cvt transmission maintenance

**Dr.Kamiya** · February 21st, 2022 02:15 AM

Interestingly the Subaru CVT which seems to be pretty reliable for local use has started seeing a bunch of failures in the US.

Maybe because of they tend to drive more miles? I understand there is a torque converter in the CVT that prevents the main belts and pulleys from spinning when the car is not in motion.

Sound of a failed Subaru CVT transmission:

2011 Outback 2.5i, CVT transmission, 166k miles - am I screwed? : /r/subaru

Subaru 2013 Outback Transmission Noise | youtube

**hardwang** · February 21st, 2022 08:10 AM

Originally Posted by Dr.Kamiya

Interestingly the Subaru CVT which seems to be pretty reliable for local use has started seeing a bunch of failures in the US.

Maybe because of they tend to drive more miles? I understand there is a torque converter in the CVT that prevents the main belts and pulleys from spinning when the car is not in motion.

Sound of a failed Subaru CVT transmission:

2011 Outback 2.5i, CVT transmission, 166k miles - am I screwed? : /r/subaru

Subaru 2013 Outback Transmission Noise | youtube

Maintenance history? Fluid used? Driving style?

Ito problema sa CVT. Unrepairable.

**17Sphynx17** · February 21st, 2022 10:18 AM

Originally Posted by Dr.Kamiya

Interestingly the Subaru CVT which seems to be pretty reliable for local use has started seeing a bunch of failures in the US.

Maybe because of they tend to drive more miles? I understand there is a torque converter in the CVT that prevents the main belts and pulleys from spinning when the car is not in motion.

Sound of a failed Subaru CVT transmission:

2011 Outback 2.5i, CVT transmission, 166k miles - am I screwed? : /r/subaru

Subaru 2013 Outback Transmission Noise | youtube

Personally, other than the questions of whether or not they do proper CVT fluid changes be it time based or mileage based, I think in the US since they tend to do lot of interstate travel with higher top speeds than ours, they tend to do a lot more hard acceleration cycles compared to how we drive here to keep up with traffic. And seeing how they tried to wring the car out to try to immediately get to the speed limit when merging (hence the complaints of the CVT drone being prevalent among US Consumers), that could be a contributing factor. But that's my hypothesis/thinking on the matter.

**Wh1stl3r** · February 21st, 2022 10:23 AM

Originally Posted by 17Sphynx17

Personally, other than the questions of whether or not they do proper CVT fluid changes be it time based or mileage based, I think in the US since they tend to do lot of interstate travel with higher top speeds than ours, they tend to do a lot more hard acceleration cycles compared to how we drive here to keep up with traffic. And seeing how they tried to wring the car out to try to immediately get to the speed limit when merging (hence the complaints of the CVT drone being prevalent among US Consumers), that could be a contributing factor. But that's my hypothesis/thinking on the matter.

Yep, they really step on it to get up to speed specially on the highways. Drivers here are a lot more relaxed when it comes to accelerating. Come to think of it, in most other countries I've been to, accelerating hard is the norm. Dito masyadong takbong pogi lahat, walang urgency at all.