Kizashi Club

My 2010 model is seriously causing headaches for my Suzuki dealership. It went in for its service with this clicking sound that has been there for quite a while and when pointed out they have come back with a transmission fault. Oil has been replaced and some parts, is there anyone that has had this kind of a problem. I am delighted that Suzuki are coming to the party in terms of warranty but now been 6 weeks off the road. Close to 50ks in KPM Any help is appreciated. From down under in NZ

Hi Suziewoman, first of all welcome to the forum.

You posted just at the right time as I started a separate post recently asking how many NZ/AUS Kizashi owners have cvt problems and assuming your car has the cvt so far your the only one.

If you look through the posts you see a number of Kizashi owners os have had problems with their cvts.

Could you possibly provide a bit more detail on the fault with your cvt so we can maybe ascertain if it is similar to faults with other Kizashi's.

It's good to hear Suzuki is honouring the warranty but make sureyou keep on them to fix the problem to your satisfaction.

The problem is so far -they can't find the problem- if you know what I mean!! the CVT transmission oil has been changed and parts have gone into the transmission and now they are looking at the 4wd transmission- with hopefully an answer in the next couple of weeks. Agreed I want satisfaction that it is a one off problem and won't accept being fobbed off - they have assured me that they will give me a reworked warranty- it was making a loudish ticking sound -no problems with surging.

If it is the awd then I don't remember any other owners having a problem so could be a first. The main sympton of cvt problems so far seem to be a whining noise rather then a ticking noise. Mostly they end up replacing the whole transmission as well.
Much appreciated if you could keep us updated.

We have a transmission plague here up on us.. every post you read now is CVT problems.

krell wrote:We have a transmission plague here up on us.. every post you read now is CVT problems.

CVT owners here are like characters in a zombie movie. One by one, they get the symptoms and become the Infected!

It sounds like the JATCO CVT in the Kizashi is prone to heat-related problems. Hopefully, the matter is resolved soon with Suzuki implementing revised parts or even new transmissions for the Kizashi. However, that's wishful thinking, especially for those of us in North America.

I honestly feel bad for CVT owners. These transmissions are prone to failure, slow as &^%@, and don't return real-world fuel economy figures to better the manual. The AWD is the only saving grace to CVT-equipped Kizashis.

KuroNekko wrote:
I honestly feel bad for CVT owners. These transmissions are prone to failure, slow as &^%@, and don't return real-world fuel economy figures to better the manual. The AWD is the only saving grace to CVT-equipped Kizashis.

More NVH as well.

Speed_Racer wrote:

KuroNekko wrote:
I honestly feel bad for CVT owners. These transmissions are prone to failure, slow as &^%@, and don't return real-world fuel economy figures to better the manual. The AWD is the only saving grace to CVT-equipped Kizashis.

More NVH as well.

That depends on the driver for a manual. A high revving driver that doesn't shift smoothly in a MT will offer a ride experience with more NVH than a CVT which is supposed to be very smooth... when it works properly.

Don't forget the CVT drone and low idle/ rough idle issues. You don't get that in a manual Kizashi.

On a serious note, it appears to really be a heat-related issue. It's summer time for many Kizashi owners and coincidentally, reports of CVT issues have increased. If I recall correctly, there were not many CVT-related complaints during the winter.

While the solution may be a deeper tranny pan that can hold more fluid therefore keep the tranny cooler, improvements to cooling should also be considered. Does anyone here have the RRM CVT cooler?
http://roadracemotorsports.com/store/in ... cts_id=697

If so, how does the CVT perform with this? While it's true that the car comes with an OEM CVT cooler, maybe this RRM product provides better cooling?