Nissan Murano

Seems that it pulls air across the transaxle housing but why that's needed I sure don't know.

It's an air scoop to divert air across the cooling fins that are on the transmission oil pan

The Murano CVT transmission cools itself 3 ways

1. air movement across the cooling fins on the oil pan
2. via engine coolant ,from a transmission mounted heat exchanger
3. by an internally mounted heat exchanger inside the radiator.

As we all should know, excessive heat is death to an automatic transmission, anything above 230.def.F will shorten the useful life of an automatic tranny by 50% or more, so is worn out ATF.

I recommend to all my customers to perform a automatic trans flush every 30k miles.

It you are towing, then the transmission should have an external cooler installed. I put one on my Chevy1500 as I tow a boat long distances at times

The Murano uses a CVT and a special transmission fluid.According to the dealer, under normal use, regular fluid changes are not necessary.

This is true, The dealers rely on what's printed in the service and owners manuals.

the manuals state that regular CVT fluid changes are not needed but lets be realistic here, fluids break down no matter weather its synthetic or natural.

if it were me, I'd spend the $$ just for the piece of mind

But as a side note in addition to Nissan Tech's comments, I own a Murano AWD with 116K miles. I recently had a dealer service which included the installation of my first set of brakes, and didn't even have to turn the rotors. Anyhow, they checked the tranny fluid with a computer device and said the fluid did NOT need changed. Also pointed out that the CVT does not use standard tranny fluid, and does not require the same service as a convention tranny.

At least that's what I was told.

Willy

I asked the dealer about the Murano transmissionn fluid change. They told me that the type of fluid that is used, and because of the design, CVT transmission maintenance is not required as like for a regular transmissioin. They do check it at particular times to make sure that there are no problems.

I also saw in the instruction manual that the CVT transmission fluid used is not a standard automatic transmission fluid. It is specific for their CVT. In doing some research, I found out that it is a very complex extremely high temperature rated hydrolic fluid. It is also very expensive to replace.

I called Nissan Motors directly, and had the same answer about the CVT maintenance. They told me that they give full warranties without the need of CVT fluid maintenance.

Murano Maintenance Schedule:

My sister has a 2003. She put on over 100 K, and this car is working very well. This car has been very reliable, and performs very well.

Jerry G. =====

G wrote:

I have 107K on my 03 Murano and the dealer just checked my tranny fluid and told me it did NOT need serviced / changed.

Willy

So he will warrant the 'box for another 100k will he?

Sounds like a receipe for disaster as Volvo found out with their autos when they specified no fluid change interval. (and Audi also have with their CVT unit)

Tim..