If you have been planning to buy a new Nissan, you may have heard sales executives explaining the good sides of the Xtronic Continuously Variable Transmission or CVT used in the Nissan vehicles. Many Nissan owners are in search of tips to take care of Nissan CVT. However, before knowing the tips to take care of the CVT, it is better to make an idea about the basics.
Continuously Variable Transmission
Nissan started to explore the possibility of moving away from the usual automatic transmission in 2002 and became the first auto manufacturer in the world to use CVTs in cars. In the later years, CVTs became the default transmission in the Nissan models. This transmission offers simple and efficient power delivery offering great fuel economy than the traditional transmission systems.
CVTs became much popular as it offered step-less ratio changes between the different gears making gear shifting very smooth. You will not feel the shift shock while the transmission shift gears in drive mode. CVTs are so smooth that you many not even notice that the gears are being changed by the transmission.
Another reason for the popularity of CVT is that it is built using very few parts when compared to the traditional fixed gear automatic transmissions, making them cheaper to manufacture than the other five-speed transmissions. In addition, vehicles with CVTs offer higher fuel efficiency owing to less friction between parts and relatively low revving of the engine.
Taking Care of Nissan CVT
The basic differences between standard automatic transmissions and CVTs demand more care for CVT transmissions. Many people enquire about using non-Nissan aftermarket CVT fluids, but it is not advisable at all. CVT fluids from Nisan are designed as per the exact specifications of the Xtronic CVT and using third-party fluids will not serve the purpose.
One of the biggest problems with CVT relates to overheating. Many drivers regularly overfill their CVTs with transmission fluid assuming that more is good. However, you should fill the transmission fluid only up to the marks, which is about three quarters of the full reservoir. A simple thing you can do to prevent overheating of your Nissan Altima CVT engine is to check the freeze protection. This will help you confirm that all the settings of the vehicle are proper and that the CVT will not whine or go into failsafe mode.