fight that I and others had to battle to get it replaced. If indeed my new transmission is inheriting the rattle I cant imagine the fight I probably have ahead to get this one replaced. That's a $5,000 job. I don't think Nissan is going to be in a big hurry to pay another$5,000....and I thought I got the run-around before!

And what about when the warranty runs out?? I would hate to have to incur a $5,000 service bill on my own at possibly 5 years and 1 month into ownership. I recall the original Muranos had that issue. With a lot of their transmission's failing shortly after warranty expiration without any help from Nissan on repair costs.

It's a dilema....trade the Rogue off and have to eat all the depreciation on two cars. Or keep the Rogue and have to worry about a $5,000 transmission replacement that I might have to incur sometime in the future. Because, quite frankly, I don't have much confidence left in the quality of JATCO/CVT transmissions.

[kerrton]

KCFM, Your point is very well taken, I don't know what the solution is, I guess you're right, it's a dilemma.

[paulvanharte]

I agree, but on the other side, if they replace the CVT again, you would notice a problem( if there is one) well before the 5 year powertrain warranty would expire, which would give you enough time to decide what to do with the car. I figure that before the 5 year warranty is up, we will be able to tell whether the car is reliable or a lemon. I will have the service manager listen to it next week and if he determines its the CVT, I will "demand' another replacement. If that cures the rattle great I will keep the car, if not she is gone. I dont care how much money I would lose

Paul

[Superdave54]

Took my Rogue to the dealer today. Mechanic who was assigned to check out the "rattle" told me he had already put a new transmission in another 08 just a short time ago and the noise was gone. New transmission is now on order.

He said that Nissan had recognized the problem, assigned a team of designers to find a fix, and now the Rogues do not have the issue. He said that there was not a lot of information provided by Nissan, other than mention of Drive Chains.

I feel lucky that I have such a good dealer. From the posts on this thread, it seems to not normally be the case when it comes to this issue.

[Superdave54]

Agreed. King Nissan sales dept is really bad. I have dealt with their service department an little, and bought some parts.

Service and parts are quick to distance themselves from Sales. But, since I bought the Rogue from Karmart, I felt it best to pursue the transmission issue with them. So far, they have been great.

[kbz1960]

Just out of curiosity are the ones with the rattle back some of the first ones to get a replacement?

[paulvanharte]

Just to give you an update. Just came back from the dealer, yes its the CVT. Service manager thinks maybe Nissan Canada did not send him the "updated" CVT, as the other ones he replaced have not had any issues. Monday I will get the new one installed.Paul

[kerrton]

Wow, that is fast, they must be stocking these as regular parts now due to demand. How did they get you in so fast?? You've got to admit that is amazing service. The question that comes to my mind is if there is any doubt abuot which CVT they installed, why don't they just look at the part number, or perhaps does this mean that the part number does not indicate which model of CVT was installed? I'm curious about this because my CVT was installed within a few weeks of yours, but mine is working flawlessly 4000km later.....

Thanks a lot Paul for sharing this info with us, I really appreciate it!

[paulvanharte]

Actually its coming from Calgary. He said its hard to tell which is which, even part numbers dont tell anything. As a side note he also heard the clunking shocks and said he would just take some out a Rogue on the lot. He will than install the backorder ones on the other Rogue.I have known the service manager for almost 20 years and have developed a pretty good relationship with him and I trust him 100%.I even test drove a Altima, not bad, but I think I will miss the AWD, Traction control and VDC. Only the 3.5 V6 Altima comes with TC abd VDC.

Paul

[kerrton]

I talked to your service manager and recommended him to a few of my friends in Edmonton based on how great he was when I called. I told him I was in Lethbridge and just looking for another perspective on the CVT issue, and even though the chances of me bringing my vehicle to him for service was pretty much zero, he still gave me some of his time and lots of good info, as best as he could considering the confusion surrounding the issue. He pretty much guaranteed that the newly redesigned CVT would solve my problem so I was very happy, now I'm hoping that they did in fact install the new CVT and not the old one, however based on the fact that I've got absolutely no noise from the CVT after 4k I'm thinking I'm ok, but how do you ever really know for sure?

