Know A Little About Transmissions Before Seeing A Mechanic

Your transmission is on the fritz. What do you do? Mechanics know that the transmission is a mystery to most people and they take advantage of that ignorance to insight fear in your heart. Before you hand over a blank check to your Austin transmission specialist, there are a couple of things you can check.

Your transmission is what shifts your car from gear to gear; it knows how fast you need to go and how quickly you need to get there. Here are a few points to discuss with your mechanic, to let the mechanic think that you know a thing or two about transmissions. The first thing to discuss is the gears. Even though the shifting is automatic, gears are still engaged. To be able to drive you have to have your main gears and planetary gears working.

The bell housing comes next. It is a cone shaped metal case that you see when you look underneath your car. For front-wheel-drive cars, it is on the engine under the hood. If you own a rear-wheel-drive, the transmission is underneath the car behind the engine.

Transmissions have to have fluid to work. Most cars come with red transmission fluid to easily determine leaks. Transmission fluid is the most important part of an automatic transmission. Check the levels at least twice a year. Low fluid levels can create poor shifting. Eventually it will damage your transmission. If you regularly see transmission fluids under your car, you have a leak.

To check for leaks you need to understand that transmissions are a closed system so there are only a couple of places they can leak. Check at the filler tube base. Check at the drain hole underneath the transmission, between the transmission and engine and at the selector shaft. The selector shaft is the rod that connects your gear shift to the transmission itself.

If you haven't replaced your filter in a while do this BEFORE you talk to a mechanic about a rebuild. Replacing the filter will fix many transmission problems. If you have replaced the filter and the problems still exist you may be in for an expensive rebuilt. All cars have to have their transmission rebuilt sooner or later, hopefully it is much later. Find a reputable Austin transmission repair shop that offers a warranty for their work. A quality rebuilt should come standard with a nice warranty.

Transmission problems are a mystery to most people. Being as informed as possible could save you hundreds of dollars in the long run.