If you do not want to read my full rant, which includes every single spec of information that you might need to make a accurate judgement and give good guidance on how to proceed from here --- Just read the bold and colored parts. However I'd recommend reading this because you might relate or if you are a new Nissan CVT owner, regardless if it's a coupe or not it may help you not get f-cked around and over.

Let this post and it's replies serve as an example rather than me just talking my garbage.

My statistics that may influence your responses, judgement and advice.

20 year old owner, male.

My miles are mainly highway as I mainly travel to work which is 30 miles away, doing offerup meetups to sell clothes and merchandise and to see relatives that are 150 miles away (300 mile round trip, I make this drive every 1-2 months)

I live in a moderate traffic zone with HEAVY police activity because I live near a Huge Courthouse, Juvenile Station, a Jail and Police Headquarters, so I don't speed because the probability of you getting a ticket in my area is 70% if you're going at least 7mph over, even though super-raised pickup trucks go 20mph over all the time and never get pulled over.

Average speed Commuting - 75mph
Max Speed - 90mph, which is to pass and get over in a 70 mph zone, and in north carolina, the speed of traffic is 80-85 until you see a state trooper, If you know, you know.

No performance mods that would affect engine reliability -- Stock.


Start Rant


I bought a 2009 Nissan Altima Coupe with the help of my dad for about 8,000 after fees from a Hyundai Hall dealer. The car had about 104,000 miles on it during the time of purchase and the salesman stated that the car could possibly have transmission issues. Due to this, the car came with a extended warranty up to 12 months and 120,000 miles. The warranty was provided by Fidelity Warranty Services and was very limited warranty specifically for the drivetrain/transmission. All this sounded pretty fair to me and my dad so we went ahead and bought it.

Within these 12 months of the warranty I came across some pretty iffy performance issues pertaining to the car. The first thing I took it to Hyundai for was a possible transmission problem that was pretty minor at the time. The car would hesitate to shift at around 15-20 miles per hour, and it would only do that such thing at those speeds. Hyundai took a look at it and said that they could not replicate the issue and no codes were thrown. So I said OK, maybe it was just a one time thing, except this happened more frequently and I bought it back to Hyundai again and they said the same s***. Only this time, they told me to take it to Nissan Hall across the street from Hyundai Hall because they said they have more experience with cars such as mine. Which also sounded fair because Hyundai doesn't have CVT transmissions.


From that point it seems like they handed us over to the abusive step parents and s*** got worse from there. We took it to Nissan and during this point another issue has arisen. My Altima would go from sounding like a 4cyl 2.5 to a 6.4L Supercharged V8 with low testosterone. And if you don't know where I'm getting at, my car would whine every time I use the throttle -- Especially going uphill and driving for long periods of time. And during this time my car would hesitate to accelerate and the whining would get uncomfortably loud to the point it sounded like it was going to explode. I expressed concern for this and I thought it could be an Alternator issue because I've driven the care less than 10,000 miles however I also said it could also be a transmission issue. It seems like they completely ignored the transmission part and only focused on the alternator.

They told me it was a Alternator One Way Clutch issue which wasn't under warranty and I'd have to pay out of pocket. He said if I didn't fix this issue I'd lose all power to the car at a random time which could be dangerous. I thought and still do think that is s*** because I had no problems with battery power. The only time my car battery has died is when I left it in accessory mode while chilling with a friend listening to music. I jumped the car, drove it around and the battery charged fine... Anyway, I declined getting that fixed and had to pay a 120 dollar diagnostic fee. No complaints there, that just life.

I took my car in for the final time during December (which the time I bought the car a year prior) and I expressed concerns again for the shuddering and jerking during 30-40 mph and never bought up the whining because I was told it was an alternator issue and it wasn't under warranty.

Now hear this, before I even express the issue I tell this dumb b**** working at the desk that my car has a warranty and she completely cuts me off saying that my car doesn't have a warranty, and that it is too old to have one. I told her and it was up to a year extended and she says she will check and what do you know... I have a warranty. However, she tells me I have limited warranty thats exclusive to the drivetrain only, some s*** I already knew. She also tells me that they are going to run a diagnostic and if no issues pertaining to the warranty's coverage are found, I'd have to pay a diagnostic charge of 120. At this point, I know this dumb a** isn't even qualified to talk to me because she doesn't even know that 2009 Nissans have extended warranties and I should have told her to get someone else. But I'm a nice person and I kept my composure. After waiting I get told that I have a head gasket leak that could cause potential misfire with no codes thrown and NO other issues were found. And I also recall her telling me my warranty is expired (which I found out it wasn't, because it expired December 30th, and I took it in on the 8th. So in the end, I paid another 120 diagnostic fee and went about my way and hoped for the best.

Fast forward to now (126,000 miles and a year after warranty) and my CVT transmission has completely failed. Before it completely failed there was hardcore shuddering and vibration coming from my side when taking off from a stoplight and slowing down to the stoplight. It would do this even if it was in neutral but not as violent but at higher speeds it drove almost fine with the exception of the RPMs not lowering and the transmission belt not exactly tightening. And if anybody that drives a CVT you know what I am talking about, if not -- let me explain.

When you press the gas to accel. to higher speeds, the RPMS rise until you take your foot off the throttle and the transmission cvt belt tightens depending on your speed or how much the throttle is pressed. The belt will NOT tighten until you do this. This gives you some control of your shifting which I really like about CVTs, makes it very easy to accel. fast and pass on the left.


