The Sunday News
Lovert Mafukure
An avid reader has had it to the brim with Nissan CVT and they would rather trash it than endure the torture from such a vehicular non-talking thing.
It’s a Nissan Liberty with a QR20 engine equipped with a CVT gearbox. It drives well when cold then “suddenly loses power and moves very slowly”.
Well, that’s Nissan for you, good technology but . . .
Now, the reason I believe Nissan is overzealous is that they come up with some good technology that becomes a nightmare if end users do not understand it. There are models across the Nissan range that just become a problem as time goes by.
The Nissan Liberty is no doubt a good looking family car. Introduced in 1998, it ran its mile up to 2004. It has some niceties like the electrically controlled rear sliding doors, digital speedometer and of course — that JDM comfort.
With all that comfort though comes a load of problems that can make you grow old quickly if you are not careful.
The Nissan Liberty came with the SR20 engine and later on it was replaced by the QR20. The SR20 was a bit better, it stood the test of time. These can either be a DE or DET.
The DE simply means Dual Overhead Camshaft with the E standing for electronic fuel injection. The DET on the other hand is the same but the T means that it is turbo-charged and it should be a bit of fun, I say it should because I haven’t driven one yet. The SR20 engine has proven itself reliable over the years and the DET is found in sports cars like the Pulser GTir and the Silvia.
The QR20 motor replaced the SR20 on later models but it has not proven itself as reliable as the SR20. It lacks simplicity and is prone to Nissan’s notorious tech problems.
Much of it however, is the disadvantage of grey imports. When all is put together modern technology makes for more efficient engines with less of the emissions that are harmful to the environment but we do not have back up for this technology and that brings up to today’s topic.
The Liberty has a front-wheel drive setup with 4WD option. The front wheel Drive Liberty is driven by a Continuously Variable Transmission while the 4WD has an automatic transmission. It’s kind of funny that Nissan knew from the start that the CVTs cannot handle that much strain that a 4WD setup brings so they put automatic on 4WD.
The CVT is good and offers better fuel economy and smoother acceleration but for reasons better for your pockets, you are better off without it. CVTs are totally different from automatics and are more expensive to service. Others confuse them for automatics and service them the automatic transmission way which ultimately spells disaster.
The problem with this car is that when the Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT) decides to give up the ghost, it plays an unpleasant and non-thrilling horror movie. The most common problem like this one is that when some things go wrong it goes into limp mode when hot and consequently loses power. Not much can be done to it when it starts acting shady like this except replacement or repair depending on what exactly is misbehaving, the latter is quite a long shot considering we are in Africa and again this is poached technology so spares backup can be a nightmare.
With a little understanding however, of how the CVTs work the problem can be solved though at a bit of a cost. When they made the CVTs they moved away from mechanical or hydraulic gear shift to more electronically control systems.
You will find that at times you have an electrical malfunction in the transmission system with possible dead sensors that make it hard for you to drive since they won’t be transmitting correct signals for a smooth operation. This is the possibility in this situation since it’s an intermittent problem. A little tweak should do the trick.
The trick is to resolve the problem before it damages other components. Other problems usually crop up with the constant harsh kick downs of the transmission that can eventually render the whole gearbox useless.
Considering that CVT technology was significantly new in the early 2000s. These CVTs were and still are very sensitive and with slight mistreatment, they malfunction. Nissan recommends the use of Genuine Nissan CVT Fluid for their CVT gearboxes — but again these are grey imports and you will not find this fluid by your local Nissan dealership and you have to use the closest CVT fluid you can find.
So hate it or like it new technology is coming and Nissan is overzealous enough to be the first ones to always bring the complicated stuff first. They do have good technology but one has to understand how it works if ever they are going to fix or repair it when situations call for it. The understanding part is the hard part and that is why a lot of people now shun Nissan. It has good tech but it’s just misunderstood . . . till next time. Happy motoring!
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