Just change the CVT fluid every 2 years and you should be all right. My Altima is 13years old and never had a problem with my CVT. I feel you don't need an extra cooler. You have a cooler inside the radiator. Just make sure you have good clean coolant inside the radiator and you should be fine. I have my radiator coolant changed every 3 years.
@josephkelleher8820 I agree. The car should have been maintained and it would've been fine. I installed it due to the extreme heat we deal with here and hopefully give this old transmission a few more years.
Great video.. I'm dealing with this on my daughter's 2011 Altima 2.5.. recently started that similar issue but her car won't go over 80 and is sluggish acceleration. Still drives fine for around town driving but highway merging its slow. I recently changed the fluid out but I didn't change any filters....yet. just curious if what you did corrected the limp mode issue. Thank you. Doesn't seem like it has to get hot it just seems to do it all the time.. transmission is not shuttering or anything and drives rather well ..seems like catalytic converter is clogged or possible bad sensor. But the engine can be revved all the way to redline when vehicle is just at idle. So leads me to believe that the cats are not clogged.. I'm assuming it is a safe mode issue.
@ymmij1973 well I would start doing some testing. To test a Cat there are a few different ways. 1. Watch the vehicles intake vacuum with a vacuum tester. You should have a baseline vacuum when the car is idling and the it should drop "go to zero" when rpms are increased. If the vacuum continues to increase with rpms, that could indicate a clogged Cat. With the addition of foul smells, poor power and fuel economy. Plus if you drive it alot the upstream side of a clogged Cat usually will get glowing hot. If you think it's stuck in a permanent limp mode, since you have no power and no codes, try manually shifting through gears when on the highway. I noticed when my mom's car went into limp mode, engine rpms were reduced and the pcm kept me from manually downshifting to get rpms up.
Yep, it might have. I just knew the limp mode was created by overheating. I already had a cooler on my parts shelf, so I used it. My mother wasn't ready to buy a new car, so I did everything I could to extend that transmission's life because it's a ticking time bomb.
I have a 2012 altima, started going into limp mode shut down at 100k. 3 fluid changes in 60k, and a fluid change with new filters will get you about 15k-20k before it shuts you down again. I finally did the External Cooler with the last fluid change, and I'm on 191k with no problems since the install.
Sorry for the bother. I had a question for you. So you you still use the existing radiator of the vehicle for the intercooler to bypass it to circulate around the radiator? Or yes through the intercooler for the transmission cooler only
Thanks for watching man. The fluid goes through the radiator and the aftermarket cooler is spliced in afterwards. I give a quick walk through at about 14:10 in the video.
These CVTs do not like heat. Lucky for me, tge hottest it ever gets here is low 90s. Anything close or over 100F you need another cooler. Nissan has TSBs on this. Nice upgrade!
@Twobarpsi yes sir, our Temps range from -10 to 110, so my mother was having well with this car in the summer. She's still trucking along fine and she drives about 50 miles a day highway.
@Twobarpsi yea my mother's was at around 190k when I made the video and the transmission oil was dark black. It was hard to believe a fluid/filter change with the cooler fixed the problem. I did tell her to not put much faith in that transmission making it another 5 years
I want to change my vct fluid, I have altima 2017 and it has external cooler and oil warmer. I really want to flush the cooler when changing the trans fluid. But im confused how to figure out which hoses to flush ? Can you help please
In your video, didn't you use the radiator and the external cooler to cool the trans fluid. Or you made it to cool inside the external cooler only? Thanks for the video.
I got everything done an mounted.. I cannot for the life of me get the hose right above the rad line at the bottom. I can’t get my hand in there even with needle nose to pinch that clamp.. how did you get to it
I have a 2010 Nissan altima 2.5, 238,000 miles. It goes in limp mode if you're going up step grade hill, or if you try to go pretty fast, 3100 rpm, you go into limp mode. Stop, restart, it clears codes and i go again.i had new timing chain put on it, still did the same thing. We put new coil pks, new plugs, and new air filter. It gave me more rpm's, but it is still doing same thing. Nobody can figure out whats wrong with it. Do you have any suggestions that i can try ? My grandaughter and myself are in the car everyday. It is my only way of going. Thank you for reading my post.😢
@@treyhaberman just when it goes in limp mode. It runs smooth, no misfire, rpm gauge is steady. I was going up a mountain and I pushed the gas pedal and i felt it give, went on down about 1/2 inch, but that threw it in limp mode too.
