CVT's maybe not a great idea.

[JaggedEdges]

15 years ago they were saying the same thing about electronic controlled automatics.... and there's still dinosaur shops around screw them up.

25 years ago it was fuel injection.

I expect they'll catch up.

Ford's CVTs seem to have been pretty robust considering what they put them in. Myself, I'd only deliberately buy one in a lighter vehicle at present, in fact I did, got one in a Nissan Versa Note, 2nd gen of Nissan's small CVT, so I figured they'd figured it out by then. I quite like it, can get almost full power and torque at any speed, and hold it. I say almost because the smarts are probably torque limiting things so as not to overstress the frictional parts.... which is why I see them as not scaling up terribly well, they only basically have a line of frictional contact around the belt. Can't make the belt much fatter and gain anything, because the outer part of the belt will be trying to move faster than the inner part of the belt on the cones it's clamped between. Only real way to scale that to big vehicles is duplicate, have half a dozen of the same thing in parallel, which of course means more complexity, plus adjustment/synchronization issues, one belt starts getting a little more than it's share of the load and it's gonna break. Or the other way is to go much larger, in which case your transmissions get to be twice the size of a normal one.

However, I'm still not sure that half of CVT complaints aren't user error, i.e. it's working as designed and the driver is freaked out by engine going up to 3000 RPM with light pedal pressure. Sure in a regular auto, that means some clutches are slipping. CVT, doing the cvt thing and giving you what you wanted the most economical way possible and it some instances that means higher engine speed, rather than lugging at lower revs... talking of such aberrations, saw someone who bought a 9 speed auto complaining that it shifted too much, I'm thinking, WTF did you expect, buy 9 gears and it only uses 3??? (Hey ford I'm looking at you again... 4 speed in the old Escort only mostly used top 3 gears, other gear was a low range 1st it scarcely used.)

But also it's been the case for years now that dealers will seldom actually get into a transmission or engine, they'll switch in a manufacturer certified rebuild.

[wagondude]

A dealership won't won't repair most transmissions, short of a valve body swap. Any internal fault at all is a transmission swap. They let dedicated rebuilders do the heavy lifting and just swap out assemblies, CVT , traditional automatic, or manual transmission makes no difference.

[absolutsnwbrdr]

My 2014 Crosstrek towed great with the CVT, and I just traded it in on a 2016 Crosstrek with CVT. No problems, no worries. I won't vouch for other manufacturers technology, but I'm very confident with my Subaru.

[mnfrosty]

The Subaru CVT does not use automatic transmission fluid, the fluid it does use is proprietary and is not consumer accessible. I sold Subies for 6 years after the economy tanked because there were no art jobs, l am retired now but still help out with deliveries on Saturdays. You would probably void your warranty installing a tranny cooler. Most folks don't bother reading the owner's manual on towing, if you have not, I would suggest checking it out. IMHO Subaru has done a nice job engineering their CVT. Because a CVT has infinite ratios it should always be able to tow your teardrop, as long as you avoid jackrabbit starts and other bad habits.. Smooth driving is the key! My own Subaru is not a CVT because it is 16 years old with 221,000 miles.. I trust Subaru engineering.

[gudmund]

"...Smooth driving is the key!!" I agree and no matter what the brand, just good maintenance in changing the fluid before it needs changing is one of the best things to do in any transmission when towing. Just about all of the manufactures say they can go 100 thou miles before changing the trans fluid until you read the manual when towing. Personally myself, towing or not, I will never leave fluid in a trans 100 thousand miles without changing it at least once or twice in that period of time. Some people may think this maybe be 'over' maintenance but I have seen many a trans last twice this distance with no problems if it is just changed a little more often. (but YES!! always use the right fluid required for the application!!!)

[mnfrosty]

Conventional transmissions allow you to change fluid. Don't know about other brands of CVT, but Subaru CVT can only be accessed by a technition with special factory tools. The Subaru CVT does not use a conventional transmission fluid but a very high viscosity proprietary fluid.

[warnmar10]

genuine subaru CVT fluid

[mnfrosty]

Interesting. I was told only a Subaru tech could even get into the transmission.

[warnmar10]

Interesting. I was told only a Subaru tech could even get into the transmission.

The filter seems to be buried way up within as in pull the transmission to change. I'm no authority, I just watched a video. FWIW, I haven't pulled a trailer a single mile with a CVT but I did have a Maxima on lease and for the better part of 3 years I drove it like I stole it. The CVT never made a peep, front tires were its weakness.

[wagondude]

Interesting. I was told only a Subaru tech could even get into the transmission.

DIYers are doing their own changes. The procedure is well documented in the factory service manual (that anyone can download from Subaru). The only caveat is that you have to interface the OBD II port with something that can read the trans temp to get the proper fill level. With the right software (free SSM) and a cheap cable, it is easily done. As long as one keeps good fluid in it, the filter should last the life of the trans (yes, you have to do a complete tear down to get to the filter).

[mnfrosty]

I have been educated! Thank you.

[Esteban]

On the advice of a local mechanic I called Subaru North America today to ask if adding a transmission cooler to my 2015 Subaru Forester in any way impacted, or voided, my warranty. Lisa told me she could not give me an answer. She told me their policy is that only a local dealer could answer that on Subaru's behalf.

I called my dealer Rancho Grande Subaru in San Luis Obispo, CA. The service department looked into it and told me Subaru has no auxiliary transmission cooler nor do they gave any information for a mechanic to correctly install an after market transmission cooler. He could give me no answer or advice whether or not adding a transmission cooler would be OK with Subaru or if it would void the warranty even if the dealer installed an after market transmission cooler for me. That's very frustrating when I'm trying to learn how do the right thing to protect my Forester.

The dealer service rep. estimated the labor cost to install a transmission cooler would be about $350. He was sympathetic to my plight and told me to bring in any helpful documentation I can find for one of the service writers and or a mechanic to look over.

It seems wise to add a transmission cooler to my Forester to keep the CVT's fluid temperature in the safe range when I tow. The potential that adding a transmission cooler may void a warranty is very troubling. More so because I cannot get a straight answer from Subaru or my dealer. it seems to be a damned if you do and damned if you don't situation.

B&M oil/transmission coolers seem to be higher quality ones partly because they have a low temperature bypass.

B&M Super Coolers are 100% aluminum stacked plate style core which is ideal for additional transmission cooling. With oven brazed construction this sturdy cooler design is practically impervious to flying rocks or other debris.

Better Than Ordinary Cooler
Resistant To Damage
Rigid Stacked-Plate Design
Small Size and Lightweight

If I decide to add a transmission cooler it will probably be one from B&M that fits the best. I'll not do the installation myself. I'll have my dealer or a reputable mechanic do the installation.

[Esteban]

[wagondude]

Steve,

Adding a cooler will most certainly not "void" your warranty unless any failure could be directly traced to the cooler and installation itself. One concern would be that the cooler could prevent the trans from getting to the proper temperature for verifying proper fluid level. If It were me, I would use a scanguage or ultraguage to read trans temp while towing. You may find that the additional cooling may not even be needed. You may want to go back through your owner's manual with regard to time, distance and speed limits for towing at high higher ambient temperatures. Basically, in hotter temps, slow down and don't tow as far without giving the car a rest.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnuson% ... rranty_Act

[BigGoofyGuy]

I think the Mini Cooper used a CVT in their automatic?
http://www.mini2.com/forum/first-generation-faults-fixes/186817-mini-cooper-cvt-problem-solved.html

http://www.motoringfile.com/2011/12/15/bmwmini-sued-over-cvt-failures-in-early-minis/