Usually, broken transmission causes a serious inconvenience for a driver. It can lead to significant expenses and difficulties in using the vehicle. In such a situation, it’s important to know what to do and how to correctly choose the optimal option for restoring the car’s operation.
Replacing a broken transmission in a car is a serious step that can require substantial expenses. Often, car owners have to decide whether to replace the transmission or use alternative repair methods.
Signs that you may need transmission service
The decision between needing transmission repair, replacement, or rebuilding strongly depends on interpretation of the most common warning signs and providing necessary maintenance for your vehicle.
Unresponsive gear shifting or slipping
Cars with faulty automatic transmissions may hesitate before shifting gears or not hold a certain speed. There may also be a delay when switching between park and drive modes. A faulty manual transmission might feel like it’s not accelerating as well as before, or no longer shifts gears smoothly.
Unpleasant odors
If you smell something like burnt plastic or melting wires, it usually means your transmission fluid is old, dirty, low, or turning into sludge. Schedule a fluid change as soon as possible.
Unexpected noises
A faulty transmission can create unexpected mechanical noises such as buzzing, whining, humming, knocking, or repetitive tapping.
Leaking fluids
Fresh transmission fluid is red and usually has a sweet or tart smell, while slightly older fluid may look darker and smell like smoke. If you’ve noticed a fluid leak with these properties on your driveway or in your garage, take your car to a trained mechanic as soon as possible.
Transmission Repair
Transmission repair services usually include replacing fluids and consumables, such as transmission fluids. They also include checking and fixing minor leaks, finding and installing spare parts for minor damages or breakdowns, as well as refitting and reinstalling the transmission in your car. Repair is usually recommended if your transmission has relatively minor issues and isn’t heavily worn.
Transmission Replacement
Transmission replacement requires disconnecting it from the engine and driveshaft and then replacing it with a completely new unit. This option is generally reserved for transmissions that have failed or are beyond professional repair and reconstruction.
How is transmission repair done?
Repair work in the auto shop follows the same algorithm, regardless of what problems the client’s car has. The repair consists of the following stages:
1. Diagnostics.
2. Part dismantling (removal, cleaning, and disassembly).
3. Defect detection (drawing up a special statement containing information about necessary repair procedures and required spare parts).
4. Determining the list of parts that need to be replaced.
5. Assembly and installation of the transmission.
6. Test drive.
We don’t recommend trying to do everything yourself, as the transmission is a rather complex mechanism with electronics. It’s better to entrust this to specialists.
New transmission: from the dealership, from dismantling, or second-hand?
If it’s necessary to replace the transmission, there are also two options: buy a new transmission or a used one (second-hand or from dismantling). Of course, buying second-hand is quite risky, but this option is quite cheap, so many motorists resort to it at their own risk. However, we still recommend buying a transmission from a specialized service (in particular, a verified auto dismantling shop), because then you can be sure of the quality of the entire mechanism.
