regular maintenance checks for your car

It is important to make sure that you are well aware of the clues your vehicle may be giving you in regards to the condition of its transmission. To help you determine if the transmission may be in need of professional assistance, you will want to check out the following points.

You Spot Transmission Fluid On The Ground

It can be hard to spot a transmission fluid leak unless you are really looking for it, especially if the leak is a slow one. Therefore, what you want to do is to make sure that you are paying attention to the ground under the vehicle where it is parked overnight. If you park the vehicle in grass or on gravel, the leaking oil may not be as noticeable as it would if the vehicle was parked on a cement driveway. Therefore, you can slide a flat piece of cardboard under the front of the vehicle and secure it in place with a couple of bricks or blocks.

In the morning, remove the bricks or blocks and the cardboard to inspect for spots of fluid that leaked on to it. If you are noticing that there is some transmission fluid on the cardboard or on your cement driveway, you will want to schedule an appointment with a skilled transmission specialist. Even if the leak appears small and you believe that you can keep the fluid level up by adding more quarts of transmission fluid every week, you will want to have the issue addressed because a small leak can turn into a large leak without warning. When that happens, you risk running out of fluid in your transmission, which can completely destroy it.

You Notice A Delay In Shifting

Whether the delay in the shifting of your vehicle happens as you are driving down the road and you are trying to go from one gear to the next, or it happens when you are simply trying to go from park to reverse, it is a clear sign that your transmission is experiencing trouble. The longer you wait to have this issue resolved, the worse the problem will get. Eventually, you could find that you are not able to switch gears at all, and your vehicle will have to be towed just to get it to a transmission specialist that can give you the price for the installation of a new transmission.

Should you notice any of the two previously mentioned clues that you have a problem with your transmission, you will want to take action right away.