Lemon. Bought a rogue with a "bad transmission."

[Officialrich]

Okay so yesterday I bought a 2010 rogue from a private seller. I test drove the car. My wife test drove the car. I took it on the freeway (though not for long) and took it to napa because the seller said a swervey light (TVs off) comes on intermittently.

Napa(actually it was the napa affiliate across the street) found no codes. Test drives went great. Engine looked clean, no leakage, but hadn't been cleaned.

Talked the seller down from $3500 down to $3000 due to high mileage. Nearly 200k


After 40 minute highway drive home, from a complete stop the vehicle felt as though it was trying to take off from a higher gear. It also has a bit of a shake when trying to "shift" that I didn't notice until my wife pointed out.

At this point I had paid $3k for the vehicle, emissions, registration, and a tank of gas.

That's when I decided to take the day off work because of my wife telling me about the poor acceleration.. I had to feel it for myself.

Indeed. After the long highway drive, it felt like it was stuck in third gear coming from a full stop. If you floor it you have to manually do the foot twitch to get it to "shift" and it vibrates when it's cool and actually "shifting" through "gears" as normal.

We immediately took it to the local nissan dealership. They said that the break light sensor was bad. The trans cooler was bad. The trans fluid was badly burnt. And I needed a new transmission.

I am kind of skeptical because I tried talked to them about it. Because the "scorecard" said that the transmission passed. But the tech notes said it failed.

They said that burnt fluid and "metal in the pan" mean a I need a new transmission.

They would not confirm any metal in the pan.

After asking about just replacing the trans cooler, brake light sensor, and fluid flush. They exclaimed that burnt fluid meant that none of that would help and I needed a new transmission. They also let me know that financing was available.

Does this sound legit or sketchy? Obviously the dude who sold me the rogue was sketch but that is what it is... what I want to know is if the dealer is being sketch. It feels like I have a salesman for a service tech telling me that I need a new trans when i would get be fine just replacing the components causing the trans to fail...

What do you guys think? What should i do?

This whole ordeal puts me in a significantly worse situation than i was in two days ago with a totaled car.. now I've blown my 401k laon option on a lemon..

Thanks for reading,
Richard

[Rogue Jarhead]

Wow, I hate to say it but the dealer may be correct. These cars have the very problematic CVT (crap) transmission. They were so bad that Nissan extended the warranty out to 120k miles for the 2010 and previous models. So yours is in that category.

If there is no metal or chunks in the pan you might get away with a flush and refill of the transmission fluid to gain some additional time, and it might make no difference.

There is a diy section on this forum that tells how to change the fluid yourself.

08-13-rogue-diy-repairs-maintenance-faq ... 07234.html

If this was mine I would change the fluid , flush the cooler or replace it, if it’s not leaking it should be fine, and see what the transmission was like at that point. The Nissan NS2 fluid that the transmission requires is available off amazon but it’s still nearly $20 a guart so a do it yourself flush and fill is going to be over $100 but It MAY help, there are no guarantees.

If it helps and the shifting is good take it to a dealer and trade it in. You might at least get your money back in trade in value.
Just don’t do to someone else what the previous owner did to you.

You might also consider small claims court against the former owner, depending on the laws in your state, but that’s probably more trouble than it’s worth.

[Rogue One]

Your topic title is a bit misleading. You bought a high mileage car without having it checked out by a mechanic (NAPA doesn't count). Take your vehicle to an independent repair shop to get a second opinion.

[datechboss101]

Is this your first used car? Clearly what you did is a rookie mistake, for the PPI. Now, I clearly suggest or either do a D&F, 3x, with few hundred/few thousand miles in between. If you feel like you got firetrucked in this deal, after having a certified and trusted mechanic does a proper PPI, trade the car in or go to small claims court. But then, a nearly 200k mile Nissan, you would expect these types of issues, if the PO(s) never gave a dam about maintenance and stuff.

[amc49]

If it is the CVT trans, Nissan pretty much changes the trans only, they do NOT repair them at all. Whopping amounts of things going wrong with that trans type has taught them to stick it to a 3rd party rebuilder as the transmissions are pretty much torn up when they go bad, a LOT needs changing inside them in most cases.

Should get out more, the major problems with that trans type have been all over the web like forever. Many do not last nearly that long.

[Rogue Jarhead]

I would bet that this car is on its second or maybe even third transmission, with the other replacement (s) being under warranty and the PO knew what was going and knowing he was out of warranty he unloaded it.

[darylzero]

I would bet that this car is on its second or maybe even third transmission, with the other replacement (s) being under warranty and the PO knew what was going and knowing he was out of warranty he unloaded it.

This is why it's totally worth getting the carfax on a car you are actually going to buy.

[datechboss101]

I would bet that this car is on its second or maybe even third transmission, with the other replacement (s) being under warranty and the PO knew what was going and knowing he was out of warranty he unloaded it.

This is why it's totally worth getting the carfax on a car you are actually going to buy.

And a trusted mech to check it too!