cvt transmission and cold weather

[nysrogue]

have about 1200mi on my 2009 rogue (sl awd, non-manual shift cvt)...i have noticed, since new, that the transmission acts differently when the vehicle is cold (air temperature in the twenties)...the engine rpms keep rising as i accelerate (ie. at 40mph engine rpms = 4000; 50mph engine rpms = 4850)...they don't drop until i back off accelerating...when warmed up the rpms never climb like this, as a matter of fact they reach a certain level then decrease...i brought it to the dealer and they said they could not duplicate...has anyone else experienced this...

[kerrton]

Yes, that is how the CVT is programmed and it has been discussed on this forum. I too find it very annoying. The good thing is that the Rogue warms up quite quickly and the weird high rpm driving doesn't last long, but I agree it sucks. Through discussions on this forum, we have established that this is normal and not a reason for concern.

[Leo2005]

And this is how you killing your car. Don't you dare to warm up a little bit your car? By 100k miles you will get serious vibration from engine. Well....this is my first car with CVT but regular transmission having problems of shifting and shaking the car when it shifts around 50k miles so I don't know about CVT. Anyway driving a cold car without warming up is equal to trying to get all juice from that car while racing. Any car will make a weird sound and does not accelerate right when its cold.

[kerrton]

Leo, that is a good point that you shouldn't just jump in and immediately drive away when it's cold, but also the other extreme is true, you don't need to let your vehicle idle for 10 or 20 minutes prior to driving, because this is wasteful, hard on air quality and therefore disrespectul to those around you. I agree it does help to let the car warm up for about a minute or two before driving, but when it's really cold the CVT does hold the rpms excessively high until the car warms up completely. Like I said this isn't a big problem, but I don't blame some people for being slightly annoyed when this happens.

[RubenTheRogue]

Warm up to what temp? My garage stays above freezing no matter how cold it gets, I just start it up and it warms up for as long as it takes to open the garage door and my wife to get in.

[philipa_240sx]

On my Rogue, the rpm's will stay up for as long as 10 min... it depends on how fast the engine warms up. Nissan/Jatco deliberately programmed lower gears at low CVT fluid temps to reduce load and extend the life of the components. There is no way to reprogram this so I would suggest driving it gently or take a route with lower speeds to allow the CVT to warm up before heading out on the highway.

[nysrogue]

thanks for the info...my vehicle is garaged overnite...sits outside in a parking ramp while at work...i let it it warm up about a minute or so...it's a relief to know this is normal and not a problem with the transmission...i guess it's going to take a little getting used to the cvt having been around standards and conventional auto boxes all my driving career...

[Sanders630]

Has anyone noticed reverse being weak when it's cold... My wife is always complaining about it. I told her to let it warm up for atleast a min or two.

[kerrton]

That's a tough question, since I only press very lightly on the accelerator when backing up, and don't use reverse very much. But I guess I'd say that no, I don't have any problems with reverse, it only requires light throttle pressure to get the vehicle to roll.

I've read some Murano's having quite long delays when shifting to D or R in cold weather, which doesn't sound like a good sign to me. My CVT always shifts into "gear" quickly and crisply no matter what the temp.