@southerndipper6159 well your symptoms sound like the one I worked on, but I never got any codes. If I was you I would order a Bluetooth code reader from Amazon and try to read the codes when they pop up in limp mode, so you can diagnose that
@@treyhaberman what you think happened when I told you about me having the gas pedal all way down, felt like something brook free, but the rpms then jumped up to 5000, I let off of it real quick when I felt that pedal give. And also, I really appreciate your advice. And I watched a video that the gas pedal has a sensor on it. One place I read that you have to buy the whole pedal and sensor came with it, in another place it said you can buy the sensor ? Do you think that pedal could be causing some of these issues ??
@southerndipper6159 gotcha, yea I think you are on the right trap with the throttle body assembly. The valve could be getting hung up or there could be an issue with the wiring between the pedal and the throttle valve. A cheap first attempt could be removing the air intake and cleaning the throttle body.
I would replace the radiator or repair the leak, just because how sensitive these CVTs are. But, if you're in a bind, yes you could bypass the transmission side of the radiator and just use the cooler.
@@treyhaberman would I do it the same way you did. I just replace the radiator and it's the new one that's leaking lol I thought it was the hose because it popped out because I didnt push the clamp on but I pushed the clamp all the way on and the leak got worse
@@treyhaberman well I just checked again and found the nut that screwed onto the radiator where the trans cooler hose go was loose. I tighten the best I could without removing the radiator and hopefully it works. Also noticed the radiator wasnt seated in the grommet properly so I pushed it in. Imma put more fluid in and drive it around to see if it starts leaking. I may need to wash underneath because the fluid that came out is sitting on the bottom so it'll be hard to tell if it's that or if it's still leaking.
I'm having the same issue. I will install the extra transmission cooler and see if it works. My son has a 7 hour drive to school so that will be a good test. I will let you know how we make out.
I hope it helps ya out, bud. I would advise the fluid and filters as well. This was my mother's altima, and she said the service station always said the fluids were good. I had to use heat to get the dipstick unstuck from the tube. I don't think it's ever been checked.
I just had the fluid changed. They were not able to change the cooler return filter, but when I take it to have the cooler installed, I'm going to have them try to change both filters
The limp mode takes away your ability to manually shift down until you are under a certain RPM. I was trying to shift down if that's what you're trying to ask.
Just change the CVT fluid every 2 years and you should be all right. My Altima is 13years old and never had a problem with my CVT. I feel you don't need an extra cooler. You have a cooler inside the radiator. Just make sure you have good clean coolant inside the radiator and you should be fine. I have my radiator coolant changed every 3 years.
@josephkelleher8820 I agree. The car should have been maintained and it would've been fine. I installed it due to the extreme heat we deal with here and hopefully give this old transmission a few more years.
These things actually pretty robust...I drive the hell out of it .. just do good regular maintenance.
I did the fluids now I’m just watching how you install the cooler so I can do mine today 😆
Good luck bud
@@treyhaberman got it done brother, car runs like new again no overheating, went to drive 2 hours on the highway at 80-90 mph all good 👍🏼
Good deal. Great to hear man.
Great video.. I'm dealing with this on my daughter's 2011 Altima 2.5.. recently started that similar issue but her car won't go over 80 and is sluggish acceleration. Still drives fine for around town driving but highway merging its slow. I recently changed the fluid out but I didn't change any filters....yet. just curious if what you did corrected the limp mode issue. Thank you.
Doesn't seem like it has to get hot it just seems to do it all the time.. transmission is not shuttering or anything and drives rather well ..seems like catalytic converter is clogged or possible bad sensor. But the engine can be revved all the way to redline when vehicle is just at idle. So leads me to believe that the cats are not clogged.. I'm assuming it is a safe mode issue.
