Kizashi Club

I got stuck in a snow storm Christmas Day. Attempting to get out caused my AWD HOT warning light to come on. I waited for it to go off again and was able to get out of stuck with little effort. Since this has happened though, my car acts like it is froze up every morning. I'll go start it to let it warm up. Every night has been figgid -10 degrees or less so I do understand that the car is very cold even when I let it warm up.
I go into drive and the car will roll, but has no power. I push the gas and it does not Rev beyond 1000 RPM. Forward is the same as Reverse. And it do feel it change gears. I try with AWD off and on. Makes no difference. We changed the Diff oil which was very thick and dirty from the last owner. Bought the car about 3 months ago.
It doesn't take long for the car to come out of this. After going into reverse and drive a couple time it will break away and act like a perfect little car again. No noises associated with the issue. I am nervous that this is a CVT problem. Fluid is clear and full At a loss! Have looked all over hell to get info on the issue. 2010 Kizashi SE AWD 72000 Miles.

If you've changed the fluid, be sure it was done right and at the right levels. It sounds like the fluid was toasted and lost some of its capability in low temperatures. Or it could simply be that the wrong temperature range diff fluid was used. Either way, it doesn't sound like any permanent damage was done because it will work fine once the fluid is up to temp. You may simply have to let the car idle until up to operating temp before driving it. Because when it is acting funny, there is definitely a chance to damage something.