As far as I know, the late 2008 and the 2010 trans should be the same, including sensors and all that.

 

Do you know you have a 10 year/120,000 mile warranty on the CVT?

See Q2 Nissan CVT Warranty Extension

 

Ok.... update.
So I grabbed the valve body, stepper motor, and solenoids from a 2010 Altima 2.5 non hybrid.... Stepper motor
seemed to be a lot more fluid in this one so I thought for sure I was in luck.

When I dropped the pan I noticed a TON of metal shavings on the magnets.... no bueno
So I still cleaned everything, swapped out top of valve body with all new solenoids, stepper motor, etc .
New filter, new fluid... started the car with no check engine lights, no visible issues.

Car reversed smoothly, put the car in 1st and it shows the same exact issues as before, simply won't get going. However on a down hill this guy acts like a normal car, shifts gears and flies. until uphill or any struggle in which it reverts back to 1st gear and no longer wants to shift, manually or auto. Then you must turn the car off, back on and you can get a decent 1st gear.. so long as not on a hill.

Conclusion:
Actual gears/plates bad inside transmission.... stepper motor replacement and solenoid replacement does nothing to change driving condition.
New transmission is needed.

Going back to junk yard to grab the entire transmission outta the 2010 as it looks BRAND new... can see the print marks on the side perfect with no grease, car had 32k miles on it... so I'm grabbing that guy.

QUESTION REMAINING:
1) Will the 2010 CVT Transmission work in the 2008?
2) Programming.... is there a way to clear the EEPROM yourself
3) Could it be the TCM (TRANSMISSION CONTROL MODULE)? maybe just swapping that with the 2010 version may fix this?

Please, give me ideas, responses and help =)

 

... and it shows the same exact issues as before...

Based purely on the above statement, logic suggests that your issue is likely not related to the part you changed.

Ignoring the above statement; I know more about transmissions than the average guy, but the average guy is probably unaware that there are magnets or what they are for. I'm confident that I know less than you and that I cannot be of any help other than suggesting that your problem, despite seeming like a transmission issue, might be something else.

 

Ah, I missed the part where your new attempt involves swapping even more parts. Best of luck.

 

Ty though =)
Yeah we got a full new transmission to pop in there now=)

 

Hoping to get a Nissan Tech's advice... or anyone bada$$ on these transmissions.
Here's the part numbers of the TCM's

from my 2008 Altima 2.5s Auto pre 6/08 non-hybrid CVT
31036 JA02D ETC51-262N A1

from the donor 2010 Altima 2.5s Auto non-hybrid FED CVT
31036 ZX00B ETC56-101N A1

I also grabbed another from a 2011 for giggles to see difference in years, part numbers, etc:
31036 ZX00D ETC52-220N A1

notice similarities in bold
between the 2010 and 2011 the second set both start ZX00 and on mine it starts JA0.

All of which make me think I should start with the 2010 TCM and 2010 CVT Transmission
vs
2008 TCM and 2010 CVT Transmission

Again.... big question, will the 2010 TCM have any effect on the 2008 ECU as the TCM ONLY goes
directly to transmission and I believe is the ONLY thing that controls it electronically... am I right?

 

If you look more carefully, you'll see that the TCM and ECM talk via CAN bus...it's not so easy...and I wouldn't put it past Nissan to program the TCM serial into the ECM.

 

Yikes!
In which case I will start with the 2008 TCM.
TY!

 

I agree. Based on my experience swapping out BOSE HU's, I learned that the Bluetooth module and the HU talk via the CAN bus also...and that the 'software protocol' clearly changed between 07-09 and 11-12, in order to use a '12 HU, I need to update my BT module to an '11 (which worked flawlessly with the original BT Mic and wiring BTW).

So, if you are reasonably confident that the electrical interface between the TCM and transmission is the same, you are far more likely to have success having your '08 ECM talk to an '08 TCM.

 

d0ugmac1, I found this thread for other reasons but noticed this comment I thought I'd ask you about it. Does this only apply to Sedans since they have that additional control box in the trunk?

Example. I bought a Bose/Navi head unit from a 2008 coupe for my 2010 coupe. The radio handles all of that internally right? So I shouldn't have any issues?

 

Ok....
Good news: Transmission is in and the car drives great!

Bad news:
There is no Park. I have to shift the car to Reverse to get it in Neutral to start it.
Drive is all the was down (just not sure if in full Drive).

