Durability belt: what causes Jatco CVTs and how to treat them

SMOOTH RIDE

The second most common malfunction is jerking and jerking of the car. The main culprit is the oil pump pressure reducing valve. Due to wear products getting on the friction surfaces, it jams in intermediate positions. As a result, the pressure in the system does not correspond to the norm, which leads to a mismatch in the operation of the drive and driven pulleys and belt slippage. If you contact the service in time, the repair will be cheaper: in case of minor damage, the conical surfaces of the pulleys can be treated by grinding. But the belt will have to be changed. The approximate cost of repairs, including costs for spare parts, is 60,000–80,000 rubles.

Useful information | Typical faults | Repair

Over the past few years, the CVT has moved from the category of exotic to the category of a completely familiar “automatic” and has managed to survive several serious crises, either gaining the status of a reliable continuously variable transmission or losing precious reputation points.
If German automakers have taken the predominantly robotic route of shaft gearboxes, then Japanese engineers, like several years ago, still focus on improving and producing continuously variable transmissions. Jatco, one of the largest manufacturers of automobile transmissions, has been particularly successful in this direction. The company is owned by Nissan (75% shares), Mitsubishi (15% shares) and Suzuki (10% shares). Boxes produced by Jatco are most often found on cars of the Nissan-Renault group. The JF011E variator, which used to be equipped with most Japanese passenger cars, is considered a real bestseller. But already in 2012, the JF011E is being replaced by a new modification of the CVT - JF016E, which will be destined to replace its predecessor virtually everywhere within a few years, where it was installed. Also in 2012, the JF017E gearbox appeared and it became the main one for Nissan and Renault cars with engines from 250 to 400 Nm of torque. Next we’ll talk about the reliability of these two continuously variable transmissions.

Changing the oil and filter

— There are two filters in the JF015: The main coarse filter is No. 325010, metal with a mesh, located in the pan and lasts a very long time. It should be changed during a major overhaul, if the oil is heavily contaminated, if the oil smells burnt and the friction linings are eaten down to the adhesive layer.

— The second filter cartridge JF015E — 325013, fine post-purification, paper, installed externally for regular replacement. This division of the filter system into two parts in Jatko variators is recognized as useful and has been developed: - the fine filter cartridge here is more capacious compared to its predecessor JF011E. The designers did not skimp on it.

Jatko engineers recommend that for older cars, replacing filter cartridge No. 325013 with every oil change for CVTs, especially after the end of the warranty period. And based on the condition of this filter (and the pan magnets), craftsmen can determine the degree of wear of the components and hardware.

The oil used is NS-3 type (for lightly loaded CVTs from internal combustion engines to 2 liters in southern latitudes, many use NS-2). Changed by partial replacement. And this highly intelligent and “delicate” box is very demanding on cleanliness and oil level. The level and cleanliness are checked using the overflow plug on a hot (at a certain tº) running engine. It is advisable to have this done regularly by specialists who specialize in repairing Jatko CVTs. Experts recommend changing the oil every 40-60 tkm, and checking the quality of the oil even more often.

Operating the JF015 in dirty oil critically clogs the heat exchanger and in such cases, the technicians replace such a heat exchanger with an external cooling radiator (100104) by installing an adapter (325998) instead of the heat exchanger. Installing an additional radiator after runs of 100-120 tkm is practically the main condition for extending the life of this family of CVTs.

What cars were this family of automatic transmissions installed on?

CVT JF016E

The JF016E continuously variable transmission is designed for medium and premium class cars with an engine up to 2.5 liters. It replaced the tenth family, becoming part of the CVT8 series, so the JF016E CVT is also labeled as Xtronic CVT8 RE0F10D. Despite the fact that a whole generation change has occurred, new units are designed on the basis of their ancestors. In fact, the new CVT inherited the entire engine range from the well-known JF011E, the circulation of which by 2012 was breaking all absolute records and was approaching the mark of 5 million units produced. The Japanese have taken a very sensitive approach to the issue of mass production of cars with an updated continuously variable transmission. At first, the JF016E was installed exclusively on the Nissan Serena and Altima with a 2.0 and 2.5 liter engine, respectively, as well as on a smaller power unit in the Renault Clio. The first tests made it clear that there were some electronic diseases. The initial CVT settings turned out to be aggressive, which led to early failure of the valve body. It was replaced under warranty, and after that the Japanese modified the firmware of the electronic unit, which was the solution to the problem.

Buy spare parts for variator JF016E/JF017E

After minor adjustments, the continuously variable transmission was installed on the group’s mass-produced cars – Nissan Teana 2.0/2.5 and Qashqai 2.0. At first, these cars were tested exclusively in Japanese operating conditions, and only in 2014 a new modification of the variator began to conquer the hearts of car enthusiasts around the world. The box began to be installed on the Chevrolet City Express, Mitsubishi Outlander, Lancer and ASX. This is not the entire list of models equipped with JF016E. Since 2013, CVT8 has appeared on both the legendary Nissan X-Trail and the Nissan Juke with a 1.6 engine, popular among European motorists. The main difference between the CVT8 and the previous transmission was the presence of a manual control mode: the driver was able to independently switch virtual gears using a pair of levers located under the steering wheel.

In addition, other changes were introduced:

• the oil pump has become more powerful and slightly more compact;
• early locking of the torque converter;
• the presence of only eight valves in the control unit instead of twelve as was previously the case;
• the CVT power range has increased from six to seven units;
• Thanks to the low-viscosity lubricant, it was possible to reduce the level of friction of internal parts.

If we compare the endurance of the unit with the already installed resource JF011E, then the reliability of the JF016E variator has decreased by 1.5 times. Even taking into account the fact that engineers have already eliminated almost all the problems and replaced unreliable parts with analogues with higher strength, the average transmission service life is 200 thousand km. We'll talk about the main faults of the variator below; they are the same for CVT8 units.

A range of popular spare parts for repairing this automatic transmission

CVT JF017E

The older brother of the JF016E continuously variable transmission is the JF017E variator. The unit was specially designed for powerful front-wheel drive cars for an engine with a torque of 250 to 400 Nm. In order to “digest” the increased torque through the gearbox, the manufacturer decided to make a modification in two fundamentally different designs:

• with Bosch push belt for Nissan Murano;
• with a pull chain produced by ZF for other models, including those for powerful Renault engines;

The design differences between JF016E and JF017E are minimal; the second modification is, in fact, a strengthened version of the first. Now about the known CVT problems. The most intricate component of the CVT8 family of boxes is the valve body. The manufacturer decided to save on the iron base and eliminated the stepper motor. It was thanks to this device that in the variators of the previous family the oil pressure was regulated in order to change the gear ratio. They also decided to change the inside of the valve body by installing new-style solenoids. From this we find that the reliability of the JF017E variator is identical to the same indicator of the potential resource of the JF016E.