How many miles on your CVT? Any Issues?

i never really looked til now but these transmissions aren't so expensive. i gotta stop listening to idiots telling me horror stories about what stealerships charge. yeah some fail, but its a pretty low percentage compared to the rest of the automotive industry.

The reason they are expensive at the dealer is because they install new units. So the "idiots" telling you the dealership horror stories actually have a point, but they, like the vast majority of consumers, don't really know that they have this avenue at their disposal, to look up and install used parts.

What is the type of oil used? Would it hurt to put in a Teflon additive?

You don't want to mess with additives in this transmission, for many reasons. Firstly, there is simply no established track record whether or not the transmission plays well with additives, nor do we clearly and indisputably know that they help. Secondly, the transmission is manufactured to very, very tight specifications and its survival depends on the fluid used.

So unless you are willing to pioneer the path to knowledge, knowing full well it could lead to expensive failure, then stick with acceptable fluids and don't put additives in.

I've been keeping an eye on this thread and decided to do something for all 5th-gen and 6th gen CVT owners.

 

I've compiled an 'as-of-Jul-2015' list of all the ECU/ECM (Engine Control Unit) and TCU/TCM (Transmission Control Unit) updates from FHI available to SoA dealership network

and/or for purchase from Subaru publications ($75 for a quarterly release CD + Tactrix OPv2 or other J-cable) so you can apply these on your own. Super easy, I've done it many times.

 

Have a look and if you have either RomRaider, EcuEdit, BtSsm, EcuFlash - you can see your current ECU CID/CALID (Calibration ID) and figure out if you have the latest one for your MY 2.5L CVT.

Getting at the TCU CALID is a bit more tricky with third party software. The dealership can tell you or you'll need the FlashWrite software that comes on the CD to check yourself.

 

Anywho, without further ado, check out the latest updates, see if they apply to your car and if you notice the symptoms or codes Subaru quoted as being remedied with the updates. Hope this helps our CVT brethren!

 

If you end up going to the dealership, request that they apply the PAK files listed below for your given Model Year and either CAL or FED-emissions car.

They will be able to cross-reference these updates using those PAK (Package File) names.

 

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=215538&d=1440805677.jpg

CVT_Updates_2010_2015.csv

Edited August 28, 2015 by Perscitus

Thanks!

I was hoping to see something to address the weird CVT behavior in mine, but alas...

Perscitus,

 

Thanks for the excellent post!! This is good information!

Sadly, I just looked up my records and I had WVU-31 applied in May 2011.

 

But today, I have a worstening "Engine RPM drops and rough idle at higher temps and Engine RPM drops when low speed with AC on" in droves.

Sadly, I just looked up my records and I had WVU-31 applied in May 2011. But today, I have a worstening "Engine RPM drops and rough idle at higher temps and Engine RPM drops when low speed with AC on" in droves.

Perhaps they only did the ECM, not the TCM. The latest TCM update for your CVT seems to have come out this Jan-2015.

Stop by a dealership and have them update the TCM and once done get them to give you the Calibration IDs (CALIDs, CIDs) for both the ECM and TCM.

Perhaps they only did the ECM, not the TCM. The latest TCM update for your CVT seems to have come out this Jan-2015.

Stop by a dealership and have them update the TCM and once done get them to give you the Calibration IDs (CALIDs, CIDs) for both the ECM and TCM.

 

Correct and good point. My records do not show the TCM change.

 

But this was for "reverse on an incline". I wonder what effect that would have at the rough idle, near death at stoplights?

 

Still worth a try, I suppose.

My '13 Legacy(purchased in May 2013) has just shy of 70k miles on it and the transmission failed on me. I had the car serviced at around 60k and had diffs and tranny fluid changed by a mechanic. After the service I noticed a propane-like smell every so often, and a slight whining noise when hitting 40 mph. The AT Temp light started coming on every so often, but then would turn off. Had no issues with the way the car drove at any point and the light stopped coming on. Then when driving home 2 weeks ago the car started to jerk and made an awful noise like it was dragging something and poof, the tranny is dead. Mechanic inspected it and said the fluid in the transmission was still golden colored(He used BG CVT tranny fluid). Called Subaru up and spoke to corporate. Subaru dealer said the differential fluid was char black, then a few days later they said it wasn't the diff fluid, but the tranny fluid that was char black. They said it looks like the fluid used wasn't transmission fluid. This is after the car was already seen by the mechanic and said the fluid was still gold.

WHAT HAPPENED??

Very likely that the mechanic checked the differential fluid instead of the CVT fluid.

The CVT transmission doesn't have a dipstick, so it's not a hard thing to confuse the differential dipstick for a transmission dipstick, but I would have expected more competence out of the mechanic.

