CVT appears to have bit it at 165k miles - expected lifespan?

[ProMarinero]

Well, it appears my trusty K gave up the ghost on the transmission today. I drove my usual 110-mile commute and it started bucking and revving while struggling to move forward when I finally slowed below 10 mph near my office. This is just on the heels of a bad wheel bearing I replaced this weekend. At first I thought the spindle nut had come off, but after removing the wheel and seeing the nut in place I'm fearing bigger problems. If it is in fact the CVT; I plan to swap in a used one. It's in great shape and has given me zero problems up to this point. I really think the CVT was always the weak point in the drivetrain, so if I can find a 60k mile unit and squeeze out another 100k, I will. I will have to buy the scan tool to program the new CVT, so maybe I'll just keep buying used ones since I will basically no longer need a dealer.

I was just wondering if anyone has an idea on the lifespan of these transmissions? I've seen complaints on here of failures at much lower mileage, but has anyone else had a failure at a higher 100k+ mileage out of warranty? I changed the fluid and filter at 100k miles, but I'm wondering if that bought me any extra time or not. FWIW I do use my paddle shifters quite a bit. It could be a contributing factor. Maybe not.

As an aside, my wife's Excursion shows zero oil pressure as of four days ago and is sitting in the driveway while I contemplate that one as well. Good times!

[FrankoLaMoya]

Interesting....I am pretty sure another member Kizashi's transmission went out around the same mileage on this forum...I have never heard of a CVT failure before a good 150K miles so far.

[ProMarinero]

Well it appears that things may not be as dire as first predicted. After getting it up on the lift, it looks like the issue may hopefully be in the transfer case and not the CVT. Torque converter locks up, wheels spin but clunky like gears are stripped. Will pull and revert....

[ProMarinero]

So that was a dead end. I pulled the transfer case and split it. I couldn't find any gear damage. However, I pulled the pan on the CVT and did find metal shavings in the pan. I'm thinking the torque converter and belt/pullet assembly of the CVT is fine, but the actual differential/spider gear assembly has let go. Regardless, I'm back to pulling the CVT and replacing. I also plan to replace the transfer case as the reduction gear tapered bearing cup just fell out of the case half. That shouldn't happen. For all of this work, I'm not going to sweat another $300 for a low-mile transfer case. Off to order a CVT, transfer case and the official Suzuki scan tool for CVT programming....

[FrankoLaMoya]

Interesting....you are lucky and smart to have knowledge in mechanics! Keep us posted.

[Ronzuki]

You might also want to grab the TCM out of the same vehicle as the CVT was harvested from if at all possible. There are multiple versions, and they are basically matched to the transmission they control. A long time ago I garnished this info while kibitzing with the parts manager at the now Ex-Dealer I use (he was bored and we were poking around his Suzuki parts terminal looking at random things). We found several different CVT assembly numbers as well as a variety of TCM numbers. The CVT & TCM combos are VIN specific and not necessarily model year specific, so be careful.

I recall he showed me two different CVT filters and two different pan gaskets on his shelf that he never once issued to the mechanics or had ever sold. He was baffled as to why Suzuki even issued them to him. I was surprised there were two different version of the filters, so that led to us poking around on his parts terminal to see why this was. As I recall there were 4 trans assembly p/n's and 4 TCM p/n's for the Kiz. Now it didn't state in the cryptic description manual or CVT, so there could have been 2 of each (based on the two different filters), or say maybe 3 CVTs and a single manual. Might be worth a call to a dealer or ASMC to see what is supposed to be in your vehicle based upon your VIN.

Are there any numbers on the trans you pulled?

[ProMarinero]

You might also want to grab the TCM out of the same vehicle as the CVT was harvested from if at all possible. There are multiple versions, and they are basically matched to the transmission they control. A long time ago I garnished this info while kibitzing with the parts manager at the now Ex-Dealer I use (he was bored and we were poking around his Suzuki parts terminal looking at random things). We found several different CVT assembly numbers as well as a variety of TCM numbers. The CVT & TCM combos are VIN specific and not necessarily model year specific, so be careful.

I recall he showed me two different CVT filters and two different pan gaskets on his shelf that he never once issued to the mechanics or had ever sold. He was baffled as to why Suzuki even issued them to him. I was surprised there were two different version of the filters, so that led to us poking around on his parts terminal to see why this was. As I recall there were 4 trans assembly p/n's and 4 TCM p/n's for the Kiz. Now it didn't state in the cryptic description manual or CVT, so there could have been 2 of each (based on the two different filters), or say maybe 3 CVTs and a single manual. Might be worth a call to a dealer or ASMC to see what is supposed to be in your vehicle based upon your VIN.

Are there any numbers on the trans you pulled?

Wow, good info to know. I haven't pulled a unit yet but I have been trying to find one around the same build date or newer. I checked the service manual again and it did show an initialization process to follow with the Suzuki scan tool when replacing the transmission. Regardless, I will try to find a unit with a TCM available just in case I have issues.

[bdleonard]

With a small bit of work you can use a good Ford VCM2 clone (about $150-250 on the ebay) in place of a Suzuki SDT2, assuming you can find a copy of the Suzuki SDT-II PC application. If you do find a copy of the SDT II software, you will find most of the documentation is in Japanese. This is a link to an English user walk through: http://ekstranett.rsa.no/Documents/Suzu ... .0_EN1.pdf

Beware there are many "junk" clones, so do your research if you try to go this route.

[ProMarinero]

With a small bit of work you can use a good Ford VCM2 clone (about $150-250 on the ebay) in place of a Suzuki SDT2, assuming you can find a copy of the Suzuki SDT-II PC application. If you do find a copy of the SDT II software, you will find most of the documentation is in Japanese. This is a link to an English user walk through: http://ekstranett.rsa.no/Documents/Suzu ... .0_EN1.pdf

Beware there are many "junk" clones, so do your research if you try to go this route.

I wish I had known this before I dropped $700 on the used SDT-1 from PitstopPlus. Knowing my luck the SDT-1 doesn't apply to this Kizashi. No big deal - only dropping $10,000 over the next two weeks on the CVT in this and a new engine in our Excursion.

[SamirD]

How did this go? Curious how the swap went and how the Excursion fared.