Hello, I’m looking for some help with some valve body related issues. Have been troubleshooting it myself for a few weeks, but figured I’d reach out for some other input. Sorry long post, but I’m a trouble shooter at heart and like to get all pertinent details out there.

Just FYI I’m in Canada so 50km/hr = ~ 30mi/hr (city speeds) 80 km/hr = ~ 50mi/hr (back highways) 90+km/hr = ~ 55+mi/hr (main highway)

I’m pretty in tune with how the car (2016 Rogue) feels and sounds etc. Seemed to all start while we were away, was driving at highway speeds (100-120 km/hr) for about an hour and then when I hit the exit ramp felt a slight judder and that was it. Few days pass no issues, back on the highway after about 30-45 mins start getting a lagging feeling with the Tach jumping between 1.5 – 2.5 as its doing it. Knew something was up with the transmission so I took it to the back highways (80 km and below) and drove leisurely still getting a judder every now and then.

Once I got back home I used a Blue Driver to identify a P0841 (Transmission Fluid Pressure Sensor/Switch 'A' Circuit Range/Performance). Tried just doing a fluid update (2nd for the vehicle in 6 years I’m the only owner), but that didn’t change anything. I then took the valve body out, cleaned the sensor and any connections I could get at, put it back together, cleared the codes, and the P0841 came back right away. There was no abnormal metal shavings in the pan, or filter, and I did have a look at the main pully and belt and it seemed fine to my laymen eyes. No scratches, mirror finish etc. At that point it was juddering around the city even at 50 km/hr.

At that point I assumed the sensor really was bad. Tried to find one standalone replacement, there are a lot of options available, but not many details to confirm that it is an exact replacement part, so I opted for a refurbished valve body. IDK if it matters, but it came from Oklahoma City, but that might have just been a distribution center.

Get the refurb and I took the sensor out of it, and put it in my own valve body. Thought the problem was fixed. The car felt slightly off, but I drove it around the city for a few days, no issues, no trouble codes came back, I was feeling good. I then took it on the highway and as soon as I got to 90km/hr it started doing it again. Lagging with the Tach jumping up and down. Took it to the back highway 80km/hr and below and had zero issues. Tried the main highway again on the way back as soon as I get to 90 have problems. Back to the 80 and below and no problems. There also have been no trouble codes come back in this period. Have driven in the city since this with no problems.

I should add I have no slipping from stop, or during acceleration. Since adding the new (refurb) sensor I do notice what feels like a slight reving higher when I come to a stop, but it does not appear to show on the Tach. My other car of over 15 years is a manual transmission and what the Rogue is doing feels like as if I am downshifting to slow the car down. I have heard that maybe the Rogue does do some engine breaking and that the reving is normal. I will say that I never noticed it before, so if it is normal that might be a clue that my old sensor A really was bad.

After much reading and watching it does seem like it is the secondary pulley that is not finding the right position while at cruising speed/power. My guess is there is a fluid restriction somewhere or one of the solenoids has gone bad as well. At this point my next steps would be to either take the valve body back out and put the refurb sensor back on the refurb unit and install that and see how it goes, or take the solenoid(s) off the refurb and replace the ones on my OEM. Problem is I don’t know if it should just be the Secondary Pulley Solenoid or a combo including the Select Solenoid and or the Line Pressure Solenoid. Only other thing I can think is a bad TCM or a reprogram of the TCM.

So that’s where I am, looking for help, input, or if anyone else has gone through or trouble shot this in the past.

I really want to make the right move as I've done this twice now and its about a 4 hour job each time and I lose some CVT fluid each time and at $30/L I don't want to lose too much.

I tried to have a look through the rogue and Altima forums, but never found anyone getting quite as involved as this.

Thanks.

P0841 all by itself is a little unusual, and it's possible a bad Valve Body is causing it. It's also possible (but not likely) you have resistance in the wiring for the Secondary Pressure Solenoid causing it to under-respond. I don't know of anyone who's had the slightest luck reconditioning VB's, when they fail it's usually a hydraulic or mechanical wear issue and you replace it. However, it's also possible you have a downstream hydraulic or mechanical issue in the secondary pulley, so it's entirely possible you'll replace the VB only to find out the tranny needs a rebuild. There's no good way to discriminate exactly where the system is losing pressure without a teardown.

Can you tell us more about the original CVT transmission? What are the miles/km on the odometer and how many times has the CVT fluid been changed and at what intervals?
Since the weakness of a CVT is not what you are concerned about, I'd suspect something else (mechanical failure of the CVT).

That being said, my wife's 2015 Rogue Select gave me a scare when the brake switch was failing, it put the car into spontaneous limp modes (would go in and out of a limp mode). Even mechanics I talked to told me to expect the CVT was failing but it ended up just being the brake switch.

(now that cars have electronic throttles, the brake switches going bad will put the car into limp mode for safety)

I change the CVT fluid in my wifes 2015 Rogue Select every 30,000 miles with NS3 fluid from Japan so I'm hoping the CVT lasts.

But if your 2016 Rogue has not had a lot of fluid changes, you may find some bad news. Jatco CVT's are the weakest transmissions made. No fluid changes is mechanical death. Or people who slam on the gas put stress on them so that can break them easily too.

Well, wait a minute, are you still getting the P0841 with the reman VB installed? I assumed you were, but after rereading your post, it seems like maybe not. If not, did you load the IP Chars for the new VB into the TCM? If you didn't, that's probably why it feels "off", because it is off. Your TCM is running the new VB using solenoid data from the old one.

Thanks for the replies guys.

Rick: I've known about the Jatco CVTs issues so Fluids been changed twice. First at 4 years at 65,000km and again 2 years later at 86,000. I know this is irregular intvertvals, but its what I could do. This is a drain and fill with NS3 from dealer. Fluid level checked appropriately at overflow.

Break switch failing is an interesting one. I'll definitely look more into that.


VStar: I didn't install the whole remanu VB. I assumed (perhaps incorrectly) that my own original VB was fine and it was just the sensor that was bad. I took the sensor out of the reman VB and installed it in my own.

But you are right, since I did that (installed reman sensor) the P0841 hasn't come back even with the problems I noticed at Highway speeds.

I did not load or reprogram anything as I don't have this ability at home and it should just be the sensor which as I understand is just a voltage reading.

No, if it's still the original VB then the problem can't be the IP Chars, those are calibration data for the solenoids and shouldn't be affected if you didn't swap solenoids out. If you did swap any solenoids, that was a mistake and could be causing your issues. On the other hand, if you didn't, then your original VB may have had more problems than just the sensor.