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What Wrecks Your Transmission?
Some cars run smoothly for miles and miles, some are just a nightmare with a multitude of issues. It's a little bit a matter of luck, but there are a whole lot of issues that you can control that affect how technically reliable a car is. Let's talk about transmissions and how drivers can ensure their durability and lower their chances of needing an expensive repair.
Overheating
All parts of your car operate best at a certain temperature. Most commonly, people know about the engine temperature and risks of overheating your engine. You even have the temperature indicator on your dashboard. Quite helpful, right? But what about transmissions?
Well, they do not react well to overheating either. It is not that common and easy though to get the transmission fluid temperature above the normal level. Yet, you can achieve that with any of these behaviours:
All parts of your car operate best at a certain temperature. Most commonly, people know about the engine temperature and risks of overheating your engine. You even have the temperature indicator on your dashboard. Quite helpful, right? But what about transmissions?
Well, they do not react well to overheating either. It is not that common and easy though to get the transmission fluid temperature above the normal level. Yet, you can achieve that with any of these behaviours:
- Heavy acceleration with your gas pedal down to the floor and sudden stops.
- Towing, especially above the capacity of your vehicle.
- Getting stuck in mud or a snow bank and trying to get out on your own.
Shifting ranges without complete stop
Imagine you are in late for something important. You jump into your car, back out of your driveway and then, before the car fully stops, quickly shift it to drive. Stop. Don't do that.
When your car is moving, even at the slowest speed, your transmission is operating in the selected mode: drive or reverse. When you suddenly jerk the transmission into a different mode, you contribute to the excessive stress on the parts. It won't usually break it right on the spot, but over time, it may cause extensive damage. It only takes a small amount of debris for the transmission issues to start building up and set you up for an expensive transmission repair. If you only did that once, do not worry. But if it is your normal style of driving, you might want to consider changing it.
Imagine you are in late for something important. You jump into your car, back out of your driveway and then, before the car fully stops, quickly shift it to drive. Stop. Don't do that.
When your car is moving, even at the slowest speed, your transmission is operating in the selected mode: drive or reverse. When you suddenly jerk the transmission into a different mode, you contribute to the excessive stress on the parts. It won't usually break it right on the spot, but over time, it may cause extensive damage. It only takes a small amount of debris for the transmission issues to start building up and set you up for an expensive transmission repair. If you only did that once, do not worry. But if it is your normal style of driving, you might want to consider changing it.
Running without service
This point is the most confusing of all because some modern cars have it in the manuals that transmissions do not require service. But they do, and here's why.
First of all, natural wear and tear of parts is inevitable. Second, all the issues we mentioned earlier do not kill transmission on the spot, in most cases they simply contribute to wear and tear. This process can result in a range of damages, and one of them can be easily tackled. It's the accumulation of metal flakes and dust in the transmission.
Such units as engines and transmissions are designed to operate in a clean lubricated environment without any debris. When damage occurs it creates tiny pieces of shredded metal that stay inside the transmission flowing in the transmission fluid. They become a time bomb inside it. When transmission fluid is changed, it flushes out this metal dust, so it can no longer cause more damage to the parts of the transmission. But when there is no service… You get it.
You might want to ask us why manufacturers state that there is no transmission service required. We would like to know the answer too, but we don't. What we do know is how to service the transmissions and tell if there are any issues building up inside when we do that. You can always book your service appointment with us on our service page.
This point is the most confusing of all because some modern cars have it in the manuals that transmissions do not require service. But they do, and here's why.
First of all, natural wear and tear of parts is inevitable. Second, all the issues we mentioned earlier do not kill transmission on the spot, in most cases they simply contribute to wear and tear. This process can result in a range of damages, and one of them can be easily tackled. It's the accumulation of metal flakes and dust in the transmission.
Such units as engines and transmissions are designed to operate in a clean lubricated environment without any debris. When damage occurs it creates tiny pieces of shredded metal that stay inside the transmission flowing in the transmission fluid. They become a time bomb inside it. When transmission fluid is changed, it flushes out this metal dust, so it can no longer cause more damage to the parts of the transmission. But when there is no service… You get it.
You might want to ask us why manufacturers state that there is no transmission service required. We would like to know the answer too, but we don't. What we do know is how to service the transmissions and tell if there are any issues building up inside when we do that. You can always book your service appointment with us on our service page.
May / 2020
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