Overheating won't turn on the MIL, although a severe overheat will cause the TCM to go "limp" and limit throttle opening very noticeably. Overheat incidents are recorded by the TCM under parameters called CVT-A and CVT-B. If memory serves, A is instances above 200F and B is above 220F. That's how the dealership knew there were prior overheats. If you don't have any misbehavior yet, get a fluid change immediately (preferably two in quick succession to void at least 75% of the old fluid), and get a cooler (and a 4-port beehive if it doesn't already have one) installed to prevent more occurrences. This post has a pretty good discussion about DIYing that if you don't want to buy the Nissan cooler kit (which is admittedly very pricey).88quad wrote: ↑Fri Jun 25, 2021 12:24 pmHad my 2013 Rogue into the dealership for some service recently. Service was unrelated to the transmission. They scanned it and I was told that the transmission had overheated several times in its history. Car currently has about 95k miles on it. It has not overheated in the 2 years I have owned it. As far as I know, if it overheats, the check engine light would be come on and a code would be triggered - possibly p0218, and the car would go into limp mode. What is the typical remedy for an over-heated transmission? What would enable the code to be cleared? My hand held scanner doesn't detect any codes, but I'm sure the dealer has more sophisticated equipment. Should there be stored codes that show the transmission overheated in the past? The service tech pretty much gave my transmission its last rites. They went ahead and did the repair that I went to them for, and called me to tell me that the repair was done. And then added the car drives nicely. I really don't have a transmission issue at the moment, and I want to do all I can to keep it running smoothly. Thanks.
No, you didn't mis-read, but the 2-port beehive only serves as a warmer. The 4-port allows the fluid to be passed on through a separate cooler, either an exchanger in the radiator outlet tank (the way Nissan does it on the gen2) or as a separate radiating cooler (like the OE add-on gen1 kit or an aftermarket cooler). The disadvantage to the heat exchanger in the tank is that if the engine overheats, the tranny will overheat with it. Adding a radiating cooler protects against that, as well as providing additional heat shed under conditions that stress both the engine and CVT, like long, steep hills on a hot day.
The IPDM makes much more sense for a no-start, but it wouldn't affect the tranny in any way. Yes, it's correct that if you have a 2-port you need to replace it with a 4 in order to add a cooler. That's why I pointed you to that other thread, @TeamOK just did the exact conversion you'd want to do and can probably point you straight to the right beehive.88quad wrote: ↑Fri Jun 25, 2021 11:20 pmThat makes sense. Earlier I mentioned that they replaced the TCM. Then I started to question my memory. In fact, the IPDM was replaced when I had the no-start condition. Not sure that's too relevant here, but at least maybe the information on previous overheating is still available. And is it correct that I need to first have a 4 port cooler before a separate radiating cooler can be added?
It's likely there's nothing wrong with your tranny if all you had were a few low level heat-ups. Get a cooler installed and change the fluid every 30K or so, it will probably give you good service for a long time. The upside of CVT's is that with proper care, they're perpetual motion machines. Think about it -- steel belt, steel pulleys, no ablative clutch material in the primary drive to wear out. Keep the metal off the metal and a CVT has no "clutch-limited lifetime" like a regular A/T. You may have seen me post in other places about the prize Murano customer in our shop, pushing 500K miles, got his second engine around 300K, but the original CVT has been everyplace from Miami to Anchorage and still going strong. It will outlive the rest of the car, which is beginning to fall apart. The only secret, fluid changes every 30K like a religion. The OEM's all foisted the CVT's poor reputation on themselves, with absurd maintenance recommendations like "lifetime fluid" that kept the official cost-to-own low but resulted in millions of prematurely busted CVT's. Yours doesn't need to be one of them, just give it fresh fluid and proper cooling.88quad wrote: ↑Sat Jun 26, 2021 12:09 pmI think I'll be going the cooler route. Maybe I've been lucky to have 2+ trouble free years. We don't put a ton of miles on this car. I sometimes take what service writers say with a grain of salt. After his initial comment about the transmission, he told me the car drives nicely. But I wanted to know more about overheating and preventing it. The history of overheating doesn't really square with our experience - so far. I'll get what I can from this car and then move on from Nissan CVTs. I can't convince myself it's a good idea to throw a few thousand bucks at a used transmission of a type that is known to have issues.