[Goblin]

Just to be clear, is this the newest design 310C0-1XT5E? Thanks.

[paulvanharte]

Yep he is a good guy. I live in the West end of the city and West End Nissan is right accross from where I live, but I decided to go to Sherwood Park, because I know him very well. Yes its a bit of a pain taking my car there, but at least I know I am treated nice. In addition the fleet manager is the one who sold the Rogue to me and he also is one of those guys you feel comfortable with( not the typical sales guy !!)

Paul

[kerrton]

Goblin, some have stated that there have been several part numbers for the Rogue CVT, and there are no less than two at any given time for AWD and FWD. My replacement part number for the FWD CVT in November/08 was: 310201XT4D

Also, Paul's service manager indicated that you can't exactly tell which generation CVT you got based on the part number..... I'm not worried though, if by chance I have another defect it'll show up within my 4 years remaining warranty, and most likely this one will be trouble-free as it has been for several thousand km already. Don't worry my friend!

[Goblin]

OK, as I understand it nobody that has received the 310C0-1XT5E part number has had the rattle come back. Correct?

So maybe there have been a couple of fixes put into the field to see which would be the most reliable? Theory.

[kcfm]

Goblin, some have stated that there have been several part numbers for the Rogue CVT, and there are no less than two at any given time for AWD and FWD. My replacement part number for the FWD CVT in November/08 was: 310201XT4D

Also, Paul's service manager indicated that you can't exactly tell which generation CVT you got based on the part number..... I'm not worried though, if by chance I have another defect it'll show up within my 4 years remaining warranty, and most likely this one will be trouble-free as it has been for several thousand km already. Don't worry my friend!

Well at the time I had mine replaced in January I was still being told that there was no "up-dated" CVT. And I was told this from two different dealers. That my new transmission may get the rattle again as well, which it appears it may have. And my replacement part number is the same as Kerrtons.

After all this I must say I truly believe Nissan still has not fixed this problem. C'mon, if they had why would they still be installing defective replacement trannys at the cost of almost $5,000 a pop?! And you can't honestly believe that Nissan hasn't found a way to tell the difference between a supposed up-dated transmission and an old generation transmission based on the part number?! I would certainly think an updated transmission would bear a different part number. It would have to wouldn't it, if changes were actually made to it?

The fact that some of these replacement transmission's are getting the rattle back and some replacements are not tells me there is still no fix for this problem. Like I was told when I had mine replaced...the rattle may or may not return.

[Goblin]

I'm good for now. Honestly I couldn't be happier with the little car at the moment. If the noise does come back, I may do as another member suggested and eat the 10K deprecations and get a vehicle that his been out for a bit with a more proven record. Like others on here I have been fortunate in that I have never had major mechanical problems with previous vehicles nor have I had to endure such ignorance from service technicians. Given the later I think a change is called for should any other problems present (transmission or other).

[F=ma]

Been away from the forum for awhile but thought I'd check back in when our dealer confirmed transmission number 2 is toast. It began "the slow grind" again after only about 1k miles on transmission 2. Dealer said he called Nissan & they asked if metal shavings were present; said he checked and the answer was "ohh yeah!"

We really like(d) the vehicle, and our dealer is great, but after three transmissions in a year we're getting ready to throw in the towel.

[Goblin]

Sorry to hear it. I can't say I blame you on your decision and will be right there next to you if my transmission acts up again. Good luck with your next purchase.

[paulvanharte]

I am also on my third CVT, with 22000 km. I really love my Rogue and there really is nothing else on the market that my wife and I like. Living up north here we love the AWD. If this CVT starts making the noise again I maybe forced to sell it and take the loss. Not sure what to get if this happens.

paul

[philipa_240sx]

I am also on my third CVT, with 22000 km.