But back to what I said, it would not tighten/lower the rpms allowing you to cruise normally. So my Altima's cruising RPM is about 1500 rpm at 60, but during the time of the failure it was at about 2500-3000 rpm and the throttle response was wayyy too much. A slight press would make it jump to 4500 rpm with no power being delivered to accel. Which was a symptom of transmission failure I was having during the warranty I found out.

Now that I've researched about CVTs, I know the symptoms of the failure and it turns out all the s*** I bought it to the dealer about was ALL transmission failure symptoms.


RECAP of problems I was having during the warranty

- Car jerking and shift hesitation (slipping?) when accelerating 15-40 mph (The jerking would happen in that speed window)
- Transmission Whining when driving uphill, accelerating and driving for long periods of time (So in my case, the whining would start after an hour of consecutive highway driving and get worse from there.


Now, hear me out guys. I've been hustled alot in my life so I know how to take a loss but here is my major point I'm going to make.

The dealer sold me a car with a tranmission that is notorious for going out at EARLY milage (We are talking 24,000 to 30,000 miles averaged based on the reports). Most likely Acknowledged this, and gave me a limited warranty, (Which I can understand because this car was a time bomb, it would not make sense for any dealer to put a full warranty on a car with a infamous transmission and high mileage.. its just too much risk) and then act retarded when I come to bring it in because of issues.

And what makes matters worse, these are NISSAN mechanics. You're telling me you mass produce a CVT transmission and none of your mechanics don't know what the symptoms of a failing CVT? They never TOUCHED the tranmission except when they "reset the variables" to try and stop the jerking at 20-40 mph. I am not going to sit here and blame everyone but myself. I should have done some research myself and know when the dealership is completely bullshitting me.


It turns out the whining comes from the Nissan CVT fluid being very hot which means it would needed to be changed. According to most seasoned CVT owners, they change this every 20,000 miles to prevent damage. I have all the service records and they never even MENTIONED that the transmission fluid may need changing. s***, I never even considered it until after the warranty in which I actually brought it up to my dad that transmission fluid may need to be replaced. My dad has the best intentions for me so I know he would tell me what he knows about anything pertaining to cars to the best of his knowledge as his dad was a seasoned mechanic. He told me that the transmission oil is different from regular oil and doesn't need to be changed so often. I think most people would agree with that too, except this isn't the case. CVT's are much more complex and since they don't shift and have an INFINITE amount of gear ratios, they tend to go through the oil much quicker then the average traditional automatic. Not a lot of people know this because CVTs really aren't that talked about and here's a little law that goes for anything:

When s*** isn't talked about or discussed ----> Nobody knows about said s*** -----> Knowledge and Information about s*** isn't spread -----> Knowledge about s*** isn't classified as common knowledge -----> Nobody knows about s*** and not knowing s*** will ultimately have you s*** out of luck when you NEED to know it, ESPECIALLY when its too late.

I've driven the car 22,000 miles when the transmission failed, I've taken the car to 4 different mechanics:

Hyundai Hall (2 times)
Nissan Hall (3 times, Maybe 4)
Treadquarters (2 times)
Triple A (once)

Treadquarters was the most helpful out of the all the mechanics I took it to, telling me more information about my car that both Hall Dealerships have ever done. Yet still, they never checked or mentioned to me that I could be due for a CVT fluid flush.

The first time I expressed concerns of the whining was around no more than 110,000 miles.. which means I've only driven in 6,000 miles when I noticed this... which brings me to another question.

Did they not flush the f*** fluid before selling it to me? This is a dealership not a mom and pops automobile discount yard. They are to be kept to the highest standard of professionalism and customer service should be phenomenal. Before I bought the car, the salesman told me the car was being inspected and other s*** like that so I couldn't take a look at it sooner with my dad. Hearing that it was being inspected and had to wait for it to pass inspection was +1 because it insured we weren't be sold some s*** that was going to break down as soon as we rolled off the lot. So did they not perform recent maintenance on the god damn CVT transmission, that is known for failing when it's basically brand new, and gave me a warranty on it before selling it to me? Because whining should not happen that damn early, especially when whining happens normally 30,000 after the first fluid change. According to a report I read when it came to dealing with transmission fluid, it should be changed after 100,000 miles (which doesn't sound right to me, so don't attack me) and then every 30k. This sounds alot like they did not do proper maintenance on it before selling it to me. Like I said, this came from a Hyundai Hall Dealer, not Nissan. I'm not sure if that would make a difference in knowledge seeing that the mechanics at both dealerships clearly don't know s*** trying to make me pay for s*** that has nothing to do with the problem at hand.


Problems Nissan said it was:
Head gasket leak (no code) \ \
Alternator Failure (no codes) > None of those were under warranty, fair enough.
Bad coilpacks (no code) //


The actual problems after I researched CVTs

Transmission fluid needed premature changing due to it being poorly maintained before purchase
Transmission Slipping and Jerking when belt tightening (shifting for non cvt folks)
Transmission Hellcat Whining after driving for moderate periods of time, most would consider work-driving commuting distance (an hour, or 70-80 miles) It would happen a lot more earlier when you have to slow down and accelerate frequently in traffic.


I took my Altima Coupe to service 2,000 miles prior to when I adressed the whining, which was when I adressed the jerking. So the possible transmission slipping happened before the whine.. Usually the poor maintenance of fluid causes the oil to overheat, which causes the whining and transmission slipping then ultimately destroying the fragile cvt due to amplified wear and tear failure.


