Well, the transmission temp light came on in the desert. We weren't towing or carrying too much weight. Slight uphill grade, but not too bad. Let it cool down, but it came back on a few miles later.
Shop checked it out, quoted 12k to replace. Seems a bit high. Can you rebuild a CVT, or should you just replace? Or find a used Toyota?
2009 Jeep Patriot, VIN 1J4FT28B39D178021, 171K mileage, 4 cyl auto
To my knowledge no one is rebuilding CVTs, they are replaced as a unit when they fail. $12K sounds more than a bit high, it is outrageous. Even Subaru CVTs at the dealership cost "only" $7K to $8K to replace, and those are at the high end pricewise.
However even if you could find someone to do it for less the cost of repair will exceed the value of the vehicle, and it will be just another crapulent Jatco CVT.
Thanks for the info. Yeah, not interested in a Jatco.
quoted 12k to replace.
is it not working?
171K mileage
did you ever service it? CVT fluid needs to be replaced fairly often.
It's still running. Light hasn't come on again, but wife's afraid it will strand us somewhere. Had this problem once last year, but shop replaced fluid and it hasn't happened again until last week. After the other shop checked it, no light since. They said it could be going out, but no telling when. Don't want to buy something right now.
Well towing in the desert will do that. I hear CVTs get pretty hot
I wasn't towing, we only had three suitcases in it. Grade wasn't that bad either. Maybe it's just going out.
FWIW, I was driving my Prius in the desert. Death Valley to be exact. Super hot on a good sized hill. Everything was going fine (expected struggling uphill), but suddenly a lost power and speed. No warning lights. It was limping, but still going.
Check everything, and everything looked okay. Once we got back to normal temperature and normal grade, everything was fine.
Why do I share this story?
While a JATCO CVT, isn’t necessarily the best in terms of reliability, it may have well been just the nature of the driving conditions.
If you changed the fluid, and you haven’t seen the light since, I would just keep driving the thing and keep up with the maintenance. And especially change the transmission fluid more frequently.
With that said, if you don’t want to deal with the Jeep anymore, your next best option is a nice used Toyota, rather than dumping 12K into a transmission. Doesn’t seem worth it for that vehicle.
