If you're wondering “how to know if a transmission is overheating,” look for the following symptoms:
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- Burning smells
- Warning lights on the dashboard
- Slipping gears
- High transmission temperature gauge
- Fluid leaks
- Harsh shifting
- Loss of power
- Weird noises
- Transmission fail-safe mode
- Erratic shifting
Your transmission must operate within a specific temperature range. If it exceeds that range, it leads to significant damages that might disturb the performance of your entire vehicle and require thousands of dollars for repair.
Identifying the common symptoms of an overheated transmission is very important for every driver to avoid dealing with these complications and extend your vehicle's lifetime without needing to install major components.
This article provides ten common symptoms indicating transmission overheating to help answer the question, “How do you know if transmission is overheating?” It also highlights some solutions you could consider to resolve the problem.
How do we know if the transmission is overheating?
Transmission overheating is a common problem that might be encountered in any vehicle regardless of its cycling condition. As a driver, you must address these overheating problems as soon as possible to avoid dealing with costly repairs.
The following list summarizes the most common symptoms of transmission overheating to help you identify the problem before it gets complicated. Once you deal with these symptoms, you must consult your mechanic and have him perform a thorough inspection to confirm the root culprit and resolve the problem.
1- Burning smells
When the transmission overheating exceeds the point, it might lead to burning smells that typically come from the surrounding rubber components. These burning smells should be taken seriously, whether because of an overheated transmission or because of anything else, because if you don't do so, you can deal with further complications that might mean a lot of money on the repair.
2- Warning lights on the dashboard
Depending on your vehicle type, you might notice warning lights on the dashboard illuminating every time your transmission is overheating. Therefore, you should take these warning lights seriously because they're just away from your vehicle to communicate with you and bring your attention to internal problems.
The overheated transmission might be translated into a check engine warning light. Although this might sound like the problem is related to the engine, it is related to the transmission, and one way to confirm is by using an OD scanner to translate the error codes in your check engine light.
3- Slipping gears
The transmission problems are always related to the way your vehicle shifts gears. One of the common issues you might experience when the transmission is not working properly is when the gears slip and don't stay in the right location.
Remember that slipping gears are also linked to common transmission problems, whether these problems are linked to overheating or something else. Therefore, you cannot immediately assume that all you're dealing with is an overheated transmission because it could be an issue related to mechanical problems or anything more severe than what you can expect.
4- High transmission temperature gauge
Some vehicles have a temperature gauge that can read the transmission temperature. If that's the case in your vehicle, watch the dashboard warning lights and see if it exceeds the maximum threshold.
Suppose you feel that this temperature gauge is reading fluctuated temperature readings. In that case, it might mean that the transmission is not in good shape, and the overheating issue is getting more severe, which means you have the adversity immediately.
5- Fluid leaks
The transmission fluid is typically responsible for many tasks, including cooling down the transmission and maintaining its temperature. If there are not enough transmission fluids, the transmission might continue overheating until it reaches the maximum point.
That's why you have to maintain the transmission fluid quantity and quality to ensure it's doing its job and preventing transmission overheating. Therefore, you need to check for potential transmission fluid leaks and address them as soon as possible before things get more complicated.
Transmission fluid leaks might be linked to cracks in the weak seals, but they also mean the transmission fluid is dirty or contaminated. When the transmission is full of foreign objects, it causes additional pressure and might lead to cracking these weak seals.
6- Harsh shifting
In addition to the shifting gears, you might notice that your vehicle experiences harsh shifting or rough shifting. That is a common problem in getting an issue with the transmission that might be linked to the overheating issue but could be linked to something else.
That's why we also like to remind our readers that whenever you deal with any harsh shifting, you cannot assume immediately that it's linked to transmission overheating because you need to perform an authority inspection; your mechanic must use certain tools to confirm the culprit And address it.
7- Loss of power
In some severe scenarios, and when the transmission overheating exceeds the maximum point, you might notice that your vehicle loses power completely. This can be a very stressful situation and might even impact your safety.
If you notice that your vehicle lost power one or more times in a row, it indicates a certain issue in your car that you must address immediately. Otherwise, the problem might evolve while driving on the highway or during traffic, which might mean some safety issues.
8- Weird noises
When the transmission is overheated, it will start complaining and showing you some symptoms that will grab your attention to address the problem. For example, it might start making weird whining or buzzing noises, and sometimes people call it clunking.
Regardless of the rules of this weird noise, most automotive experts never recommend ignoring these noises regardless of their intensity. In other words, if you feel this noise comes from the transmission or anything else, you must understand because it's typically linked to an internal issue.
9- Transmission fail-safe mode
Depending on your vehicle type, a mode known as transmission fail-safe mode might exist. This happens when the transmission is not operating properly and performance drops below the minimum point.
Continuous transmission overheating can easily lead to putting your transmission into a fail-safe mode. If this happens, you might not be able to drive your car completely, which might impact your daily errands and is something you need to address immediately.
10- Erratic shifting
Finally, even if your vehicle doesn't have continuous issues with shifting gears, the way it shifts gears might be erratic. In other words, it might work for some time, but the other time might not, depending on how high the transmission temperature is.
Therefore, if you feel that this overheating issue impacts the transmission behavior, you need to address it because the more you delay it, the more complicated the problems become; the harder it is for your mechanics; that's the problem without costing you a lot of money.
What to do if I confirm transmission overheating?
Generally, automotive experts recommend not to continue driving your car if it has a severe overheating issue. Sometimes, detecting whether this is severe versus normal overheating as an average driver can be hard.
Therefore, you must pull over in a safe area and try turning off your vehicle completely to notice what will happen to the vehicle symptoms. If you feel that the symptoms occur again after you turn on the vehicle again, you have to consult your mechanic and check with him if you can continue driving your car or need to tow it to his repair shop.
How do we know if the transmission is overheating? Final Thoughts
Transmission overheating is a common problem that might impact your vehicle during its lifetime. You must address this problem immediately because it might lead to costly repairs.
This article provided you with ten important symptoms indicating an overheated transmission. When you notice these symptoms, you must address the problem immediately to save the vehicle without spending much money.
Remember that sometimes, the transmission overheating issue might be linked to a major problem, so you must be careful about investing in this vehicle and fixing it or selling it instead.
If you get to a point where you have to sell your car, Cash Cars Buyer can always help you appear. All you need to do is to give us a call at 773-791-4363.
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