My possibly opinionated points and feelings condensed into 1 paragraph (EDIT* Now about 5 because I'm so pissed.. I'm sorry for dragging this out so long, I really want you guys to know EXACTLY what happened and what I did, so I could get educated on what I did wrong and what I should have did. And I also want you to know what a fellow and possibly ex 09' CVT Coupe owner went through with the Hall Dealership and I really do want advice on how to proceed)

I feel as if the Hall Dealership completely sold me a car with hidden issues that weren't completely addressed. I feel like they also screwed me over knowingly selling me a transmission grenade that they had zero interest in defusing, and I get dealerships and warranty companies have to hustle us and make money but jesus christ, this is absurd. i just find it completely coincidental that all of the obvious symptoms of a CVT transmission failure were completely overlooked. They didn't tell me anything of importance that I should know or any behooving maintenance recommendations which would be the CVT transmission fluid. These are Nissan Mechanics that should know in and out of a car made by Nissan, and the fact that the car was "too old" isn't an excuse at all because they still make CVTs till this day.

And when I write this long a** rant it brings me to some other points I'm going to bring up, but it's entirely up to you all to read it as it's not important to my relative topic (which is Hall completely neglecting and practically lying about maintenance). There should be at least one mechanic that is completely educated on at least of on the transmission Nissan Offers, which would be an Automatic, CVT and Manual transmission. I feel like Nissan and Hyundai (Hall in entirety) gave me the run around and telling me to buy and replace certain things that would have me in my current situation REGARDLESS. And I'm so glad my dad told me not to buy these things because I would have spent atleast 2,000 on maintenance on a car with a transmission that was going to fail anyway.

I KNOWWWWWW they would not have told me anything pertaining to the transmission when I bought these things and expected me to come crawling back and spent 4,000 (This is approximate on Nissan's Rape price, because my grandpa [My dad's dad, the mechanic] told me I could get a re manufactured CVT transmission with another 12 month warranty for 2600 which is still a lot for a 20 year old in college and part time job to make ends meet) on another transmission that was going to probably end in the same exact fate as my current one when it finally went out. Thankfully I opted out on those because I would have spent 6,000 dollars (MIND YOU THE f*** CAR WAS 8,000 [AFTER FEES AND EXTERNAL PAINT REPAIR, AND INSIDE IONIZING BECAUSE IT SMELT LIKE CIG. SMOKE]) which is 6/9ths of the price of the car itself.

And for any of the Nissan Mechanics out there reading this, please don't think this is a negative rant about you guys. We appreciate you to an extent for being on this forum and telling us information that we probably would never find out at the Nissan Servicing section. I know not all Mechanics are Scumbags, but these guys are (and woman) because they knew what they were doing. This was damn near fraudulent (and I say damn near because I can't for sure say it was intentional, I'm still doing research and acquiring service records on my vehicle to have strong defense when I go and confront Nissan Hall, located in Western Branch Blvd, Chesapeake Virginia, about why they don't know what they are working on and trying to rob me blind by saying some s*** issues with my car that were completely irrelevant, making me pay 240 bucks in diagnostic fees because it didn't throw a code on the ODB reader.

By the way, the transmission is completely f***, it needs an absurd amount of gas to even get it to move, and when it does move (and when I say move, I mean the wheel make even half of a rotation, past that point it does roll) it shudders violently hard to the point it makes me cringe and wince like the first time watching a Saw Movie (I need you guys to get a good idea on how hard it shudders and shakes). Also, when I put it in reverse, the wheel doesn't even rotate backwards. And in the event when in drive and I somehow get the Front wheels moving, (as its shaking hard as hell) when I put it in neutral the wheel completely STOPS, it doesn't get slower and slower until it eventually stops like a normal transmission would. All of this s*** that is clearly not supposed to be happening happens and STILL doesn't throw a code. Not ONE! So clearly the car isn't throwing SES codes to find out exactly whats wrong because the car itself isn't diagnosing itself (which is another problem, this is evidence that the car may have had problems under warranty but wasn't throwing codes for a transmission issue.. I want to ask if your Altima's [2008-2013] throw codes for transmission issues, if it doesn't , I don't know why they'd make me pay a diagnostic fee for a car that doens't throw transmission codes anyway and they saw an opportunity to get some cash. (or am I being far fetched..)

So my final question for you guys is, what do I do? I have all service records that show me expressing concern for transmission reliability and it was neglected and not paid attention to by the incompetence of Nissan Hall's Service Department. It clearly states the mileage I expressed concerns of whining and jerking and what they have done to fix it, which is basically nothing. My current motive is to hold Nissan Hall responsible for their lack of professionalism and their attempt to treat me like I am stupid (in which I was during the time of the warranty, I completely trusted that they knew what they were talking about, which is stupid of me).


My defenses:

The Nissan Service Department neglected the symptoms of the failing transmission in attempt to make me buy unnecessary parts in their own interest, and so that they wouldn't have to pay for parts and labor for the mechanics involved.

Reasons to support: Upon research, there has been people who have went to Nissan for concerns of a CVT problems and have basically falsely recommended parts that in whole had nothing to do with their concerns. Taking advantage of customers lack of knowledge and charging substantial amounts of money for parts while ignoring the actual problem at hand.. Sending them away just to return with the same exact problem they came in for the first time for and THEN telling them their transmission is failing. I believe this would have been my case if I didn't have my limited warranty during the time.


