Thudding Transmission? What Could Be Going Wrong?

If you own a car fitted with automatic transmission, then driving will be a breeze. After all, you won't need to worry about selecting the right gear for the road conditions or messing with that third pedal. Yet these transmission components are very complex and can sometimes go wrong. When this happens, you will notice that the car behaves erratically and will want to know how to fix the issue as soon as possible. What are some of the more obvious problems, and what should you do?

1. Delayed or Incorrect Engagement

Within the transmission casing, you'll find many independent components designed to work in tandem. In brief, a number of clutches are connected through valves that allow highly engineered fluid to flow back and forth. This fluid has to be directed under pressure so that it can activate or deactivate valves, then mesh the clutches together to achieve the desired outcome. Strangely, the most important component here is the fluid. It's carefully designed to deal with both too little and too much friction during different situations and contains special additives that can break down any debris that may accumulate with time.

2. Fluid Problems

If you notice that the car appears to be slow to change gear and that it may even thud when the gear actually engages, then this could be down to one of two different issues. Firstly, it may have been some time since you checked the condition of the transmission fluid, and it may be well past its better days. Once it starts to degrade, it will rapidly lose its efficiency, and some of the aforementioned debris may begin to clog the valves. If this is the case, then the system may not be able to build up enough pressure to engage the clutches smoothly, and a split-second delay may cause the gears to engage with a bang instead.

3. Computer Issues

You may also find that there is an issue with the ECU. This computer is supposed to match the speed of the transmission clutches with the actual speed of the engine. If it is not working properly, then some of the gear clutches may turn too fast for the road conditions.

4. Getting It Fixed

As you can see, this can get very technical and beyond the ability of the average weekend mechanic. If you do encounter such problems, consider taking the vehicle to an auto transmission repair service.