Did you see that this NTSB tells you NOT to change the filter behind the beehive? Wonder why...VStar650CL wrote: ↑Fri Jun 25, 2021 9:26 pmYou're most welcome. I have no idea why they'd replace your TCM for overheating, although a reprogram may have been in order just on general principles. Are you sure it wasn't the Valve Body and not the TCM? There's a 2016 bulletin for CVT overheating on the '11~'13 Rogue and '14~'15 Rogue Select, which calls for adding a trans cooler kit and replacing the VB if CVT-A is non-zero.
https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2016/ ... 6-2280.pdf
In light of that, you should check to see if your beehive is already a 4-port, if so then they already installed the Nissan cooler kit. If they did replace the TCM, I'm pretty sure your assumption that the new one wouldn't have the data is correct. I believe the TCM stores CVT-A and B onboard and not remotely in the valve body, so even a reprogram would wipe the history clean.
This guy does a pretty good job of explaining Nissan CVT basics and specific issues regarding Nissans, although I'm a bit leery of guy who would disassemble a CVT on the ground. (I guess he tore it apart as a training aid, not to rebuild it...)VStar650CL wrote: ↑Fri Jun 25, 2021 12:45 pmOverheating won't turn on the MIL, although a severe overheat will cause the TCM to go "limp" and limit throttle opening very noticeably. Overheat incidents are recorded by the TCM under parameters called CVT-A and CVT-B. If memory serves, A is instances above 200F and B is above 220F. That's how the dealership knew there were prior overheats. If you don't have any misbehavior yet, get a fluid change immediately (preferably two in quick succession to void at least 75% of the old fluid), and get a cooler (and a 4-port beehive if it doesn't already have one) installed to prevent more occurrences. This post has a pretty good discussion about DIYing that if you don't want to buy the Nissan cooler kit (which is admittedly very pricey).88quad wrote: ↑Fri Jun 25, 2021 12:24 pmHad my 2013 Rogue into the dealership for some service recently. Service was unrelated to the transmission. They scanned it and I was told that the transmission had overheated several times in its history. Car currently has about 95k miles on it. It has not overheated in the 2 years I have owned it. As far as I know, if it overheats, the check engine light would be come on and a code would be triggered - possibly p0218, and the car would go into limp mode. What is the typical remedy for an over-heated transmission? What would enable the code to be cleared? My hand held scanner doesn't detect any codes, but I'm sure the dealer has more sophisticated equipment. Should there be stored codes that show the transmission overheated in the past? The service tech pretty much gave my transmission its last rites. They went ahead and did the repair that I went to them for, and called me to tell me that the repair was done. And then added the car drives nicely. I really don't have a transmission issue at the moment, and I want to do all I can to keep it running smoothly. Thanks.
2014+ Rogue Transmission Cooler install - show and tell
Pretty good, but one thing the guy has in common with most of the other vids out there is a misunderstanding of the horsepower relationship. The fact is, the 6-cyl CVT's will tolerate a lot more abuse than the 4-cyls and don't fail as quickly when maintenance is absent. The tranny he took apart probably didn't fail at all, it's likely the car was scrapped for other reasons. There was no telltale scoring on the belt or pulleys even though the fluid was clearly neglected. I've seen Murano and Pathy units make nearly 200K on zero fluid changes, and you won't see that with an Altima or Sentra no matter how gently it's driven. The problem seems to be the smaller cross section of the 4-cyl belts, which beats the fluid up faster. The higher horsepower of the V6 contributes little or nothing to the failure profile.