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Lifetime CVT Oil - Blackstone Labs


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Here's a decent read about CVT oil life: click here.

 

In a few words, it concludes that lifetime CVT oil is probable if:

1. Your transmission doesn't overheat.

2. You don't lose oil causing your transmission to overheat.

3. You don't put in the wrong oil, causing your transmission to overheat.

 

So, checking your performance with a monitor and looking for leaks may be adequate insurance.

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Thanks for an excellent post. One more conclusion is that CVTs are very sensitive to the specific fluids they require. (There are at least three different Subaru fluids for their several CVT variants.) I shudder every time I read that somebody plans to replace the OE fluid in their CVT with a "better" generic aftermarket product. Edited by ammcinnis

"If you don't know where you're going, any road will take you there." ~ The Cheshire Cat (Alice in Wonderland)

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It all depends on how long you want keep your car. Yes, Subaru says it is a lifetime fluid, but look under the severe driving stipulations, and it gets muddy as to when you should think about changing the fluid.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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... look under the severe driving stipulations ...

If you read the Warranty & Maintenance Guide carefully, the only severe driving condition that affects CVT fluid change interval is "repeated trailer towing." I infer that "repeated trailer towing" and higher than normal CVT fluid temperatures are related, and that would be consistent with the Blackstone article.

Edited by ammcinnis

"If you don't know where you're going, any road will take you there." ~ The Cheshire Cat (Alice in Wonderland)

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Here's a decent read about CVT oil life: click here.

 

In a few words, it concludes that lifetime CVT oil is probable if:

1. Your transmission doesn't overheat.

2. You don't lose oil causing your transmission to overheat.

3. You don't put in the wrong oil, causing your transmission to overheat.

 

So, checking your performance with a monitor and looking for leaks may be adequate insurance.

 

Thanks for a great post. I've done a lot of "layman's research" via Doctor Google on this very subject, and the report you quoted is actually the only one I have read that "dares" to suggest that lifetime transmission fluid is a possibility. That doesn't mean that this report is automatically correct ... but on the other hand, I think a report such as this, coming from an organization like Blackstone Laboratories must surely carry a lot of weight (no pun intended).

 

 

 

Thanks again for posting it.

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I just hit 100,000 miles and have changed the CVT oil twice now and sent in the oil to a lab. I also had the lab do a sample of fresh CVT oil right from the bottle.

In both cases, the used oil was very dark and dirty-looking, compared with brand new oil.

However, both used oil samples were not far off from the results of the clean oil.

 

If anyone wants to see the reports, please let me know.

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unfortunately saying something is probable is meaningless as where you live and how you drive the car are the 2 largest determining factors... where i live the temps range from -30F to over 100F and that alone is enough to shorten the life of any fluid including the CVT fluid...

 

 

 

I just did the 60K service myself and when I changed my PS fluid (synthetic) it was black and when I did my brake fluid for the second time, it was also dark. car is 5 years old... no way CVT fluid is going 150-200K in that car

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I just hit 100,000 miles and have changed the CVT oil twice now and sent in the oil to a lab. I also had the lab do a sample of fresh CVT oil right from the bottle.

In both cases, the used oil was very dark and dirty-looking, compared with brand new oil.

However, both used oil samples were not far off from the results of the clean oil.

 

If anyone wants to see the reports, please let me know.

Id love to see this, I find it interesting.

 

How is the car driven?

 

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

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I still plan to get mine changed every 50k miles considering a fluid change even at the dealership is something like 5% of the cost to replace the CVT. Perhaps it's not necessary, but if I didn't get it changed ever and the CVT broke, I'd be kicking myself thinking that was probably a big reason for the failure.
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I still plan to get mine changed every 50k miles considering a fluid change even at the dealership is something like 5% of the cost to replace the CVT. Perhaps it's not necessary, but if I didn't get it changed ever and the CVT broke, I'd be kicking myself thinking that was probably a big reason for the failure.

 

I would be afraid to give the wrench monkeys at my dealership my car for a CVT fluid change! These are the same people that forgot to tighten the oil filter and make a mess of the engine bay by turning the car on. They also forgot to install the gas cap after replacing the gas lid under warranty.

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I would be afraid to give the wrench monkeys at my dealership my car for a CVT fluid change! These are the same people that forgot to tighten the oil filter and make a mess of the engine bay by turning the car on. They also forgot to install the gas cap after replacing the gas lid under warranty.

 

That's just sad. Yeah, I gotta admit there's a wide range of skill levels of the techs in the dealerships. Thankfully I feel like the ones at the dealership closest to me are pretty competent.

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I just hit 100,000 miles and have changed the CVT oil twice now and sent in the oil to a lab. I also had the lab do a sample of fresh CVT oil right from the bottle.

In both cases, the used oil was very dark and dirty-looking, compared with brand new oil.

However, both used oil samples were not far off from the results of the clean oil.

 

If anyone wants to see the reports, please let me know.

 

Could you post them. I like to see them, and I'd guess others would as well. As has been mentioned, driving conditions and other factors might well come into play ... but despite that, I think the lab results would be interesting.

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I would be afraid to give the wrench monkeys at my dealership my car for a CVT fluid change! These are the same people that forgot to tighten the oil filter and make a mess of the engine bay by turning the car on. They also forgot to install the gas cap after replacing the gas lid under warranty.

 

Laz, I understand where you are coming from. Whilst I haven't had the similar dealer problems that you mention, I do have some concerns about letting the dealer "practise" on my car should I decide to change the CVT fluid. On a recent normal service at the dealer, I spoke with the guy I deal with (who by the way I think is a good guy) ... but when I asked him about his thoughts on CVT fluid changes he said "we don't really recommend them, but we will do it if you wanted it done." I gathered from that comment that they didn't have a lot of experience in the procedure, and I made up my mind at that point that if I ever decided to do it, that I'd prefer to go to an independent Subie workshop that I had researched, that actually recommends the CVT service and has good reviews from their customers.

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All

 

Sorry it has taken me a while to respond.

See attached oil sample results:

1. clean CVT Oil - right out of the bottle

2. Used CVT Oil - July 2015 was the 1st oil change @ 54,000 miles. (It was yellow as they found some very tiny debris but nothing to worry about they said).

3. Used CVT oil - April 2019 - 2nd oil change @ 97,500 miles. No real issues.

4. Used Rear Diff oil - all looked good. This is not shown on the result but is also the 2nd time I changed it. It was changed when I did the CVT at 54,000 miles.

5. Photo of used and clean CVT Oil, after the 54,000 miles (and 1st CVT oil change)

Clean CVT Oil results.pdf

Used CVT Oil Results 2019.pdf

Used Oil Rear Diff.pdf

871203644_CVToilsamplestoupload.thumb.jpg.55c9a82c8a4924afd285dc7ddabc67c8.jpg

Used CVT Oil 2015.pdf

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