When it comes to maintaining our automobiles, there is a vital part of the car that people neglect the most. Transmissions of automobiles get less attention than the rest of the car. The automatic transmission is a sealed unit. It is in a world of its own.
When a car breaks down, the engine is where problems mostly occur. Transmissions rarely have problems. The area of neglect is changing of the fluid and filter. The oil and filter in the engine gets changed every 3,000 to 5,000 miles. The transmission fluid and filter get changed when the transmission slips or does not shift.
Transmission oil does break down like motor oil. Transmissions develop deposits that can shorten the life of this part of the drive train. Transmission filters filter out those deposits. When a filter gets clogged in the transmission, that will cause slow shifting or no shifting on a car. The two tubes that lead from the transmission to the radiator helps with the cooling of the fluid.
These are transmission cooler lines. The radiator not only cools the antifreeze, it cools the transmission fluid. The cost of repairing one of these units can range between $1,500 to $3,000. Most people go to a salvage yard for a used transmission because it is cheaper. It can cost around $300. But, you are playing Russian Roulette when you buy important parts from a salvage yard.
It takes a lot of time to change out a transmission. The only way to test a salvage transmission it to put it in a car and test drive. It is very upsetting when you buy a transmission out of a salvage yard and it does not work after spending all that time installing it. One that is re-built is a guarantee. It will also come with a warranty.
Manual transmissions have their issues too. The only thing that gets done with these is changing the typical 90 weight old at proper times. Manuals have synchronizers inside that wear down. Teeth on some of the gears can break. Manuals are tougher than automatic transmissions, but do wear out like anything else.
It is a good idea to service a transmission around 20,000 miles. When the clutch disk wears out, that is a perfect time to service a manual. By keeping up with maintenance, you can save a lot of money on repairs to this most important part of the car. Cars with manual transmissions today used a clutch system that works from brake fluid.
Fluid clutch systems have their problems on cars. The slave cylinder that pushes the pressure plate open can wear out over time. Like air in the brake system, you notice that the clutch pedal feels soft and you have a harder time shifting the car into the next gear. This is a big problem. There is a reservoir that holds the fluid for the clutch just like the brake fluid reservoir.
The clutch system can lose so much fluid that it starts to become hard to shift the car into the next gear or shift the car out of gear. The non-fluid clutch systems seem is the better system. Fluid clutch systems is not new. The BMW cars had them in the early 1980s. Every brand of car has flaws.