Not sure if this is a computer thing or simply the shifter on top of the transmission needing adjusted, etc.
Here's a crappy video, I'll make a better one tomorrow:
https://youtu.be/l9-_3AB2FDY


Let me know your input guys?

 

Ok....
Good news: Transmission is in and the car drives great!

Congratulations. Hopefully your diagnosis for the final issue is correct (sounds about right) and you be successfully done.

 

Guessing just adjustment to the shift cable bolt on the transmission... I'll play with that in the morning.

 

Perfecto! Took about three minutes to pop the hood, remove half the air filter housing and reach the bolt, adjust and everything is working perfect!
Thanks for those who supported.
For those of you with crappy CVT's not wanting to shell out a TON for a new one or "exact" replacement you're in luck!
I'm driving the dreaded 2008 pre 06/08 2.5 CVT non-hybrid... yeah try to find one of those guys... close to $1200 MIN
But you look for a 2010 CVT non-hybrid FED and man those guys are priced normal (see them all over for $350-$550).

Changes I made:
1) on transmission valve body there is a bolt added covering where a sensor was in the 2008... I took the sensor from the 08 and put it in the 2010 transmission.

2) Dip stick swap... on the 2010 its a few less degrees and that makes it hit the ram air filter housing, and the top radiator hose to engine.

3) I swapped the pans out because my 08 had a bolt for future draining vs the 2010 that had a rubber plug =p

4) There are two CVT cooler lines... the one closest to the header I replaced with the 2008 line vs the 2010 as they bent a little different.

Aside from that I kept my TCM from the 2008 in place and as there were no codes prior to the swap I haven't gone in for a TCM Eprom clearing



Ohhh and on the "great debate" for NS-2 fluid... I hate my local Nissan dealership in New Port Richey. Just to obtain pricing on the fluid they want my VIN number and then need to have parts call me back... which they never do! Anyways... $19.99 a bottle! and I needed 8 sooooooo did a bit of research.

Winner:
Castrol Transmax CVT fluid for $9.19 per Qt

unlike most CVT alternatives this one is red. Covers NS-1, NS-2 & NS-3

bottom line, stuff works great and there is tons of reviews about it. Even Nissan techs saying they use it =)

 

I just recently bought 12 quarts of NS2 fluid for $140 shipped of ebay.

I highly advise going with OEM CVT fluid. Nissans NS2 fluid will last much longer than Valvolines from my experience. However I'm not familiar with Castrols, but for the price I wasn't ready to deal with a headache.

Doing the math, I got my NS2 fluid at $12 a quart.

I would also like to ask, why do you refer to the pre 2008 cvts as dreaded? I have 202k on my car, and the cvt performs exactly like the first day we baught it. No jerkiness, whining, or anything. And I have seen plenty of 08 and 07 owners put 300k miles on their cars with no major problems.

 

I think Nissan/JATCO was still messing around with a lot of things with the CVT in '07 and '08, at least the controls aspect of it.

I remember reading the technical service bulletin about the "rubber band" sympton that some felt under mild acceleration and lowish speeds. The fix was a stiffer transmission mount and a reflashing of the transmission software. There was a section with a table that listed all of the TCM versions and there were a lot of versions in '07 and '08. The number of versions was way less in the newer years. Of course, that's just electronics and software, so it's about how it controls the CVT. Don't know about the hardware side of things.
Bulletin number is NTB10-121b, issued Sept 12, 2011

Here is the table I referred to above

 

I can replicate the rubber band symptom on any cvt I drive. Whether it is a new honda cvt, or a 2013 and up cvt.

Once the cvt starts to lower into a higher gear ratio and you press the throttle slightly more, you will feel it. It's just the way a cvt works. And in my opinion it is a little smoother.

The only thing really annoying with the pre 09 models is that they always engine break. Makes coasting a headache.

Sent from my SM-N920T using Tapatalk

 

True, the point I was trying to make is that Nissan was still tweaking stuff in 07-08. Things seemed to calm down after that. At least until the next gen.

What about eh eCVT that's in Prius and Lexus? I've never driven either, but I hear (read) that there is less rubber band effect. It works with a set of planetary gear drives rather than the split pulleys. One of them is engine driven and the other(s) is(are) independently driven (electrically?)

 

I'm not too familiar with the eCVT's on the Prius and other hybrid systems. However if there is a planetary gear set embedded, that kinda makes it a completely different system.

