One of the least understood ingredients in your automatic transmission is the automatic transmission fluid (ATF). As far as most people are concerned, ATF is ATF, and that is a big mistake. ATF is a complicated blend of a light weight oil and an additive package that consists of at least 27 ingredients that make the oil suitable for an automatic transmission.
To further complicate the matter, certain cars such as Honda and Kia use brand specific ATF, which is the only ATF that will allow the respective transmissions to work properly and achieve their full life. This is assuming you follow factory maintenance requirements. Those are not the only two brands of cars to use brand specific fluids in the last 15 years, so check the owners manual and don’t let someone talk you into another ATF or an additive that will turn ordinary ATF into brand specific. Additives won’t do the trick.
The focal points of synthetic fluids comes from the way the fluids are made. Getting involved in the chemical process is a waste of time now. So lets talk about what is so good about synthetic fluids. Synthetic fluids can take more heat than non-synthetic fluids. It is very dramatic, ordinary fluids will break down very fast in hot climates or under heavy usage. In fact oil based (ordinary) fluids will boil and catch fire at heats much over 270 degrees. Synthetic fluids won’t break down or boil until well over 450 degrees. It is easy to see why synthetic ATF is a great choice in Florida, where I live.
What about the cold? Synthetic fluids will stay viscous and flow freely at temperatures as low as 60 degree below zero. Ordinary fluids become thick and jelly like at temperatures below 10 degrees. Which causes serious problems in many cases in terms of how well it flows inside your transmission when you start it up in those extra cold mornings, and how well it will lubricate.
The last thing to be said about automatic transmission fluids is that they expand and contract like crazy, in relation to heat and cold. This is particularly important when the temperature drops. If your fluid is just a touch low, at 75 degrees or 80 degrees, and the temperature drops to 40 degrees or less, the fluid will contract and you may have a low fluid level which usually causes a transmission failure. And the need to examine transmissions for your car. BTW: If your fluid is low, you probably have a leak. Get it fixed ASAP.
I hope my tutorial on synthetic fluids is helpful to you. It may save you from looking for transmissions someday. However, if you find you have a terminal transmission failure and need to locate a rebuilt transmission, call GotTransmissions.com @ 866-320-1182 and speak with a trained representative about which transmission is in your best interests.
