Hello, my name is Walter. Over the past few months, I have been working on my car. I never used to think much about my car. I would just jump into it and hit the road. Things were fine at first, but soon I realised that things were starting to go wrong. Strange white smoke started to appear from the exhaust. Sometimes when I changed gear, I could hear a strange noise. Foolishly, I ignored all of this until my car broke down. When I got to the auto repair shop the mechanic repaired my car and then gave it a full service. As he did so, I began my auto servicing education.
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If you own an older vehicle, then you know that it may need more tender, loving care than a newer version. It is particularly important that you pay attention to the automatic transmission as well and be very careful whenever you change the fluid. What do you need to look out for in particular?
Protecting the Converter
To enable an automatic transmission to work, special equipment within the casing is required. This equipment will need to convert the power supplied by the engine into forward speed using clutches, gears and pressure. Central to this operation is the torque converter, and this particular component must be supplied with special fluid under high pressure. Often, the converter will have its own pump to make sure that this happens, and you need to ensure that this system is primed and ready after each service.
Extra Work
An older car like this may not have the more up-to-date safeguards of a modern version. Such a new vehicle will have additional gadgets in place to ensure that fluid levels and pressure are always constant before the vehicle can get underway. This may not be the case, however, on your trusty ride.
Full-Service
When the transmission fluid is changed, it must be completely drained for best effect. This means that it must be removed from the torque converter as well, and this may require an additional effort. Once all of the fluid has been removed, then new fluid can be introduced. However, you need to make sure that all of this fluid has entered and is circulating through the torque converter before the vehicle is driven under heavy load.
Taking Care
While the pump may help to circulate that new fluid following the service, it is a good idea to run the vehicle through each gear while the road wheels are elevated from the floor. This will help to push the fluid through the system and into the torque converter. You may find that you have to add more fluid as you go through this test, but eventually, the system will pressurise correctly, and you will be able to drive the car once again.
Better Approach
If you do not have experience in this area and would rather not risk any issues, take the vehicle into your mechanic for them to service the automatic transmission instead. They will take all the appropriate safeguards and deliver the car back to you in good form.
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