Hi,

I have purchased a 2013 Rogue SV around 4 months ago and it just reached 30K miles. I have contacted my dealer about the service schedule for 30K miles services and he gave me a quote of $475!!

I searched this forum about 30K service and understood that its an expensive service. My question is, do I really need ~$500 service on the car that I purchased 4 months ago?

What do you guys suggest, to :
1. go for the service plan as per the dealer or
2. take only subset of it (like Oil change, etc)..?

If option 2 is selected, I would be glad if you can list down the stuff that I need to get checked/replaced. Also, will not going for complete service as per owner's manual effect my warranty?

Thanks!

I have a 2013 S and am in exactly the same place. Purchased from Hertz in July, just hit 30k. Your $475 probably includes an oil change so if you can do that yourself you should save a few bucks. My local dealers (NW Oregon) quoted $400 to service the CVT. Fluid cost is around $200 and the balance is labor at $155/hr. Should include a flush.

I am going to have them do the CVT service because mine was a fleet vehicle and Hertz does not provide rental or maintenance history for sold vehicles. That was the only downside from buying from them. I know a CVT drain and fill is an easy DIY job but I want them to do it and to inspect the tranny. Mine growls a bit climbing hills when hot.

Also, if yours has a chassis rattle underneath it is probably caused by a broken spot weld on the exhaust center tube heat shield and should be covered under warranty under NSB14018.

Ask the service adviser about the warranty violation question. Hope this helps.

UPDATE: Just talked to my local dealer (Portland, Oregon area) to schedule a 30k appt. Quoted $168.66 to drain, fill and inspect the CVT. $386 to drain, flush and fill the CVT and torque converter. This is for my AWD version which I assumed yours is also.

PLUS - $288 for:
Replace oil & filter; engine air filter; cabin air filter. Brake fluid flush and change; check differential and transfer case fluids and condition, plus about 18 other routine "inspections" they would perform.

I told him I do my own oil changes and already changed the mentioned filters, so they will significantly reduce the price accordingly for the rest. I asked about the warranty violation issue and was told that if you keep your receipts and records for parts/products purchased or other service (i.e. Jiffy Lube, etc), you will typically not violate warranty if a failure occurs within warranty, provided there is no evidence of neglect or abuse. I didn't ask if skipping any scheduled service milestones would violate warranty.

Notice that if you add the $169 to the $288 it comes to about what you were quoted on your side, so my guess is they're quoting you the CVT drain and fill only plus all the other stuff. This service rep told me that the CVT fluid change is optional at 30k but required at 60k. I'm going to have mine done because it was a fleet vehicle for the first year of it's life.

Why not just have the CVT fluid life/deterioation determined with the scan tool and then decide to replace it? I am unsure why you would want to replace it sooner than it is recommended. On my year, it is only recommend to have it drained after 30K when you are towing. It seems silly to be replacing the CVT fluid every 2 years.

TrevorK wrote:Why not just have the CVT fluid life/deterioation determined with the scan tool and then decide to replace it? I am unsure why you would want to replace it sooner than it is recommended. On my year, it is only recommend to have it drained after 30K when you are towing. It seems silly to be replacing the CVT fluid every 2 years.

Your approach makes perfect sense, but I'm hell-bent on doing drains and refills rather than flushes. I'm afraid this CVT is so sensitive that even a few molecules of whatever substance is used for flushing might remain in the system and mess things up badly years into the future, probably years after the warranty expires.

Since a drain and refill only changes about half the fluid at a time, it's necessary to do the job more frequently in order to keep the fluid as clean as possible. If you're doing flushes, it makes sense to do the dealer consult and only replace the fluid when absolutely necessary. But I'm planning on doing a drain/refill every 20-25K as long as I own the vehicle.

DTASFAB wrote:

TrevorK wrote:Why not just have the CVT fluid life/deterioation determined with the scan tool and then decide to replace it? I am unsure why you would want to replace it sooner than it is recommended. On my year, it is only recommend to have it drained after 30K when you are towing. It seems silly to be replacing the CVT fluid every 2 years.

Your approach makes perfect sense, but I'm hell-bent on doing drains and refills rather than flushes. I'm afraid this CVT is so sensitive that even a few molecules of whatever substance is used for flushing might remain in the system and mess things up badly years into the future, probably years after the warranty expires.

Since a drain and refill only changes about half the fluid at a time, it's necessary to do the job more frequently in order to keep the fluid as clean as possible. If you're doing flushes, it makes sense to do the dealer consult and only replace the fluid when absolutely necessary. But I'm planning on doing a drain/refill every 20-25K as long as I own the vehicle.

Agreed. Like I said, since mine was a fleet vehicle and I don't have history for it, I'm having the fluid changed (not flushed) at 30k, then at 60k. DTASFAB is right in that this CVT needs special attention to ensure long life.

DTASFAB wrote:

TrevorK wrote:Why not just have the CVT fluid life/deterioation determined with the scan tool and then decide to replace it? I am unsure why you would want to replace it sooner than it is recommended. On my year, it is only recommend to have it drained after 30K when you are towing. It seems silly to be replacing the CVT fluid every 2 years.

Your approach makes perfect sense, but I'm hell-bent on doing drains and refills rather than flushes. I'm afraid this CVT is so sensitive that even a few molecules of whatever substance is used for flushing might remain in the system and mess things up badly years into the future, probably years after the warranty expires.

