13 Questions Answered About Used Car Transmission

By Author: Pream Madhan
Total Articles: 14
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Taking good care a car’s transmission is important for its long term health benefits. But often, most of the car owners misunderstand the importance of maintaining the transmission and overlook it. When your car transmission goes, you may be left confusing about investing in buying a new transmission. Because buying a new transmission can be a considerable expense. But there is great news that used transmissions cost far less than new counterparts. However, how much knowledge do you have on used car transmissions? Here we are helping you.
1. Should you have to change the transmission fluid?
The answer is certainly, you have to. The service intervals for new transmissions may exceed 100,000 miles for a new oil change. However, the best recommendation is to know about your car and its manufacturer’s recommended service intervals. It is worth note that the intervals for changing transmission fluid vary widely. For some cars, it can range from 30,000 miles to 100,000 miles.
2. How to know about the transmission fluid change?
It is not an easy task to check the transmission fluid change. In most of the ...
... cases, you will need a professional mechanic to ensure the transmission liquid, especially in cases of used transmissions. It requires checking under the hood and checking the transmission dipstick or reservoir.
Although the fluid level may look fine, still you should be concerned about pollutants or small particles present in the liquid.
3. How do you check transmission fluid?

Go through the used transmission manual to determine whether the transmission requires the fluid change. Open the hood and look for transmission fluid dipstick and check whether it is covered with fluid while you remove it.
If the dipstick is covered with fluid and it is sufficiently covered by the part of the line on the indicator on the dipstick, it's fine.
For accurate results, wipe the dipstick and do the test again. If everything is good, replace the dipstick and close the hood.

4. How long a used transmission can last?
Used transmissions can last anywhere from 90 days to a longer period. It is based on the shape that the transmission was in while you bought it. Of course, a used transmission is a little cheaper than a new one is, still you can’t expect the same guarantee with a used replacement. But if you do a little research, you will be able to find the perfect one that works well and lasts a long time to come.

5. What are the steps that can boost your used transmission power?

Being such a complex part of a car, transmissions should be taken well care of.
● Regularly check and change transmission fluid
● Boost the functionality of transmission with additives.
● Stay away from riding the brakes, do regular tune-ups, avoid frequently hauling heavy loads
● Get the repairs fixed whenever a warning sign arises.

Maintaining your car transmission can be easy, but if you let it go long without servicing, it will cost much more expensive to fix.

Faulty transmission problems to know of when you buy used transmissions

6. Slipping Out of Gear - If the car seems to shift gears without any reasons, then it is the time to work on your transmission. The gear shifts should correspond to the acceleration, hence slipping out of gear shows that there is a problem with the transmission.
7. Burning Smell - When you smell something burning in the used transmission, it says that it is not in good shape. If you observe the transmission fluid burning up, it means that the particular transmission is likely getting overheated.

8. Transmission Fluid leakage – The transmission is a sealed piece of component. So if you notice that the used transmission is leaking, it means it is a cracked transmission and it is leaking transmission fluid.

9. Warning Lights - Most of the used car transmissions have a dashboard light that will let you know of when the transmission is malfunctioning. Though the logo may vary, checking the owner's manual can give you clarity on identifying the problems.

Reasons why the car transmission is failing

If you are able to identify the signs that a transmission shows, then you can make yourself ready to purchase used transmissions.

10. Check Engine Light or OverDrive Light is on

‘Check engine light’ is not only dedicated to the engine, it can also tell you about the problems with the transmission of overheating, sensor issues, slipping transmission and many more problems. Checking for the trouble codes can enable you to see what the system and circuits are indicating problems. Despite the fact that not all the sensor related codes mean that the sensor is bad, it can give you a starting point for the concern.

11. Grinding Noises

If a transmission is going to fail, it will certainly make unique noises. The sounds may be a humming or buzzing sound. Also you can feel wobbling, as the gears grind together. Whenever you hear these types of noises, immediately have a look at the transmission.

12. Transmission engaging issue or stay in gear

When you put the car into gear but it doesn’t move, this can be a problem with low transmission fluid caused by leakage. If your car is a new one, it depends on the computer to instruct the transmission when to go into gear based on the selection and so you have to check the computer system for trouble codes.

13. What are the benefits of used transmission?
As we all know that budgets are going far beyond we planned, used transmissions are a good fit for your budget and most economical way to solve the transmission problem.
While a new transmission or rebuilt transmission couldn’t fit your budget, then used transmissions that come with a warranty are the wise choice.

Used transmissions cost less than new and remanufactured transmissions, and can solve your immediate problem. It helps you to be back on the road under your budget.
With the history of used transmission, you have the benefit of who serviced it and what are the problems faced. Hence there is no worrying over whether the used transmissions are the perfect match for your vehicle.

The best part about buying used transmissions rebuilt is that it is mostly accompanied with a warranty. So if anything goes wrong during the warranty period for the transmission, warranty will take care of it.

Not surprisingly, replacing a car’s transmission with a used transmission is not inexpensive, and that is the reason why most people prefer used car transmissions as an alternative for the unexpected expense of a large auto repair bill.
However, when it comes to purchasing a used transmission, it is very vital to buy the right one for your car.