NEVER do THIS to your Automatic Transmission Car

hello and welcome to the carcarana channel in today's video we're going to be talking about things you should never do to your automatic transmission most people assume that the engine is the most expensive component of a car but it is in most cases actually the transmission but before we get started if you're new to the channel welcome consider subscribing to the channel check out some of my other videos if you are a returning subscriber thank you so much for watching another one of my videos and without further ado let's get right into it number one take care of your parking paul and for those that are not familiar with what a parking pole is it is a small little metal piece that jams itself between two gears and that's what actually parks your car that's what locks the transmission from your car rolling back or forward that is designed to just be a safety mechanism it is not designed to hold the weight of the car for an extended period of time now if you're parked on a flat surface life is good but if you're not you really need to rest the weight of the car on the parking brake and to eliminate the gray area to make everything black and white the recommendation is always use your parking brake let the weight of the car rest on the parking brake not on the parking pawl this is a sequence of things how you want to do this stop your car and drive put it in neutral put your parking brake then put it in park this way you will protect your parking pawl and you won't have issues with it because if it breaks for whatever reason you're gonna have to take the transmission apart to replace this piece about yay big not cool and another thing that you need to be avoid doing to protect your parking pole is don't slam the car in park before you come to a complete stop i see so many people do this we all have busy lives we're all in a rush we just want to slam it in park and get out of the car don't do this because this actually could chip the parking pawl and that's how you start the journey of destroying it and costly repairs that you could easily avoid number two take care of your transmission fluid now toyota lexus and many other manufacturers they'll tell you oh the transmission fluid is lifetime fluid you never have to change it but what is that lifetime the length of your powertrain warranty in most cases it is replace your transmission fluid every 60 000 miles or six years for toyota lexus products for other models some of them will vary but anywhere between 30 000 and thousand it is a small investment from your side to protect one of the most expensive components in your car do not believe the lifetime fluid this is a marketing thing to make owners believe that the maintenance cost on this car is very low and once you're out of warranty and you didn't replace the fluid you get to a point once you cross 100 000 miles that is actually not recommended that you replace the fluid because at that point you could cause more harm than good that's the way it is with transmission fluid so 60 000 miles six years for toyota lexus products and you won't have any issues number three warm up your transmission before you take off wait a second did i just say warm up your transmission most people in the cold weather they start their car they are warming up their engine believe it or not modern engines they don't really need much warming up as soon as you have oil pressure you're ready to go which usually happens in fractions of a second even when the engine is cold even when it's set for a long time but what you actually want to warm up is your transmission most auto manufacturers one of them is toyota that i'm very familiar with they are installing not transmission coolers transmissions warmers engines they have combustion they warm up rapidly and they have a source of heat that generates heat and life is great transmissions the torque converter that spins it does have friction inside of it fluid friction but it's not the same as the engine it is not combustion so some of these transmissions take a really long time to warm up especially in cold weather you might want to give them a minute or two to let them warm up because a common thing with toyota transmissions and this is actually common with other manufacturers too if you just get in your car it's let's say it's been parked overnight you start it you give it 30 seconds and then you start going the transmission will be very laggy the fluid is too thick it's not able to remember the fluid in the transmission is just not for lubrication it is used as a hydraulic fluid to make shifts happen when it's super thick and super cold it just doesn't function as well older transmissions used to limit you doesn't let you go past third gear that is a way of the manufacturer to make the transmission warm up faster but in modern transmissions that's not the case they have a transmission warmer but in really cold weather give that transmission a minute or two let it warm up let that fluid start circulating let it warm up a little bit before you start going and a common issue when the fluid is too cold it's you're going to have a very delayed shift into drive and that actually is super unhealthy for your transmission when you feel that very mellow shift into drive metal shift into reverse and then the shifts between first second third fourth are very mellow and delayed when it's cold that is not healthy for your transmission folks avoid that by just letting the thing warm up for a few minutes if it sat for a long time like days at a time and outside in cold winter give it more time to warm up to protect your transmission number four don't use your transmission as a brake so most modern transmissions they will have sequential shifting where you can go first second third you can manually shift through the gears older transmissions they used to have three two l and most people don't use them and the ones that do they usually use them for going when you're going down a hill you want to downshift use engine braking so you won't fade your brakes however only use it for its intended purpose because some people will say i will protect my brakes by downshifting my gears as i'm coming to a stop so i would slow down the car and i'm going to wear down my brakes but you know what the cool thing about that is the most expensive brake job at least in normal cars toyota land minus the really some of the really high-end lexus models you're talking about a four or five hundred dollar job and the worst day you keep downshifting your transmission putting all that stress on the whole transmission on the clutches on your motor mounts on everything in the car uh it's not worth it because you're trying to protect the brakes that cost one quarter or less the price of the transmission that you could easily wear down by putting this excess wear on it avoid doing that avoid downshifting your car when you're coming to a stop when you're going downhill you have to use your engine braking by downshifting your transmission because if you just rely on your brakes you're going to fade your brakes they're going to stop working they're not going to work effectively and now you're in a dangerous situation but as long as you use them for their intended purpose that's okay we're not driving at high speeds going down a very steep hill every single day and if you do unfortunately then you'll be aware that transmissions are don't last as much in these situations but driving on a flat surface and you're doing this you're really pushing that transmission for early wear so please don't do that to your car number five this one is for those that live in snow-covered winters like myself in chicago every winter you're gonna get stuck in snow at least once if you don't you're doing really good but it just happens and that's okay but what i see people do when they get stuck in snow they'll just stand on the throttle and they keep spinning the wheels hoping that you're gonna get out of the of getting stuck that's just not gonna happen you can't keep