I do wan't to point out something though. The rubber band effect can be completely alleviated using software. It's simple, once the cvt starts to upshit and I depress the throttle, program the cvt to stop up-shifting and just downshift quickly. That is not the case on my car, I have to really depress it to actually get it to downshift in acceleration. But that is how it is designed to work, and the reason why that car was bought (efficiency).

Now if I don't want the rubber band effect, all I have to do is pop it in tip-tronic mode. It does not even exist that mode, because smooth shifts don't occur and actual gear ratios are simulated.

Rubber band effect occurs and extremely prominent in Drive, while in lower rpm ranges (1k-2k rpm acceleration). It feels good to me, because I love feeling the torque and hearing the rumble of that little 2.5. It's awesome. I have never seen a car accelerate so well at 1,100 RPM using a 2.5 Liter engine. Thank the cvt! :wink

 

Just wanna say that my grammar sucks up here because all this is on mobile...

 

Wow! You are one persistent person.
Good job getting it to work.
You make it look easy.

 

Can't ever stop lol.... love learning and working. Just wish this car was more working then learning LOL
Also wish I got cars people took care of so I wouldn't have 90% of these issues.

So the car has tons of new crap in it now... new starter, new transmission, new deep cell marine battery blah blah blah
(old alternator lol)
So driving down the road and all is working well and then suddenly I no longer see my dash... or computer part of dash (outside temp, gas mileage.. the information center) and then the car dies.
The normal mechanic in me instantly says Alternator took a crap.... got a tow home. Put the car on the charger, and it started gold. Took the alternator off and went to Advanced Auto Parts who tested it three times in a row (hoping it would result different after being warmed up) and it tested "Good" all three times! GRRRRR, I so would rather a bad one so I knew wtf my issue was.
So driving again today and stopped at red light (still have no information center... fuse maybe?) and when I press the accelerator the car barely moves. I turn it off and attempt to turn back on... no bueno, battery DEAD.
Have a friend bring me his battery, swap them out, car starts and drives perfect to get me home....

So now I'm thinking there MUST be a bad wire or break in the wire from the alternator to... whatever runs the car (ECM?) because it's apparent that part is NOT working and it's using the batter until it dies... but if the alternator is testing good... what? Has to be wiring right? Or is there another component I'm missing out on here?

 

I would suggest you take the alternator somewhere else to be tested, just saying.

Could the marine battery be incompatible with the car's computer meaning it can't get info to charge etc... just a wild guess

 

I came across this old thread doing some research. Probably doesn't exactly match the original thread but thought I'd post here since there seem to be some experts who can help me out.

My friend has a 2012 Altima sedan 3.5 SR that needs a new transmission in it. Every website I see has transmissions for sale separated by engine size. On the Nissan website I'm seeing the following:

This is leading me to believe that the same part number is usable on all of these different vehicles. This surely isn't correct, is it? We're trying to find one for sale online or at a junkyard, but I'm trying to ensure we get one that is compatible with the vehicle.

 

2.5 v 3.5 cvt

i remember reading or watching a review of the 2013 which said cvt in the 3.5 was sturdier or beefed up from the 2.5. does anyone know if this is the case? thanks

www.nissanclub.com

 

Thanks a lot! So it's pretty clear he would need to get one specific to the 3.5 CVT. Other websites separate transmissions based off of Coupe VS Sedan but I'm pretty confident that makes no difference.

The thread attached makes it appear that he could buy a 3.5 CVT from another year ('09-'12) and use his 2012 TCM to make the swap successful.

 

As far as I know, the late 2008 and the 2010 trans should be the same, including sensors and all that.

I have a 2010 Altima with cat transmission which is no good , what other transmission are interchangable(cvt split transmission which in my opinion are garbagewhat other manual or automatic transmission’s can I put in it llace

 

Ok, hi guys... new to Altima, not new to Nissan... previous Maxima owner and lover! However I'm now sitting on a
2008 Nissan Altima 2.5 Non-Hybrid Auto
that has had some issue's but we've worked through them

Anyways, transmission failed, needing a new one. No problem doing the swap myself, already have mine out =)

The issue.... for those unknown to the transmission world of these bad boy's here's a quick listing:

