Your car is one of the most important investments of your life. Taking good care of your car should be on your priority lists. However, being a machine, it can face mechanical issues, which you should get checked and treated on time. Transmission slipping is one of the issues that persist with it. There are certain automatic transmission slippage symptoms that you should be wary of. This article will cover those symptoms as well as provide an insight into treatments that should be undertaken for effective transmission maintenance.
What is Automatic Transmission Slippage?
It’s somewhat evident from the name. A transmission slippage feels like driving on an ice patch. The engine is revving; however, it does not provide any traction from the car. Another symptom of transmission slippage is the clunking sound that you can feel coming from the transmission. Apart from that, jerking the vehicle into gear is another sign of transmission slippage.
This jerking occurs when the car is revving up abnormally high. When the gear is shifted, the car jumps into the gear, indicating the slippage. If you’re having trouble shifting into gears and hear noises coming from the car, then it’s the transmission module that is causing the issue.
What Can Cause the Transmission to Slip?
There can be several causes even for an automatic vehicle to face transmission slippage issues. The most common of the causes is the lack of maintenance. As highlighted earlier, your vehicle is a machine, which is bound to face mechanical issues. That is why if you become reckless in maintaining it, it will result in serious issues with your car, and transmission slippage is one of these problematic issues.
Transmission slippage issues in automatic vehicles can easily be dealt with the flushing of the transmission fluid. This helps remove old fluid as well as metal shavings in the fluid. Clearing of the fluid helps in better lubrication.
In an automatic transmission, the fluid is used to keep gnashing of the gears. This helps prevent damage from occurring due to friction. However, when maintenance isn’t bothered with, the fluid becomes contaminated with impurities, leading to damage to the gear system.
In addition to the lack of maintenance, clogging of the transmission filter can also cause transmission slippage. This happens when the filter isn’t clean and isn’t able to stop impurities from entering the fluid. This then leads to fluid impurity, ultimately leading to problems.
Next, you can check out broken gears and bands that are also the cause of transmission fluid. With damage to the gears, your car won’t be able to shift within the respective gear and will probably face slippage.
Furthermore, low or burnt transmission fluid can also be the cause of transmission slippage. The low fluid will ultimately lead to gears getting stuck and facing more friction in working. The burnt fluid will lubricate the system with impurities.
Preventions
One of the many things you can do, which almost does the trick, is to keep checking the transmission fluid. You need to remember the time you last got the system flushed. The more the fluid is in the transmission, the more contaminated it can get.
You can check the color of the fluid to see its health. The red color would indicate good health and can last longer. Brown or dark color indicates a burn and mixture of impurities, which means you need to get the system flushed.
Apart from that, you can also get a red-colored fluid flushed to see if there are any metal shavings inside if you’re hearing any sounds or facing slippage. For this purpose, you need to take it to an auto repair shop and ask for an automatic transmission slippage service.
Concluding Remarks
Since the transmission is one of the main components of your vehicle, you need to take it to the expert instantly if there’s slippage or any issue. The more you delay maintenance, the higher are the chances of facing bigger trouble such as failure of the gear assembly. An expert auto mechanic would be able to diagnose the issue instantly when you’ll be telling them about the issue. However, you should go for the one that is ASE certified so that you and your vehicle can be entertained by a professional.