doing the same thing expecting a different result you need to do something different reverse the car be gentle there is nothing that puts more strain on the transmission than just spinning your wheels and waiting for a different result if you get stuck take a deep breath don't punish the transmission because you are getting stuck i have seen so many toyota transmissions especially in my area where we have snow flat up blow up like metal holes and debris out of the transmission because they got stuck in snow and they over revved it don't do that if you get stuck in snow there are multiple methods to get yourself out get a tow have someone push you put something under the tire to give it a little bit more traction and another thing that i will add because i see this a lot if you have a truck remember you have low range use it it'll actually get you out of stock situations much easier but also don't push it don't push your car when you get stuck and this is not just snow even if you get stuck in the mud sand whatever the case may be don't just grab it expect a different result it's not going to happen be gentle with the transmission because you're going to get stuck once but you're going to have that transmission for 100 200 300 000 miles so keep that in mind when that happens number six protect your shifter folks especially in toyota models you still have an old-school shifter on the floor that has a cable that you move and i love it and everybody else loves it because it's not some complicated button system or rotary dial whatever the case may be but protect that shifter look we all have busy lives we all drink drinks in our cars coffee in the morning whatever the case may be if you ever have an accident where you spilled coffee over the center console where usually that's where the cup holders are don't just call it a day you're going to want to go in that shifter clean the area dry the coffee dry the water whatever the case may be because here is the sequence of events that lead to issues and then one of them is a safety issue that i am concerned and i have seen when you spill coffee or water on top of that shifter that's going to go inside first thing you're going to notice is the shifter is not as smooth that's more of a convenient inconvenience thing it's annoying but you know it still works live is good but that water goes inside there's a little solenoid inside that shifter it's a lock solenoid so when you shut off your car and pull your key you can't accidentally take it out of park and potentially risk the car rolling well if you've been watching this video and you use your parking brake that wouldn't be an issue but most don't unfortunately i hope they do after this video but that is a safety concern because now that solenoid is either stuck or it gets shorted corroded and now it doesn't work anymore that is a safety concern the other thing is the cable now most of the newer cars the cables are turning into plastic and everything is better plastic is better with corrosion but some of them still use a metal rod corrosion cable breaks and now we're just creating problems and the other thing i would like to bring to your attention is don't hang things off the shifter a very common one is a garbage bag many people do this and i understand you're trying to minimize garbage in your car trying to collect it but hanging it off the shifter is not a good idea in some cases you're going to make the transmission half shift where the shifter is pulled and now you're halfway between drive and neutral you could set warning lights you could actually cause intermittent drop in the pressure inside the transmission it's just not a good idea it's not worth the risk don't hang things off your shifter number seven don't put your car in neutral unnecessarily let me explain you're stopped at a traffic light the light is red you're waiting for it to turn green some people have the tendency of putting in a neutral to relax the transmission because i'm trying to take care of your my transmission and bless you for that because you're trying to take care of your car but unfortunately that is actually not healthy for the transmission because that engagement and disengagement of the clutch actually puts wear on the transmission and that's normal that happens every time but we don't want to accelerate that by every time we stop we put it in neutral put it in drive now you disengage the clutch engage it again back and forth back and forth that's actually not good long term keep your transmission in drive now a different scenario would be if you're stopped there's a train long train passing in front of you there's an accident in front where the road is closed where you know you're going to be stopped for over 10 minutes in that case put the transmission in part set your parking brake and wait but stopping in a traffic light in a drive-through whatever the case may be avoid switching to neutral just to protect the transmission that actually puts extra wear on it and it's it's not a good thing folks please take care of your transmission transmissions are getting more expensive as they get more complicated and get more gears in them but in the case of toyota lexus products you take care of that transmission you take care of the maintenance they have no problem lasting 200 300 000 miles and more the main thing about toyota transmissions is the fluid you gotta replace that fluid every sixty thousand miles or six years i understand the lifetime thing and unfortunately some dealerships are pushing that lifetime thing it's not the case it's a bad idea and i'll share with you this as a bonus to the video a common symptom of the fluid getting really bad in those sealed transmissions is you'll get delayed shifting a very erratic shift between gears very delayed engagement to drive and reverse that's just the start of it and it starts getting worse and worse and eventually until you get to a point where slipping happens and now we're done all could have been avoided by replacing the fluid on time and if you are a diy mechanic you don't have to pay some a dealership a shop a lot of money if you are able and you have the skills to do this i will leave in the description two videos one for trucks one for regular for the sealed transmission and speaking of the seal transmission there is nothing sealed about them that sealed transmission name is just a gimmick in the industry to make people scared of their transmissions it basically is a transmission that has no dipstick it actually does have a dipstick but it's upside down at the bottom see the other video for more details so you can understand what's the overflow type this is something that's been used a lot in the industry it is basically to discourage people from working on their transmission so they wouldn't mess it up that's one theory or so they can force you to go into a shop a dealership and pay more money to get it fixed whatever the case may be you know how to do it because i made two videos of it with complete details you don't even need fancy tools to do them and please take care of your transmission especially the fluid i hope this video was helpful informative i hope you learned something new if you like it consider giving it a thumbs up if you're not a subscriber consider subscribing to the channel check out some of my other videos and until the next video folks may the lord bless you and keep you and you have yourself a wonderful day

Channel: The Car Care Nut

Views: 2,750,953

Keywords: Never do THIS to your automatic transmission, never do this to your toyota transmission, things you should never do to your transmission, lifetime transmission fluid, lifetime transmission fluid myth, 7 things, neutral at stop, shifter issues, how to drive automatic transmission, how transmissions work, automatic transmission, transmission problems, toyota mechanic, scotty kilmer, the car care nut, chrisfix, car wizard, car mistakes, make your car last longer, repair your car

Id: ULcSauSJrsY

Length: 15min 14sec (914 seconds)

Published: Wed Nov 17 2021