The Nissan Service department should have been more aware of the symptoms of a failing CVT Transmission, even if they genuinely thought it was a alternator concern. (Which it isn't because the alternator works fine, even after the transmission has failed)

Reasons to Support: There is no possible, and feasible reason why a car manufacturer would mass produce a transmission (we are going to ignore that it's infamous for being garbage) and none of their mechanics or anybody in the service department for that matter can't diagnose TWO of the biggest signs of transmission failure. Now I am going to factor in that the transmission is garbage. SUPER COINCIDENTAL that they couldn't diagnose a imminent transmission failure even with the additional 9 years after the car was released (2009). Not even after all the complaints of the transmission failing, or attempted class actions against Nissan for this specific transmission, they don't know how to diagnose a CVT failure problem correctly. There's absolutely no way Nissan hasnt' encountered hundreds of customers with broken CVTs to be fixed. Which brings me to either 2 sub-reasons why I'm using this defense:

1. They were not interested in replacing a CVT that I don't have to pay for because it's under warranty and couldn't come up (Which I still am shaky on making this point because Fidelity is a 3rd Party Warranty Service, so I don't think Nissan doesn't have to exactly Pay out of Pocket themselves, however I doubt they contacted them or brought up the issues I expressed with the reliability otherwise they would have stated that on the service documents, so they were on some BS.
2. they were as stated before, unprofessional, uneducated and neglectful and possibly wanted me to come back after my warranty expired with a broken transmission to spend 4600 grand on (probably expected me to pay 800 for unneeded replacements, to come up.)


I'm sure and would honestly hope nobody would pay 4600 on the transmission of an Altima for 2 reasons:
1. If it's a brand new CVT Altima, it should have a warranty on it (A factory?)
2. If it's an older Altima like mine, which should most likely have high mileage (unless it's in Jay Leno's garage), the Average cost for a whole AUTOMATIC/MANUAL on in with 120,000 miles and decent condition (excluding engine and transmission, meaning exterior and interior) is literally 4600. I'd be better off buying an Altima with a more reliable transmission then putting another time bomb in my car. So I don't know why they'd even have it priced like that, but hey.. there's money to be made, understandable.

End Rant

Desired resolution: Replace the CVT Valve Body and any other parts suffering damage caused by their misdiagnosis (Yes, I have changed the CVT Oil in attempt to revive it but the damage has already been done, I s*** you not, the fluid damn near looked like this):

[youtube]If you do not want to read my full rant, which includes every single spec of information that you might need to make a accurate judgement and give good guidance on how to proceed from here --- Scroll ALL the way to the bottom until you see FINAL and Condensed Conclusion. However I'd recommend reading this because you might relate or if you are a new Nissan CVT owner, regardless if it's a coupe or not it may help you not get f-cked around and over.

My statistics that may influence your responses, judgement and advice.

20 year old owner, male.

My miles are mainly highway as I mainly travel to work which is 30 miles away, doing offerup meetups to sell clothes and merchandise and to see relatives that are 150 miles away (300 mile round trip, I make this drive every 1-2 months)

I live in a moderate traffic zone with HEAVY police activity because I live near a Huge Courthouse, Juvenile Station, a Jail and Police Headquarters, so I don't speed because the probability of you getting a ticket in my area is 70% if you're going at least 7mph over, even though super-raised pickup trucks go 20mph over all the time and never get pulled over.
Driving Style: Both Offensive and Defensive (Offensive doesn't mean aggressive)
Average speed Commuting - 75mph
Max Commuting Speed - 90mph, which is to pass and get over in a 70 mph zone, and in north carolina, the speed of traffic is 80-85 until you see a state trooper, If you know, you know.

Car shop history
- Replaced coilpacks when casing was burnt, causing a P0302 code to be thrown when SES light came in (Cylinder 2 misfire)
- Front end tie-rod was bent due to overreaction that caused understeer on a corner in wet conditions due to a loose dog, should have hit it. Alignment was given due to lack of money during the time which I soon regretted.
- Tie-rod snapped due to damage and freezing weather condition, the force of the snap completely destroyed the pin and rack system (the whole front end). Was given a completely new front end which was around $2000, thankfully my insurance covered it and used the money from repairing the prior maintenance as the deductible. and THANKFULLY, I was leaving my girlfriends house when it snapped and wasn't going 40mph or 65 on the highway because I would have got in a serious accident. According to treadquarters, the snap was completely unpredictable and could have happened anytime because they would have pointed it out upon inspection.
- New Battery, which I didn't really need and you'll find out why below.

Only 1 of those listed were engine issues, and it has been completely corrected and I consider it maintenance rather than a out of pocket problem (Like the transmission and front end)


No performance mods that would affect engine reliability -- Stock.

Now before I start my rant, here are some things I wish I did or should have done:
Google and learn about the specific transmission in my car, so I could have used the knowledge I have no against the dealer.
Been more assertive and confident about what I do know about my car.
Returned to the dealer again soon after the warranty expired.
Questioned the Mechanics.
Taken it back to the dealer repetitively to the point where they would have known my full name by my face.
Contacted my warranty Company when I felt jipped.

Start Rant


I bought a 2009 Nissan Altima Coupe with the help of my dad for about 8,000 after fees from a Hyundai Hall dealer. The car had about 104,000 miles on it during the time of purchase and the salesman stated that the car could possibly have transmission issues. Due to this, the car came with a extended warranty up to 12 months and 120,000 miles. The warranty was provided by Fidelity Warranty Services and was very limited warranty specifically for the drivetrain/transmission. All this sounded pretty fair to me and my dad so we went ahead and bought it.

Within these 12 months of the warranty I came across some pretty iffy performance issues pertaining to the car. The first thing I took it to Hyundai for was a possible transmission problem that was pretty minor at the time. The car would hesitate to shift at around 15-20 miles per hour, and it would only do that such thing at those speeds. Hyundai took a look at it and said that they could not replicate the issue and no codes were thrown. So I said OK, maybe it was just a one time thing, except this happened more frequently and I bought it back to Hyundai again and they said the same s***. Only this time, they told me to take it to Nissan Hall across the street from Hyundai Hall because they said they have more experience with cars such as mine. Which also sounded fair because Hyundai doesn't have CVT transmissions.