Since a drain and refill only changes about half the fluid at a time, it's necessary to do the job more frequently in order to keep the fluid as clean as possible. If you're doing flushes, it makes sense to do the dealer consult and only replace the fluid when absolutely necessary. But I'm planning on doing a drain/refill every 20-25K as long as I own the vehicle.

It would seem then that you are assuming that the fluid used to flush out the transmission is harmful because by doing a drain/fill you have all the other failure points (such as incorrectly filling it, etc). I have never seen any merit to this theory that the fluid used in the flush will damage the CVT.

How do you know that what causes the damage is not deteriotated fluid? And that by doing a drain/refill (and never flushing) you will always have some amount of dirty fluid. If you are worried about such small amounts causing problems, doing a drain/refill does not seem to be the way to go.


I am not against a drain/refill process for a transmission. But at the same time, the points you indicate you are trying to address are not being addressed by a drain/refill (unless again, you believe the main cause of failure is the fluid used to flush it out). It would seem the ideal process would be a transmission flush without the cleaning agents then, which will remove all the dirty fluid and only use the actual transmission fluid.

A drain/fill is less invasive to the overall operation of the system than a complete flush. The danger of incorrectly filling the fluid to the wrong level is a hazard that is present when doing a complete flush just as it's present when doing a drain/refill. I'm not sure what other failure points are present when doing a drain/refill.

Of course it's possible, even likely, that deteriorated fluid will cause damage to the CVT. But these transmissions are designed to, and despite their delicate nature, capable of, running efficiently on fluid that is not 100% new and crystal clear. When a brand new Rogue is purchased and driven off the dealer's lot for the first time, it's going to start taking on dirt and debris from the road almost immediately. Transmission fluid that has been driven a few thousand miles is not going to be as clean as it was when it was sitting on a shelf in a factory sealed bottle, but there's no need to change it right away.

I'm not necessarily saying the act of flushing the CVT is what can lead to damage. I don't think that's really a problem. The issue that I'd like to avoid is the possibility that tiny microscopic amounts of cleansing detergents could remain in the CVT after the flush, and over the course of tens of thousands of miles, the presence of this foreign substance can lead to failure.

Doing a flush with actual NS-2 fluid would avoid this problem, but it's simply not cost effective, nor is it necessary. I'm not sure how much fluid would be needed to conduct the flush, but let's say it's five quarts. That means you'd need five quarts to flush and then 10 more to leave in the transmission as the replacement fluid. If you're going to use 15 quarts, you might as well do three drain/refill cycles all within really short intervals and get most of the contaminants and deteriorated fluid out that way. You'd never get perfectly clean, brand new, crystal clear fluid into the system at any point, but it doesn't have to sparkle. It just has to be clean enough to last 20-25K until the next drain/refill.

As I emphasized previously, the key to doing only periodic drain/refills is that the procedure has to be done at a greater frequency than if you were to do a complete flush every 50-60K. In fact, if you try to stretch the original fluid from 50K to 60K, you'll probably run a higher risk of contaminated/deteriorated fluid damaging the system during those last 10,000 miles than if you simply did a drain/refill every 25K. The entire point to doing it more frequently is so that it never gets downright filthy enough to need a complete flush.

Again, if the cleaning agents used during a flush are what you are worried about, then do not use them and just flush with the fluid. This will get rid of most of the contaminents (realistically).

Drain/refill only gets rid of part of the contaminents. And when you do another cycle, it is not as if you replace "the other half" of the dirty fluid. If you do a drain/refill at 30K and 60K (I think that is the frequency you suggest), then at 60K you still have quite a bit of dirty fluid. Whereas if you perform a flush at 60K, you will have much, much less dirty fluid.


The assumption you are making is that the transmission failure is often a result of cleansing agents and not other factors, such as deterioted fluid. Without anything to back this up, this is quite the assumption to make. I could see your reasoning if there was something behind this claim other than opinion, because why introduce something that causes failure. But without any evidence to back it up, the fact remains that a drain/refill will never remove all the dirty fluid, and that dirty fluid is often a cause of transmission failure.

The question remains though, in the Nissan Rogue in particular, what are the primary causes of transmission failure? Perhaps they are not fluid related, and in the end, we are all worrying about nothing and should just follow the maintenace guide.

I understand everything you said. You're correct that doing multiple drain/refill cycles does not replace "the other half" of the fluid. However, if you do multiple drain/refill cycles within a very short period of time, that can be almost as effective as a complete flush. For example, drain/refill at 30,000 miles, 30,500 miles, and another at 31,000 miles. That would take 15 quarts of CVT fluid in total and will result in a very clean mix when it's all finished. It also does not require any type of actual flushing procedure.

My contention is that if you do a drain/refill every 20-25K (not every 30K as you thought) the end result will be a rather consistent level of contaminants in the fluid throughout the entire cycle. The fluid will never be brand new, 100% fresh, and crystal clear, but it will be more than acceptable.

On the other hand, if you don't do anything except a complete flush every 60K, what you get is sparkly clean fluid at the start of the cycle (i.e., when the car is new and then immediately following each flush) and dirty fluid at the end of each cycle (i.e., fluid that has been driven well over 50K and is bordering on downright filthy).

Given the two options, I'd prefer the former. I never said my opinion was anything but that. If you want to follow the maintenance guide, go ahead. There's nothing wrong with doing that.