WOW! Was it replaced just due to noise, or did the CVT fail leaving you standed? I have nearly 50,000km (30,000mi) on mine already with no problems other than the barely audible rattle noise.

[paulvanharte]

Nope never left me stranded, but when the service manager heard the rattle after only 3000km he ordered a new one, which was installed two weeks ago. I keep my fingers crossed this one is OK

Paul

[kbz1960]

Wow, 3rd transmission all ready! I have to wonder if the people having this much trouble and others having none if there isn't something else related to the ones that do have the trouble?

Anyway I'm still waiting and watching. Going to take one for a couple days next week and will be taking a Honda CRV for the same and will make up my mind on which one I want and is right for me. Have to say I am leaning toward the CRV simply for the resale value but the ride, comfort and all will factor in.

[kcfm]

On my commute to work this morning I hit some stop-and-go traffic for a small distance. Well I can say for certain now that I have the transmission rattle in transmission #2 as well. There were 2 instances this morning when I was able to hear it. It is still intermittent but is most definitely there. I suppose because it is still intermittent I will now have to wait for it to get worse before taking it to the dealer because if I took it now I know, with my luck, I wouldn't be able to get it to rattle while I had a service tech in the car and would just be a waste of my time.

It just amazes me that after what, about a year and a half, that Nissan still has not found an answer to this problem. I can understand some new model cars experiencing problems, ok. But what I can't understand is after all this time they still have not yet fixed this problem. I can understand having to undergo one transmission replacement and being done with it. But 2, 3, 4 trannys where does it end?

As much as I would like to trade it off and be done with it, I simply can't afford to take that kind of loss on it and be upside down on my next loan. And why should I have to?

For about 2 months there after the first transmission transplant I actually began to like my Rogue again. But after hearing that rattle again, it was short lived.

As much as I would like to trade my Rogue off, I am just not in a financial position to take that much of a loss on depreciation.

[kerrton]

kcfm:

How many miles on the current CVT?

[kcfm]

kcfm:

How many miles on the current CVT?

About 2,400 miles.

[F=ma]

Wife reports hearing the noise now, softly, in brand-new transmission 3; worse yet, there's some kind of vibration at higher speeds that was never present before.

Very frustrating, especially when we really want this vehicle to stay in the family. We were thinking about talking to the dealer about upgrading to a Murano, but it has a CVT too. Probably start looking at Subarus or even Jeeps in the next few weeks.

[williammoses]

I wonder if the Rogue chassis is strong enough to support the drive train properly. A flexing transmission case would wreak havoc on the interior workings of a CVT. The Rogue chassis is based on the compact Nissan Sentra which is equipped with a smaller drive train.

[kcfm]

I wonder if the Rogue chassis is strong enough to support the drive train properly. A flexing transmission case would wreak havoc on the interior workings of a CVT. The Rogue chassis is based on the compact Nissan Sentra which is equipped with a smaller drive train.

Those have been my thoughts as well. If the altimas and numerous other vehicles are utilizing the same transmission then why aren't they having similar problems? I would tend to think you would have to start looking at other variables that might be causing the transmission issues other than the transmission itself. But then again, that doesn't explain why some Rogues have the problem and some do not..??

Anyone know if the Rogue would be compatible with a conventional 4 speed automatic transmission? I have pretty much lost faith in the CVT. Would it be just as easy to install on the Rogue as the CVT? Just wondering if that might be an option instead of going through 3, 4 or 5 CVT's before getting one that functions correctly.

[kerrton]

Interesting thought, I would think it's unlikely but who knows?

How much heavier do you think the Rogue CVT is compared to the Sentra, it can't be that much heavier to result in significantly more frame flex, could it? The Rogue has very stiff suspension, perhaps this adds to additional frame flex too? Pure Speculation I guess.