From that point it seems like they handed us over to the abusive step parents and s*** got worse from there. We took it to Nissan and during this point another issue has arisen. My Altima would go from sounding like a 4cyl 2.5 to a 6.4L Supercharged V8. And if you don't know where I'm getting at, my car would whine every time I use the throttle -- Especially going uphill and driving for long periods of time. And during this time my car would hesitate to accelerate and the whining would get uncomfortably loud to the point it sounded like it was going to explode. I expressed concern for this and I thought it could be an Alternator issue because I've driven the care less than 10,000 miles however I also said it could also be a transmission issue. It seems like they completely ignored the transmission part and only focused on the alternator.

They told me it was a Alternator One Way Clutch issue which wasn't under warranty and I'd have to pay out of pocket. He said if I didn't fix this issue I'd lose all power to the car at a random time which could be dangerous. I thought and still do think that is s*** because I had no problems with battery power. The only time my car battery has died is when I left it in accessory mode while chilling with a friend listening to music. I jumped the car, drove it around and the battery charged fine... Anyway, I declined getting that fixed and had to pay a 120 dollar diagnostic fee. No complaints there, that just life.

I took my car in for the final time during December (which the time I bought the car a year prior) and I expressed concerns again for the shuddering and jerking during 30-40 mph and never bought up the whining because I was told it was an alternator issue and it wasn't under warranty.

Now hear this, before I even express the issue I tell this dumb b**** working at the desk that my car has a warranty and she completely cuts me off saying that my car doesn't have a warranty, and that it is too old to have one. I told her and it was up to a year extended and she says she will check and what do you know... I have a warranty. However, she tells me I have limited warranty thats exclusive to the drivetrain only, some s*** I already knew. She also tells me that they are going to run a diagnostic and if no issues pertaining to the warranty's coverage are found, I'd have to pay a diagnostic charge of 120. At this point, I know this dumb a** isn't even qualified to talk to me because she doesn't even know that 2009 Nissans have extended warranties and I should have told her to get someone else. But I'm a nice person and I kept my composure. After waiting I get told that I have a head gasket leak that could cause potential misfire with no codes thrown and NO other issues were found. And I also recall her telling me my warranty is expired (which I found out it wasn't, because it expired December 30th, and I took it in on the 8th. So in the end, I paid another 120 diagnostic fee and went about my way and hoped for the best.

Fast forward to now (126,000 miles and a year after warranty) and my CVT transmission has completely failed. Before it completely failed there was hardcore shuddering and vibration coming from my side when taking off from a stoplight and slowing down to the stoplight. It would do this even if it was in neutral but not as violent but at higher speeds it drove almost fine with the exception of the RPMs not lowering and the transmission belt not exactly tightening. And if anybody that drives a CVT you know what I am talking about, if not -- let me explain.

When you press the gas to accel. to higher speeds, the RPMS rise until you take your foot off the throttle and the transmission cvt belt tightens depending on your speed or how much the throttle is pressed. The belt will NOT tighten until you do this. This gives you some control of your shifting which I really like about CVTs, makes it very easy to accel. fast and pass on the left.


But back to what I said, it would not tighten/lower the rpms allowing you to cruise normally. So my Altima's cruising RPM is about 1500 rpm at 60, but during the time of the failure it was at about 2500-3000 rpm and the throttle response was wayyy too much. A slight press would make it jump to 4500 rpm with no power being delivered to accel. Which was a symptom of transmission failure I was having during the warranty I found out.

Now that I've researched about CVTs, I know the symptoms of the failure and it turns out all the s*** I bought it to the dealer about was ALL transmission failure symptoms.


RECAP of problems I was having during the warranty

- Car jerking and shift hesitation (slipping?) when accelerating 15-40 mph (The jerking would happen in that speed window)
- Transmission Whining when driving uphill, accelerating and driving for long periods of time (So in my case, the whining would start after an hour of consecutive highway driving and get worse from there.


Now, hear me out guys. I've been hustled alot in my life so I know how to take a loss but here is my major point I'm going to make.

The dealer sold me a car with a tranmission that is notorious for going out at EARLY milage (We are talking 24,000 to 30,000 miles averaged based on the reports). Most likely Acknowledged this, and gave me a limited warranty, (Which I can understand because this car was a time bomb, it would not make sense for any dealer to put a full warranty on a car with a infamous transmission and high mileage.. its just too much risk) and then act retarded when I come to bring it in because of issues.

And what makes matters worse, these are NISSAN mechanics. You're telling me you mass produce a CVT transmission and none of your mechanics don't know what the symptoms of a failing CVT? They never TOUCHED the tranmission except when they "reset the variables" to try and stop the jerking at 20-40 mph. I am not going to sit here and blame everyone but myself. I should have done some research myself and know when the dealership is completely bullshitting me.


