Any Problems With The 8 Speed Tiptronic Auto With Cvt

[BarcodeBob]

My wife has an Alfa Spyder convertible and has decided she has had her fling with a convertible and all it's creaks and groans so is looking at a Skyline. She's looking at a V35 350 GT-8 sedan. It has the 8 speed tiptronic auto with CVT. I don't know a lot about Skylines but I do know thay are great cars. I noticed that a lot of the later models have a 5 speed auto. How come I don't see more Skylines with the 8 speed tiptronic? Is there a problem with it?

[zei20l]

you should search on this forum BEFORE making any decisions.

that said, when they work they are a fantastic gearbox. I think most of the problems come from mechanics that put in the wrong transmission fluid and cause big problems.

[iamhe77]

Bloody expensive to service as thy require a special transmission oil specifically engineered for Nissan for that particular CVT.

I have heard ~$1300 for a trans service (correct me if I am wrong guys).

Also, if it breaks, good luck finding someone in Australia to fix it.

They are truly a fantastic transmission though.... smooth as silk.

As Zei said, definitely do a search BEFORE making a decision so you have more of an idea of the positive's and negative's

Edited January 9, 2010 by iamhe77

[siu_loong_bao]

oil is about $1200 for a full system flush and replacement....

I suggest replacing it at around 60,000kms. Please note that Murano's and Maxima's with CVT oils are not much cheaper than that either.

CVTs are great trannies when they work, so preventative maintenance and lifting off the accelerator b4 you change up/down gears will preserve the gearbox....

The reason why CVT has had a bad name is becos when the 1st V35 Skylines arrived, especially to NZ, the Nissan Dealers there put in Maxima/Murano CVT oil....It's like putting water in the petrol tank = disaster! Furthermore, workshops diodn't understand how the CVT gearbox works....

Anyway, despite the myth of V35 CVT oils being hard to source, here is my link regarding this:

http://www.skylinesaustralia.com/forums/Ca...vt-t318586.html

Hope it helps....And, by the way, with my CVT, I am getting constant averages of about 11L / 100 kms....Awesome!

[n15m0]

Walk away from the CVT unless you have plenty of spare cash to throw around.

http://www.prestigemotorsport.com.au/modul...hp?StockID=4966

2006 Nissan Skyline V35 350 GT Premium Series 2, 3.5 litre V6 non turbo (VQ30DE) 4-door sedan

Automatic (5 speed electronic auto not CVT)

There is a reason why ads like these always point out - 5 Speed Auto NOT CVT.

The word is already getting around about the CVTs in the V35. Buy one now and good luck trying to sell it later.

[nissan rules]

You should at least test drive the GT-8 CVT.

To sum it up I would just say that you get what you pay for

.. it is incredible piece of engineering work and everybody i've spoken to has said that it is the smoothest drive they've ever experienced.

Feels like real luxury i would say.

My missus and me still getting used to the whole new driving experience of our new GT-8 after our previous 300GT 5sp auto has been written off in the Melbourne hail storm.

The difference in feel bet the 2 cars has been a lot more then anticipated.

Budget another $1.2k into buying 8lts of tranny oil if you get the GT8. Better be safe then to trust the odometer on the car.

I've got a reading of 10.7Ltr/100kms as the ave for the last 2 weeks too - and it is better then the 300GT despite the extra .5ltr increase in capacity size of the engine!

Edited May 1, 2010 by nissan rules

[kurylie]

You should at least test drive the GT-8 CVT.

To sum it up I would just say that you get what you pay for

.. it is incredible piece of engineering work and everybody i've spoken to has said that it is the smoothest drive they've ever experienced.

Feels like real luxury i would say.

My missus and me still getting used to the whole new driving experience of our new GT-8 after our previous 300GT 5sp auto has been written off in the Melbourne hail storm.

The difference in feel bet the 2 cars has been a lot more then anticipated.

Budget another $1.2k into buying 8lts of tranny oil if you get the GT8. Better be safe then to trust the odometer on the car.

I've got a reading of 10.7Ltr/100kms as the ave for the last 2 weeks too - and it is better then the 300GT despite the extra .5ltr increase in capacity size of the engine!

Has anyone heard that when the 8 speed gear box dies its because the water from the radiator breeches the gearbox housing and then car runs for aprox 16 seconds then dies and you need a new gear box aprox 17k australian plus fitting and 1.3 to 1.5 k for new gear box oil , prob 20k plus to fit new gearbox , I have heard that this happens aprox 100,000 km on odometer is when this happens , can any one enlighten me on this or is it just a rumour ?

[rayh1]

Has anyone heard that when the 8 speed gear box dies its because the water from the radiator breeches the gearbox housing and then car runs for aprox 16 seconds then dies and you need a new gear box aprox 17k australian plus fitting and 1.3 to 1.5 k for new gear box oil , prob 20k plus to fit new gearbox , I have heard that this happens aprox 100,000 km on odometer is when this happens , can any one enlighten me on this or is it just a rumour ?

Before I bought my 5spd Tiptronic I was looking at a cvt 8spd model. I got as far as querying it with a close friend who is an auto trans specialist. His words minus the swearing, was to not even think about the Cvt. Reason......$14 to $1500 for a service, ie, oil change and if the gearbox played up, expect to pay around $15,000 as parts were not going to be an issue. None would be available and if I was lucky all I could do would be to replace the whole thing

[pv35gt8]

The thing to remember is that "EVERYTHING" has a life span, and if maintained correctly will last for a long time.

Nissan made this box as an experiment, i.e. Bugatti only made the Veyron to prove that it could be done, and as a result only fitted it to the V35 as it was costly to produce and equally costly to maintain, there are other versions of cvt boxes on the market that do effectively the same job but are cheaper to manufacture and maintain.

With that being said, it is a fantastic gearbox and with the right maintenance schedule in place, should last a fair amount of time.

ps. I am organising a group buy of oil for these.

http://www.skylinesaustralia.com/forums/V35-Gt8-t326611.html

[moomoolulu]

CVT is a great drive.. My cars at 115,000kms, going strong...

[austingtir]

Fair bit of scaremongering on here me thinks.

I did alot of research before i bought mine and learnt a fair bit. While they are expensive to service and impossible to get parts for... the facts are that the car is getting old enough now that parts from others that are crashed or damaged in some way will get easier and easier to come by. Or if worst comes to worst you can always put a 5speed auto or manualise it.

The nissan service interval for the cvt is 100,000kms (it states this under the bonnet). If you change the oil before this you are either racing the car or have more money than sense.

Nissans own tests found after 120,000+kms there was no degredation in the oil only slight accumulation of acids.

Nissan has run this transmission for testing on the v8 and the vq30dett which made more power and torque than the gt-8's.

I have found who makes the nissan cvt oil and have tried contacting them to see if they will sell direct no luck as of yet.

Nissan has charts showing all of the above and a few other things including the effect temp has on oil's tractive efforts pretty intresting stuff.

When it comes time to change my cvt oil i probably will look into putting an air to air cooler with thermostat to avoid the remote possiblility of the radiator rupture theory and to regulate the temp to the optimum to achieve the best traction for the oil on the rollers. Oil temp has a huge bearing on how the oil can stop the rollers from slipping.

As said its an amazing car to drive with this transmission and for the money they go for in NZ imo they are a bargain.

Edited July 17, 2010 by austingtir