Automatic Transmissions are an Engineering Marvel.

Every time I stop and think about how automatic transmissions work I can’t believe anyone actually invented these things. Although transmissions have gone through many evolutions in terms of modern technology, they still work in the same basic way.

The very first automotive transmissions were manual transmissions. Experimentation to develop a reliable and functional automatic shift transmission went on in small shops by very industrious inventors for 100 years before they became a production line reality. These men knew the public would go nuts over an automatic shift transmission, so research was keen as each auto manufacturer wanted to be the first.

Automatic transmissions are a complicated hydraulic device. They use gear mechanisms that generate the gear ranges. We call these planetary assemblies. They are called compound planetary gears when we have more than one speed. The imagination runs wild when we consider that 7 speed automatic transmissions are available in modern luxury cars.

When I owned my transmission rebuilding facility from 1981 to 2006, we often invited customers into the rebuilding area to see what their torn down transmissions looked like. It was almost unanimous, people would say ” all those parts go inside that case”? It is an amazing site.

Just thinking about how an automatic transmission receives commands to operate is beyond most folks imagination. Regardless of whether it is an old Pontiac Slim Jim out of a 1958 Bonneville or a 2008 Kia Sorrento the transmission has a brain. The valve body was the only brain in the old days, as the 90’s progressed, computerization started to creep into transmission behavior.

Now, all transmissions are operated by computers, input and output sensors and the valve body. It is absolutely an unreal engineering feat to use computers, sensors and other inputs for your transmission to make good shifting decisions and shift silky smooth.

Who knows what the future will bring? One thing that has not changed is the need for regular maintenance. It has always been a sensitive, and often un-discussed subject, but more important than ever. Transmissions still need service now, it is more than that, modern transmissions have to be serviced with the exact same fluid that the factory installed in it. Which is a synthetic fluid.

One reason service is so important is that a modern automatic transmission can cost over a few thousand dollars to rebuild now a days as opposed to about 500 dollars or less 20 years ago. Don’t get caught with your pants down, be true to your car and stay on top of your transmissions care. For more solid information on transmissions, give us a Call at 866-320-1182. GotTransmissions.com