It turns out the whining comes from the Nissan CVT fluid being very hot which means it would needed to be changed. According to most seasoned CVT owners, they change this every 20,000 miles to prevent damage. I have all the service records and they never even MENTIONED that the transmission fluid may need changing. s***, I never even considered it until after the warranty in which I actually brought it up to my dad that transmission fluid may need to be replaced. My dad has the best intentions for me so I know he would tell me what he knows about anything pertaining to cars to the best of his knowledge as his dad was a seasoned mechanic. He told me that the transmission oil is different from regular oil and doesn't need to be changed so often. I think most people would agree with that too, except this isn't the case. CVT's are much more complex and since they don't shift and have an INFINITE amount of gear ratios, they tend to go through the oil much quicker then the average traditional automatic. Not a lot of people know this because CVTs really aren't that talked about and here's a little law that goes for anything:

When s*** isn't talked about or discussed ----> Nobody knows about said s*** -----> Knowledge and Information about s*** isn't spread -----> Knowledge about s*** isn't classified as common knowledge -----> Nobody knows about s*** and not knowing s*** will ultimately have you s*** out of luck when you NEED to know it, ESPECIALLY when its too late.

I've driven the car 22,000 miles when the transmission failed, I've taken the car to 4-5 different mechanics:

Hyundai Hall (2 times)
Nissan Hall (3 times, Maybe 4)
Treadquarters (2 times)

Treadquarters was the most helpful out of the all the mechanics I took it to, telling me more information about my car that both Hall Dealerships have ever done. Yet still, they never checked or mentioned to me that I could be due for a CVT fluid flush.

The first time I expressed concerns of the whining was around no more than 110,000 miles.. which means I've only driven in 6,000 miles when I noticed this... which brings me to another question.

Did they not flush the f*** fluid before selling it to me? This is a dealership not a mom and pops automobile discount yard. They are to be kept to the highest standard of professionalism and customer service should be phenomenal. Before I bought the car, the salesman told me the car was being inspected and other s*** like that so I couldn't take a look at it sooner with my dad. Hearing that it was being inspected and had to wait for it to pass inspection was +1 because it insured we weren't be sold some s*** that was going to break down as soon as we rolled off the lot. So did they not perform recent maintenance on the god damn CVT transmission, that is known for failing when it's basically brand new, and gave me a warranty on it before selling it to me? Because whining should not happen that damn early, especially when whining happens normally 30,000 after the first fluid change. According to a report I read when it came to dealing with transmission fluid, it should be changed after 100,000 miles (which doesn't sound right to me, so don't attack me) and then every 30k. This sounds alot like they did not do proper maintenance on it before selling it to me. Like I said, this came from a Hyundai Hall Dealer, not Nissan. I'm not sure if that would make a difference in knowledge seeing that the mechanics at both dealerships clearly don't know s*** trying to make me pay for s*** that has nothing to do with the problem at hand.


Problems Nissan said it was:
Head gasket leak (no code) \ \
Alternator Failure (no codes) > None of those were under warranty, fair enough.
Bad coilpacks (no code) //


The actual problems after I researched CVTs

Transmission fluid needed premature changing due to it being poorly maintained before purchase
Transmission Slipping and Jerking when belt tightening (shifting for non cvt folks)
Transmission Hellcat Whining after driving for moderate periods of time, most would consider work-driving commuting distance (an hour, or 70-80 miles) It would happen a lot more earlier when you have to slow down and accelerate frequently in traffic.


I took my Altima Coupe to service 2,000 miles prior to when I adressed the whining, which was when I adressed the jerking. So the possible transmission slipping happened before the whine.. Usually the poor maintenance of fluid causes the oil to overheat, which causes the whining and transmission slipping then ultimately destroying the fragile cvt due to amplified wear and tear failure.


My possibly opinionated points and feelings condensed into 1 paragraph (EDIT* Now about 5 because I'm so pissed.. I'm sorry for dragging this out so long, I really want you guys to know EXACTLY what happened and what I did, so I could get educated on what I did wrong and what I should have did. And I also want you to know what a fellow and possibly ex 09' CVT Coupe owner went through with the Hall Dealership and I really do want advice on how to proceed)

I feel as if the Hall Dealership completely sold me a car with hidden issues that weren't completely addressed. I feel like they also screwed me over knowingly selling me a transmission grenade that they had zero interest in defusing, and I get dealerships and warranty companies have to hustle us and make money but jesus christ, this is absurd. i just find it completely coincidental that all of the obvious symptoms of a CVT transmission failure were completely overlooked. They didn't tell me anything of importance that I should know or any behooving maintenance recommendations which would be the CVT transmission fluid. These are Nissan Mechanics that should know in and out of a car made by Nissan, and the fact that the car was "too old" isn't an excuse at all because they still make CVTs till this day.

And when I write this long a** rant it brings me to some other points I'm going to bring up, but it's entirely up to you all to read it as it's not important to my relative topic (which is Hall completely neglecting and practically lying about maintenance). There should be at least one mechanic that is completely educated on at least of on the transmission Nissan Offers, which would be an Automatic, CVT and Manual transmission. I feel like Nissan and Hyundai (Hall in entirety) gave me the run around and telling me to buy and replace certain things that would have me in my current situation REGARDLESS. And I'm so glad my dad told me not to buy these things because I would have spent atleast 2,000 on maintenance on a car with a transmission that was going to fail anyway.

I KNOWWWWWW they would not have told me anything pertaining to the transmission when I bought these things and expected me to come crawling back and spent 4,000 (This is approximate on Nissan's Rape price, because my grandpa [My dad's dad, the mechanic] told me I could get a re manufactured CVT transmission with another 12 month warranty for 2600 which is still a lot for a 20 year old in college and part time job to make ends meet) on another transmission that was going to probably end in the same exact fate as my current one when it finally went out. Thankfully I opted out on those because I would have spent 6,000 dollars (MIND YOU THE f*** CAR WAS 8,000 [AFTER FEES AND EXTERNAL PAINT REPAIR, AND INSIDE IONIZING BECAUSE IT SMELT LIKE CIG. SMOKE]) which is 6/9ths of the price of the car itself.