Year: 2010 Nissan ALTIMA Transmission

Manual Transmission 2.5L (4 cyl)
Manual Transmission 3.5L (6 cyl)
Automatic Transmission (CVT) 2.5L (4 cyl) non-Hybrid Fed
Automatic Transmission (CVT) 3.5L (6 cyl)
Automatic Transmission (CVT) 2.5L (4 cyl) non-Hybrid Calif
Automatic Transmission (CVT) 2.5L (4 cyl) Hybrid


Year: 2009 Nissan ALTIMA Transmission

Automatic Transmission (CVT) 2.5L (4 cyl) non-Hybrid Fed thru 6/09
Manual Transmission 2.5L (4 cyl)
Automatic Transmission (CVT) 2.5L (4 cyl) non-Hybrid Calif from 7/09
Automatic Transmission (CVT) 2.5L (4 cyl) Hybrid
Manual Transmission 3.5L (6 cyl)
Automatic Transmission (CVT) 2.5L (4 cyl) non-Hybrid Calif thru 6/09
Automatic Transmission (CVT) 3.5L (6 cyl)
Automatic Transmission (CVT) 2.5L (4 cyl) non-Hybrid Fed from 7/09


Year: 2008 Nissan ALTIMA Transmission

Automatic Transmission (CVT) 2.5L (4 cyl) Hybrid
Automatic Transmission (CVT) 3.5L (6 cyl) thru 6/08
Automatic Transmission (CVT) 2.5L (4 cyl) non-Hybrid from 7/08 Calif
Automatic Transmission (CVT) 2.5L (4 cyl) non-Hybrid from 7/08 Fed
Automatic Transmission (CVT) 3.5L (6 cyl) from 7/08
Automatic Transmission (CVT) 2.5L (4 cyl) non-Hybrid thru 6/08
Manual Transmission 2.5L (4 cyl)
Manual Transmission 3.5L (6 cyl)


Notice for my particular 2008 model there are two.... one thru 6/08 and one from 7/08... of course I have the "thru 2008" model.

I have access to a 2010 non-hybrid CVT transmission... the obvious question "Will this work"?

Second to that, for those nay sayers.... "What is the difference between them?"

I've fitted several pieces into cars in the past, and it's a lot about knowing what the changes are, additional programming to the ecu, etc. Sometimes it's as simple as blocking off a new sensor or a new vent line... but on these transmissions I'm new. All I know is the stepper motor is gone as are a few other parts to the point a rebuild is silly and a waste of money with too many parts throwing codes in it.

So, help me out guys... can I use the 2010 transmission in the 2008 as simple plug and drive (of course eprom programming, which is simple)
or
are there other issues restricting me to find a transmission from a 07 or 08 thru 6/08?

The CVTs may be the same, however the software TCM Calibration Data may be different. Any time a CVT is replaced by another, the TCM that came with the other CVT should also be used. Nissan service bulletin NTB12-103g "CVT / TCM CALIBRATION DATA “WRITE” PROCEDURE" is used when a complete CVT assembly is replaced, a CVT control valve (valve body) is replaced, or a Transmission Control Module (TCM) is replaced.

 

Alright this thread seems to have some very knowledgeable people involved, I have a late 2009 nissan altima that needs a transmission. I currently work at a junk yard and of course the transmission we have is in a 2012 that was wrecked. I love getting powertrain parts out of wrecked cars because my theory is it had to drive to the accident. Regardless the interchanges I see show everything to my 2009 only. Some ebay posts say late 09 to 2010/2011. Does anyone happen to know if the transmission its self is the same and i can swap parts? and that being said what the difference actually is? At this point Im tempted to but the 2012 trans and swap whatever I need to actually make it work, if its possible.

 

Many CVT cars are towed to the yard with no damage from accident, the CVT failed as I hinted at in another post. And, the sudden stopping of a CVT at an accident can scar the edges off the chainbelt teeth to then slip.

 

thank you for the info. still leaves what the difference is between the model years unanswered.

 

Man those differences can be all over the transmissions to not be able to count sometimes. You won't find that literally anywhere except a major trans shop with factory shop manuals from Jatco. Maybe 2-3 of those in the continental USA.

Why trans change rule #1 has always been change to the exact same year and build time transmission or risk it not working. The differences may even be month to month rather than year, I chased parts on Fords and the trans I had had 8 parts changes in under a year on it, I like to never found all the pieces to get that one back together and it took months. Everybody kept telling me the part I had in hand was the right part but it wasn't.