Transmission issue

ARUND

MEMBER
2008 NISSAN ROGUE
2.5L
121,000 MILES

My car was having trouble accelerating. The day I was taking it to my mechanic it decided to make a big clunk. I didn't want to drive it there, so I got it towed. He has had it now for a week (since last Wednesday but they did only do a half day Thursday and had time off for the holiday.) The car had trouble accelerating, the RPMs would jump up sometimes. It is a CVT transmission. I figured it was the transmission. He called me this Monday and said there are four sensors they need to replace before they can do anything. I said okay replace them.

Then they called back and said before they do that, they will do a compression test on the transmission, they said it passed. They were going to look at some other things the next day, the timing belt being one of them. They didn't call me that day, just texted and said they were still looking into things, and they didn't want to fix something and have it not be the issue.

Then they called the next day and said they had to go ahead and replace the o2 sensor and the spark plugs so that they could drive it to see what is going on. That was yesterday.

Today they told me it's definitely the transmission so I say I will get it fixed. Then they called me an hour ago and started talking about the AWD may be messed up from the transmission as well, but they won't know until the transmission is fixed. They also said something about the timing belt canister or something, but it wasn't as big of a deal.

I just want to know from a mechanic if I should get a second opinion. I have taken my car here before and I also bought my car here, so I feel comfortable with them, and they replaced my A/C and tie rods last year for about $750.00. I've always felt like they've done a good job. I just don't like how once I said I'll pay for something they want to add stuff on. They said that the transmission could have messed up the AWD because they work together. I don't know enough to know if that's true. They are charging me $3,000.00 to replace transmission, the sensors that needed replacing and some valve cap. My husband and I are going tomorrow so I can see everything and get more details. I just want to be prepared.

3 Replies

AL514

MECHANIC
4,105 POSTS

Hello, sorry to hear about this issue. Honestly, I have never heard of a compression test done on a transmission. They can do a pressure test on the system. But a compression test is usually done on Cylinders for misfiring concerns. Here is a TSB (Technical Service Bulletin) on the CVT, this is not the only one, there are quite a few. These are TSBs that a dealership would have to do. Because if it's a fault in the design it's their responsibility to repair that fault. The fact that they couldn't be more specific about what "sensors" they had to replace. And that's the same as the spark plugs and the 02 sensor. It sounds like they are not able to diagnose the car properly and are just throwing parts at it. These are things some shops will do when they won't admit they don't know what's wrong. It shouldn't take more than a day or two to know what's wrong with a vehicle.
I do think you should get a second opinion, because I can't stand it when this happens, and they take advantage of people. There are multiple TSBs about the CVT, you may want to call a dealership and just ask what recalls there might be for this issue or have them look up the TSBs. I count at least 8 TSBs, plus more. Some have to do with reprogramming/software updates. All these add up to having someone else take a look at your car for you. I also with the car not accelerating there are probably diagnostic trouble codes stored in the engine computer and/or transmission computer.
That garage is withholding information from you.

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/automatic-transmission-problems

Page 5 and 6 is an example of another TSB.

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Thursday, December 30th, 2021 AT 6:12 PM

ARUND

MEMBER
2 POSTS

Thank you so much for your reply AL514. So, I am feeling much better about the whole situation after talking to my mechanic today. He was able to explain everything in detail and I was able to understand more about what is going on. I was relying on the shop manager who isn't a mechanic to relay messages and I think that's where all the feeling of uneasiness came from.

My mechanic was able to tell me the codes that were showing, explain what they are and show me parts that he replaced. It was 2 o2 sensor, a crankshaft sensor and the spark plugs throwing codes. The car wouldn't even move though so he had to do what he could to get it moving so he could test the transmission. He did do the compression test on the engine so that bit of info from my first source was incorrect. Once he was able to drive the car a bit, he was able to diagnose the CVT is pretty much done. You can't drive the car far because it barely moves, the gears are slipping, it's a mess. The crankshaft sensor also cleared after he changed spark plugs and o2 sensor, so he said he thinks that sensor was just triggered by the other two. Now that those are cleared, he has finally gotten the transmission codes. He was very thorough, and I feel much better about the situation. The thing also He was concerned about but doesn't know for sure was if the transmission damaged the ptu. He said he doesn't think it did but wanted me to know that it's a possibility. Other than that, he noticed some oil on the back of the engine and changed the valve gasket for the oil cooler (I think that's what it is called.)

Thank you for your reply and I guess if any of this still sounds fishy I'd love to know. This is the company I bought my car from and the mechanic that has been working on my car, so I did feel like they were trustworthy. The whole fix for everything is $3,349.00.

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Friday, December 31st, 2021 AT 11:36 AM

AL514

MECHANIC
4,105 POSTS

Okay, well he is correct about cylinders misfiring can trigger a crankshaft position sensor code. The engine computer actually uses the crank sensor to monitor cylinder misfires. So that sounds okay, if there were oxygen sensor codes, they could cause real drivability issues as well. It sounds like the car was hurting pretty bad. The only thing you might want to do is check the Kelly Blue book value of the car. See if it's worth $3,300.00 anymore. At 120,000 miles on it I would be concerned about timing chain/belt issues if it has not been done yet. I'm not trying to talk you out of repairing the vehicle, I'm just being honest about future repairs and what it may need sooner than later. But I'm glad you got everything else explained to you.

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Friday, December 31st, 2021 AT 12:25 PM