And for any of the Nissan Mechanics out there reading this, please don't think this is a negative rant about you guys. We appreciate you to an extent for being on this forum and telling us information that we probably would never find out at the Nissan Servicing section. I know not all Mechanics are Scumbags, but these guys are (and woman) because they knew what they were doing. This was damn near fraudulent (and I say damn near because I can't for sure say it was intentional, I'm still doing research and acquiring service records on my vehicle to have strong defense when I go and confront Nissan Hall, located in Western Branch Blvd, Chesapeake Virginia, about why they don't know what they are working on and trying to rob me blind by saying some s*** issues with my car that were completely irrelevant, making me pay 240 bucks in diagnostic fees because it didn't throw a code on the ODB reader.

By the way, the transmission is completely f***, it needs an absurd amount of gas to even get it to move, and when it does move (and when I say move, I mean the wheel make even half of a rotation, past that point it does roll) it shudders violently hard to the point it makes me cringe and wince like when the big guy in John Wick 3: Parabellum gets annihilated by John with the Book in the library (I need you guys to get a good idea on how hard it shudders and shakes). Also, when I put it in reverse, the wheel doesn't even rotate backwards. And in the event when in drive and I somehow get the Front wheels moving, (as its shaking hard as hell) when I put it in neutral the wheel completely STOPS, it doesn't get slower and slower until it eventually stops like a normal transmission would. All of this s*** that is clearly not supposed to be happening happens and STILL doesn't throw a code. Not ONE! So clearly the car isn't throwing SES codes to find out exactly whats wrong because the car itself isn't diagnosing itself (which is another problem, this is evidence that the car may have had problems under warranty but wasn't throwing codes for a transmission issue.. I want to ask if your Altima's [2008-2013] throw codes for transmission issues, if it doesn't , I don't know why they'd make me pay a diagnostic fee for a car that doens't throw transmission codes anyway and they saw an opportunity to get some cash. (or am I being far fetched..)

So my question for you guys is, what do I do? I have all service records that show me expressing concern for transmission reliability and it was neglected and not paid attention to by the incompetence of Nissan Hall's Service Department. It clearly states the mileage I expressed concerns of whining and jerking and what they have done to fix it, which is basically nothing. My current motive is to hold Nissan Hall responsible for their lack of professionalism and their attempt to treat me like I am stupid (in which I was during the time of the warranty, I completely trusted that they knew what they were talking about, which is stupid of me).


My defenses:

The Nissan Service Department neglected the symptoms of the failing transmission in attempt to make me buy unnecessary parts in their own interest, and so that they wouldn't have to pay for parts and labor for the mechanics involved.

Reasons to support: Upon research, there has been people who have went to Nissan for concerns of a CVT problems and have basically falsely recommended parts that in whole had nothing to do with their concerns. Taking advantage of customers lack of knowledge and charging substantial amounts of money for parts while ignoring the actual problem at hand.. Sending them away just to return with the same exact problem they came in for the first time for and THEN telling them their transmission is failing. I believe this would have been my case if I didn't have my limited warranty during the time.


The Nissan Service department should have been more aware of the symptoms of a failing CVT Transmission, even if they genuinely thought it was a alternator concern. (Which it isn't because the alternator works fine, even after the transmission has failed)

Reasons to Support: There is no possible, and feasible reason why a car manufacturer would mass produce a transmission (we are going to ignore that it's infamous for being garbage) and none of their mechanics or anybody in the service department for that matter can't diagnose TWO of the biggest signs of transmission failure. Now I am going to factor in that the transmission is garbage. SUPER COINCIDENTAL that they couldn't diagnose a imminent transmission failure even with the additional 9 years after the car was released (2009). Not even after all the complaints of the transmission failing, or attempted class actions against Nissan for this specific transmission, they don't know how to diagnose a CVT failure problem correctly. There's absolutely no way Nissan hasnt' encountered hundreds of customers with broken CVTs to be fixed. Which brings me to either 2 sub-reasons why I'm using this defense:

1. They were not interested in replacing a CVT that I don't have to pay for because it's under warranty and couldn't come up (Which I still am shaky on making this point because Fidelity is a 3rd Party Warranty Service, so I don't think Nissan doesn't have to exactly Pay out of Pocket themselves, however I doubt they contacted them or brought up the issues I expressed with the reliability otherwise they would have stated that on the service documents, so they were on some BS.
2. they were as stated before, unprofessional, uneducated and neglectful and possibly wanted me to come back after my warranty expired with a broken transmission to spend 4600 grand on (probably expected me to pay 800 for unneeded replacements, to come up.)

Proposed Issues by Nissan and why I think it's s***

1. Alternator (whining)
Why I think it's misdiagnosed (BS): The alternator does the job it's designed for, it charges the battery when it's dead and did it again after transmission issue. One Way Clutch symptoms are not present at all.
2. Bad coils (potential misfire) - I've had a bad coil when coming back from treadquarters with new rims. when I accelerated, cylinder 3 misfired and my service engine soon light came on (this was 6 months after the warranty expired), one of the coils was burnt through the casing and it needed replacing. I replaced all of them and never had a misfire since. If it was really bad coils, the service engine soon light would have came on everytime it jerked as prominently as it did, and threw a code. Plus from what I can recall, when my coil caused the misfire, the sound was COMPLETELY different and the issue was felt at the FRONT of the engine, not right below me. So if this was an issue I would have dealt with the consequences of not taking car of it much sooner.
3. Head gasket leak (?????) - Googled symptoms of a head gasket leak, never had any of those symptoms. Still no code relating to it or a SES light.


