CVT Fluid Drain and Fill w/ Filters Replacement

[OliverB]

The OE Suzuki green retailed for $20/qt. I think I got it for just over $11 for the last bulk buy. First round I bought was about $15/qt.

Ex dealer was asking for $33/qt...

[Ronzuki]

Thieves. At that price I'd be going w/ Nissan's fluid or one of the other brands. My ex-dealer's parts manager works with me all the time. Good dude. He understands the simple concept of: it's better to make a little bit of something than a whole lotta nuthin'.

[BLyons]

Out of curiosity, how much did you spend on the cvt fluid

The Pennzoil CVT-2 fluid that's compatible with Suzuki's is under $8 a qt on the Pep Boys website.

[OliverB]

Thieves. At that price I'd be going w/ Nissan's fluid or one of the other brands. My ex-dealer's parts manager works with me all the time. Good dude. He understands the simple concept of: it's better to make a little bit of something than a whole lotta nuthin'.

At that price, I might as well buy a second transmission and let it sit in my closet.

Out of curiosity, how much did you spend on the cvt fluid

The Pennzoil CVT-2 fluid that's compatible with Suzuki's is under $8 a qt on the Pep Boys website.

They don't ship to Canada. Is there a list of compatible fluids?

[Woodie]

I admit admiration for you folks who tackle your vehicle issues.
I just reach in my wallet........

If I could find someone again I could trust, I wouldn't hesitate to reach in to my wallet either. Crawlin' around under a car on floor ramps isn't doin' it for me anymore. It is, however, still less aggravating than the alternative.

Here's the thing, 90% are either thieves or butchers who will screw up as many things as they fix. I'm old, lazy, and make a fair amount of money, but I don't trust anyone to do a job properly.

The gas station three blocks from me, who have been pretty good in the past, have really started gouging the prices. They got my buddy with the 2008 Civic Coupe for $500 for a starter the other day. Starter is readily available for $100.

[Ronzuki]

[ I'm old, lazy, and make a fair amount of money, but I don't trust anyone to do a job properly.

we must be related...'cept I'm getting lazy, soon to be full lazy...

[OliverB]

So I completed this yesterday. Thankfully I had access to my friend's car lift so it made this whole thing a lot easier.

I got 4L out on my first drain. While the transmission was draining, I decided to replace the filter. The hose clamps did not want to cooperate, but I was eventually able to break them free.



Nasty~



Bolt #1 and #2 are easily removable from the top of the engine bay. For anyone with access to a lift or with enough ground clearance, I would suggest removing bolt #3 and #4 from the side of the car. All you have to do is remove your wheel and the plastic shield. You also get more room to remove/replace the filter. Mine was pretty disgusting...

I did not replace the o-ring. It's a bit tricky to put it back in place, but the small tabs seem to keep it where it should... once it stops trying to come out that is

The garage is right on a racetrack next to an airport so there's plenty of long straight roads so I took the car out for 10 minutes in order to mix the new fluid with whatever was left in the transmission.

I dropped the pan for the 2nd drain and got 5L out. I replaced the valve filter. The original one had a higher quality mesh and looked perfectly fine but I changed it anyway. Filled the tranny up and went out for 10 minutes.



Got 3.2L out on the 3rd drain and 3.8L on the 4th drain for a total of 16L. It wasn't enough to get all the old fluid out, but unless you have a a dozen gallons on hand, that's really not happening anyway.

I like to think that my CVT is now a bit more quiet, but that could be because of the placebo effect.

[old tech]

I have replaced around 15 of these Kizashi transmissions , tore down 6 , and rebuilt 2 of them . I wished I could say all the failures would be addressed by keeping fluid clean but I cant . There are 3 areas that should be improved on the JF011E
1) There are only 2 magnets and they dont even seem to be in the flow . Adding some can only help. This type of tranny normally makes alot of furry grey matter stuck to the magnets , its when you see silver chips and non metallic black grindings stuck to the pick up screen that you are headed for trouble . Its the primary unit is crying for help .
2) The flow control valve located in the pump housing has a steel piston with aluminum bore. This gets scored badly when fluid isnt kept clean. Transgo makes a nice fix on this for $33
3)The primary variator has 6 balls locating pulley to the shaft . This works great on the sx4 but doesnt hold up to the weight and torque of the Kizashi . This can be converted to long pin . I have done this on both of the units i fixed and it works great.

Here is 2 video titles to look up on you tube

JF011E whatever it takes

JF011E ball to pin conversion

[Tom Kizzie]

That great info old tech

[Ronzuki]

Yes...good stuff... and I would agree that the fluid swap is not the end-all-be-all for all issues especially at the higher mileages were seeing now w/o ever having the fluid serviced as it should have been from the get-go. That said, it's the first and simplest DIY thing to try. Fortunately for me, my pan filter's mesh screen was clean as a whistle and the gray goo was not very metallic laden at all. I could have just cleaned it off w/ brake cleaner and reinstalled the original.

Old Tech, where are you located? You might want to hang a shingle for the plethora of CVT repair/rebuilds on the horizon.