Possible front strut problem

[VStar650CL]

I only had the dealer do the cvt service because I had read before that it is a specialized procedure that they use proprietary tools and monitor the fluid levels, drain it, then refill back to the right level, cycle the transmission gears, all this other high tech stuff that to me sounded like something best left up to Nissan.

That's true if anyone did it the way the FSM recommends, but no one does. It would mean 9~10 quarts of fluid and at $25/qt would make a simple change cost-prohibitive for most people. For a DIYer, by far your best course is to simply do cold spill-and-fills and replace exactly what you remove. Unless there's a leak, that's 100% foolproof and requires 0% funny business.

[Jimmy9190]

Well I got the VeePeak dongle today from Amazon, put the Car Scanner ELM OBD2 app on my phone, got it all connected, the app does show a lot of data, but does not show the transmission temperature. I shouldn't believe everything I read online I guess. At least the app is free, and it does display some useful data.

I then got the CVTz50 app and it keeps losing the connection to the dongle. All I see on the transmission screen is a green and red square at the bottom of a temperature graph with a blinking bar at the bottom of the app that keeps alternating between "Connected" and "Connection Was Lost". I tried re-pairing the dongle and restarting the CVTz50 app several times, no luck. I don't know what I was doing wrong, but it seems to me if the dongle was bad it would not work with the Car Scanner app either.

I did drive the car a few miles, got the engine up to normal temperature. When I got back home I put my trusty Harbor Freight IR therometer gun on the front of the transmission, right on the overflow bolt, I got 143 degrees F on it. I don't know how much difference there is between the temperatures of the outside of the transmission case and the fluid inside it though. So Vstar and/or D1dad or anyone else here if you have any helpful tips on the CVTz50 app or the Veepak piece, I would greatly appreciate it.

Edit...I just realized I should have put the IR dot on the transmission pan, not the front of the case. I doubt I got an accurate reading or even a useful one. Tomorrow I will go on a longer drive, try to do some stop and go and get a reading off the bottom of the pan. I found a great thread here with detailed directions on a DIY drain and fill. At this point I may just drain and fill and then drain and fill again to get new unaltered fluid in and as much of the Justice Brothers additive out. The car does seem to drive ok right now but nearly everything I have read online has said don't use any additives in the NS3.

Thanks,

Jimmy3

[VStar650CL]

CVTz50 has a bunch of tweaks and workarounds in the pulldown menu -> Settings. You might have a v2 adaptor, if so the v2.15 workaround should fix the connection.

[V6er]

Car Scanner shows transmission temps on T32 and T33 generations. if it doesn't in your case - that's on you, not the software.

[D1dad]

Thanks again Vstar and D1dad, I ordered the Veepeak Mini, it should be here tomorrow. I also found a free app for my phone that says it reads cvt temps plus a lot more, the app is the Car Scanner ELM OBD2 in the Play Store. I already downloaded the app and it says the Veepeak is one of their preferred dongles, so it looks like it will work. I also think it will come in handy if anything else goes wrong with my 2018 or my wife's 2014 Rogue. I will get the CVTZ350 if this free one does not work out. I think if the cvt temp reads ok I will leave everything else alone. If it reads too high I will do a spill and fill here at home with either the Eneos or Nissan fluid.

I was up late last night watching Youtube videos, they always make it look so easy but one guy said "If you can change your own engine oil you can change your own cvt fluid". I now agree with that. I only had the dealer do the cvt service because I had read before that it is a specialized procedure that they use proprietary tools and monitor the fluid levels, drain it, then refill back to the right level, cycle the transmission gears, all this other high tech stuff that to me sounded like something best left up to Nissan. Regardless, I will be doing our next cvt service myself, now that I know more about it.

Thanks very much to both of you for your help on this.

Jimmy

The only specialized tools they use is fluid that’s marked up 500% and consult to level the fluid. I watched the tech do mine and never looked back on doing it myself. Plus they routinely charge for 5 qts and minus my 09, which holds way more fluid, I’ve never used more than 4. In fact, about 3.75 is what drained out and a 1/4 quart comes out when I use the leveling plug. Now that the dealer has done it and it’s presumably right. You could just get away doing what vstar says. Drain it, measure it and reinstall easy peasy.

[VStar650CL]

Drain it, measure it and reinstall easy peasy.