Assuming he did use the correct transmission fluid, it's possible he didn't use enough, which caused it to burn up. Or he screwed up the fluid, like the dealer said. Either way, the mechanic would be liable for incompetence.

Would the car be able to run for about 9,000 miles on low tranny fluid?

Would the car be able to run for about 9,000 miles on low tranny fluid?

 

Maybe. I do not know about CVT's, but traditional automatic will work if they are little low on oil. If the automatics are low enough that the oil pump pickup sucks air, the transmission oil pump won't work and it is an way easy to burn up the clutches.

More reason I'd pay the premium for dealer work on the CVT.

I don't have proof that anyone is at fault, unfortunately. After reading several issues people had with accidentally draining CVT fluid instead of engine oil because of the plug confusion, I realized that I had Valvoline change my oil earlier that day that my transmission died. Perhaps just coincidental?

Another thing that bothered me is that Subaru asked me why I changed the tranny fluid. They said it shouldn't be serviced until 105,000.

Really? Ask your dealer to put that in writing, so that you can run it by SOA. They'll shoot them down.

 

Going back to your issue, if the dealership can determine what fluid is in the transmission, that will go a long way. Or, grab a sample and send it in to Blackstone labs maybe. Determining what was put in there would go a long way to telling you who messed up.

Yeah I heard waiting that long to service the CVT was bogus.

 

Maybe I'll give that a try. The dealership did say they saved a sample of the fluid.

 

My other concern is that the whining/odor I heard/smelled after the car was serviced at 60k, was the diff. Could the diff cause the tranny to fail? Cause then I have a bigger problem on my hands.

 

Thanks for your input, everyone.

Edited September 15, 2015 by cvb128

Differential and transmission do not share the same fluid, they have separate housings. Not sure if that answers your question. It's worth re-inspecting the fluid, to make sure it's at the correct level and that it doesn't look to have metal particles in it.

Differential and transmission do not share the same fluid, they have separate housings. Not sure if that answers your question. It's worth re-inspecting the fluid, to make sure it's at the correct level and that it doesn't look to have metal particles in it.

 

Never mind I was wrong.

Edited September 16, 2015 by dgoodhue

Take a look at the colors of the CVT oil samples I did 2 months ago: http://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php/cvt-used-clean-oil-analysis-report-243733.html?t=243733&highlight=cvt

 

The fresh CVT oil is green, and I would say it has a chemical smell, sort of like propane. The dirty CVT oil is original with 52,000 miles on it. However, the oil analysis came back and the dirty oil was not terrible at all. The data on it shows it was still ok.

 

For good measure, I just changed it anyway, at my dealer, and after a good sit down with the service manager, so we were all on the same page.

 

So CVT oil is NOT GOLDEN.

 

Please let us know what you find

There are actually 3 colors Subaru CVT fluid... amber/golden, green and blue.

All depends on application and in the case of blue and green, timeline.

 

The most common blue cvt fluid is for example is being phased out and replaced with green, can be mixed with it too.

 

Amber/golden fluid is used in Lineatronic HT-CVTs only, cant or rather shouldnt be mixed with either green or blue or any other cvt fluid.

Its also not sold in qts, only 5 gallon jugs.

 

Many times Dealership service and parts depts do not know this and have sold the blue fluid to Forster XT and WRX CVT owners.

 

More info I researched here:

http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showpost.php?p=43285165&postcount=796

Edited September 16, 2015 by Perscitus

I think they are a combined unit with CVT, but I not 100%. (6MT owner).

They are most definitely not. It's a common assumption coming from MT owners because the MT transmission does in fact share fluid with the front differential. But AT fluid isn't compatible with differential gears, thus the two have to have separate fluids.

There are actually 3 colors Subaru CVT fluid... amber/golden, green and blue.

All depends on application and in the case of blue and green, timeline.

 

The most common blue cvt fluid is for example is being phased out and replaced with green, can be mixed with it too.

 

Amber/golden fluid is used in Lineatronic HT-CVTs only, cant or rather shouldnt be mixed with either green or blue or any other cvt fluid.

Its also not sold in qts, only 5 gallon jugs.

 

Many times Dealership service and parts depts do not know this and have sold the blue fluid to Forster XT and WRX CVT owners.

 

More info I researched here:

http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showpost.php?p=43285165&postcount=796

 

So if my CVT isn't a "Lineartronic HT-CVT" and this amber/golden fluid(which I believe did come in a 5-gallon jug) was introduced to my tranny, could it cause the transmission to fail?

No. Correct fluid at the correct level won't cause an issue. Something else happened.

Why is the dealership saying the fluid doesn't appear to be CVT?

You need to probe them more, we have no answers for you.