Transmission maintenance is the single most important factor in lengthening the life of your transmission. Like most things in life, if you don’t take care of your transmission, it won’t last very long. But how do you get the most out of your transmission? How can you keep it performing at peak efficiency? Here are 10 transmission maintenance tips.
Transmission fluid is the lifeblood of the automatic transmission. Without transmission fluid, your transmission won’t work. There is no transmission problem that can’t be caused or at least worsened by insufficient levels of transmission fluid. In order to maintain a working transmission, it must be well lubricated, so get that dipstick out every month or two and check your transmission fluid.
A big manual transmission maintenance routine will be to check your transmission oil. Fluid is for automatic transmissions, manual transmissions typically use transmission oil. The same principle applies.
It’s not just about quantity with transmission fluid. Good transmission maintenance means checking for fluid quality, too. Damaged transmission fluid can be a sign that something is wrong within your transmission and it can cause more problems itself. Damaged transmission fluid is often opaque, rather than the clear-ish red colour it should be, and it sometimes smells foul.
If your transmission fluid is damaged, it should be serviced. Even if it doesn’t seem that damaged. Transmission fluid should be serviced at regular intervals. Maybe. Some auto manufacturers claim that their transmission fluid never needs to be serviced. These claims should be treated skeptically. Talk to your technician about if and when your transmission fluid should be changed.
A big part of transmission maintenance is looking for problems before they become big problems. For example, look for transmission fluid under your parked vehicle now and then. Any leaks will have to be re-sealed.
Some problems can be heard rather than seen. Listen for whining when your vehicle is in neutral or clunking and banging when you shift gears. These are sounds of trouble.
The aforementioned sounds are often accompanied by things you can feel. If your transmission grinds or clunks when you shift gears, you have a transmission problem.
We cannot stress this enough. When you see that transmission fluid on your driveway, when you hear that whining in neutral, or when you feel those gears grinding, take your vehicle into a mister transmission for a free Multi-Check Inspection. The longer you wait, the worse the problem can get.
Better than waiting for something to go wrong, bring your vehicle into a mister transmission shop for regular transmission maintenance. That’s the difference between transmission maintenance and repair. Transmission technicians can spot problems better than you can. Coming in for routine transmission maintenance means you can nip those small problems in the bud and increase your chances of avoiding major transmission repairs.
Your transmission maintenance is only as good as the transmission shop who performs it. At Mister Transmission, we pride ourselves on our transmission maintenance. The Mister Transmission Multi-Check Inspection is the most comprehensive transmission maintenance you will find. To learn more about transmission maintenance, please contact us.
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