Even measuring isn't really necessary. Use a see-thru bucket and make a tape mark after draining, then refill to the tape. Utterly foolproof.

[Jimmy9190]

Thanks very much for your help. What I want to check first is to drive the car, get the engine and transmission up to operating temp, then remove the overflow drain bolt with the engine running and see what comes out, let it get to a slow dribble then put the bolt back in. I am concerned about that because I have no way to know if the transmission is overfilled because of the 14 ounces of Justice Brothers additive the dealer put in. I don't have any way to know if the tech compensated with a lesser amount of NS3. The dribble check should put the level of fluid back to the right amount in the transmission. Once I do that then I can do the spill and fill exactly how Vstar says, using Valvoline NS3. Valvoline is about the only fluid I can get here locally and it's less than half the price of Nissan fluid. I am planning on doing this first drain and fill this weekend, put maybe 1500 miles on it then drain and fill again.

I will try again today to get the CVTz50 to work. I am trying my best to take good care of my Rogue and the CVTz50 and the CarScanner apps will come in handy. I want those to work, if it is at all possible.

Jimmy

[D1dad]

Just get the transmission to 104 and take the bolt out. I’m sure they added the conditioner before or after the cvt fluid so I wouldn’t sweat that to much. I’d be more worried if they gave the transmission time to cool down, which may mean it’s underfilled, once again, that’s not necessarily bad. When I had mine done, which was the only time I let a Nissan tech touch it. I had just ran the car on a warm day to the dealership which was an hour away. The porter took it back and a half hour later they had it done. Sounds great convenience wise, but the transmission had to be in the 160-180 range. I got home and did it right. Eneos N3 at napa is blue in color and most likely the same fluid that in a Nissan bottle, but it’s $11 per qt. I’ve gone a little bat chit crazy, on the rogue at least as far as cvt maintenance. It’s setting at 90k and I’ve probably serviced it 10 times. I did my 21 at 40k twice and the wife’s new 24 1 time at 5k to get the break in metal (which didn’t exist) once. If my cvts let loose, it’s surely not because of neglect. My 18 isn’t showing any symptoms from a new transmission.

[Jimmy9190]

Thanks again for the help. Today I did my own CVT fluid drain and fill. First I drove the car in traffic to get the engine and fluid up to operating temperature, stopped along the way at Autozone and bought a gallon jug of Valvoline CVT fluid. I followed this link exactly. It helped me out a lot, I really appreciated the super detailed instructions.

2018-nissan-rogue-cvt-fluid-replacement ... 25862.html

I put the car up level on 4 jackstands, even used my bubble level to be sure it was as straight as possible. Then I removed the overflow bolt and let it drain for a good 20 minutes, when it did finally slow to a bare trickle of fluid I put the bolt back in. I got almost half a quart out of the overflow. I think that was because of the added amount of fluid from the Justice Brothers additive.

Then I cycled the gears and drained the fluid from the pan, measured what came out, it was just over 3 quarts, I put the pan drain plug back in, torqued it to 25 ft-lbs and used a new crush washer on it. Then I removed the overflow plug again, just a good squirt of fluid drained out. I was not real quick putting the plug back in so I added back about half an ounce of new fluid to make up for the slight fluid loss, marginal as it might have been.

I went for a test drive, the CVT did great with the Valvoline, it ran very smooth and quiet and still had very good throttle response. I drove the car again tonight about a 35 mile round trip, part of it at 70 mph on the Florida Turnpike, everything was fine, good smooth operation from the CVT.

I also bought a CVT dipstick from Amazon. I saw a Youtube video of a fluid change in a 2018 Rogue, the guy in the video said you can use the same stick for an Altima in a Rogue. I tried it on the car today but I need to calibrate it before I can be sure it is accurate. If it works I will just use it for cold fluid checks anyway. The guy in the video said not to leave the stick in the fill tube, there is a problem with it interfering with the CVT somehow.

This was a lesson learned for me. Now I know I can do the drain and fill at home for a lot less money. I am going to do it again in about 500 miles to help get rid of any residual Justice Brothers additive. I will also take the car in to Nissan soon to have the right front strut checked out. It is making the exact same noise as the left one did and it is becoming more frequent now.

Jimmy

[VStar650CL]

[D1dad]

Good work. Saving $200 and knowing its done right is a great feeling.