Strange Oil/Lube leak above CVT

[skyvo]

Hi folks! I got a bit of an odd problem: A month ago I was slowly exiting a garage taking a full left turn and heard a very crisp but light metallic "clunk", like hitting 2 bolts against each other. I kept hearing this for a few seconds as I accelerated on the street but then it went away at speed. I then checked my FL tire but didn't find any objects stuck in it. The air pressure is fine and I have no TPMS lights. I didn't have time to diagnose so left it for later.

I don't know if this is related to the clunking noise, but today I looked at that tire and saw that my FL lower control arm was pretty wet with oil of some kind. I started searching for the leak and then saw some kind of oil pooled right on top of the CVT. It seems like the origin might be the CVT's vent tube and the cap above it since they were covered in oil and some dirt has started to stick onto it (pictured). I also noticed a bit of oil on the lower part of the EVAP vacuum damper (not sure of this is related or if oil just splashed onto it).

I had a dealer flush the CVT at 60,000 miles and they did not see any issues in the process. I have had no issues driving the car, and it feels fine and drives straight. I get regular oil changes/service done every 5k miles and this is a relatively new problem. What do you all think might be going on here?

Model: 2016 Nissan Versa SV Sedan
Miles: 69,000

[VStar650CL]

It would be pretty unusual for anything to come out of the vent tube. When spray is getting on everything in that neighborhood, the usual culprit is the axle seal in the transmission. When the seal goes, the axle flings transmission fluid all over everything in the area, but until it gets really bad, you won't usually see drips on the garage floor because it's leaking out a molecule at a time while you're driving. UV dye is okay to use in a CVT, Nissan recommends an ounce in the fluid to locate leaks. There's a bulletin about it, NTB09-140:
https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2021/ ... 0-0001.pdf

[skyvo]

Thanks for the suggestion! It does look like a lot of oil has accumulated at the top of the CVT, but also I can see the axle boot (cvt-side) is covered in oil as well so makes sense that it could spray everywhere.

I had 2 follow up questions:
1. Would this in any way get even partly covered under Nissan's CVT warranty (just expired less than a year ago)?
2. Once everything is fixed, would I need to flush the CVT or just top it off with new fluid?

[skyvo]

Also, here are some more pics if it helps to narrow the diagnosis:

[VStar650CL]

If it's the output shaft seal then the extended CVT warranty should cover it. From the pics, that's what it looks like. You'd have a much greasier mess if it was the CV boot.

[skyvo]

If it's the output shaft seal then the extended CVT warranty should cover it. From the pics, that's what it looks like. You'd have a much greasier mess if it was the CV boot.

Just wanted to follow up - it was the axle seal all along! I had that replaced and the oil leak went away. Thanks again for the feedback and advice!!

[VStar650CL]