Lack of maintenance. Three small words have such an expensive outcome. There is no other part on a car or truck that needs proper maintenance more than an automatic transmission. I don’t mean to stay less focused on your other regular maintenance. Such as changing your engine oil and filter, having the fluids checked, a grease job, wheel bearing maintenance and emission controls, to name a few.
Transmissions are a big ticket item when it comes to looking for transmissions for sale, so it only makes sense to have such a delicate and precise component taken care of effectively. That being said, we are going to learn how to take care of your automatic transmission “my way“. I have my set of rules and after 25 years of owning and operating my transmission shop (I sold it three years ago), I’m well qualified to modify the rules of maintenance.
FYI, if you think I’m joking, you might as well call GotTransmissions.com now at 866-320-1182 and find out what a new, reconditioned or used transmission costs for your vehicle now. Because your going to need them someday. If that does not scare you into following my rules, I would be surprised.
This is a primer and introduction to how to maintain an automatic transmission. We can discuss the water pump, fan clutch and cooling system too, but the first thing that must be practiced is using the proper and best automatic transmission fluid for your car. Simply speaking there is synthetic transmission fluid, semi-synthetic transmission fluid and conventional transmission fluid. Literally speaking, the right transmission fluid is life or death for a transmission.
No matter what, it is not a real service if the transmission oil pan is not lowered so you can change the transmission filter, because it is imperative to see if there is any unusual wear from the clutches, bearings, torque converter and other internal components. Some wear is normal, realistically speaking it takes a professional to know what is serious and what is not. A “flush” is not good enough if the transmission oil pan is not lowered or inspected and the filter is not changed after you flush it out. If you read the brochure on “transmission flushes”, no where does it state they change the trans. filter in it. You would not change your engine oil and leave the old filter on, would you?
We always inspected the whole transmission for leaks or anything unusual sush as a bad transmission mount or bad u-joints. If surrounding equipment to the transmission is not checked during a maintenance procedeure, than the job is not complete. to take it one step further, we always used a checklist so we had a written record for the shop and for our customer.
The last piece of info I am listing is how often to change the fluid in terms of time and mileage. The time values vary and I don’t wan to be vague about it in any way so my next post will have some specific details on time limits and finalize the subject of proper automatic tranmission maitenance. the GotTransmissions.com Blog will become more and more populated as we continue to give you good quality information. Get in on the action first and subscribe to our free blog and have it delivered to your email box daily. Enjoy