@ymmij1973 well my issue was resolved and the car is still doing good, but I think we may have two different issues. Do you have any codes?
@@treyhaberman nope. No codes. Was thinking a sensor or clogged exhaust manifold which is an issue on these from what I've read.
@ymmij1973 well I would start doing some testing.
To test a Cat there are a few different ways.
1. Watch the vehicles intake vacuum with a vacuum tester. You should have a baseline vacuum when the car is idling and the it should drop "go to zero" when rpms are increased. If the vacuum continues to increase with rpms, that could indicate a clogged Cat. With the addition of foul smells, poor power and fuel economy. Plus if you drive it alot the upstream side of a clogged Cat usually will get glowing hot.
If you think it's stuck in a permanent limp mode, since you have no power and no codes, try manually shifting through gears when on the highway. I noticed when my mom's car went into limp mode, engine rpms were reduced and the pcm kept me from manually downshifting to get rpms up.
Very impressive and helpful video and thanks my friend 😊
@kurtgood2914 yes sir, thank you. Hope it helps
Yes really helps
I wonder if the limp mode would have gone away if you did just the 2 filter changes and new trans oil, but not the cooler install. Any thought?
Yep, it might have. I just knew the limp mode was created by overheating. I already had a cooler on my parts shelf, so I used it. My mother wasn't ready to buy a new car, so I did everything I could to extend that transmission's life because it's a ticking time bomb.
I have a 2012 altima, started going into limp mode shut down at 100k. 3 fluid changes in 60k, and a fluid change with new filters will get you about 15k-20k before it shuts you down again. I finally did the External Cooler with the last fluid change, and I'm on 191k with no problems since the install.
Sorry for the bother. I had a question for you. So you you still use the existing radiator of the vehicle for the intercooler to bypass it to circulate around the radiator? Or yes through the intercooler for the transmission cooler only
Thanks for watching man. The fluid goes through the radiator and the aftermarket cooler is spliced in afterwards. I give a quick walk through at about 14:10 in the video.
These CVTs do not like heat. Lucky for me, tge hottest it ever gets here is low 90s. Anything close or over 100F you need another cooler. Nissan has TSBs on this. Nice upgrade!
@Twobarpsi yes sir, our Temps range from -10 to 110, so my mother was having well with this car in the summer. She's still trucking along fine and she drives about 50 miles a day highway.
@@treyhaberman I've got 160k on my 2012 Altima. Great cars if you treat them right!
@Twobarpsi yea my mother's was at around 190k when I made the video and the transmission oil was dark black. It was hard to believe a fluid/filter change with the cooler fixed the problem. I did tell her to not put much faith in that transmission making it another 5 years
@@treyhaberman I've done full CVT oil changes every 60k miles.
I want to change my vct fluid, I have altima 2017 and it has external cooler and oil warmer. I really want to flush the cooler when changing the trans fluid. But im confused how to figure out which hoses to flush ?
Can you help please
Hook your trans flush up to the hose that goes to the top of the radiator and flush it from the top to the bottom.
In your video, didn't you use the radiator and the external cooler to cool the trans fluid. Or you made it to cool inside the external cooler only?
Thanks for the video.
Yes sir, it goes through the radiator and the external cooler. It's good to have it flow through the radiator to heat up the fluid in the winter.
Did you have to get extra fittings ? Did you def have to get more hose?
No, sir. I thought I was going to, but I did not need different fittings. I did buy 4 foot of hose from autozone.
Thanks my guy
@@kapp_1179 no problem
I got everything done an mounted.. I cannot for the life of me get the hose right above the rad line at the bottom. I can’t get my hand in there even with needle nose to pinch that clamp.. how did you get to it
@kapp_1179 are you talking about at 9:28 in the video. I just used needle nose and slid it back.
