I've owned this car since the summer of 2018. I purchased it from my dad after my old GX was totaled by some drunk idiot. Previously he had bought it used for my brother but since he lives in DC now, he didn't need the car anymore. It had 110k ish miles at the time. I've done all the regular maintenance when required. I do drive a lot for work and admittedly, my driving skills aren't the best as people have sometime told me like when it comes to how I use the transmission. But nothing different than how I drove the GX and I never had any transmission issues at all despite it being older and having a lot higher mileage. Probably because it was built a lot better. I've read up on these CVT issues (wish I had before) and kinda seems like they all fail at the 100k mark or just after that. The price to repair/replace them seems shockingly high for a car which only has 130k miles. I assumed because it was a Subaru I'd get to 250k miles without too much trouble.
Background was I was driving up to Big Bear for a work appt. a few days ago and I noticed this pretty noticeable shaking in the front end. I took it down the mountain to this shop I had some suspension work done last summer at and the guy said ' do you believe in god'. I say maybe. He takes me over and says that the gears are barely catching and it's basically a step & a half from disaster and it flying off the road. Maybe that's true, maybe it isn't but it's certainly plausible given how it felt just driving the damn thing. He said it's fucked. One issue I had is whenever I take it in somewhere I tell them to check everything but not one person mentioned the transmission or any potential issues. Anyway.
I could either sell it as is which according to KBB is $3,500-$4,200. I've definitely spent more than that maintaining it since I bought it and from what I've seen online, the repairs/replacements are shockingly expensive for a car of that value (and to me anyway) of relatively low mileage. I'd ideally like something new or newish but don't want to be saddled with a huge monthly payment and I've seen realtors get in that trap. To me that's not worth it and besides the transmission failing, it's not a bad car. It gets me and my clients where we need to go, inside is pretty nice, I like the rear cargo room for my signs & whatnot so I'm open to keeping it. And I don't have a garage so it'll be on the street all the time and the winter up here can be pretty intense & the roads suck so cars get beat up.
I'm torn. I'm down to keep it if I can fix it and keep it running to 200k at a reasonable price. But I don't want to spend $$$ if it's just going to fail again.
Rant over.
I'm not even driving it at this point as it seems too sketchy and we have these roads that go along super steep drop offs, so I just left it down in Redlands. I have a rental for the time being.
I've heard nothing good about Subaru's or Nissan's CVTs, ever.
Quote from: Soup DeVille on January 26, 2020, 06:37:53 AM
I've heard nothing good about Subaru's or Nissan's CVTs, ever.
I've heard nothing good of any CVT except the one used by Toyota's Synergy Drive hybrids.
Do a trans flush. I've seen a few Nissan XTRONIC CVT's nursed back to health with a simple trans flush.
also I'm side-eyeing your mechanic. There aren't very many parts to a CVT, and there's not much you can see without taking the thing apart. The "Gears catching" shit is weird. There are no gears. Maybe a ball bearing or something in the cone or pulley adjustment might be going out- but once again you can't *see* that without taking the whole car apart.
If you're that concerned, do a trans flush, and dump it before it breaks.
The gears aren't catching and it could fly off the road? None of this makes any sense. Try another mechanic.
Quote from: MrH on January 26, 2020, 09:45:47 AM
The gears aren't catching and it could fly off the road? None of this makes any sense. Try another mechanic.
Right.
When CVT's fail they don't "lock up". They usually break a belt or adjustment device and then slip like hell. Or bog like hell. I drove a Versa awhile back with a busted CVT, and the car didn't have any lower ratios. It was like driving everywhere in 5th gear.
Quote from: 2o6 on January 26, 2020, 09:28:19 AM
Do a trans flush. I've seen a few Nissan XTRONIC CVT's nursed back to health with a simple trans flush.
also I'm side-eyeing your mechanic. There aren't very many parts to a CVT, and there's not much you can see without taking the thing apart. The "Gears catching" shit is weird. There are no gears. Maybe a ball bearing or something in the cone or pulley adjustment might be going out- but once again you can't *see* that without taking the whole car apart.
If you're that concerned, do a trans flush, and dump it before it breaks.
Yeah I'm taking it to somebody else on Monday when I have the time.
Quote from: MrH on January 26, 2020, 09:45:47 AM
The gears aren't catching and it could fly off the road? None of this makes any sense. Try another mechanic.
Sounds like that one mechanic that told me my stroke was too short and I was getting premature ignition.
Sounds like your mechanic has never ridden or worked on a snowmobile to understand how a CVT works. :devil:
Quote from: Soup DeVille on January 26, 2020, 11:17:20 AM
Sounds like that one mechanic that told me my stroke was too short and I was getting premature ignition.
:whatshesaid:
They fixed it . Replaced the gearbox , runs great now.
Rubber band box.
Does engine braking adversely effect CVTs?
When I was a kid, I had a Tote Gote. It had a 3.5 hp Briggs and Stratton motor and a CVT transmission.
The CVT thing's not a new technology.
Quote from: Soup DeVille on January 30, 2020, 01:40:15 PM
Does engine braking adversely effect CVTs?
CVTs used to hate high torque situatuons. Engine braking is just torque in the opposite direction, no?
Quote from: shp4man on January 30, 2020, 01:54:24 PM
When I was a kid, I had a Tote Gote. It had a 3.5 hp Briggs and Stratton motor and a CVT transmission.
The CVT thing's not a new technology.
And they've been used in industrial applications for over 100 years.
But that isn't really relevant to how well it works in a Subaru Outback.
Quote from: Laconian on January 30, 2020, 02:01:34 PM
CVTs used to hate high torque situatuons. Engine braking is just torque in the opposite direction, no?
yes, and not particularly high torque either: but as you said, in the opposite direction. As they are friction-based devices- well; its a question I don't have an answer to.
The problem is sometimes running low on CVT fluid, and people put regular transmission fluid in it because they can't find actual CVT fluid. It comes in 1lb bags and looks like this:
(https://frankwinne.com/wps/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/rubberbandsP.png)
Quote from: Eye of the Tiger on January 30, 2020, 02:07:40 PM
The problem is sometimes running low on CVT fluid, and people put regular transmission fluid in it because they can't find actual CVT fluid. It comes in 1lb bags and looks like this:
(https://frankwinne.com/wps/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/rubberbandsP.png)
Don't you have to stick it in the blender first?
Quote from: CaminoRacer on January 30, 2020, 02:20:47 PM
Don't you have to stick it in the blender first?
That can help when sticking it in a small dipstick tube.
Quote from: Soup DeVille on January 30, 2020, 01:40:15 PM
Does engine braking adversely effect CVTs?
That's what I do all the time going down the mountain which is a 5,000 foot +/- descent. I've wondered whether I should do that or just use the brakes.
Either way in the mountains your car just gets bashed.
My sister's KIA Cee'd hatchback blew its transmition. The inner shaft (don't know the correct english term) literally broke in half. the car was almost 12 years old, but it was only driven for around 50k km only (30k miles)
She was driving 50 mph at the time
Input shaft?
If that blew, its because something else internal seized up.