What to avoid a costly transmission repair? Avoid the following behaviors that can cause damage to the transmission over time. 

Shift Between Reverse And Drive While Still Moving

It is very important that you come to a complete stop when shifting between reverse and drive. You may do this without even realizing it when backing out of your driveway or a parking spot, and it can do a lot of damage to your vehicle's transmission. That's because instead of putting the pressure on the brakes to stop your vehicle, you are putting the pressure on the transmission to do it. Even some slight movement is not good for the transmission since it will be more likely to break if you make this behavior a regular habit. 

Shift To Park Before Stopping Completely

The same logic about changing directions applies to when you put your vehicle in park. Your goal should be to let the brakes do the work to bring your vehicle to a complete stop, but by shifting to park prematurely, you are putting that pressure on the transmission and can cause it to break. You may even hear a loud thud when shifting to park incorrectly, which should be a reminder not to shift to park in this manner.

Revving Before Shifting From Neutral To Drive

Another bad behavior that you may have done for fun when you first started driving is putting the vehicle in neutral, revving the engine, and shifting to drive. The change in gears will cause the vehicle to jump forward quickly, which as you can imagine, makes the transmission work harder than it should. While this may have been a fun way to show off to friends, it will shorten the lifespan of your vehicle's transmission.

Coasting While In Neutral

Have you ever gone downhill and decided to put the vehicle in neutral? While you may think you are saving gas, this behavior is actually damaging the transmission. The shifting of the vehicle between neutral and drive while in motion is going to put unnecessary wear on this part, and should be avoided if possible. Any gas that you save by doing this behavior will be undone by an expensive repair later. 

Think you've done damage to your transmission and need to have it repaired? Take your vehicle to a local transmission service to figure out what is wrong with this crucial part of your vehicle.

Share