Wanna know what else is funny? The only thing that has completely failed was the transmission, even though all their concerns were in the engine. It drove completely fine and never had a SES light until my coilpacks went bad.

I'm sure and would honestly hope nobody would pay 4600 on the transmission of an Altima for 2 reasons:
1. If it's a brand new CVT Altima, it should have a warranty on it (A factory?)
2. If it's an older Altima like mine, which should most likely have high mileage (unless it's in Jay Leno's garage), the Average cost for a whole AUTOMATIC/MANUAL on in with 120,000 miles and decent condition (excluding engine and transmission, meaning exterior and interior) is literally 4600. I'd be better off buying an Altima with a more reliable transmission then putting another time bomb in my car. So I don't know why they'd even have it priced like that, but hey.. there's money to be made, understandable.

End of the Main Rant, we are almost ending here. You're allowed to get a drink at this point, I'll wait.

Desired resolution: Replace the CVT Valve Body and any other parts suffering damage caused by their misdiagnosis at either Nissan's Expense or Fidelity Warranty (Yes, I have changed the CVT Oil in attempt to revive it but the damage has already been done, I s*** you not, the fluid damn near looked like this):

https://giphy.com/f952c040-e68a-41c2-9ff0-fe0b668e8475

Mind you, my 09 Altima Coupe doesn't have the 1-bolt oil drain feature like the other blessed altimas do, for some reason... I had to complete unbolt the whole pan off and remove it for it to drain, exposing the Valve Body, and to make sure ALL the liquid asphalt was drained from the CVT, I turned it on and let it run for 20 seconds, and repeated it again (as stated, this helps clear excess fluid out, and if you want to completely flush your CVT, you remove the valve body). Nissan clearly doesn't want you servicing your own transmission even though they didn't even want to do it for me. Either that, or they were just completely unaware when it's time to change the CVT fluid... I would have went to Nissan and let them do it professionally and make sure I didn't make a small mistake or use the wrong transmission fluid, but I didn't want to give money to a place that didn't want to help me when they were obligated to. Just a sleezy dealership in whole and I hope anyone that lives in the 757 is reading this -- Please do NOT go to Western Branch, Chesapeake's Nissan Hall.

However, I did make a step to gather evidence and build a strong defense before I go and talk my s*** to the dealers. The same b**** at that thought she knew what she was talking about was at the desk and still had this attitude and tone in her voice like I don't know why I am in there, however this time I was alot more confident because I knew they f*** up. I asked for ALL service records on my Altima and she said she could only print 3, knowing damn well I came in way more than 3 times to attempt and get my car fixed under warranty. So I left and headed to[/youtube]
However, I did make a step to gather evidence and build a strong defense before I go and talk my s*** to the dealers. The same b**** at that thought she knew what she was talking about was at the desk and still had this attitude and tone in her voice like I don't know why I am in there, however this time I was alot more confident because I knew they f*** up. I asked for ALL service records on my Altima and she said she could only print 3, knowing damn well I came in way more than 3 times to attempt and get my car fixed under warranty. So I left and headed to Hyundai Hall to see if I could recover anymore service records, however she also told me it wouldn't allow her to print the records but she came clutch and screenshotted them and printed them. I also asked her if she had any Warranty information pertaining to the car and she said she does, but does not show much information. So guess what this sweetheart did for me? She put in just a BIT of effort and recovered the phone number. She asked me what was wrong with the car and I told her my transmission is completely done and it won't even move under it's own weight. I also explained that all the concerns I expressed while the car was under warranty was telltale signs of transmission failure. Plus a little bit of it was preventive if they diagnosed my car correctly the first time and told me what was actually wrong with it. Now that my warranty is expired past 1 year, my transmission has completely failed. She told me I could call the warranty company and file a claim, and based on the evidence I give them (My defense, experience and most importantly the service records), they could write me a "Goodwill" and if I take it to a Nissan dealer, not necessarily the same one (I think the f*** not) and get it officially diagnosed as a transmission issue they could repair it free of charge.



Evidence:
My defenses as explained above
My experience with their shadiness and predatory-like tactics, and complete misdiagnosis.
Service records, which clearly state the reason why I brought it in and what they've "recommended" for me to replace (Even though it was proven as bull), and what they've done to fix the problem (Nothing, never really did actual labor to obtain information for a accurate diagnosis.. clearly not even a google search.



If you guys could please help me certify that this is a transmission issue as proof, please do. Here are the symptoms.

- Car shakes super violently when trying to give it gas
- Slipping, high throttle response however no power is being delivered.
- Reverse doesn't work
- Wheels stop on a dime when place in neutral
- Heavy engine shaking
- No check engine light
- Clunking and banging felt right below the engine, between driver and passenger. Possible driveshaft issue

I even have video I've recorded. I've lifted the front end up just to make the wheel rotate easier since it doesn't have weight on it. After doing this, I've realized how much more severe the problem is (In Nissan's case, anything but the transmission). The wheel still struggles to turn even with no weight on it.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZNZPqQgDc0A

Timestamps:

0:19 - Me giving it gas in reverse
0:22 - Putting it in neutral (Notice how the wheel stops on a dime..?)
0:26 - Giving it gas in drive
0:48 - Giving it gas in reverse again but the driveshaft doesn't respond to the throttle.
1:00 - Me coming to the conclusion that I really am SOL.


Let me know your advice and give me an opinion on if I should fight to have my car repaired.



UPDATES:

NONE YET, Will keep posted