5 Things to Avoid when you own an Automatic Transmission Car

MANILA: Automatic transmission tuned cars are a bliss to drive, especially when driving through heavy traffic jams or frequent gear change tiers you. No offence to auto enthusiasts, who just love driving manual transmission fitted cars, as with MT the entire power lies within the driver’s hand (not the case with automatic gearbox). But admit it, most of us don't fall in the above mentioned category and look for the easy way out. We are the comfort loving generation, who don't shy away from shortcuts. And hence, to spoil us further were invented, automatic gearbox (anything with the word automatic lures us, isn’t it).

But this comfort giving machine is way too complicated from within than it looks from outside. It's like AT's simple outer design is inversely proportional to its complex internal mechanism. And it's because of its massive complex nature that its repair becomes all the more expensive, given that the parts it is made up of are not so expensive.

There are few tips following which will not only extend the life of your automatic gearbox but will also spare you from an extensive repair bill.

Note that all the below-mentioned tips can be easily integrated into your day to day driving practice and does not require any special practice.

1. Say no to NEUTRAL when coasting downhill

Why? Coz you can save fuel, yes you read it right. When riding downhill on gear you get better mileage than on neutral.

Reason! All thanks to the modern day transmission system that cut fuel supply to the engine and just use the wheels to power the mill. Also, putting your car in neutral takes off the power from the hands of the driver, enabling him only to stop the car and not allowing to accelerate in the case of need.

2. STOP is a must before switching in between modes

Why? Coz if you don't you'll end up injuring the automatic transmission band, whose main job is to shift from one mode to another.

Reason! It is always better to do a job with the proper tool assigned for it. So use the brakes to stop the car and AT to shift between modes (drive to reverse or vice-versa)

3. Avoid Launching your vehicle

Why? It's not a good driving practice and cut shorts your car's healthy driving years.

Reason! Now it's no use to go into all the lengthy mechanical details, as for laymen it's impossible to understand. Skipping the boring details, the entire crux of the matter is that this practice will wear out the transmission band, whose replacement as mentioned earlier is way too expensive.

4. It's Useless to put your car in neutral at STOP light

Why? You would put far greater pressure on your engine going from Neutral to Dive.

Reason! Now most of us have a thought process that when on the red light it's better to put the car in neutral, as why to put unnecessary pressure on the transmission and engine. But guys, believe us that's not how things work in an automatic transmission. Instead, things work the other way around here, going from neutral to drive and asking for that sudden acceleration will create greater pressure on the machinery.

5. Never put your vehicle in PARK until car has come to a complete stop

Why? Doing this will have two ill-effects, first, you'll end up breaking the parking pawl and secondly you'll also be putting a huge amount of pressure on the drivetrain.

Reason! Again a lot of internal mechanism goes here, understanding which will put you in sleep mode for sure. You just need to understand one thing that moving wheels when in the park mode will lead to internal wear and tear that we are sure you don't want happens.

That's all on the Automatic Transmission caretaking front, we hope that you'll remember all the above mentioned five points and will try and integrate them into your daily driving practice.