What is a transmission and what does it do?

A Transmission helps transfer power from your engine to your wheels, it is an absolutely needed part for your car to function. Without your cars transmission your car would remain stationary and go no where.

Because of how important a transmission is you can be sure a lot of work goes into making them and even more can go into repairing and replacing them! That is why we always recommend following these simple steps in order to ensure the longevity of your cars gearbox.

You dont even need to understand how your transmission works in order to follow these simple steps. Asides from the transmission fluid checked listed below are 5 common mistakes people make when driving that can hurt your transmission

1.Downshifting Instead Of Using Brakes

Everyone likes downshifting their car, 

Maybe you downshift to feel like vin diesel from the fast and furious movies, perhaps you use this technique to save gas or maybe you were simply taught how to drive this way.

Downshifting can be very useful when you need to slowdown in a emergency especially when breaking just isn’t doing it for you,

While it has its benefits overusing this tool can lead to significant reduction of the lifespan of your transmission and your clutch. 

A common misconception is that its better to downshift to save your brakes but the opposite has proven true for us.

2. Let Your Car Warm Up

Have you noticed when you first start your car it idles higher than usual, you may have noticed your car doing this in colder weathers, especially in our harsh Calgary winters.

Your car will remain in higher revolutions per minute (RPM’s) when you first start it off in order to prevent it form stalling,

In order for your engine to start it needs to mix gasoline and air and complete a process called combustion, in colder weathers gasoline can become thick and harder to move.

This is why your car will be in higher revolutions to suck in more fuel faster so the process can boot the engine on.

Just like when you workout you may do some static stretching or some light cardio to warm up, this is exactly what your car does when it is idling high for the first few minutes of being turned on.

Placing your car in gear and driving off can be harmful to your transmission because It isn’t warmed up and ready to go yet.

Doing this can result in excess wear and tear on the clutch and other transmission components.

Be patient and allow your car to warm up!

3. Come To Complete Stops Before Changing Directions

Many of the tips being shared in this article relate directly to simply exercising the activity of patience when it comes to your car.

The issue of not coming to complete stops before changing directions in your vehicle also falls into this category.

You may have seen this when someone reverses their car out and while its still rolling backwards they slam it into drive!

Every time we see this we feel a little bit of pain in our chest for that cars transmission,

Its never good to stop an object at the peak of its motion and force it into another direction, so why would you do this to your car? 

The process not allowing your car to come to a complete stop before forcing it into another direction can premature damage, take away at your transmissions health and even cause it to fail.

4. Tow It Correctly

We think the best goal is to avoid towing your car at all, you can do this by simply paying your tickets and not parking in restricted areas.

All jokes aside, if you do find yourself in the situation that you car is getting towed there is one major thing you can do to prevent this from leaving permanent damage to your cars transmission.

All you need to do is to make sure the wheels that receive power are not placed in an area where they would be rolling,

For example if your car is FWD you want to make sure the front wheels are on the ramp and the back wheels are rolling on the ground to prevent damage to your transmission. If the opposite takes place and your front wheels are on the ground rolling this can and will cause damage to your transmission.

5. Use Emergency Break On Hills

Every tool that is built into your car is there for a reason,

When parking on any hills or inclines it is always smart to use your emergency break 

Not only does It act as a secondary safety incase the transmission fails to keep your car parked but it also reduces any excess stress on the transmission.

Most people double lock their doors but for some odd reason when they park there 3000 pound car on a 45 degree hill they do not use two forms of braking,

We can’t understand why you wouldn’t want to use a tool that’s freely provided to stop your car from rolling down the hill causing damage to yourself or others. Its as simple as pushing the emergency brake foot pedal or pulling the e brake handle.

Don’t just stop there be sure to park your tires in the proper direction so if both methods fail your tyres will roll your car into the curb instead of down the hill.

For an in-depth guide on how to park your commercial or non commercial vehicle on a hill with or without a curb you can watch the video below in order to get some information on how to do this.

The Proper Steps Are In Place!

Maintaining your Cars transmission is very important, it can help you protect yourself, your car, others and save your wallet from hard hits down the road.

While we at Drip Auto Pros don’t offer any mechanical maintenance services we would be more than happy to guide or help you! Our Calgary Detailers specialize in keeping your car and RV looking great. You can get a reliable RV Detailing Calgary from us. To learn about our process check out our total detailing guide here