Thought I would ask before I make the final jump to pull the CVT from my Altima.

So brief run through on the symptoms. Car produces a low throaty hum after starting to roll. Car does have a bad axle that clicks very occasionally(I’m gonna replace it lol) However, when coming to a stop the car will continue to groan at a standstill until you can physically feel the “clutch packs” disengage and the car slightly jolt (delayed). Has been doing it for a while now and I just kinda added it to the list of to-do’s. Originally noticed it when I decided to take the car on a 2000 mile round trip with a roof bag of clothes as extra weight. Thinking maybe I overheated the band inside it or something. Still drives fine. Occasional slow engagement from P->R or D.

I have a “new” sub assembly to fix it if that’s what’s causing the issue. Just wanted to have an opinion on it. I’ve tried to audibly verify the noise when I had the car in the air changing the struts. And it’s so audible when I had the car free spinning in the air with my head in the wheel well that I would almost bet my top dollar it’s the sub assembly groaning.

Edit: Car doesn’t have many miles. 56k. It’s just it got placed to the side and sat so much things started to go bad, such as suspension, mounts, etc. I’ve replaced everything that’s gonna bad. Up till the suspected CVT noise.

Sounds more like the Torque Converter lock is slow to disengage, which is most likely just a sticky solenoid. There are no clutch packs in a CVT except for Forward/Reverse, and your whine could be the TC sprag clutch (that's the same setup as on a regular A/T). So have you tried a fluid change?

VStar650CL wrote: ↑

Sun Oct 16, 2022 7:40 am

Sounds more like the Torque Converter lock is slow to disengage, which is most likely just a sticky solenoid. There are no clutch packs in a CVT except for Forward/Reverse, and your whine could be the TC sprag clutch (that's the same setup as on a regular A/T). So have you tried a fluid change?

I have unfortunately, I’ve done about 3-4 drain and fills. Noise never changed. It doesn’t change pitch with speed or rpm. Just a very mono groan. Cold and warm doesn’t affect it either, Car has never thrown a code, did some freeze frames with scanners and live data to check if anything odd could be seen but nothing noticeable to my eyes. I’ve already prepped to pull the transmission. Just wanted to spare me the trouble. I figured once I have it open it’ll reveal the damage done to it. I’ve never heard or seen a reference to the tc sprag clutch before so I may investigate that then see if I can match up some characteristics

VStar650CL wrote: ↑

Sun Oct 16, 2022 7:40 am

Sounds more like the Torque Converter lock is slow to disengage, which is most likely just a sticky solenoid. There are no clutch packs in a CVT except for Forward/Reverse, and your whine could be the TC sprag clutch (that's the same setup as on a regular A/T). So have you tried a fluid change?

So this is the only real video reference I can find that’s the same sound. It’s not my car but it’s the same noise. Mine is maybe about 30% less audible but that could be due to a cracked manifold currently lmao

https://youtu.be/ENzAbn3Yb-M

If it doesn't change pitch with speed or RPM then you have a really weird situation, because it's definitely rotational. Even the TC sprag should change pitch under some circumstances. I'd get the front end in the air with the VDC turned off and see if it will make the noise in drive with a stethoscope on it.

VStar650CL wrote: ↑

Sun Oct 16, 2022 4:35 pm

If it doesn't change pitch with speed or RPM then you have a really weird situation, because it's definitely rotational. Even the TC sprag should change pitch under some circumstances. I'd get the front end in the air with the VDC turned off and see if it will make the noise in drive with a stethoscope on it.

I can confirm it makes the noise in the air just free spinning in Drive.
It's not a hub on the driver side or anything like that. It's something within the transmission for sure, just not sure what. Worst case I'm out $60 from buying a junkyard sub assembly that wasn't needed.
I did however read that there's a solenoid of some sort within the valve body that can get gunked up and get stuck in a low pressure state and burn up the tc or cvt itself. But that would've thrown a code and the car has never had 1, ever.

The sprag in the TC will make noises like that if it fails, although you'd generally expect it to change at least a bit with RPM. It will also make noise if there's not enough fluid reaching the TC, but I'd expect a bunch of codes if the pump was failing. So if you hear the noise mainly in the bell, it could just be a bad TC and nothing wrong in the tranny itself.

VStar650CL wrote: ↑

Sun Oct 16, 2022 6:15 pm

The sprag in the TC will make noises like that if it fails, although you'd generally expect it to change at least a bit with RPM. It will also make noise if there's not enough fluid reaching the TC, but I'd expect a bunch of codes if the pump was failing. So if you hear the noise mainly in the bell, it could just be a bad TC and nothing wrong in the tranny itself.

I'll keep this in mind and put the car back in the air on Tuesday and go through with a stethoscope to help pinpoint if its in the bell housing or the casing on the final drive side.