I have a 2010 Nissan altima 2.5, 238,000 miles. It goes in limp mode if you're going up step grade hill, or if you try to go pretty fast, 3100 rpm, you go into limp mode. Stop, restart, it clears codes and i go again.i had new timing chain put on it, still did the same thing. We put new coil pks, new plugs, and new air filter. It gave me more rpm's, but it is still doing same thing. Nobody can figure out whats wrong with it. Do you have any suggestions that i can try ? My grandaughter and myself are in the car everyday. It is my only way of going. Thank you for reading my post.😢
Are you getting any codes?
@@treyhaberman just when it goes in limp mode. It runs smooth, no misfire, rpm gauge is steady. I was going up a mountain and I pushed the gas pedal and i felt it give, went on down about 1/2 inch, but that threw it in limp mode too.
@southerndipper6159 well your symptoms sound like the one I worked on, but I never got any codes. If I was you I would order a Bluetooth code reader from Amazon and try to read the codes when they pop up in limp mode, so you can diagnose that
@@treyhaberman what you think happened when I told you about me having the gas pedal all way down, felt like something brook free, but the rpms then jumped up to 5000, I let off of it real quick when I felt that pedal give. And also, I really appreciate your advice. And I watched a video that the gas pedal has a sensor on it. One place I read that you have to buy the whole pedal and sensor came with it, in another place it said you can buy the sensor ? Do you think that pedal could be causing some of these issues ??
@southerndipper6159 gotcha, yea I think you are on the right trap with the throttle body assembly. The valve could be getting hung up or there could be an issue with the wiring between the pedal and the throttle valve. A cheap first attempt could be removing the air intake and cleaning the throttle body.
What if its leaking trans fluid from the radiator. Will adding this cooler prevent the leak.
I would replace the radiator or repair the leak, just because how sensitive these CVTs are. But, if you're in a bind, yes you could bypass the transmission side of the radiator and just use the cooler.
@@treyhaberman would I do it the same way you did. I just replace the radiator and it's the new one that's leaking lol I thought it was the hose because it popped out because I didnt push the clamp on but I pushed the clamp all the way on and the leak got worse
@@reddplays2367 is it not just a bad hose?
@@treyhaberman well I just checked again and found the nut that screwed onto the radiator where the trans cooler hose go was loose. I tighten the best I could without removing the radiator and hopefully it works. Also noticed the radiator wasnt seated in the grommet properly so I pushed it in. Imma put more fluid in and drive it around to see if it starts leaking. I may need to wash underneath because the fluid that came out is sitting on the bottom so it'll be hard to tell if it's that or if it's still leaking.
@@reddplays2367 good deal. Hopefully that was it buddy
How much more trans fluid did it take with the added cooler?
Not much more. I think its was a quarter of a quart over normal.
Hey man, i have a same exact problem. Please let me know if this fixed it🙏🏻
Yes sir, my mom was able to do multiple one hour drives in heat and it's been good so far
Did this car have regular service done to the trans?
No. I told my mother that it looked like her service guy has never pulled the trans dipstick. I believe it was the original fluid.
@@treyhaberman death sentence for any cvt, hopefully it will still keep going for years in the future
@@OrganicFoxes right, I told her it was a miracle that it made it 189k miles. I told her not to be surprised if it only gets 10k or 20k more miles.
Did this fix the issue and how is it driving now ?
Yes sir, my mother hasn't had any trouble since.
So did the cooler work on a hot day?
Yes, sir. So far, so good. Made a 1 hr trip, it hasn't been anywhere further than that yet.
I'm having the same issue. I will install the extra transmission cooler and see if it works. My son has a 7 hour drive to school so that will be a good test. I will let you know how we make out.
I hope it helps ya out, bud. I would advise the fluid and filters as well. This was my mother's altima, and she said the service station always said the fluids were good. I had to use heat to get the dipstick unstuck from the tube. I don't think it's ever been checked.
I just had the fluid changed. They were not able to change the cooler return filter, but when I take it to have the cooler installed, I'm going to have them try to change both filters
Why tf are you in your overdrive
The limp mode takes away your ability to manually shift down until you are under a certain RPM. I was trying to shift down if that's what you're trying to ask.